Queer led.
Queer led.
Community rooted.
Community rooted.
Globally engaged.
Globally engaged.
Who we are
Meet the team behind Q+ Collective, ready to support your next venture.
Q+ Collective is built by the community it serves. As queer and trans leaders, we bring lived experience and professional expertise to the work of shaping strategy, strengthening ideas, and supporting meaningful change.
We work alongside peers to refine bold solutions already emerging within our communities.
Founders
Nico King
She/Her
Co-Founder & Board Chair
Nico is obsessed with the power of storytelling—whether through a perfectly crafted PR campaign or a dramatic retelling of a minor life event. With a background in political advocacy and digital communications, she’s helped shape messages that mobilize communities and make an impact. She believes good storytelling should be bold, authentic, and leave a lasting impression. When she’s not crafting narratives, she’s probably hosting a dinner party or sampling every oat milk cortado in D.C.
Skills:
Marketing, Communications
Nico King
She/Her
Co-Founder & Board Chair
Sevyn Winshel
They/Them
Co-Founder & President
Sevyn designs and manages programs that advance queer rights and support young people of color. They are Director of Operations & Special Projects at Education Leaders of Color, supporting students' academic and economic advancement. With experience in educational equity, election protection, and political campaigns for leaders like Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, they are dedicated to justice and advocacy. Sevyn lives in Adams Morgan, DC, where they enjoy baking and spending time with their pups, Obie and Juno.
Skills:
Program management, Operational support, Youth advocacy, Organizing
Sevyn Winshel
They/Them
Co-Founder & President
Team
Roya Ellis
Coach
Roya is a waste-destroyer, helping leaders decide where to compete and win. Roya works with businesses to get the most out of their people, processes and resources. The secret to Roya's work is engaging people with respect and support, training teams well, using AI as a partner, and building super-efficient processes. With over two decades of experience, Roya helps to build high performance teams to gain community support for public policy, build bridges across cultures, make human connections, and lead diplomatic negotiations. When not working, Roya is hiking, reading, traveling to new countries, or volunteering.
Skills:
Business and Performance Coaching, Planning, Operations, People & AI Strategy, Risk and Performance Analysis
Roya Ellis
Coach
Diggie Hernández
Legal Director
They/Them
Diggie cares deeply about equity, access, and helping people navigate complex systems with confidence. Outside of their legal practice, Diggie spends much of their free time reading sci-fi and fantasy novels, tinkering with computers, and finding the best-kept secret food and hiking spots in the DMV with their spouse. Diggie is also a cat parent, a fan of competitive e-sports, and always down for a good strategy game.
Skills:
Legal support and expertise, strategic advising
Diggie Hernández
Legal Director
They/Them
Sabia Prescott
Policy & Legislature Director
They/Them/She/Her
Sabia has spent nearly a decade in the education policy space, researching, writing about, and consulting clients on ways to ensure inclusive, high quality education for all students. Personally and professionally, they are driven by a desire to see queer and trans kids survive and thrive, and have spent the last five years helping others navigate this moment of acute attacks on LGBTQ rights in education. Outside of work, they play music, watch women's sports, and go outside with their wife and pets.
Skills:
Legislative tracking and strategy, Research, policy writing, and analysis on education and civil rights issues, Expert knowledge on culture war attacks on education and DEI
Sabia Prescott
Policy & Legislature Director
They/Them/She/Her
Chantelle Simms-Kodua
Client Growth & Strategy Consultant
She/Her/They/Them
Chantelle's career has always circled around working with kids and local food in the nonprofit sector. She cares about streamlining tasks and systems, providing behind the scenes support and working directly with stakeholders. Outside of work, they spend their time doing a myriad of hobbies (cooking, traveling, playing instruments, tennis, gardening, and sewing) and hanging out with her cat, Olivia, and her wife.
Skills:
Admin support, Operations, Compliance, Video Filming, Video Editing.
Chantelle Simms-Kodua
Client Growth & Strategy Consultant
She/Her/They/Them
Jordan Tager
Creative Consultant
She/Her/They/Them
I am a multidisciplinary artist , specializing in creative direction, animation/video production, and graphic design. I am also a music producer, singer, and writer. Let's just say…I never get bored.
Oh! and I designed this website!
Skills:
Creative direction & problem solving, Graphic/Web Design, Branding, Video, Animation, Audio
Jordan Tager
Creative Consultant
She/Her/They/Them
Andrew Tisell
Client Growth & Strategy Consultant
They/Them
Andrew brings their background in the academy studying queer and feminist theory to his profound belief in the brilliance and abundant creativity of queer community. With extensive experience working in a queer small business, Andrew is excited to help entrepreneurs grow their business and develop mission-focused, socially just strategies. In their downtime, Andrew can be often found reading through their To-Be-Read stacks of books, baking, and finding a deep sense of delight in just being queer.
Skills:
Facilitation, project management, equity and justice analysis and training, research, organizing and partnerships
Andrew Tisell
Client Growth & Strategy Consultant
They/Them
Molly Middlehurst
Client Growth & Strategy Consultant
She/Her
Molly is a mom, feminist and queer leader who is passionate about helping mission-driven organizations grow their impact and serve their communities. She's worked domestically and internationally with diverse women and gender expansive folks to build political leadership skills, enhance economic opportunity, expand access to education, and create safe spaces for solidarity and mutual support. She loves signing, knitting, reading speculative fiction and practicing American Sign Language and Swahili.
Skills:
Strategic planning, Communications and stakeholder engagement, Research, Fundraising and business development, Board and leadership planning, Nonprofit effectiveness consulting, Training and facilitation, Safety planning and political leadership training for women and LGBTQIA+ folks
Molly Middlehurst
Client Growth & Strategy Consultant
She/Her
Board
Board
Daria Leon
She/Her
Daria is passionate about advocacy, civic engagement, and uplifting those around her. Outside of work, she dedicates her time to relationship-building, serving on the City Year DC Alumni Board, and co-chairing efforts to support the next generation of changemakers. Daria believes in the power of perseverance and is committed to making a lasting impact both professionally and personally. When she’s not doing that, she’s keeping up with Jackson State football, hyping up anything Angel Reese does, and spending way too much time scrolling through TikTok like it’s a part-time job.
Daria Leon
She/Her
Kristy Ramsey
She/Her
Outside of work, Kristy runs a relationship podcast, Together Real Bad, has two dogs with her partner, and tries to build awareness around healthy relationships. She is acutely aware of the attempt by the current administration to erase anything having to do with minorities.
Kristy Ramsey
She/Her
Jahnavi Rao
She/Her
Jahnavi Rao is the president and founder of New Voters. When she was a junior in high school and too young to vote, she felt voiceless. The 2016 election and decisions that impacted her generation more than any other occurred without her say. She founded New Voters as a school club to register eligible students to vote. Since, she has grown the organization to a national 501(c)3 that has run over 1,000 high school voter registration drives and civically engaged tens of thousands of high school students across 500 high schools in 42 states, ensuring students don’t feel voiceless again. Jahnavi is a 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 Lister for Social Impact, a 2025 Echoing Green Fellow, a 2024 L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth, and a 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow. Her work has been featured by Teen Vogue, CNN, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, NBC, C-Span, HBO Max, and Bloomberg. Jahnavi has a bachelor’s degree in government and a minor in music from Harvard College.
Skills:
Youth engagement, nonprofit leadership
Jahnavi Rao
She/Her
