Plexus, chamber of commerce for LGBT community, growing in Cleveland after five years

The group has 50 members and about 1,600 followers through corporate memberships and social media.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Scott Shaw, The Plain DealerDeborah Gray, president of Gray's Auctioneers & Appraisers, shows off new art to Eric Lutzo, president of Plexus, a regional chamber of commerce for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community and allies.

CLEVELAND -- Deborah Gray had a dream of going into business. She wanted to have monthly live auctions of fine arts and antiques, allowing people worldwide to bid online and by telephone.

But Gray needed a community that would support both her business and her gay lifestyle.

Moving from New York back to little Key West or bustling Chicago were out of the question. For attainable, less expensive real estate, she decided to return to her hometown: Cleveland.

The tradeoff was that Cleveland was last among her choices for gay-friendly environments, and networking alone could be a challenge.

"You can be networking at a business event, and if someone sees my ring and asks what my husband does, conversations about business quickly get lost," Gray said. "They become more interested in my personal life."

"I am not a closeted person. With 16 years of monogamy, I'm proud of who I am. My business partner is also my life partner."

Gray didn't know it, but a regional Chamber of Commerce that connects gay-run and gay-friendly businesses began about the same time she moved to Cleveland.

Now Plexus -- meaning "network" -- has 50 members and about 1,600 followers through corporate memberships and social media. It takes time to identify gay-run businesses and corporations interested in diversifying workplaces and suppliers.

Before Plexus, the LGBT community -- standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people --didn't have a voice. Whether it's networking or helping get a company certified as a gay-owned business, Plexus fills a void in the region, said Eric Lutzo, a Plexus co-founder, and owner of Forward Thought, an executive coaching practice in Tremont.

"It's a very big thing to come out in the workplace," Lutzo said. "Plexus helps the small business owner or the employee become their full self. If you can't be fully present at work, you're not going to be able to do your best."

Now in its fifth year, the chamber plans to move away from a strictly volunteer staff, launch its first membership drive and sponsor its second annual supplier diversity summit in September.

So far, the group has formed partnerships with corporations that include Key Bank, American Greetings and Ernst & Young. Meanwhile, five of its members are nationally certified LGBT businesses.

"In a very short time, Plexus has been successful in championing vendors that provide quality, experience and initiative," said Amy Hochadel, director of supplier diversity at the Cleveland Clinic.

The clinic is among a growing number of corporations that have started to set goals to track its spending with gay- and lesbian-owned businesses along with other under-represented vendors such as minority-owned and woman-owned businesses.

Michelle Tomallo, executive vice president and co-founder of FIT Technologies, an information technology business, said she joined Plexus and became LGBT-certified last year, primarily as just one more way to set the business apart in a crowded, male-dominated field.

Plexus is an affiliate of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, a group that represents the interests of more than 1.4 million LGBT businesses and entrepreneurs. Some businesses support the organization because of LGBT's buying power, estimated at $743 billion this year by Witeck-Combs Communications, a gay-focused marketing firm, and the consumer research company Packaged Facts.

Steve Millard, president of Council of Smaller Enterprises in Cleveland, said the group is considering creating a dual membership program with Plexus.

"We bring resources, scale, programs and services, and they have reach into that community and a lot of energy to grow," Millard said. "For us, that's a good partner to have."

Owners of Gray's auctioneers say they're enjoy participating in Plexus' monthly networking opportunities, because what started as a dream is now a 3-year-old business. They turned a dilapidated used car lot into a 13,000-square-foot auction house on Detroit Avenue.

"Cleveland is the ultimate place to be an entrepreneur if your business is globally based via the Internet," Deba Gray said. "It's rich in culture and cheap to do business here."