Jaimeé = officially iconic.
Congrats on being named one of PSBJ’s Outstanding Voices!
This Pride Month, our Executive Director, Jaimée, was recognized by the Puget Sound Business Journal and GSBA as one of their 2025 Outstanding Voices—an award honoring LGBTQ+ leaders shaping the future of our region.
Jaimeé’s word of the year is uplift, and their leadership embodies it. A visionary leader and co-collaborator in shaping FEEST’s strategy, Jaimeé is a weaver of the many worlds they move through. They bring a grounded, connector energy to our organization. Bridging people, ideas, and movements with clarity, care, and community always at the forefront.
Their speech at the awards ceremony was a love letter to community, to queer and trans brilliance, and to the young people who inspire this work every day.
Below is Jaimeé’s full speech. We’re honored to share their words with you.
Image is of Jaimée receiving their award at the Puget Sound Business Journal Awards
Happy Pride! I’m really feeling this vibe today.
I want to thank the Puget Sound Business Journal and the GSBA family for this visibility, for honoring this work. And I want to thank my family and friends in the community who really sustained me in this journey, especially my bestie over there, Priya, and Ashley Miller, who actually got me connected to this role of leadership.
To the people who sustain me and make this work possible: thank you. Thank you to all the folks who do this kind of work for your loved ones, and for the leaders in your life.
I also want to thank my colleagues here, representing FEEST—the board and the staff—who put pride and care into each moment of building the world we want to see for all of us, but especially for young people.
My word of the year is uplift, and I want to say to tonight’s honorees: your leadership uplifts mine. Thank you for being in this community with all of us and for sharing your gifts.
My work centers on uplifting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth voices and their leadership, by putting them at the center of decision-making that most impacts their lives, especially around health and education.
We get the honor of creating beautiful spaces every day for young people to thrive in all of their identities. And through working in community, I get to witness the power of what’s to come.
Young people are amazing. They know what they want. They know what the world needs. And it’s our role to make space for them, not just to become the next leaders, but to lead today.
I also want to name that in my work right now, there’s a lot of fear. And what I’ve learned from my community about how to respond to that is a quote from Mariame Kaba:
“Hope is a muscle.”
And like other things—like love—it’s a choice we make every day. To keep enacting it. To keep that positivity and that hope alive. It’s something we do for ourselves, and something we grow and share to give back to others.
We need us—our beautiful queer and trans community—right now. Because we are the community that shows the world how to love unconditionally, how to take care of those around us, and how to build for the future.
And also: liberation is for everyone.
Thank you.
Read Jaimée’s full profile in the PSBJ Below!
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