Honorees

JASON BOLDEN & ADAIR CURTIS

Visibility Award

History-making entrepreneurs, partners, and parents to Arrow, Jason Bolden (celebrity stylist) and Adair Curtis (interior designer) are the two most sought after talents in the fashion, interior design, and entertainment industries. Married in love and in business, these founders of JSN STUDIO forged new pathways within and around spaces that have a long history of excluding Black, Bold, Queer people like them—and, in doing so, they help countless Black LGBTQ+ families feel seen on a national stage. 

JSN STUDIO and their outstanding list of accolades serves as a visibility cape: helping our relatives, friends, colleagues, neighbors, politicians, and people with the power to make decisions about our lives that love makes a family. 

In 2019, Jason and Adair’s show Styling Hollywood premiered on Netflix, becoming the first reality show to center around a gay Black male couple. And earlier this year, JSN STUDIO was honored as a member of the coveted 1stDibs 50 list. You can learn more about Jason via his cover feature in The Hollywood Reporter’s Power Stylists 2022 and you can watch Adair’s newest heart-felt home makeover series, Instant Dream Home on Netflix.

VIOLET AUGUSTINE

The murray/Reese family award for bravery

Violet Augustine is a multi-hypenate Mama: author of fiction, creative nonfiction, podcasts, & experimental music who has advocated fiercely for her family. In 2021 and 2022, Texas passed a bill that prohibited trans student athletes from playing on the teams that align with their gender identity, Governor Abbott directed child welfare agents to “investigate” parents who support their trans youth, and Attorney General Paxton sought to prohibit parents from seeking medically necessary gender-affirming care for trans youth, so Violet made the near-impossible decision to leave her home-state in search of a more affirming community for her gender-nonconforming child, Isa. True heroes, Violet and Isa are determined to create brighter futures for families like theirs, so that all trans youth can have the quality of life they deserve. Their determination and love was the catalyst for Family Equality’s newest resource, Path2FamilyEquality.  

While working full-time and navigating the world of single parenthood, Violet creates fiction, essays, podcasts, and music that explore themes of gender, motherhood, the experience of being Cuban-American, raising a gender non-conforming child, creativity, and more. She’s won a number of awards and accolades including the Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award - Honorable Mention (2021) and Artist in Residency at the Sunset Art Studio in Dallas  (2018) in addition to being featured on Imagen Latina Radio, Women of Milwaukee Hour at the Woodland Pattern Book Center, Redletter Reading Series, and the Educated Leading Lady Association. From the Cuban diaspora, she lives with her child in Los Angeles. Violet was one of eleven women chosen to advance to round two of Julie Pacino's Keepers of the Inn short film competition. She is currently writing the screenplay. Learn more about Violet’s work at violetaugustine.com. 

NANCY LYONS & THE CLOCKWORK TEAM

Digital impact award

For 20 years, Clockwork’s super, smart, inquisitive humans have shaped technology into the platforms and products that solve complex problems. Most recently, their heroic team partnered with Family Equality to envision Path2FamilyEquality, a digital tool for families like Violet and Isa who are feeling abandoned by their legislators and in need of a repository of information and guidance. Long-time supporters of Family Equality, Clockwork creates great things that work online by digging down and discovering what people need to get things done. 

Clockwork’s CEO, Nancy Lyons, has supported and worked with Family Equality for 13 years, currently serving on the Board and leading her team in the development of the Family Equality website and their new tool, Path2FamilyEquality.  An LGBTQ+ parent, author, and speaker, Nancy has led employees and clients through thousands of business, team, and work culture challenges. As a digital veteran, she has witnessed the dramatic change technology brought to both businesses and people, and yet also sees people and companies struggling to figure out how to adapt. She speaks and writes about the crucial role work culture plays in delivering meaningful and effective results. Work culture — our feelings, behaviors, and interactions — is core to how we work. It’s a primary determinant of personal and professional success. Nancy has watched people go from being a victim of work to being the agent of work with simple shifts. 

Nancy also shared their LGBTQ+ family story with Family Equality in 2019.