Northern Michigan's peer-support community for LGBTQ+
entrepreneurs, business leaders, freelancers, and aspiring founders

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About This Group

The Queer Business Owner Roundtable brings together Northern Michigan LGBTQ+ business owners, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and aspiring founders to work through real business challenges, learn from one another’s experience, and build trusted relationships.

This isn’t networking for networking’s sake. Participants help identify the topics, shape the gatherings, and share the knowledge, connections, and resources they’ve gained through their own entrepreneurial journeys.

Rather than trying to tackle a broad business topic in a single meeting, we work through it over three monthly gatherings:

  • Explore — Virtual, 1 hour: Participants share how the jointly-decided monthly topic shows up in their businesses, identify common challenges, and clarify what meaningful progress could look like.

  • Design — Virtual, 1 hour: Participants decide what the group should work on together at the following month's in person gathering, what preparation or resources would be useful, and whether local experts should contribute.

  • Work — In person, 2 hours: Participants put those plans into action and leave having made concrete progress on a challenge, decision, plan, or project.

Each gathering builds on the previous one, though participants are welcome to attend whichever sessions are most relevant and accessible to them.

The Roundtable is co-hosted and facilitated by Grove Community Incubator and Up North Pride, with additional support from local experts and other partners when helpful.

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This is a Grove Affinity Group

The Queer Business Owner Roundtable is a Grove Affinity Group. These groups bring together innovators with shared experiences and identities to build trust, exchange ideas, and elevate each other’s work. These groups help active and aspiring business owners grow together in community rather than competition.

What We're Learning

These are themes emerging from participant conversations. They don't represent every entrepreneur's experience, but they help us understand what this community is navigating and where Grove can create value.

  • Participants consistently describe marketing as important, but difficult to prioritize alongside the day-to-day realities of running a business. The challenge isn't understanding marketing—it's finding the time, energy, and resources to do it consistently.

  • Participants repeatedly identified referrals, community events, and trusted relationships as their most effective forms of marketing. Rather than replacing those relationships, marketing often works best when it strengthens them.

  • Business owners continue to wrestle with how to communicate their values and identity in ways that feel genuine. Questions around visibility, storytelling, and representation remain important, particularly when trying to reach the right customers without feeling performative.

  • Participants consistently prioritize working sessions, peer feedback, and tangible business progress over lectures or networking for its own sake.

  • The group includes businesses from many industries and at different stages of growth. Rather than searching for one "best" marketing strategy, participants value learning how others solve similar challenges in different contexts.

  • Based on these conversations, September's in-person gathering will focus on practical marketing work, including peer feedback, storytelling, and hands-on collaboration.

  • Grove doesn't conduct formal research through these gatherings. Instead, participants voluntarily share their experiences, challenges, ideas, and successes during facilitated conversations. We periodically synthesize recurring themes to help participants, partners, and the broader community better understand Northern Michigan's entrepreneurial ecosystem while protecting individual privacy.

    • How can queer-owned businesses collaborate to increase visibility?

    • Which marketing activities create the highest return for small businesses with limited capacity?

    • How can peer mentorship become part of every gathering?

    • What role should local experts play versus participant-led learning?

Some Frequently Asked Questions About This Group

  • The Roundtable is designed for LGBTQ+ business owners, entrepreneurs, freelancers, independent professionals, and aspiring founders in Northern Michigan. You are welcome whether you run an established business, are just beginning to develop an idea, or fall somewhere in between.

  • No. We use “Queer Business Owner Roundtable” as an inclusive name for the gathering, but we recognize that not everyone within the LGBTQ+ community uses—or feels comfortable with—the word queer. We respect the language each participant chooses for themselves.

  • Nope. New and returning participants are welcome at every event. We’ll provide a brief recap and enough context for everyone to participate fully.

  • This is an affinity space centered on the experiences of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and business owners. If you do not identify as LGBTQ+ but believe you could contribute to a specific session, please contact Grove Community Incubator or Up North Pride before registering.

  • Item descriptionHell no! You decide what you are comfortable sharing. You control your story.

    We ask all participants to respect one another’s privacy and not share someone else’s identity, business information, or personal experiences outside the group without permission.

  • Item descriptionYou 're welcome to talk about your work and share relevant experience or resources. However, this gathering is not intended for sales pitches, prospecting, or unsolicited promotion.

    Please contribute in the spirit of mutual support rather than customer acquisition.

  • More or less on an annual basis, participants identify the challenges, questions, and opportunities they want to work on together. Grove Community Incubator and Up North Pride help synthesize that input, facilitate the conversations, and coordinate any helpful local experts or resources.

  • Nadda. The Queer Business Owner Roundtable is free, but registration is required for each gathering. (So we can plan accordingly.)

    If your plans change, please cancel your registration so we have an accurate count and can make the space available to someone else.

  • Any event-specific preparation will be included in the listing and reminder email. Some gatherings may ask you to bring a current business challenge, example, plan, or project. If no preparation is listed, simply come ready to participate, listen, and contribute.

  • A Google Meet link will be provided to registered participants through Eventbrite’s confirmation and reminder emails. Please do not publicly post or distribute the meeting link .

    Didn't receive the link, please check the email address associated with your registration and your spam folder.

  • Locations may change depending on the topic, expected attendance, and needs of the work session. The specific venue, parking information, and accessibility details will be included in the individual event listing and sent to registered participants.

  • We want these gatherings to be accessible. Please contact Grove Community Incubator or Up North Pride if you need a particular accommodation or have questions about the virtual platform, physical venue, parking, seating, food, or other participation needs.