In 2018, Charlie Sprinkman was working for an organic beverage company, a job that required them to travel to 42 states. But along the way, they struggled to find LGBTQ+ hangouts. The solution came to them while they were driving home from Brave Trails, a youth LGBTQ+ leadership summer camp where they were a counselor: They’d create Everywhere Is Queer, a digital map of queer-owned businesses.

Launched in January 2022 with a website and social media presence, Everywhere Is Queer has grown to a directory of over 13,000 LGBTQ+-owned brick-and mortar and online businesses, services and community groups across the globe. Since February, a mobile app has been available on iOS and Android with over 80,000 downloads and many more resources, including a job board with LGBTQ+ and ally-owned businesses looking to hire. 

For LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Sprinkman spoke with The 19th about creating the app and the importance of building community and spaces as LGBTQ+ people face continued legal adversity. 

The interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Darreonna Davis: Since 2022, you have been running the Everywhere Is Queer website and social media single-handedly, but you quit your job in October 2023 to completely focus on it. What about the growth and development of Everywhere Is Queer affirmed that it was a necessary resource, and time for you to go all-in with expanding it?

Charlie Sprinkman: January 2022, I was building it on the side. I had a corporate job. And then suddenly, I started to gain tens of thousands of followers on social media. My videos were highly engaged with, and people just constantly were coming back. I think that so many people who are part of the Everywhere Is Queer community have told other people about our platform, and that is why we have grown to what we are today. I’m only just one person.

How do you actively seek out and encourage queer entrepreneurs based in places with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation to join the app?

I’m to the point where I’m not really actively reaching out to organizations anymore. When I first started, I was searching #QueerOwned on Instagram. … I was going down the list, messaging and trying to just reach some queer-owned businesses to build my platform. At this point, overnight, [just] in the last 24 hours, we’ve received over 100 applications. I’m usually receiving 100 to 200 a week. 

I’m telling you, it’s not even me anymore. I mean, yes, I have the social media presence … I have [an] almost 50,000 email subscriber list that has been completely organically built. So, I am building this community, but … people are out there telling people about Everywhere Is Queer. The Everywhere Is Queer community is so strong, and I could not be more grateful for everyone that’s wanting to help grow and telling organizations about our platform. I really believe that’s how we’re reaching these smaller communities. 

I’m obviously the start of all of it, but it’s so cool to see Everywhere Is Queer’s wings just fly. And that just shows how everyone believes it’s needed. It’s so needed.

What was the cost of launching Everywhere Is Queer, and how do you earn money from it now?

My first version of our map back when we launched was free. It was a Google form into an Excel doc overlaid onto Google My Maps. And then we started to pay a small amount of money to be on Proxi. We still continue to pay for that to have it on our website. Then we got [a contractor] Chris to develop the app. I’ve kept things very low budget.

The app has been the game changer. Organizations can pay $49 a month [to be listed]. We’re running a special for Pride Month right now to have their organization show up at the top of the list in their area. We’ve had great success with that, so there is a lot of room to grow there. And then the job board is going to be $49 per listing, also running half off for the first 30 days from when we launched. So it’s $24.50 per listing. Each listing is up for 45 days. The person that hosts the listing, though, can unpublish the listing at any point if they filled the job. 

I am figuring out how to grow this business because I would love to bring on a small queer team eventually. We’re definitely not there. I do not make enough money to hire people full time, but hopefully one day. 

How have you used your own resource of queer-owned businesses to find people to help you along your development?

I posted on Instagram for the admin assistant and social creative position. And Chris, my developer, cold emailed me after a viral Instagram when I was calling out for queer tattoo artists and said, “Hey, I have some time. I do have a full-time job, but I would love to help you develop this into an app.” We have, since October, been working together, and Chris is the only person, the only developer, behind everything that you see on Everywhere Is Queer.

I have three contracted employees: admin assistant, graphic designer, social media creative and developer — social media creative and admin assistant are one person. So three folks who all work five hours a week, and I handle everything [else]. I’m dabbling with emails to approving organizations [and] anytime an organization submits an update to their listing. I’m writing newsletter emails. We’re sending out two emails a week highlighting 10 organizations on our platform in each email. If you are a queer-owned business on our platform, log into your admin portal, you’ll see this opportunity to sign up to be featured in our newsletter.

In addition to the map, what other resources are available on the app to both business owners and consumers, and why did you decide to add them?

When organizations sign up, they have the opportunity to join a private Discord server. So over 300-plus queer entrepreneurs are just networking through this Discord server, which I think is so cool.

We launched our job board, really trying to grow that. Queer-owned and ally-owned organizations can post jobs on our job board, but our map section of the app is only queer-owned businesses at this time. I am constantly thinking about how we can connect the queer, trans and ally communities to spaces that see us as our most authentic self. And I knew that our map obviously is like our pride and joy, but we are going to expand and that expansion looks like a job board for now. 

We already have like six to eight other ideas of how we want to add things to the app.

Having worked on this for the past two years, what is one of your favorite messages you’ve received from an entrepreneur that affirms your reasoning for creating Everywhere Is Queer?

I got a message just a few weeks ago from Hair by Sophia, a hair salon in Frisco, Texas. They shared that they received 15 new clients in one month of being on our platform. In Frisco, Texas, a space where we need to help people feel seen because queer people do exist in Texas and in the South. Sophia has said that I’ve changed their life, allowing them to grow their business, but also changed the lives of the people sitting in the seat of Sophia, getting a haircut and feeling seen.

What is your favorite message from a user?

I had someone message me from Bend, Oregon — which is where I used to live and where I had launched Everywhere Is Queer. I now live in Portland. They messaged me and said that their trans nephew came to visit them and was very scared to come to central Oregon because it can be scary as a trans person in and around central Oregon. The aunt was able to take their trans nephew to gender-affirming spaces, trans-affirming spaces, and now their nephew wants to come back and keep visiting them. 

You often speak about how having a resource like the Everywhere Is Queer map could have helped you growing up in southeast Wisconsin. How have you seen both your map and social media platform helping people who are questioning their sexuality and in search of community?

I’ve had people reach out to me that are like, “I’m not out yet,” or, you know, struggling with their gender identity. And they have told me that they’ve leaned on these spaces to just go and exist where other queer people exist, to just sit there and see other queer people exist, see queer people have jobs, see queer people are running an organization. I’ve had hundreds upon hundreds of people — if not thousands at this point — say thank you for allowing them to just be able to exist and to find those spaces much easier than before.

In the same time you’ve built your business, over a dozen states have banned gender-affirming care for transgender people. In what ways have you seen the Everywhere Is Queer map be a space for both building community and accessing necessary health care as a queer person?

We’ve partnered with an organization called OutCare. We’ve also partnered with GLMA. I don’t know if you’ve heard of either of those organizations, but they’re both gender-affirming, queer-affirming health care directories, which are so incredible, and I’ve worked to push them out and to let my audience know that those spaces exist. They’re both listed on our platform as well. 

I believe that if we can put more money in the hands of queer-owned businesses, maybe in smaller towns — I’m from rural Wisconsin, originally, and I see so many organizations popping up in Wisconsin in spaces I would never think there’s a queer-owned  business — but if we can put money into the hands of these queer people, they’re going to be able to advocate and have a bigger voice. Sometimes it takes success for people to take you seriously, and if queer-owned businesses start to become successful in smaller areas of our country, organizations around them are going to start to be like, “What did you do? We want to be successful,” and they’re going to start to look up to them. So I want that to happen. And then, when they have a greater voice, they’re going to start to get involved in local politics if they choose to. They’ll just be respected more — which is sad that you have to be successful to be respected. 

To what extent do you see Everywhere Is Queer going beyond business and into politics by showing LGBTQ+ candidates and their campaign headquarters?

I don’t know. I don’t know where we’re gonna go within the political realm of the world. Right now, we’re not necessarily focused on politics. Obviously, I’m a very political person myself, very involved locally, but I’m not sure where our organization is going to go. We’re just focused on queer-owned businesses right now and connecting them with folks.

The app has subsections for everything from bookstores to candles to beauty-based businesses. Which subsection do you find yourself regularly using?

I’m a big foodie, so I’m always trying to find good food wherever I am. I’m always looking at our restaurants that are on our platform, the bars and even the retail stores. My partner loves to shop, so he’s always looking for cute little boutique stores. Retail and restaurants are by far my favorite category. I found my own hair salon here in Portland from my own platform. I found my bookkeeper because of my platform. I found my business lawyer because of my platform. I already know what real estate agent I’m gonna work with — if I’m ever able to buy a house — via my platform.

Something I definitely want to shout out is our therapist category. We have hundreds, if not thousands, of therapists on our platform. You’re able to filter by what state they’re licensed in. We eventually want to be able to have folks filter by what insurance people take, if they’re virtual or in person. It’s such an important category that we definitely will be putting more time and effort into.

How are you all at Everywhere Is Queer celebrating Pride Month, and what advice do you have to leave with readers about embracing their identity and finding community?

Just that you are amazing. And I know it can feel so hard to feel seen as your most authentic self sometimes. And I hope that our platform will allow you to exist in spaces where people do see you as your most authentic self and know that I see you as your true, authentic self and that I’m here to welcome you with open arms into the Everywhere Is Queer community.

Pride is July 21 here in Portland, and I’m throwing a Pride party. So, if anyone is in the Portland area, you can get tickets via our Instagram bio. [It’s] $15. We’re going to have a queer DJ. It’s hosted at a queer-owned business called Sammich.