Pride This Way Looks Beyond the Glitter

There’s no shortage of rainbow-washed content come June. But for executive producer Heather J. Taylor, the real story of Pride lives far beyond the parade route and long after Pride Month.

“What I saw was gaps,” Taylor says. “I see five main pillars that need support, and we need to amplify voices, and we need to create content around it.” That realization became Pillars of Change Media, Taylor’s purpose-driven studio rooted in social justice, human rights, education, health and wellness, and food insecurity. But Taylor didn’t want to stop at storytelling alone. “What I don’t want to do is just be another production company,” she explains. “I don’t want to just produce content. I want to pay it forward because if I’m going to make content, then I want to make sure that someone’s benefiting from it.”

Enter Pride This Way, launching this month, a globetrotting podcast-vodcast hybrid that aims to capture what Taylor calls “the grit and the glitter” of Pride celebrations across the world. “Everybody understands the glitter, but what goes on behind the scenes?” she asks. “Some of these performers, these DJs, the people that are involved—they all have stories to share.”

That ethos shapes a series that moves fluidly between joy and justice. One moment, viewers are on a float surrounded by music and celebration, and the next, they’re confronting the realities shaping LGBTQ lives today. “It’s about the politics that’s happening,” she explains. “From bulldozing rainbow crosswalks to being on a float where everybody’s excited,” adds Taylor, “that’s the joy, and that’s the justice. We’re not going to just shy away from those hard stories.”

Filming across cities that include Miami Beach, Manchester, and Amsterdam, the series highlights both global diversity and shared struggle. “I think there are similarities in some of the stories, including struggles with sponsorship, but also mismanagement of funds,” Taylor reveals. “I’ve heard it in Manchester, and I’ve heard about it in Leeds,” she adds. “They’re very similar stories, it’s just against a different background.”

What sets Pride This Way apart is its commitment to impact. “Our Pay-It-Forward recipients include UKPON, InterPride, and trusted non-profits around the world, and will donate to the OutSmart Foundation for LGBTQ News and Media for the Houston Pride and Texas-specific episodes this year. Every subscribe, listen and download pays it forward to over 375 Pride organizations around the world,” says Taylor.

That “pay it forward” model isn’t just a tagline. It’s baked into the production itself, with a vetting process to ensure funds reach communities that need them most. “Our legal department vets each source,” she notes. “We go through that process, and then we pay it forward.”

For clarity, Pillars of Change Media itself is a for-profit venture that works with nonprofits, community groups, and even individuals. “We look for an individual, community, or nonprofit, and then we may pay it forward just to that person or organization,” she says of their charitable giving. “Let’s say somebody says, ‘I can’t afford surgery,’ and they send us a presentation. They say, ‘Look, I could really use surgery.’ Well, we’ll vet that.” This step is crucial for Pillars of Change to ensure that any donated funds are used for suitable purposes.

At its core, Pride This Way is also about access, both to stories and to spaces. Taylor recalls conversations with people who had to travel hours just to experience Pride safely. “‘I couldn’t come out in my own city, but when I went to my first Pride, all of a sudden I could be myself,’” she recalls someone telling her during her filming. “I know what that feels like. I remember walking into my first gay bar. I remember walking into my first lesbian bar after being in the closet,” she adds.

It’s sharing relatable stories like this that make her feel called to create and produce this series. “Sometimes it’s like little choir angels going off,” she admits. “You just feel lifted, and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘I can do this, I’ve got this, I’m gonna make this happen.’”

That sense of possibility extends to the audience. “I hope they find Pride This Way to be a safe space, whether they listen to it, watch it, or both,” Taylor imparts. “And I hope that it encourages people to travel, because queer travel is one of the highest-ranking categories for podcasts because not everybody has kids.”

The series also challenges the idea that Pride is a once-a-year event. With episodes rolling out year round, Taylor envisions something closer to a global connective thread. “With this show, we really can celebrate Pride 365 days a year,” she says. “We’re going to be dropping new episodes all year long. It will string all of these cities together, which is a very important thing because we are stronger together.”

The first episodes reflect that ambition. Episode 1 dives into LGBTQ history using rare archival footage, while Episode 2 heads to Miami Beach Pride, featuring performers like Latrice Royale and DJ Tracy Young alongside local organizers and politicians. “We had so much content that we had to make Miami Beach Pride a two-part episode,” Taylor says.

Ultimately, Pride This Way isn’t just about documenting Pride. It’s about redefining how those stories are told and who benefits from them. Asked to sum up the series, Taylor keeps it simple: “Pride This Way is a globetrotting, all-access pass to Pride celebrations around the world.”

In a media landscape often driven by trends, that mission feels both timely and necessary. It’s not just an invitation to watch Pride, but to understand it, support it, and carry it forward.

For more info, visit pridethisway.com.