Page 43 - BEQ Magazine Vol2 Iss4 V2

role of credit, retirement planning instead introduce more inclusive something new to learn with every
using financial vehicles like a 401(k). terms like “spouse” or “partner”. project—never monotonous. Sam
During Ashley’s first marriage her Ashley and her wife, a trained is the Creative Director of Flight.
husband handled the finances and social worker, speak each semes- She started the company four years
she was not involved. After their ter at a private Christian college, ago with her partner and now wife
divorce, a tragedy left her with a to help the Social Work students Michelle Farrell. She works with a
small life insurance policy, no expe- better understand the LGBT com- team of designers, developers and
rience handling money and no one munity and to better prepare for strategists to build the tools brands
to turn to. Out of necessity, Ashley diversity in the work world beyond need for success.
had to get the skills and training to their college walls. As a member More than anything else Sam
manage her own new-found wealth of the community advisory board is a problem solver. As the smoke Ashley Kistler
and she did. When she was ap- of the Center for AIDS Research cleared from the fires of Sonoma,
proached by Northwestern Mutual at the Indiana University Medical entire neighborhoods in her Cali-
to become a financial advisor, she School, she is part of the move- fornia home town were reduced to
decided that she would help people ment to change the view and the ash. The fire left over 3,000 struc-
become financially literate and able negative stigma of HIV and AIDS tures destroyed—mostly homes.
to plan and achieve their financial as it is no longer a death sentence. The short of it, she plans to build
goals. As a Financial Advisor with While her career as a financial advi- transitional modular homes for
Northwestern Mutual, Ashley was sor helps people with the luxury to fire survivors to live in while they
sure that she had to hide her rela- save money, reduce their tax burden rebuild their homes. Learn more
tionship with her same-sex partner. and plan for the future , Ashley is at homesforsonoma.org. Sam also
A lot like other closeted LGBTQ always reminded of her humble founded the Letter People with Hol-
people, she set lofty career and per- beginnings, the negative economic ly Garretson, Michelle Farrell and
formance goals and she achieved determinants of discrimination and Jan Loewen. They were all looking Samantha Kraesig
them all. With her new-found work exclusion and her involvement in for community and they all knew
credibility and influence in a male the world of HIV and AIDS keeps they needed to design and build it
dominated, straight work environ- her grounded and working to make themselves. The Letter People is all
ment during the era of then Gov- things better in the community. about bridging the gap between all
ernor Pence’s Religious Freedom the letters —LGBTQ, it is a group
Restoration Act (RFRA), Ashley SAMANTHA KRAESIG where people create genuine rela-
found the courage to come out to (She, Her) is 35 tionships. Letter people members
her colleagues. To her surprise ev- SMALL BUSINESS—Designer In learn to trust each other before they
eryone at Northwestern Mutual was Chief provide business recommendations.
incredibly accepting. She eventually Sam says, “design will change
joined Northwestern Mutual’s Di- Samantha Kraesig said “design the world. It moves the unmovable.
versity and Inclusion Counsel and found me”. Society pushes us at an Looks into the future and plucks
later became president of the Indy early age to choose profession, but ideas. Design touches everything Jeremy Laurin
Rainbow Chamber of Commerce. the profession chose Sam. There and everything touched has been
Ashley is a sought-after speaker on was a lot of pressure, especially designed. Now, if only people un-
LGBT sensitivity at a number of when her grandmother expected derstood this.”
Indianapolis companies and the lo- her to become a doctor. Her moth-
cal Federal Bureau of Investigation. er always thought she’d be a writer. JEREMY LAURIN
She is on a mission to help people Sam told herself she would nev- (He, Him) is 32
to become aware of how questions er settle— she would find the one CORPORATE—Environmental
like, “what does your husband thing she could do for 14 hours a Science and Community Advocate
do for a living” or “what is your day and wake up excited for another
wife’s name” can shut down lines day. Design is that for Sam. It is the Jeremy Laurin is an environ-
of communication because of the storyteller inside, the photographer mental scientist by trade, with a
heteronormative assumptions, and and the psychologist. It gives her strong passion for diversity and in-

BEQ PRIDE December 2017 | 43