At 18, one of his first jobs was as a front desk agent and concierge for a major hotel in downtown Chicagoand that's when Ron Matthew Inawat realized how much he loved sharing information about the city with tourists and others who were looking for a first-hand recommendation about restaurants, nightlife, and other hidden gems.
He also then was going through his own complex coming-out.
"It was a bit tougher to get to that certain level of acceptance than it is nowadays," Inawat said. "The Center on Halsted, then called Horizons Community Center, helped me answer many of the questions I had and gave me that extra jolt of support I needed to get through that period.
"I had to give something back to the community after all that."
Soon after, combining his passion for sharing the city and giving back to the community, he founded the initial beginnings of ChicagoPride.cominside his Lakeview apartment.
"It was a rudimentary site by today's standards," Inawat said. "The Internet was a very new and untapped medium [at the time] and [yet] I wanted to help visitors coming to Chicago for the annual Pride Parade, [so they had] information to plan their trip before they left their homes."
ChicagoPride.com soon developed into one of Chicago's first new media websites for the local LGBT community.
Inawat and Steve Long are the leaders of the site.
Inawat, now 40, lives in Lincoln Square and is the president of GoPride Corp., now in its 12th year. His family immigrated to Chicago from the Philippines when he was 2, and grew up in the Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods, and also has lived in Lakeview. He has been partnered with Brian Decker for more than 17 years.
Long, a Kansas City native who moved to Chicago in 1999, is the executive vice president, content chief.
"It feels like 12 minutes," not 12 years, Inawat said. "I have been surrounded by so many talented and wonderful people. When Steve and I first started our journey, our mission had always been to empower our readers and visitors by providing information and sharing stories. GoPride has truly been a great pleasure to grow and develop, and I'm confident [that] our best is yet to come.
"Over the years, we've done some good things and have gotten some great recognition, but knowing that the website lives as a resource to anyone trying to connect with our community is what makes us tick.
ChicagoPride.com once was the escort of sorts for Kelly Osbourne during a visit to town. "That was just an amazing experience to know that we were there to showcase our city," Inawat said.
The ChicagoPride.com float in the annual Pride Parade has been star-studded in the past, including appearances by American Idol contestant Jim Verraros, radio personality DreX, pop/dance artist Jenna Drey, and actor Ronnie Kroell.
Inawat admitted he never envisioned it'd still be rolling strong 12 years later. "When we set out we weren't thinking in terms of how long we wanted to be around, but rather, the product we wanted to shape and the people we wanted to serve," he said.
Inawat is the "resident technology magician, supported [daily] by multiple double-shot triple-pump caramel macchiato, and I work with our executive team to lead the organization." He said the best part of his job is getting to envision and develop new campaigns, road maps, web features and putting the plans in place to see them through.
Inawat said ChicagoPride.com has, over the years, expanded well beyond Boystown, and even well beyond the 773 area code. "The site has been able to transcend the geographical boundaries and thereby increase communication between LGBT Chicagoans no matter where they live," he said.
ChicagoPride.com over the past years jumped from a mobile-friendly to a mobile-first website, meaning, "The website was primarily built with mobile users in mind," he said. "I think it's an important differentiation since the way we all consume news and information on the internet has taken a few leaps of change over the last decade."
The site is continually expanding. Take, for instance, its version of the popular #ThrowbackThursday, as a throwback photo wall will highlight photos from the past. "In addition to being a fun new element to help explore over a quarter million snapshots in our archive, we're looking to use it as a tool to help many of the organizations and events we sponsor highlight all of their previous years' hard work," Inawat said.
So how have Internet news-sites changed over the years?
"Ultimately, the media landscape, both in mainstream and gay media, has radically shifted from print to new media," he said. "Most recently, and particularly in larger markets, it's safe to say that we live in a mobile environment. Smartphone and mobile device usage has surpassed that of desktops and laptops. And Internet news sites have had to adapt to that changing landscape pretty rapidly.
"[Due to] that increased growth in mobile, we're seeing that stories are shared and information is circulated faster than it ever used to be. It's pretty exciting to see a thousand people share or react to a story within a matter of minutes."
On an average visit, ChicagoPride.com users spend about 24 minutes on the website, Inawat said. "That's pretty incredible and tells a great storymany visitors end up on the website looking to read a single news article or find a business in the city directory, but end up staying [on the site] to thumb through the weekend events calendar, read a feature [story], write a blog or browse through the free personal ads."
Inawat said one of the most under-rated areas of the site is its free personals. "The website serves as a connector on so many levelsand the matchmaker is a tangible representation of this," he said. "One of the website's main goals is to connect people to their interests, whether that's a volunteering interest or hobby, entertainment options, or a potential love interest."
Love also was a topic on the site back in early 2005in a controversial way.
"A suitor on the ABC-TV show 'The Bachelorette' was spotted in our photo galleries," Inawat said. "Although we made it pretty clear that subjects photographed in our gallery didn't necessarily mean they were gay, the photo was picked up on a number of [mainstream media] outlets, [including] the Chicago Sun-Times, E!, People Magazine, and US Weekly. The story took on a life of its own.
"The bachelor in question ended up leaving the show the next week."
Inawat added, "Outside of the news, I'm constantly amazed at the stream of proud moments that our visitors have shared with us. Every few months I get a short email from a visitor who just met 'Mr.' or 'Ms. Right' through the matchmaker on our website. And then there's the occasional handwritten letter that touches and thanks us for being a resource when they needed it mostwhether it was locating a business in the directory or gleaming strength and support from our Transgender channel."
Content on the site is largely community-driven. Chicago is the most popular of the current cities, while Los Angeles also is a strong market for the GoPride Network.
The site also sources information for Washington, D.C., and Miami.
"We have a few potential partners in other cities that are interested in working with us closely to provide the same technology platform we use here in Chicago. While I can't comment right now on specific future cities, we're always keeping an eye out for markets that make sense as a part of our mission," Inawat said.