Queer entrepreneurs often face stigma, a lack of resources and fewer opportunities than other small business owners. In fact, in 2021, the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement found that only 4% of all small businesses were owned by queer entrepreneurs—with this percentage even lower for transgender business owners.
But one queer-owned business is making sure that every business has the opportunity for visibility.
Niko Rosen Storment has always been a jack of all trades. With more than a decade of experience as a singer-songwriter, videographer, photographer and events producer, Storment wanted to use his unique skill set in marketing to bring attention to LGBTQ+-owned and run businesses and events.
In 2023, Storment began his entrepreneurial journey with San Francisco’s Transgender District’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator—a four-month program that provides training, resources and funding to transgender and non-binary business owners at absolutely no cost. Each attendee is given access to information sessions, webinars, mentorship opportunities, one-on-one coaching, website building assistance, free business tax filings and a seed grant of $10,000 for those who complete the program.
Using these resources, Storment was able to open Rosen Creative House (RCH), a trans-owned creative agency that would be safe and accepting of all people.
“I founded Rosen Creative House because, after years of freelancing as an artist myself, I started to realize there was a wealth of knowledge that could’ve saved me so much strife, time and money had I just known about it,” Storment says.
This realization is the driving force behind RCH. It’s not just about producing exceptional creative content; it’s about creating a space where queer and trans artists can feel supported, receive resources and grow without having to compromise their identity for a paycheck.
Since its opening, RCH has worked with major organizations such as the Trans Futures Stage at San Francisco Pride, VAMP, the Trans Agenda and the Queer Wellness Symposium. The agency provides essential services to businesses, brands and events through its growing network of experienced videographers, photographers, models, actors and marketers—many of whom are also LGBTQ+ identifying.
“As humans, we model what we see,” Storment said in an interview with the American Marketing Association. “If we only see [trans people] dying, how does a young trans person imagine themselves as they grow up, [able to] commit to a long-term career and invest in their success? If you have a Gap billboard and one person on it is trans, that can mean a lot to people, even subconsciously, because they’re seeing that they can grow up.”
For Storment and the rest of his team, success is about fostering a community where artists, especially queer and trans artists, can live authentically. The success stories of the creatives RCH support reflect the company’s dedication to shaping a future where queer and trans individuals are celebrated not only for their identities, but also for their talents.
RCH is not just changing the creative landscape—it’s revolutionizing it.
“Our programs are vital,” Carlo Gomez Arteaga, San Francisco’s Transgender District’s co-director, said of businesses like RCH. “We really want to uplift the importance of what this funding and these opportunities mean for our community, especially during these years where we’re ‘otherized’ and many in our community are criminalized for just existing when we just want dignity and the ability to have civil rights and liberties as anyone else in the U.S.”
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