We are the Phoenix and we are rising

The catalyst

In 2018, founder and CEO Topher Steele went through a severe mental health crisis that ended in a suicide attempt, followed by eleven days in a mental health hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, a state then averaging 1.8 deaths by suicide every single day.

Eleven days was enough time to sit with the silence, to grieve the version of himself that brought him there, and to begin the slow, sacred work of becoming someone new.

On May 18, 2018, about two and a half months after leaving the hospital, Topher watched Steel Magnolias. A character's death struck a chord deep enough to reframe everything he thought he knew about pain and purpose, and one realization crystallized: these tragedies can be prevented.

He founded a 501(c)(3) dedicated to suicide awareness, education, and literacy for the LGBTQ+ community, and named it Maggie's Gurls, a fusion of his last name, Steele, and Magnolia from the film that cracked him open.

Drag Queens with a Purpose

People do not open up in sterile waiting rooms. They open up in spaces where they feel celebrated, seen, and safe. Drag, with its defiant glamour and centuries-deep roots in LGBTQ+ survival, is one of the most powerful vehicles for connection and healing that exists.

That is why our events, including the Coming Out Gayla with live bands and drag performers, are about belonging as much as they are about celebration. And it is why four drag performers travel in a classic 1959 Cadillac DeVille, rolling into communities and across social feeds to talk openly about depression, suicidal ideation, and mental health.

We are dismantling stigma one sequin at a time, proving you can be fabulous, fierce, and hurting all at once, and that all of it is worthy of love.

Sorry Not Sorry

Our national campaign is a declaration and a refusal to shrink. To every queer person told they were too much, too loud, too themselves: you owe no one an apology for existing.

You cannot burn someone who has already risen from the fire.

Beneath the boldness is something tender: a reminder that your life has immense value, that a community is ready to embrace you exactly as you are, and that the world is not better without you in it. Sorry Not Sorry is not a slogan. It is a reason to stay.

Lumera Jewelry

Topher has served as CEO of Lumera Jewelry since January 2024, weaving modern, intentional craftsmanship together with his life's work in suicide prevention. Lumera's tagline says it: the impact is in your story, the jewelry will show the truth. Every piece sold helps fund education, outreach, and safe spaces.

Maggie's House

We are working on a $3.4 million initiative with commercial real estate developers to build 10 townhomes as a dedicated sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community. A physical home for people who have never had one, where the door is always open.

From a hospital bed in Salt Lake City to the helm of a national movement, the message has never changed. They have already been through the fire. They have already risen. They are the Phoenix, and they are not sorry.