Nico Machlitt and Dan Iammatteo on founding Queer Capita

As part of Pride Month, Downtown’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) were proud to donate funds to support the trade organization, Queer Capita, which is dedicated to building a community of LGBTQ+ music industry professionals. The Downtown Journal spoke to the Queer Capita founders to understand more about how the group started, its mission going forward, and plans to expand… Downtown Journal: Hi both, please introduce yourselves to our readers.

Dan Iammatteo: I work as the Director of Streaming for Chrysalis Records, Tommy Boy Records, and Reservoir. By day I work with our US and UK marketing teams to construct artist campaigns for our frontline and catalog artist roster. By night I’m also one of the Co-Founders and Presidents of Queer Capita, a non-profit that focuses on advocacy and empowerment of Queer music industry professionals.

Nico Machlitt: I am the Associate Digital Marketing Manager at Vevo. I develop and execute digital marketing plans for artists such as Latto, Niall Horan, and Post Malone. I also lead partnership conversations with organizations including HeadCount, GLAAD, and The Trevor Project. I am also one of the Co-Founders and Presidents of Queer Capita, a non-profit for LGBTQ+ music industry professionals focused on building community and career advancement.

DJ: Tell us about Queer Capita? Where are you based? When and why did you form it?

DI: I’m based in NYC, but Queer Capita is a national organization. We have members across NYC, LA, Nashville, and many other satellite “music cities” in between. 

NM: Dan and I met on a Zoom call when I reached out to the company he was working for about onboarding an artist to Vevo. We got to talking a few days later and realized we had lots of friends in common and had been to a few of the same industry events. We both had a desire to get a group of LGBTQ+ music industry professionals together at spaces beyond concert venues, chance run-ins, or industry mixers that were held every so often. We decided to reach out to some friends and colleagues about throwing a happy hour at the end of the summer for LGBTQ+ music industry professionals and Queer Capita was born. 

Dan and I are based in NYC but we’re lucky enough to have Queer Capita members nationwide. We’ve thrown in-person events in NYC and Nashville and virtual events for our members in satellite music cities across the nation. Neither Dan nor I grew up in NYC or LA but we’ve always been passionate about music and know there’s a great community of LGBTQ+ music industry professionals living across the nation. DJ: Were there any groups that already existed that inspired you or did you feel that you were filling a gap in the industry?

DI: When we sit down and brainstorm with our Board of Directors about what we want to accomplish through our work, we look to the amazing work done by others in similar lanes. The Queer community has so many intersectionalities that we have a very organic overlap with so many other amazing and important organizations. Women In Music, The Digilogue, shesaid.so – to name a few.

NM: The Queer community is a huge community full of many intersectionalities. We’ve been fortunate to work with Backline Care, Asian American Collective, The Digilogue, and many others in the space all working to diversify the future of the music industry.  DJ: Can you highlight the specific challenges and gaps in support that you’ve seen in the industry that motivated so many to mobilize and join QC so quickly in the timeline of the organization’s existence?

DI: I think Queer professionals in this industry have an exceptional passion for community – and that has been the main driver for our growth. Beyond that, we have a commitment to helping create new pathways for aspiring Queer professionals to work in this industry and to champion the exceptional Queer talent that helps power the music industry.

NM: Being a Queer person in the workplace can be very isolating. Whether you’re the only LGBTQ+ person on your team or in your company there’s a desire for community. I have been to many industry networking events or young leadership seminars and of course, career advancement is discussed but never what it is like to be a person of color, an LGBTQ+ person, or seen in many other ways in the workplace.

DJ: How do you plan to expand further?

DI: (I’ll let Nico take this one)

NM: We at Queer Capita are fortunate enough to be in the unique position to not only host networking mixers, resume reviews, a college mentorship class, and other opportunities and tools for career advancement. But also talk about what it is like to be a Queer person in the workplace. We’re able to start the conversations on addressing pronouns in the workplace, transitioning at your job, and mental health to name a few.

DJ: Downtown recently contributed to Queer Capita fundraiser, what were funds raised for, and what will you do with those funds?

DI: We don’t charge membership fees or dues, so our Pride fundraiser was critical to supporting administrative costs and functions that keep our non-profit going (i.e. filing fees, legal fees, etc). I’m happy to say that most of the funds raised will be used to support our Impact initiatives for the next year. Some ideas we have been working on are resume workshops, headshots for our members, and guest speakers to guide and coach our members on their careers.

NI: We at Queer Capita are happy to have exceeded our goal for our Future of the Music Industry fundraiser. We’ll be using some of the funds to support our administrative costs to keep our non-profit running. We’ll be using the majority of the funds to host an event that will focus on the two main goals of our organization, career advancement for our members and strengthening our community of LGBTQ+ music industry professionals. We have lots of ideas in the works and are happy to be hosting this event.  

DJ: Can you tell us about your Pride 2023 campaign? What were your objectives for it?

DI: Pride is our capstone for the whole year. It is an important time for Queer people to show up and be loud about their space and contributions to the industry, and the world. This year we had our annual celebration at Elsewhere in NYC, where we booked an all-Queer lineup of artists and local drag performers, and supported two other impactful nonprofits: The Ali Forney Center, and Drag Out the Vote.

NM: Pride really is our stand-out event of the year. It’s not only a great time to celebrate the Queer community with our members and allies but also a way to make an impact in our community. We hosted an incredible all LGBTQ+ lineup of artists, and local drag performers and were able to raise money to support The Ali Forney Center, which works on protecting LGBTQ youth from homelessness, and hosted Drag Out The Vote which works with drag performers to promote participation in democracy.

DJ: Can you share some of your success stories or examples of the positive impact Queer Capita has made in the queer professional community and industry at large?

DI: I’ve personally seen people get job interviews and offers from the network they’ve built through Queer Capita. I think for a professional industry-focused organization, that is one of the most significant KPIs we can look to. That being said, I also think the value proposition of Queer Capita is grounded in the idea of community. Our members know that no matter what happens in their career (i.e. if they change companies, or lose a job) there is a support system they can lean on.

NM: When I think of one of my proudest moments of Queer Capita a memory that always sticks with me is from our first event mixer. We hosted the event at a bar in Brooklyn and Dan and I of course wanted to introduce ourselves to everyone and mix with the crowd. I walked up to these two people deep in conversation it looked like they had been friends for years. It turns out that they met that night and already had made plans to connect again. That’s what I think the true beauty of Queer Capita is the ability to build community. When those connections are formed between our members not only is our LGBTQ+ community stronger but so is the music industry.