www.ambientes.us AUGUST / AGOSTO 2007
An INTERVIEW with Chip Arndt
By Herb Sosa
Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing
for others?'" Willis "Chip" Arndt is one of this people that inspire all of us to do more - to serve
others.
Just when you think he has done it all, he has once again
raised the bar and moved on to the next project. From The
Amazing Race to Miami’s White Party® and now a national
Gay American Heroes Memorial Project –Chip Arndt keeps
us all aware and on the move. Hop on!
According to his bio, Chip was born the youngest and only
boy of four children, graduated from the prestigious, private
Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, after which he won a
fellowship for an extra year at the Harrow School, outside
London. He played professional golf for a time, before entering
Harvard University for an MBA in 1996 He was President of the
Harvard Graduate School Leadership and Ethics Forum,
Chairman and Founder of the Annual Harvard Business, Law,
and Kennedy School of Government Debate, and President of
the Harvard Business School Gay and Lesbian Student
Association. He worked as an investment banker for Morgan
Stanley in the US, Europe and Asia as well as in a variety of
capacities in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, notably
with Steve Tisch. As the former Public Relations and Marketing
Manager for Care Resource, South Florida's oldest and largest HIV/AIDS services organization, he helped
produce the 2005 AIDS Walk Miami, and spearheaded the 21st annual White Party, its week-long fund-raiser,
which, at his initiative, emphasized a zero tolerance drugs policy for the first time. Currently, he is Co-Founder
and Executive Vice President at www.MerchantAdvantage.com, a Miami-based e-commerce software
company, and serves on the Board of Directors of FLIMP Media Marketing, a Boston-based rich media, video
e-mail company. He is President of Miami Dade’s Freedom Democrats, serves on the Board of Gay
American Heroes Foundation, will be the Grand Marshall for AIDS Walk 2007 in Washington, DC in October,
and is raising $100,000 for HIV/AIDS in 2007 for 9 organizations in Florida, Washington DC, and New York
City at his website www.MySpace.com/chiparndt
HS: Most of the world first heard of you and your partner Reichen Lehmkuhl thru your participation and
ultimate win of CBS’s reality show, The Amazing Race in 2003. What did you feel when anti-gay groups
such as the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America accused CBS of "thrusting
'married gays' on the public. Did you take it personally? How did it affect you? Your relationship?
CA: I was not hurt but saddened to see how much further this country has to go to accept people for who they
are. I was upset knowing that the people at these organizations, who I am sure have family members and
friends who are LGBT, are so hateful; if they act this way to me just imagine how they are supporting their
LGBT and family and friends in their own community. It is obvious that as long as we have people and
organizations that demonize people for being who they are, we too as a community have to step up and
provide support and a voice for those they demonize. Their response made me even more determined to
raise awareness that being LGBT is as wonderful as being anything else. I actually am working on two
Foundations, www.GayAmericanHeroes.com and www.ChipArndt.com, to do just that. As far as my
relationship with Reichen, we covered much of that topic in an Advocate interview a while back. As a
summary, being thrust into the limelight does affect your relationship and it just depends how you handle it.
We both were at growing stages in our life and wanted different things, very similar to what any relationship,
gay or straight, goes through. So we decided it was best to follow our own path and remain good friends,
which has worked well for both of us.
HS: Reichen and you received incredible publicity from Amazing Race, and of course, being a gay â
€œmarriedâ€� couple. You separated shortly after the series originally aired. Were there added pressures
on your relationship by being so public and labeled as the “poster children� for gay relationships?
CA: Well we did not see ourselves as poster children, but we realized very soon thereafter that many people
wanted us to be, as there simply were not many visible public “married gay people.� The separation
was hard because we did see that there was an opportunity to help show that LGBT people can have loving
and caring marriages just like anybody else. It became even harder because we decided that, for our
individual well being, we needed to part ways even though being the “married couple in the spotlight�
could be a very powerful voice in helping gain rights for LGBT people. Balancing the two is not easy on any
couple and, in the end, we needed to answer to our relationship first and what was best for each of us and
then do what we could for the LGBT community as a successfully separated couple. We actually think we
may be good role models for how to separate amicably and still be in each other’s life. (smiling)
HS: Tell me about growing up in Connecticut. Family life… Your teenage years in the closet
CA: Well, I was very fortunate and grew up in an environment where I was not wanting for much, but to be able
to say that I was gay. It was not easy to accept who I was, let alone come out, raised in a Republican
Conservative environment. So I ignored my deep feelings, which were confusing. I did no even know what
gay meant or was. There was no internet (yes, I am that old… LOL) and no one to talk to in rural
Connecticut, so I was lost. I dated a lot of girls to prove my manhood. That was very destructive. I moved
easily through relationships, not really caring about anybody and ultimately losing touch with myself and
hurting the girls I was dating. I had no answers only questions and I felt that there was no one to turn to – I
began to hate myself. Self loathing is terrible thing and leads to nowhere. I was lucky to attend Yale where
there were some very “open� people, straight and gay, that befriended me and showed me that it was
wonderful to be me and not some artificial perception of me. And to be candid, I did not realize I was gay until
I was 17, I just thought that the fact that I liked spending time with my male friends was me wanting a brother
in my life – until I realized that I wanted much more than that! LOL I kept denying these deeper, more
emotionally feelings until finally coming out at 22 to my family and a close friends. When I did come out to my
family, I was scared to death to lose their support, as we were all very close. Lo and behold they were all fine
with it, for the most part. It took my Dad about ten years to even use the word “gay� around me and
agree to meet my gay friends and significant other but my step-sister said: “Finally, I knew you were gay,
you are too nice and caring to be straight. Thankfully now you don’t have to live a lie and you can be
happy with being you.� That was a wonderful thing to say; I just hope others have people say that to them
too.
HS: How has your very public life affected your family? Have they been supportive of you?
CA: That is a great question, because people don’t realize that when your name is in tabloids and on TV
as a “gay� man, let alone a “gay married man� there are ramifications. I have 9 nieces and
nephews and I am so proud of them and how they handled it in school. At the time of the Amazing Race 3,
they ranged in age from 5 to 16 and everyone had to deal with my “celebrity� and “gay celebrity�
in their schools in New Jersey and Maine, not exactly hot beds of acceptance of GLBT people. They were all
teased at first, but then amazingly they, yes the kids themselves, turned it around and it was “cool to have
a gay uncle on national TV.� I am just so thankful that it took this positive turn and the credit belongs to the
kids! It just shows that maybe, okay hopefully, the next generations of kids start to think “it is cool to be
who you are.� I actually ended up speaking at two of their schools. That was fun, educational and
progressive!
HS: Much of your public service work has been with the LGBT youth, and you have inspired persons across
the globe thru your words, honesty and actions. Did you have role models that inspired you to be yourself,
growing up?
CA: The best family role models are by dad and step-dad, when I was young. They instilled me a sense that
you can do anything you want, as long as you work hard, stay focused, believe in what you are doing and give
back. So many people think that success comes easily, it doesn’t, no matter what you do. Relentless
determination is the key. I also loved athletes because to excel at a sport requires such discipline, to be the
best, while under publicly scrutiny. Those role models were hockey star, Gordie Howe, Dan Marino, and Jack
Nicklaus. As for LGBT role models, Larry Kramer, Founder of Act Up, was the first who I highly respected
because he was articulate, super smart, and in the trenches doing things. I tire of people who just talk. Then
there was David Mixner, a lifelong LGBT activist and a close friend of President Clinton’s, who I met when
I lived in Los Angeles and Andy Tobias, author of “The Best Little Boy in the World� and Treasurer of
the DNC. They are still mentors today and showed me how to combine activism with smarts and action,
while staying true to myself.
HS: You were one of the earliest patients diagnosed with Lyme Disease, named for the small Connecticut
town where you lived before leaving for college. Do you think living with this illness made you more sensitive
to others needs and motivated you more into working health related causes?
CA: Absolutely! The really hard part of Lyme’s Disease is that no one has a cure and knows what to do to
get rid of it. It is kinda like HIV/AIDS in that regard, as it can be life threatening but nowhere near the level of
HIV/AIDS and certainly without the awful ongoing side effects. I technically still have it. I got Lyme Disease
when I was 11 years old while pulling bushes in a field from a deer tick – but the doctors say it is dormant
and I have not had any effects, that I know of, since I was 20. I remember that about twice a year, almost
exactly to the date, for 10 years my body would just shut down for two days, for no apparent reason. I would
sleep for two days and it went away.
HS: You seemed to have shifted away from an international professional life in finance and entertainment.
Have these been calculated changes? What triggered these changes?
CA: My mother’s early death, when I was 27 and living and doing investment banking in Hong Kong for
Morgan Stanley, triggered my desire to come home and be closer to my family. Working on Wall Street were
the most demanding years of my life with all of us putting in 70+ hours a week all of the time and it definitely
took me away from being with family. I needed a break and my mother’s death woke me up to the fact
that making money and being glamorous were not the values I cherished the most in my life. So I came
home and went to business school at Harvard, which was near my whole family. It was the best decision I
could have made because I then went back to school, I had two years to reassess in my late twenties what I
really wanted to do with my life after experiencing seven intense years in the business world.
HS: You have done incredible work for HIV/AIDS awareness & fundraising. What inspired you to do this?
CA: It chose me. I lived in New York City at a time which has become known as the “tail end� of the
first AIDS crisis. There were no drug cocktails and very little hope for people with HIV. People back then did
not live with HIV, they were dying. I held the hands of five friends as they died, some at home, some at the
hospital. It was awful. As I said it chose me.
HS: Tell me about your life today. Living in Miami Beach- Starting yet another business venture – Merchant
Advantage and now the Heroes Project…What is the Gay Americans Heroes Project?
CA: I love Miami. It is so international. I love walking down Lincoln Road and hearing 10 languages spoken.
We are truly an international gateway to culture and fun, of course! I started www.MerchantAdvantage.com
two years ago. We help any online merchant, selling products on line, with their online marketing campaigns
through a very cost-effective tool. It is going great. It is going so well that I actually helped start another
company and sit on its Board out of Boston. It is called www.FLIMP.net and it focuses on rich, media video
email. We are working with the Women’s Tennis Association and many other organizations; that
company is really taking off nicely. Gay American Heroes is the brainchild of a new friend, Scott Hall, who
was a victim of a hate crime against LGBT people – twice! The second time he was left to die at a gas
station after being beaten in Cocoa, Florida. I see this project as a perfect vehicle to show people that hate
crimes are rampant in the USA through an actual exhibition. People always respond to visuals better than
just rhetoric. Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans-gendered persons are subject to hate crimes everyday in
America. It is time to show this reality in a way that reveals the impact of hate on our country’s citizens.
Our mission is to honor and remember LGBT victims of hate crimes through an traveling exhibition, to
engage and inform the public about hate crimes against LGBT persons, to inspire compassion and greater
appreciation and acceptance of diversity. I am unsure why it has not been done before but I am proud to be
on the founding Board. We are excited that many, many wonderful celebrities and LGBT leaders, as Chad
Allen, Bobby Gant, Alan Cumming, Sgt. Eric Alva, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank and national organizations as the
National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce and Trevor Project have blessed this project and already have come
aboard to support it only a few weeks after we just launched earlier this month.
HS: What about a personal life? Anyone special in your life now, or is there even personal time in your life?
CA: LOL…personal time is what you make of it and define as personal. I look at my time spent on this earth
as valuable, each minute is precious as you never know when it will be snatched away ---remember that I
lost both my mother and my best friend, my sister, way too early in their lives. So for me, I don’t see the
difference in enjoyment of spending non-business time lounging on the beach, which we all do in stunning
Miami from time to time, as different than spending my non-business time with friends at a charity event or
raising money and awareness for causes and organizations that help people. So personal time melds into
helping out – and I find that I am not alone, lot’s of people do this. Okay, if you want to get really
personal, I love golf, riding motor cycles, watching sunsets on my best friend’s balcony with a cold
Becks beer, and scuba diving. As for someone special? Mayyyyyybe! LOL Yes, there is a very special man
in my life, whom I adore. We are certainly different but we “getâ€� each other and put up with each other â
€“ isn’t that relationships are really all about? (smiling) We don’t live in the same city but it works, for
now, as we balance our busy schedules….we will be together soon in the same city…just not yet!
HS: With all that you have done and accomplished in your life (so far), is there anything you wanted to do but
didn’t/haven’t? Why?
CA: I tried to play professional golf my fist two years out of college. I wasn’t bad and have several friends
on the PGA Tour who I used to beat during my college days. I think if I had focused my attention more there I
could have made a good living on the PGA Tour now or elsewhere. I am not Tiger Woods, he is a unique
phenom, but maybe I could have become the first openly gay golfer on the PGA Tour and broken some
barriers down there. Now that would have been a first!!!! (laughing) But why look back, there is so much to do
ahead of me?
HS: What do you hope to inspire in people?
CA: Contribute. We all have something special to give, LGBT, straight or whatever. Realize how special you
are, surround your self by people, who inspire you and help you realize how special you are, and then…..
CONTRIBUTE.
Chip has always been the perfect gentleman since the day I met him. Always smiling, always polite, always
persuasive. A pied-piper of sorts that inspires and yes, CONTRIBUTES alot to his community and those
around him. .
I have had the priviledge of working with him, of exchanging ideas and inspirations with him, of helping
others collectively - and in the process, I have met one of the kindest and most giving people anyone could
hope to know.
Copyright © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE. Do not reproduce without citing this source.
An INTERVIEW with Chip Arndt
By Herb Sosa
Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing
for others?'" Willis "Chip" Arndt is one of this people that inspire all of us to do more - to serve
others.
Just when you think he has done it all, he has once again
raised the bar and moved on to the next project. From The
Amazing Race to Miami’s White Party® and now a national
Gay American Heroes Memorial Project –Chip Arndt keeps
us all aware and on the move. Hop on!
According to his bio, Chip was born the youngest and only
boy of four children, graduated from the prestigious, private
Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, after which he won a
fellowship for an extra year at the Harrow School, outside
London. He played professional golf for a time, before entering
Harvard University for an MBA in 1996 He was President of the
Harvard Graduate School Leadership and Ethics Forum,
Chairman and Founder of the Annual Harvard Business, Law,
and Kennedy School of Government Debate, and President of
the Harvard Business School Gay and Lesbian Student
Association. He worked as an investment banker for Morgan
Stanley in the US, Europe and Asia as well as in a variety of
capacities in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, notably
with Steve Tisch. As the former Public Relations and Marketing
Manager for Care Resource, South Florida's oldest and largest HIV/AIDS services organization, he helped
produce the 2005 AIDS Walk Miami, and spearheaded the 21st annual White Party, its week-long fund-raiser,
which, at his initiative, emphasized a zero tolerance drugs policy for the first time. Currently, he is Co-Founder
and Executive Vice President at www.MerchantAdvantage.com, a Miami-based e-commerce software
company, and serves on the Board of Directors of FLIMP Media Marketing, a Boston-based rich media, video
e-mail company. He is President of Miami Dade’s Freedom Democrats, serves on the Board of Gay
American Heroes Foundation, will be the Grand Marshall for AIDS Walk 2007 in Washington, DC in October,
and is raising $100,000 for HIV/AIDS in 2007 for 9 organizations in Florida, Washington DC, and New York
City at his website www.MySpace.com/chiparndt
HS: Most of the world first heard of you and your partner Reichen Lehmkuhl thru your participation and
ultimate win of CBS’s reality show, The Amazing Race in 2003. What did you feel when anti-gay groups
such as the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America accused CBS of "thrusting
'married gays' on the public. Did you take it personally? How did it affect you? Your relationship?
CA: I was not hurt but saddened to see how much further this country has to go to accept people for who they
are. I was upset knowing that the people at these organizations, who I am sure have family members and
friends who are LGBT, are so hateful; if they act this way to me just imagine how they are supporting their
LGBT and family and friends in their own community. It is obvious that as long as we have people and
organizations that demonize people for being who they are, we too as a community have to step up and
provide support and a voice for those they demonize. Their response made me even more determined to
raise awareness that being LGBT is as wonderful as being anything else. I actually am working on two
Foundations, www.GayAmericanHeroes.com and www.ChipArndt.com, to do just that. As far as my
relationship with Reichen, we covered much of that topic in an Advocate interview a while back. As a
summary, being thrust into the limelight does affect your relationship and it just depends how you handle it.
We both were at growing stages in our life and wanted different things, very similar to what any relationship,
gay or straight, goes through. So we decided it was best to follow our own path and remain good friends,
which has worked well for both of us.
HS: Reichen and you received incredible publicity from Amazing Race, and of course, being a gay â
€œmarriedâ€� couple. You separated shortly after the series originally aired. Were there added pressures
on your relationship by being so public and labeled as the “poster children� for gay relationships?
CA: Well we did not see ourselves as poster children, but we realized very soon thereafter that many people
wanted us to be, as there simply were not many visible public “married gay people.� The separation
was hard because we did see that there was an opportunity to help show that LGBT people can have loving
and caring marriages just like anybody else. It became even harder because we decided that, for our
individual well being, we needed to part ways even though being the “married couple in the spotlight�
could be a very powerful voice in helping gain rights for LGBT people. Balancing the two is not easy on any
couple and, in the end, we needed to answer to our relationship first and what was best for each of us and
then do what we could for the LGBT community as a successfully separated couple. We actually think we
may be good role models for how to separate amicably and still be in each other’s life. (smiling)
HS: Tell me about growing up in Connecticut. Family life… Your teenage years in the closet
CA: Well, I was very fortunate and grew up in an environment where I was not wanting for much, but to be able
to say that I was gay. It was not easy to accept who I was, let alone come out, raised in a Republican
Conservative environment. So I ignored my deep feelings, which were confusing. I did no even know what
gay meant or was. There was no internet (yes, I am that old… LOL) and no one to talk to in rural
Connecticut, so I was lost. I dated a lot of girls to prove my manhood. That was very destructive. I moved
easily through relationships, not really caring about anybody and ultimately losing touch with myself and
hurting the girls I was dating. I had no answers only questions and I felt that there was no one to turn to – I
began to hate myself. Self loathing is terrible thing and leads to nowhere. I was lucky to attend Yale where
there were some very “open� people, straight and gay, that befriended me and showed me that it was
wonderful to be me and not some artificial perception of me. And to be candid, I did not realize I was gay until
I was 17, I just thought that the fact that I liked spending time with my male friends was me wanting a brother
in my life – until I realized that I wanted much more than that! LOL I kept denying these deeper, more
emotionally feelings until finally coming out at 22 to my family and a close friends. When I did come out to my
family, I was scared to death to lose their support, as we were all very close. Lo and behold they were all fine
with it, for the most part. It took my Dad about ten years to even use the word “gay� around me and
agree to meet my gay friends and significant other but my step-sister said: “Finally, I knew you were gay,
you are too nice and caring to be straight. Thankfully now you don’t have to live a lie and you can be
happy with being you.� That was a wonderful thing to say; I just hope others have people say that to them
too.
HS: How has your very public life affected your family? Have they been supportive of you?
CA: That is a great question, because people don’t realize that when your name is in tabloids and on TV
as a “gay� man, let alone a “gay married man� there are ramifications. I have 9 nieces and
nephews and I am so proud of them and how they handled it in school. At the time of the Amazing Race 3,
they ranged in age from 5 to 16 and everyone had to deal with my “celebrity� and “gay celebrity�
in their schools in New Jersey and Maine, not exactly hot beds of acceptance of GLBT people. They were all
teased at first, but then amazingly they, yes the kids themselves, turned it around and it was “cool to have
a gay uncle on national TV.� I am just so thankful that it took this positive turn and the credit belongs to the
kids! It just shows that maybe, okay hopefully, the next generations of kids start to think “it is cool to be
who you are.� I actually ended up speaking at two of their schools. That was fun, educational and
progressive!
HS: Much of your public service work has been with the LGBT youth, and you have inspired persons across
the globe thru your words, honesty and actions. Did you have role models that inspired you to be yourself,
growing up?
CA: The best family role models are by dad and step-dad, when I was young. They instilled me a sense that
you can do anything you want, as long as you work hard, stay focused, believe in what you are doing and give
back. So many people think that success comes easily, it doesn’t, no matter what you do. Relentless
determination is the key. I also loved athletes because to excel at a sport requires such discipline, to be the
best, while under publicly scrutiny. Those role models were hockey star, Gordie Howe, Dan Marino, and Jack
Nicklaus. As for LGBT role models, Larry Kramer, Founder of Act Up, was the first who I highly respected
because he was articulate, super smart, and in the trenches doing things. I tire of people who just talk. Then
there was David Mixner, a lifelong LGBT activist and a close friend of President Clinton’s, who I met when
I lived in Los Angeles and Andy Tobias, author of “The Best Little Boy in the World� and Treasurer of
the DNC. They are still mentors today and showed me how to combine activism with smarts and action,
while staying true to myself.
HS: You were one of the earliest patients diagnosed with Lyme Disease, named for the small Connecticut
town where you lived before leaving for college. Do you think living with this illness made you more sensitive
to others needs and motivated you more into working health related causes?
CA: Absolutely! The really hard part of Lyme’s Disease is that no one has a cure and knows what to do to
get rid of it. It is kinda like HIV/AIDS in that regard, as it can be life threatening but nowhere near the level of
HIV/AIDS and certainly without the awful ongoing side effects. I technically still have it. I got Lyme Disease
when I was 11 years old while pulling bushes in a field from a deer tick – but the doctors say it is dormant
and I have not had any effects, that I know of, since I was 20. I remember that about twice a year, almost
exactly to the date, for 10 years my body would just shut down for two days, for no apparent reason. I would
sleep for two days and it went away.
HS: You seemed to have shifted away from an international professional life in finance and entertainment.
Have these been calculated changes? What triggered these changes?
CA: My mother’s early death, when I was 27 and living and doing investment banking in Hong Kong for
Morgan Stanley, triggered my desire to come home and be closer to my family. Working on Wall Street were
the most demanding years of my life with all of us putting in 70+ hours a week all of the time and it definitely
took me away from being with family. I needed a break and my mother’s death woke me up to the fact
that making money and being glamorous were not the values I cherished the most in my life. So I came
home and went to business school at Harvard, which was near my whole family. It was the best decision I
could have made because I then went back to school, I had two years to reassess in my late twenties what I
really wanted to do with my life after experiencing seven intense years in the business world.
HS: You have done incredible work for HIV/AIDS awareness & fundraising. What inspired you to do this?
CA: It chose me. I lived in New York City at a time which has become known as the “tail end� of the
first AIDS crisis. There were no drug cocktails and very little hope for people with HIV. People back then did
not live with HIV, they were dying. I held the hands of five friends as they died, some at home, some at the
hospital. It was awful. As I said it chose me.
HS: Tell me about your life today. Living in Miami Beach- Starting yet another business venture – Merchant
Advantage and now the Heroes Project…What is the Gay Americans Heroes Project?
CA: I love Miami. It is so international. I love walking down Lincoln Road and hearing 10 languages spoken.
We are truly an international gateway to culture and fun, of course! I started www.MerchantAdvantage.com
two years ago. We help any online merchant, selling products on line, with their online marketing campaigns
through a very cost-effective tool. It is going great. It is going so well that I actually helped start another
company and sit on its Board out of Boston. It is called www.FLIMP.net and it focuses on rich, media video
email. We are working with the Women’s Tennis Association and many other organizations; that
company is really taking off nicely. Gay American Heroes is the brainchild of a new friend, Scott Hall, who
was a victim of a hate crime against LGBT people – twice! The second time he was left to die at a gas
station after being beaten in Cocoa, Florida. I see this project as a perfect vehicle to show people that hate
crimes are rampant in the USA through an actual exhibition. People always respond to visuals better than
just rhetoric. Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans-gendered persons are subject to hate crimes everyday in
America. It is time to show this reality in a way that reveals the impact of hate on our country’s citizens.
Our mission is to honor and remember LGBT victims of hate crimes through an traveling exhibition, to
engage and inform the public about hate crimes against LGBT persons, to inspire compassion and greater
appreciation and acceptance of diversity. I am unsure why it has not been done before but I am proud to be
on the founding Board. We are excited that many, many wonderful celebrities and LGBT leaders, as Chad
Allen, Bobby Gant, Alan Cumming, Sgt. Eric Alva, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank and national organizations as the
National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce and Trevor Project have blessed this project and already have come
aboard to support it only a few weeks after we just launched earlier this month.
HS: What about a personal life? Anyone special in your life now, or is there even personal time in your life?
CA: LOL…personal time is what you make of it and define as personal. I look at my time spent on this earth
as valuable, each minute is precious as you never know when it will be snatched away ---remember that I
lost both my mother and my best friend, my sister, way too early in their lives. So for me, I don’t see the
difference in enjoyment of spending non-business time lounging on the beach, which we all do in stunning
Miami from time to time, as different than spending my non-business time with friends at a charity event or
raising money and awareness for causes and organizations that help people. So personal time melds into
helping out – and I find that I am not alone, lot’s of people do this. Okay, if you want to get really
personal, I love golf, riding motor cycles, watching sunsets on my best friend’s balcony with a cold
Becks beer, and scuba diving. As for someone special? Mayyyyyybe! LOL Yes, there is a very special man
in my life, whom I adore. We are certainly different but we “getâ€� each other and put up with each other â
€“ isn’t that relationships are really all about? (smiling) We don’t live in the same city but it works, for
now, as we balance our busy schedules….we will be together soon in the same city…just not yet!
HS: With all that you have done and accomplished in your life (so far), is there anything you wanted to do but
didn’t/haven’t? Why?
CA: I tried to play professional golf my fist two years out of college. I wasn’t bad and have several friends
on the PGA Tour who I used to beat during my college days. I think if I had focused my attention more there I
could have made a good living on the PGA Tour now or elsewhere. I am not Tiger Woods, he is a unique
phenom, but maybe I could have become the first openly gay golfer on the PGA Tour and broken some
barriers down there. Now that would have been a first!!!! (laughing) But why look back, there is so much to do
ahead of me?
HS: What do you hope to inspire in people?
CA: Contribute. We all have something special to give, LGBT, straight or whatever. Realize how special you
are, surround your self by people, who inspire you and help you realize how special you are, and then…..
CONTRIBUTE.
Chip has always been the perfect gentleman since the day I met him. Always smiling, always polite, always
persuasive. A pied-piper of sorts that inspires and yes, CONTRIBUTES alot to his community and those
around him. .
I have had the priviledge of working with him, of exchanging ideas and inspirations with him, of helping
others collectively - and in the process, I have met one of the kindest and most giving people anyone could
hope to know.
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