In the heart of Las Vegas, a social justice storytelling movement is taking shape—one that amplifies the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community and encourages allies champion equality and inclusion. Welcome to Bursting Through, a ground-breaking platform founded by Steve Petersen, and living on a .gay domain.
Petersen’s 27-year-career in marketing and visual merchandising saw him working everywhere form rural Iowa to Fortune 500 companies in Manhattan. But it was his journey of coming out in his mid-20s that cemented his core personal values: compassion, courage, and change. And he’s founded Bursting Through with those same values at its heart.
“Through storytelling, we have created a safe space for the queer community and allies to come together on a balanced platform where everyone’s story is valued,” explained Petersen.
Petersen wanted to launch a platform that would amplify the voices and experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community, while also fostering allyship and understanding.
“Bursting Through is casting aside the belief that safety and good quality of life for your LGBTQIA+ loved ones is the responsibility of politicians or non-profit organizations,” he said. “That responsibility belongs to all of us.”
Along with storytelling initiatives, Bursting Through also offers workshops in C-suite allyship awareness; diversity, equity, and inclusion; storytelling; and activations. During these, the organization provides a simple, straightforward statistic, asks participants one powerful question, and then uses the responses to encourage frank, open dialogue between responders.
One major event that Petersen is particularly proud of is Bursting Through’s first National Out Ally Day. The day celebrates, activates, and empowers those who identify as allies to the LGBTQIA+ community, he said. The inaugural event, held in the company's first year of operation, was “a huge success,” Petersen said, with attendees praising the impactful stories, inspiring music, and the heartfelt experience.
Petersen also launched Connections, a quarterly, interactive digital magazine that aims to foster connection between queer individuals and their allies. It does this through a combination of celebratory, educational, and empowering content. Since the first issue in 2022, the magazine's readership and impressions have steadily grown.
Another point of pride for Petersen was seeing Bursting Through entering its second year of business, strategically positioned for success.
“The LLC papers were filed on January 27, 2020, and Bursting Through has been customer-facing for 35+ months. The people we have reached and the impact we have made is immeasurable and continues to build and expand.”
While the company's business model, products, and services have successfully furthered its mission and generated income, one of the biggest obstacles facing Bursting Through is securing sufficient funding to support its continued growth and achieve fiscal sustainability while it continues growing its membership and sales of products and services.
As a self-funded venture, allocating resources for marketing and outreach efforts has been a challenge, underscoring the importance of seeking external funding and support from financial institutions and start-up organizations early on.
“If you are self-funded, try to hold some money back for marketing once your business is built. It often takes all your resources just to build,” Petersen said.
“Also, go to financial institutions and start-up organizations early in your journey for financial and structural support. If I would have gone to a bank and asked for a small business loan when I was building and still had my own money, I would have gotten it. But I waited until I was at the end of my money—and then I was not a ‘good’ risk to financial institution’s algorithms.”
Of course, part of marketing decisions is choosing your domain name. Petersen's decision to secure the .gay domain was a strategic one, aimed at sparking conversations and immediately communicating the company's purpose and target audience.
“I read an article on LinkedIn about .gay and thought it was a brilliant idea. I secured it right then,” he said. However, he acknowledges that this choice may have led some to assume BurstingThrough.gay was a non-profit organization due to its purpose-driven nature.
Despite the start-up challenges, Petersen is excited about Bursting Through’s future and remains committed to disrupting the old way of approaching LGBTQIA+ inequality and empowering allies. By uplifting diverse voices on the platform, Petersen hopes to continue making a lasting impact and paving the way for sustainable equality and safety for all.