CARMEN NEELY
Co-Founder and President, Harlem Pride
“I co-founded Harlem Pride in part because there were no annual activities focused on Harlem’s Same Gender Loving/LGBTQ community,” Carmen Neely tells GO. “With the hard work of our Board of Directors, our organization has grown tremendously.” Neely’s nonprofit, which unites Harlem’s SGL/LGBTQ organizations and supporters in cultivating a sense of dignity, tolerance and respect, is creating positive waves throughout Greater Harlem and has launched an initiative to bring a community Pride center to the district. But even before co-founding Harlem Pride in 2010, Neely was an active force. With a background in theater and film production, she worked as a freelance producer for the New Perspectives Theatre, Gilgamesh Theatre Group, DrumTV and various documentary projects. While working as an administrative assistant for Goldman Sachs in 1998, Neely became friends with Kareem Ferguson, a meeting that led to the creation of Crucial Arts Productions, a Harlem-based group focused on presenting critical issues to the community through documentary film. What’s more, Neely is a board member of Harlem-based Ecumenical Community Development Organization, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the housing, social and economic conditions of low and moderate income residents. She keeps herself grounded with a simple mantra: “Keep your ears and hearts open to the pulse of the community. It is the community for whom we work, not for ourselves.”
What Do You Think?