Meet Matt Baume
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could create a career that matches your interests, no matter how diverse they are? What if you could build a business around your passions, even if those passions were as diverse as Dungeons & Dragons and drag queens? What if I told you that you could choose your own adventure and make a living at the intersection of the things you love? Matt Baume did just that. Let’s find out how.
Matt Baume makes stuff for the internet
Matt “makes stuff for the internet” based on his interests in games, literature, movies, music, and the LGBTQ community. As an author, Matt Baume’s work regularly appears in publications such as Rolling Stone, Vice Magazine and NPR. He is also the host of two popular podcasts, Queens of Adventure and The Sewers of Paris. Matt has presented at South by Southwest, Gaymer X, and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association, among others, and is the author of The Definition of Marriage: Voices from a Forty Year Labor of Love.
Today Matt joins us to share his interest in identifying unexpected connections between very different groups of people. He explains why the LGBTQ community is drawn to arts and entertainment and offers insight into the current state of queer culture. Matt discusses his perspective on marriage equality, the challenges facing the future of our community, and the value of “adding stripes to the rainbow.” Listen to Matt’s advice on how to spread our message to the geographically isolated and learn how he makes a living doing what he loves!
Listen to Matt Baume talk drag queens, dragons and sewers:
Topics covered with Matt Baume
What inspires Matt Baume to create diverse content
- Interested in unexpected connections between groups
- Favorite example: Dungeons & Drag Queens
Matt’s advice on how to turn your interests into a business
- Create a launchpad while you have a stable job
- Do unpaid work to build contacts, learn about the industry
- Think consciously about what the audience wants
How Matt’s content attracts a diverse audience
- Culture Cruise explores LGBT themes in pop culture
- Queens of Adventure introduces players to drag queens
Why the queer community is drawn to the arts
- Natural human interest in storytelling
- Express feelings we have no words for
Matt Baume provides insight into the current state of queer culture
- It’s much freer to tell stories that don’t end in tragedy
- Can be hero of one’s own story (and others).
- Queerness, differences give us strength
Matt’s opinion on marriage equality
- Sympathetic to the criticism of marriage as an institution
- Equality under the law is a moral imperative
The challenges of the queer community in the future
- Support allies who need help now
- Transsexuals in the military, defunding HIV/AIDS
- Access to Adoption, Dismantling ACA
Matt’s take on entertainment as an escape
- Give permission to turn off the thinking side of the brain
- Use the arts to connect = superpower
How to convey messages of togetherness to those who are geographically isolated
- Age-appropriate resources for schools
- Get involved with families left behind in small towns
Matt’s insight into displaying all the colors of the rainbow
- There are people for whom PRIDE has failed
- Asking people to accept too much too soon is counterproductive
- Listen and address misunderstandings, concerns and fears
Matt’s perspective on the LGBTQ community and charitable giving
- Faced with many decisions, he may not budge at all
- Think Gill Foundation, Victory Fund, Lambda Legal or ACLU
Contact Matt Baume
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