Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tumaria McDaniel and Dana Banks. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Tumaria and Dana, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Lez Do Houston was born out of a longing for community and a need to put down roots in a new place. Coming from Chicago, we took a leap of faith towards Houston in 2021 after a brief visit earlier in the year. Even though we knew no one, we fell in love with the creativity, the food, and most importantly how welcoming it felt to brown and gay people.

Whenever we went out, we saw so many black and brown sapphics, but no one could tell us where queer femmes came together beyond the party scene. Community is huge for both of us – Dana grew up in a close knit circle of neighbors that felt like family, and Tumaria’s found family made Chicago feel like home for the 10 years she lived there. We knew we could find our people here in Houston too.

We each found success on Meetup in the past so it was a natural place to start. While we were able to find some great groups, none were specifically inclusive to the community we wanted to build among black and brown women loving women.

One day while walking in Hermann Park, we talked about our hopes for our life in Houston and dreamed up the community we wanted to have. We realized that we could create a space for US, a place where we are centered, where we can learn, grow, explore, celebrate, and heal together. And so, in September 2022, Lez Do Houston was born.

Lez Do Houston is a community for queer black and brown women and femmes to build deep and lasting bonds in support and solidarity with each other. From our first event with only one attendee, we have grown to over 300 members and counting. We are so excited to continue to grow, and we know that the success of the community is contingent on support of its membership.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Lez Do Houston prides itself on putting community building first for queer women and femmes of color. The people we serve exist at intersections that are often dissected and pushed to the margins. This happens in the spaces where they would traditionally find community including places of worship, broader LGBTQ groups, ethnic organizations, women’s groups, or even their own families. While these groups and connections are necessary, it can be exhausting to explain the unique and specific experiences of facing homophobia, racism, and sexism at the same time. Lez Do Houston aims to fill a need for these folks to find community as their full selves.

The brunch and party scene in Houston is renowned and is part of what attracted us to the city. Sometimes these gatherings don’t allow for new and deep connections to be made especially for those who are newer to the city. Lez Do Houston aims to provide diverse alternatives to the social scene like hiking, concerts, plays, museum days, comedy shows, and poetry nights. More intimate events allow for more conversation and building authentic friendships among our members.

When we first moved to Houston, we used MeetUp to learn more about the city and meet new people. While we always had fun, we often left events feeling like we were in a sea of people but still somehow by ourselves. Sometimes we didn’t even know who the host was or who was with the group. When we started Lez Do Houston, one of our primary goals was to make sure every member felt seen. At each event we host, we aim to greet each person, learn their name, and try to connect them with another member of the group they haven’t met.

Those efforts appear to be reflected in the group’s current ratings on MeetUp. Lez Do Houston boasts a 4.9/5 star rating and 73% of attendees say they would attend another event. Our most consistent feedback from members state that the hosts are welcoming, the events are engaging, and they felt safe and included.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Lez Do Houston started to experience some success a few months into starting the group. From 1 person attending our first event to regularly getting 10-15 members joining us while hosting 3-4 outings per month. Though still a small group, we were excited to create curated experiences that would attract more members and provide a unique offering in the Houston social scene. We spent hours upon hours planning themed monthly events through the end of 2022. A mermaid themed watercolor paint and sip for March. A fiery themed shibari class that featured a catered tasting menu from a local Nigerian restaurant for April. After researching prices for supplies, booking instructors, renting venues, paying for food, etc, we realized we would either have to take a significant loss on each event or charge our members more than we ever had before. We believed it was worth the risk and posted March’s paint and sip anyway with a significant increase in the ticket price. Despite promoting it extensively on our social media and other channels, we had one RSVP in the week leading up to the event. Our pride was a bit wounded and we now had more painting supplies than we’d ever need, but we did learn some valuable lessons from the experience: Just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. Learn your audience and allow them to know and grow with you. Instead of focusing on growing our membership and getting to know what our audience actually needed, we gave them what we thought they wanted. As transplants to Houston, we had to spend a little more time getting to know the community. We pivoted by hosting more events that allowed people to get to know us: picnics, potlucks, free concerts, etc. By the summer, we had more than doubled our regular attendance rate with a solid mix of repeats and new members.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Connections within Lez Do Houston extend beyond our events. After attending an event, members are invited to our private virtual community where relationships are solidified and deepened and the real community building takes place. The virtual community is user driven with members sharing local events to attend together, celebrating personal successes, asking for advice, and more. Some of our most successful events have been pitched via this private chat. For example, one member expressed an interest in learning how to swim which morphed into a summer pool party with swim lessons led by another member.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/lezdohouston
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lezdohouston/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lezdohouston/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LezDoHouston
• Other: lezdohouston.square.site

Image Credits
Photos courtesy of Lez Do Houston