By Wesley Smoot

WESLO: Today, I’m with Brad Pritchett, style-icon and co-chair of Black Tie Dinner. How are you today?

Brad Pritchett: I’m fabulous now that that intro’s out there. Hahaha… That’s wonderful, Thank you.

BRAD PRITCHETT Co-Chair Black Tie Dinner 2021

WESLO: For those who don’t know, BTD is a non-profit annual event that raises money for LGBTQ organizations that do incredible community outreach. How fulfilling is that?

Brad Pritchett: It's probably the most fulfilling thing I have done in my career so far.

WESLO: Before we go into details about the 40th Annual Black Tie Dinner (Nov. 13, 2021), I wanted to talk about the history of Black Tie. I know it has very humble roots starting in 1982 and raising $6,000.

Brad Pritchett: Yes! At the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, with less than a couple hundred people attending. The founding fathers are still around today and will be at the dinner. And yes, $6K was raised for the Human Rights Campaign in 1982, we’ve now taken that $6,000 and surpassed the $25M mark.

WESLO: That is incredible! What can you tell us about some of the beneficiaries of Black Tie Dinner?

Brad Pritchett: So all of our beneficiaries are vetted through the board of directors, they all have to be LGBTQ focused and they all have to be North Texas. We have up to 20 of those every single year. Now in addition to the local beneficiaries, we have a national beneficiary, which is the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

WESLO: Of course, none of this is possible without the support of generous sponsors, can you speak on the importance of these partnerships?

Brad Pritchett: Oh my Gosh! There is a sense of corporate citizenship right now in DFW that is unlike anytime in my career. Where I think companies are realizing that you have to put the money down, put the money where your mouth is and really put some resources behind EDI efforts. Black Tie Dinner being one of those. This year our presenting sponsor is PNC Bank, which without them, we cannot do what we do. Really we couldn’t do what we do without all of our fabulous sponsors. This year we were worried about COVID-19. We’re really just trying to get back in a normal setting, with a normal in-person dinner. We have been overwhelmingly surprised with the amount of corporate and individual sponsorship participation this year.

WESLO: Black Tie Dinner also recognizes those who have made significant contributions in the fight for LGBTQ Equality with multiple, prestigious awards. Why is it so important to recognize these individuals, organizations and businesses?

Brad Pritchett: Yeah, so we weren’t able to get to the 40th dinner without standing on the shoulders of the people that have laid the road before us. So the opportunities here with these awards is to really shine a light on the work they have done, individually to get us here, and whether that being through their work as a celebrity in the media or as a volunteer here locally, or their work on a larger LGBTQ scale where you can tell what they do truly is selfless and they want and actually care to give back. Those are the people we recognize.

WESLO: Let’s get into this years’ 2021 event. This is the 40th annual Black Tie Dinner, how exciting is that?

Brad Pritchett: OMG! It’s so freaking exciting. I get goosebumps when I talk about it. and the fact that it's literally this weekend gets me even more giddy.

WESLO: This year, we see an incredible line-up of entertainers and speakers including Shangela from Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Queer Eye’s: Bobby Berk, Comedienne Dana Goldberg, Emmy Award Winning actress Niecy Nash, singer/song-writer Toddrick Hall, and my favorite RPDR judge, Michelle Visage… I just lost my breath. These are huge stars! Can you go into the process of how you select the line-up?

Brad Pritchett: It’s a daunting and scary process, I will tell you because there are moments when you feel like you don’t have anyone and there are moments when you put a 150 feelers out there and you know we as a part of a 501c3 non-profit, we don’t pay these people, they come out of the kindness of their heart. We don’t have budgets sitting around to shove thousands of dollars at these folks to actually accept their awards and speak at our dinner. We hope that they would do so not only to be recognized, but because they care about the LGBTQ community and they do. It’s a year long process. We started vetting these people a year ago. There were moments when we had only one, or two, and as we shape up and get closer to the dinner, now we are honored with this plethora of people that is now a stellar line-up.

WESLO: Anything you’re especially excited about this year?

Brad Pritchett: You know I’m really looking forward to some surprise moments we have built-in to the program to commemoratively give a nod to our past. We would be remiss to not take this 40th moment and really say, hey let's recognize where we've been while celebrating where we’re going, but let's really recognize where we've been. So there’s moments in the dinner this year that will shock and surprise our audience.

WESLO: How can people get involved?

Brad Pritchett: There are so many ways you can get involved. I would encourage someone to check out www.blacktie.org , that's our website. You don’t have to have a $400 ticket or be a corporate sponsor to come to our dinner, there are so many other entry points. Obviously buying a raffle ticket that goes to support our beneficiaries is a great option. You could even win a Mercedes Benz. Anyone can play in our auction launching this Friday online. You don’t even have to be present to bid. Last year, we launched our peer to peer giving campaign called Black Tie Ambassadors, so anyone can be an ambassador. You can set up a page, you can fundraise, you can donate $5, you can donate $500… Every thing helps and everything goes straight to our beneficiaries. I think that now we’re at a point with our organization that it’s not just for the “Rich People'' who enjoy coming to galas, it truly is for everyone who wants to be involved.

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