Long-time Atlanta radio personality and LGBT trailblazer Melissa Carter shares her life journey as well as her insights about reaching the lesbian segment (and lesbian sub-segments) of the LGBT market, as well as why proper audience segmentation and research of this widely misunderstood community should never be underestimated.

A high school friend of Mary Beth’s, Melissa recalls her teenage revelations about discovering she was a lesbian while coming of age in the 1980s, in a Bible-belt, Middle Tennessee small town.

With humor, candor and even a few mic-drop moments, Melissa sheds light on the “L” and why brands should take notice.

In Episode 16, Kelly and Mary Beth and long-time Atlanta radio personality and LGBT trailblazer Melissa Carter explore what brands, marketers and strategic communicators are getting right (and wrong) about reaching the lesbian segment of the market.

• Melissa shares:
  • Her personal coming-out journey, and what teenage and early-adult life was like for her in a Bible-belt, Middle Tennessee small town;
  • How coming-out to her family set the pace for her to embark on an authentic life in her mid-20s, and how her father’s reaction as a Christian (and his comment about Jesus) was such a critical moment in her life;
  • Her experience as an organ-donation recipient (kidney) and how finding a nephrologist in a gay-friendly Atlanta medical directory saved her life;
  • Fairness issues of being “branded” gay / lesbian (given that straight people are not branded “straight”);
  • What it means to “get the scraps from the straight table” and why lukewarm support never works;
  • What brands like Absolut Vodka, Subaru, Disney, The Hallmark Channel and Chik-fil-A are doing right or wrong in their messaging;
  • Differences between supporting the gay community versus a willingness to SEE the gay community;
  • How societal messages and conditioning of boys versus girls when they’re growing up feed lifelong behaviors that impact women’s ability to achieve career success;
  • What elements of brand-experience and authenticity drive loyalty within the lesbian community;
  • What legacies of inclusion versus exclusion mean for brands long-term.
  • Links:
    • Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
    • Tune in to Melissa Carter’s “She Persisted” podcast: https://shepersistedshow.com/
    • Follow Melissa Carter on Twitter: @MelissaCarter https://twitter.com/MelissaCarter
    • Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/
    • Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr
    • Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher
    • Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest