'Important and meaningful': LGBTQ+ business owners in Fayetteville area on visibility

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that Krystal Maddox is the sole president of Fayetteville PRIDE.

The president of a local group that works for equality for LGBTQ+ people says that her group's Rainbow Pages provide visibility and support for local businesses that are owned by or are affirming of the LGBTQ+ community.

Since May 2023, when it launched, the nonprofit Fayetteville PRIDE has continually refined the Rainbow Pages, a directory of businesses and services in Fayetteville that are LGBTQ+ owned, operated, managed or affirming and welcoming.

"In the year since the list has been up, we have seen a positive response. Area businesses contact us fairly regularly to be added," said Krystal Maddox, president of Fayetteville PRIDE. "We've also expanded our categories to better represent the diversity of affirming businesses and needs of LGBTQ+ people in Fayetteville."

The owners of four businesses featured in the Rainbow Pages shared their experiences as LGBTQ+ business owners, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and creating safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. They said that they believe it is their responsibility to model inclusion and address community needs through their businesses.

J.Co Salon & Blo'Dry Bar

Joshua Gray-Heim, owner of J.Co Salon & Blo'Dry Bar, said Monday that when a business owner has experienced discrimination or exclusivity in their life, they tend to be the most inclusive people and "search out the differences that we can make."

Gray-Heim, whose shop is at 417 Hay St., said that minority-owned businesses — whether defined by race, gender or sexual orientation — often strive to make a positive impact in their communities through their talents, businesses or donations. He said that each year, he and his husband, Adam, select a new charity or cause to support.

"Those charities that we donate to, not always are part of the LGBTQ+ community, but are nonprofits that service LGBTQ+ community," Gray-Heim said. "We have LGBTQ+ homeless, we have LGBTQ+ that are dealing with memory loss and Alzheimer's, we have service members, and so that's how we see our stretch reaching."

He said that in addition to providing hairstyling services, his salon prides itself on donating services to people with cancer and other hair loss. Having dealt with hair loss from alopecia himself, Gray-Heim and the other stylists in his salon style and maintain the wigs at no cost for Perruque Boutique Wigs, which donates the wigs to those in need. They also provide free haircuts as the recipients of the wigs begin growing their hair.

"We surround ourselves with people who make us better and not bitter, and that is the building blocks of my business," Gray-Heim said. "Everybody that we come across should make us better and our job is to make everybody as better as we can."

Raeford Flowers & Gifts

Sean Clark, 39, owns the Raeford Flowers & Gifts shop at 133 Harris Ave. in Raeford. He said Tuesday that his family dates back to 1774 in Raeford and that he wishes he "knew then what he knows now," since growing up as an LGBTQ+ teenager in a small Southern town wasn't easy. He said that if programs like It Gets Better, a global movement that shares stories of hope and acceptance for LGBTQ+ youth, had been around when he was a kid, he might not have dropped out of high school a week before turning 16. Clark said it was his husband, James, who helped him on his journey to "finally feeling comfortable" with himself.

"If I had known when I was 15, that it was going to take 30 years, give or take, for me to come to terms with who I was, I probably would have stuck (school) out and maybe would have stood up for myself," Clark said. "With Raeford being so small in the early 2000s and late '90s, a lot of people really didn't talk about it, and I got a lot of pushback from family members when I told them that I was gay. A lot of people didn't understand it and it's just people being closeminded."

He said that after enrolling at Fayetteville Technical Community College at 16 to become a funeral director, which he describes as his passion, he works as a funeral director today. Clark said he invested in a florist business and ultimately gained full ownership of it in March 2019. He never expected to be in the floral business but says that both jobs "kind of go hand in hand."

Clark said that regardless of one's race, culture, gender or sexual orientation, he encourages people to "be who you are, don't change yourself to make somebody else happy, because they don't have to live with you, you have to live to with yourself."

Hair Alchemy by Lauren

Lauren Dennis, owner of Hair Alchemy by Lauren located in Foundations Hair Salon at 1411 Fort Bragg Road, has been a hairstylist for more than a decade and said that she always tries to make sure her chair is a safe space for everyone, because "being a hairstylist is so much more than just doing hair."

"My clients share some of the most intimate details of their lives during their time with me, and I am always mindful of how important and meaningful my work is," Dennis said via email Tuesday.

Dennis said that most people in the LGBTQ+ community, herself included, feel safer in spaces where they are welcomed. She said she prides herself on cultivating a space that allows her clients to be open, honest and authentic.

"Everyone deserves spaces that they feel safe and included in. I love that Fayetteville has a strong community working hard to cultivate those spaces that meet a wide range of needs and interests," Dennis said. "Fayetteville is an ever-growing community filled with amazing individuals and businesses. I remember our first Pride Festival was not even a quarter of the size it is now."

Blue Moon Cafe

Nathan Cuffee and Joshua Angelini, the owners of Blue Moon Cafe at 310 Hay St., said they try to provide a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community that is a nonjudgmental environment where everyone is welcome.

Angelini said via email Wednesday that one of his first jobs in Fayetteville was at Blue Moon Cafe in 2008 and that, when given the opportunity to purchase it in 2018, "it seemed like a no-brainer."

His husband said that it is the role of LGBTQ+ businesses to be an example of true inclusion and diversity, adding that they are the ones who know the needs of the community best.

"If we can't create a space that fits those needs in our own home, how can we ask others to do the same?" Cuffee asked Wednesday.

Joining the Rainbow Pages

Maddox said that the key criteria for joining the Rainbow Pages is acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. She said that businesses must be LGBTQ+ owned, have an inclusivity policy or actively support LGBTQ+ causes, adding that this is verified through self-reporting and community feedback.

"We are always happy to add new business to the Rainbow Pages," Maddox said. "If any business owner is interested in being listed, we encourage them to apply through our website (fayettevillepride.org/rainbow-pages)."

Reporter Lizmary Evans covers growth and development for The Fayetteville Observer. You can reach her at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: LGBTQ+ business owners in Fayetteville featured in Rainbow Pages