OPEN Finance Women+ invites you to attend the first lunch and learn session of 2022 featuring Masculine Identified Lesbians of Color Collective (MILCC). Join us via zoom to meet two of the organization's founding members, Pat Martin and Vonne Williams.
MILCC’s mission is to sponsor quarterly discussion groups and workshops, with the distinct goal of empowering a marginalized community of women who in some form or another have or will share similar experiences of rejection or judgement simply because of their identity as Masculine Identified Lesbians of Color. In addition to creating an intergenerational bonding process, along with a sense of mental and physical balance, while living their individual truth and authentic self, discussions will focus on the challenges MILCC's face today and options to enact change to the stigmas associated with being a MILCC.
Vonne Williams is an investor, International Business Coach, and Tax Accountant committed to supporting entrepreneurs and young adults in creating generational wealth for themselves, their families and their communities. When the market crashed in 2007 and after a very bad divorce later in that same year she found herself broke and living in her minivan. From that experience and the lessons that she learned, Vonne dedicates her life to forwarding others and herself in living the best financial life through personal development methodologies. Coaching is her passion but also enjoys researching stocks and real estate opportunities. Vonne has a thriving tax practice in Harlem as well as being part of the Social Change Agents Institute.While being a Change Agent, she travels to South
Africa to collaborate with Entrepreneurs in Johannesburg, Mafeking and Cape Town.
Vonne holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronic Technology from Norfolk State University, a Certificate in Audio Engineering and Production from the Institute of Audio Research and is Certified Holistic Life Coach. She also spent 6 years in the United States Army as a Communications Officer. She serves as Chair of the Board of Deacons and Chair of the Stewardship Ministry at her church where she shares her message of abundance and she speaks at numerous public schools and not-for-profits throughout the country encouraging others to dream big and follow their passions.
Pat was born in South Carolina but grew up in New York City. At an early age her grandmother, an Eastern Star, and community activist taught her to have compassion for others, and love for her community, to take pride in whatever she does by living and being her authentic self regardless of what others thought. In 1985 Pat left the corporate world and began working in the not-for-profit sector as the project coordinator for a pilot program sponsored by the Police Athletic League (PAL) and the Agency For Child Development (ACD). Pat and her team were responsible for intergrading homeless children and families into programs and services provided by PAL and ACD. In 1990 she founded “The Learning Connection 2001 Inc. (TLC)”. TLC worked with the Board of Education to bridge the gap between home and school by providing student led workshops on building self-esteem, developing critical thinking skills, and conflict resolution.
In 2015, Pat founded HarlemYES, Inc., where she currently serves as CEO. HarlemYES, Inc. is a community-based not-for-profit organization. Pat, along with her wife Paulette, and their team have created and produced several intergenerational programs, and events servicing the LGBT+ community and allies. i.e. the first, NYC Black Prides Women’s Forum, the Harlem Youth Entrepreneurial Summit, Girls Empowerment Summit, The LGBTQ+ Women of Color Summit 2018, the LGBTQ+ Community and Many Faces of Bullying summit. Based on conversations with community youth, HarlemYES’s annual Black History Month Essay Contest has led to the
development of an inter-generation series titled “Youth Speak-Out”.
In 2018 Pat founded “Masculine Identified Lesbians of Color Collective” (MILCC). MILCC is a safe space, offering events and programs for lesbians of color who present as Masculine Identified/ Masculine of Center. MILCC’s members live in cities throughout the United States as well as in Africa, Canada and London, England. In February 2021 she co-founded Harlem Careers, a social media platform where organizations and corporations post available training, internships, and employment opportunities for the
Harlem Community.
Currently Pat sits on the Executive Board of the Arturo Schomburg Democratic Club, she also serves as chair of the Clubs LGBTQ Committee, and she is also a member of Community Board 11.