About — The Generations Project

Our Mission

To cultivate intergenerational community and preserve LGBTQ+ history through oral story sharing. We produce and film live storytelling events and facilitate programs to foster connection and empathy across all ages, classes, and sexual and gender identities.

How Our Story Began

“History has always been a part of my life. My Dad was well-known for bringing history to life for every 10th grader in his classroom in our small hometown on the Oregon Coast. Being the youngest of six children, I grew up hearing about how his storytelling made even the most difficult students love history. Sadly, my Dad passed away the same year I was supposed to take his legendary history class. After moving to San Francisco, I began to discover the queer history I had never been taught in school. Images of people dying of AIDS really hit home, reminding me of my ailing father and his battle with cancer. I related to the pain and the feeling of survivor’s guilt many gay men once expressed to me.
I decided to enroll in Ethnic Studies and major in History with a perspective on minorities. I eventually moved to New York City and discovered how few people my age and younger knew about historical events that derived from the LGBTQ+ community.
In June 2015, when I was 27, I founded **The Generations Project** with the help of a group of friends. Together, we brought our collective LGBTQ+ history to life through storytelling, as we continue to do so today. One of my biggest regrets is not having a photo of my Dad and me together. It's a reminder of why we do the work we do at The Generations Project: preserving history, creating a record of these irreplaceable moments and people, so that in the future we won’t have to look back and regret letting them disappear.”
— **Wes Enos**, Executive Director of The Generations Project

Meet our Board of Directors

Grete Miller (she/they)

Grete is a documentarian, archival storyteller & LGBTQ+ activist, driving positive change across product, media and advocacy. They’re a Sr. CXOPS Specialist & Acting Product Manager at Shutterstock, where she co-founded and led their LGBTQ+ ERG & DEI council. As an internal DEI strategist, they've shaped inclusive visual storytelling, user and workplace policies and written on intersectional queer content development for the Shutterstock Blog. Grete is a longtime advocate for preserving LGBTQ+ history, queering content management, and making the invisible, visible.
Melissa Sklarz (she)

Melissa became the first trans person in New York to run for public office when she ran for state assembly in 2018. She is currently an elected District Leader, representing the 30th AD, Part B in Queens. She is a former president of Stonewall Democrats of NYC and a past Board Co-Chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda.
Anthony Abbatiello (he)

Anthony leads PwC’s Human Capital consulting business, delivering HR transformation, talent strategy, change management, organizational development, and rewards services to CEOs and CHROs across sectors and functions. Anthony is a master certified executive coach with focused expertise on CEO/Executive Transitions. He brings more than 25 years of leadership and HR consulting experience to advise companies in all industries, working as a trusted advisor on topics such as senior executive performance, transformational leadership, employee experience and succession management. .
MJ Yap (they)

MJ, originally from Manila, Philippines, has been a dedicated advocate for queer and trans rights since college, organizing events like the Metro Manila Pride March and engaging in grassroots community building and support, fundraising, and grant writing. Their advocacy extended to their corporate career as an IT professional and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) leader, where they worked on implementing same-gender partner benefits, gender-affirming healthcare, and inclusive workplace policies. Since moving to NYC seven years ago, MJ has been a small business entrepreneur and stage photographer, while also volunteering with organizations like the Tegan and Sara Foundation, NewFest, and Transmission Music Festival, furthering their commitment to queer and trans initiatives.

Thom Kam (he)

A native of Honolulu and a resident of NYC since the early 80s, Thom has moved through multiple careers and is currently an AVP at Wells Fargo. A veteran of more than a dozen AIDS Rides from Boston to NY, he also carries the title of Mr. Eagle NYC 2019.

Fernando Mariscal (he)

Fernando has been involved in social and human rights advocacy since an early age. He is one of the founding members of MHOL, the first LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Peru. He later became an AIDS activist and co-founded the ACT UP Latina/o Caucus in NY. He currently works as a Program Director at Community Access Inc., a non-profit organization providing housing and advocacy for people living with mental health concerns.

David Kennerley (he)

David is a freelance advertising copywriter and journalist specializing in LGBTQ culture. For nearly two decades, he has been an Arts & Entertainment reporter for Gay City News, the NYC-based LGBTQ newspaper and website. He is currently developing an illustrated book chronicling a history of queer nightclubs in New York. He recently published an illustrated book chronicling a history of queer nightclubs in New York, titled GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s.