Kelly Guy Talks Community Work and BUILD Initiatives on The Day With Trae
Photos by Jordan Somers
On a recent episode of The Day With Trae, guest host Deaunte Damper interviewed Kelly Guy, the LOS Outreach Specialist at BUILD—Brothers United In Leadership Development. With 35 years of community work experience, including roles at Seattle Parks and Recreation and Casey Family Programs and currently as the Regional Director of Community Health Investments at Swedish, Guy shared her extensive outreach efforts, particularly her work with BUILD.
"I stepped into this position as outreach specialists to talk about arts and entertainment, to work with folks in that industry on independent contracts, and how to build an independent contract if they need templates," Guy said.
Her clients span a diverse array of artists, including musicians, poets, and muralists.
"We have this at BUILD, an arsenal of risk resources, but also how to support them as artists. They could be spoken word artists, muralists, or anybody who is developing or needs an independent contract," Guy said. "That's what we're here for."
Continuing that notion, she added, "It's all about protecting them as an artist, protecting their rights. Their property is a trademark. Somebody is doing a spoken word, making sure it's not being recorded and used in some other avenue where they're not getting paid or recognized."
She shares resources and information and connects individuals to investigators at the Office of Labor Standards if they feel their rights are being violated.
She highlighted her other work with BUILD and described an outreach event on Labor Day. Members of BUILD visited Columbia City to educate employers and employees in the food and retail industries about fair wages. They distributed flyers, pamphlets, and posters to be displayed in break rooms and lobby areas, ensuring employees had access to this crucial information.
"It's an empowerment organization," Guy said. "It started for really supporting and empowering brothers of color, but now it's expanded to the community of color."
Additionally, she has been helping produce a podcast with BUILD and has launched a newsletter. In this venture, they interview individuals working within the community and the arts. For their first episode, Guy spoke with Saran "S-Wrap" Thompson, a transformational speaker and hip-hop spoken word artist from the Dallas area. They will discuss the experiences of artists developing contracts and more in this and future segments. To learn more about Guy and her work, click here. Click here to learn more about BUILD and its initiatives, including Guy's podcast.
For more updates on organizations uplifting the community in Seattle, tune into Trae every weekday at 11 a.m. on all Converge Media platforms and The Day With Trae YouTube Channel.
