30 People with Pride: Jake Naylor, Director of Marketing Southern Nevada Associate of Pride, Inc.

Published in QVegas issue May 2008

QVegas May imageOne morning in 2004, Jake Naylor woke up in his San Diego, Calif. home and knew his head and heart were in the wrong place. He immediately moved to Las Vegas.

“I love it here, and I am happy,” Naylor said. “This city feels very young and alive … and I feel [the community] has a lot of potential.”

Coming from San Diego, Naylor has seen and been a part of a large, supportive LGBT community, and he has high hopes for Vegas’ community to match that. However, he knows that in order for the community to build and progress in Las Vegas, people need to volunteer their time to the cause. Naylor has done just that.

He currently devotes his volunteer time to the Southern Nevada Association of Pride, Inc (SNAPI), Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada.

With a background in marketing and creative work, Naylor uses his strengths to help out many of these organizations. His work ranges from Director of Marketing for SNAPI to photographer for HRC’s Gala to aiding in logo and branding design for the Community Counseling Center. “I volunteer to work wherever I am needed,” he said.

Naylor also the heads the new Community Outreach and Inclusion sub-committee, which will begin its operations later this month. “The goal of this sub-committee is to reach out to all GLBT-friendly businesses, charities, organizations and groups in Southern Nevada to get them involved with Pride as well as unify them in the strengthening and growth of the Las Vegas GLBT community,” Naylor said.

“These non-profits are amazing. The work they do is so important, and I really encourage all people to support them and volunteer. That’s our responsibility as citizens—to improve the area around us.”

Naylor said that if the people do not stand up and volunteer and support these organizations, the community will become dormant only to the fault of the people. “I would rather help [the community] improve then let the stagnation fall on my head,” Naylor said.

However, Naylor believes the community is at a turning point right now. He has seen how the community has been divided between different groups and people, but he believes there is an undercurrent of strength and people are starting to see what unifying would do for the community. “And as we all pull together and unite, we will be able to grow … and have the community we’ve been working to create for so long,” he said.

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