1. INMANTHERE’S A PLAN FOR THAT
WalkingthroughthehallsofSchoenbaumandMason,MichaelInmancan’ttaketwostepswithouthavingsomeoneshouthis
nameanddemandahug.Hisamiablepersonalityhasmadehimacelebrity,butheshouldbefamousformuchmorethanthat.
ichael Inman buried his
desk. He had just gotten
home from the autumn
involvement fair where he
made out like a kid at the
dollar store who just got his allowance.
Flyers, pens, lanyards and maybe a
bottle opener or two from more than 20
different student organizations covered
his desk. He’s a decent swimmer, but
Inman knew the only way out of that
sea of opportunities was to plan. He
began organizing and reorganizing the
clubs into a list. The list became his
first-year outlook, then a four-year plan.
Inman had been on campus for a mere
two weeks and he was already plotting
out graduate school. By the end of the
night he had birthed a document he
would follow religiously – his Buckeye
Experience.
“I keep it humble,” Inman says.
“Anything I want to participate in,
achieve, start, all those things for college
are in that document. Sometimes I’ll
sit and look at that thing for hours. To
actually write out what you want to do
four years ahead of time definitely helps
you see and achieve the end goal.”
Buckeye Experience’s categories
include organizations to start,
organizations to join, conferences to
attend and places to study abroad
among other goals. It is a modest one-
page document, but don’t expect to get a
peek. It’s encrypted.
“I can’t let everyone copy my plan,”
says Inman, who is now a second-year
marketing major.
While one can’t copy his plan, the
strides he has made over the course of
his first two years at Ohio State can be
tracked fairly easily.
Start an organization – check. On
Oct. 17, 2013, before Buckeye Experience
could even learn to crawl, an email
from Melissa Trejo popped into
Inman’s inbox. Out in Business (OIB),
a Fisher student organization that aims
to provide a safe space for LGBTQ
students, had been inactive for more
than a year, and Trejo and Fisher did not
want to see it go. So they turned to then
freshman Inman.
“I was scared and overwhelmed. I
stared at that [Buckeye Experience] for
two weeks,” he says. “I figured the worst
I can do is fail and then it’s still inactive
anyway. The leadership opportunity
mixed with my core values meant I
couldn’t back down.”
Inman says his core values developed
before he came out as gay in high
school. Every day of his freshman year
at Lakota East High School a classmate
reminded Inman what he thought of
him. As he passed by, Inman received
his daily shove into the lockers as his
attacker addressed him as “faggot.”
To Inman, it was nothing more than
an itchy mosquito bite. In elementary
school it was two boys stealing his lunch
and knocking his tray down. Summer
camp was worse, as Inman was picked
on for his vivacious personality and dark
skin. But, in typical Inman fashion, all he
did was think.
“It sucked in the moment, but I always
knew when I went home I was fine, there
was that ‘reset’ every night,” he says. “I
thought if action was necessary, what
kind of action, what the school can do,
where to go if my school won’t help.
Sometimes all you have is your support
group to lean on. But it’s not their fault
they hate me. You’re not born hateful,
you grow up in it. Think and strategize,
you can’t stop ignorance.”
Second semester of his sophomore
year, Inman was ready to transfer. But
not because of the bullying. He came
up with a presentation for his parents
for why he wanted to attend the School
for Creative and Performing Arts in the
vocal program for the remainder of his
high school career. He noted the resume
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MICHAELFISHED
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2. booster, listed college essay ideas and
proclaimed Lakota’s consecutive failed
levies. His parents were convinced, but
Inman says he had one more item on his
to-do list.
“I was not going to take the easy
way out before leaving school. I’m not
going to run away from Lakota East in
the closet and reset in another school,”
says Inman, who started the process of
coming out with his best friend Amanda
Watt.
“I’m gay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
*pause*
“What I meant to say was, really? Duh!”
He told a few other close friends,
building his support system first “incase
my family hates me.” His siblings
reacted positively, his mother asked
him before he even had the chance
to explain, but also supported him.
With his safety net in place, Inman felt
comfortable coming out to his father.
On a quiet Monday evening, the two
were alone in the kitchen when he came
out. Inman’s father got angry, very angry.
The following week the Inman house
was tense. Inman and his father did not
exchange as much as a glance, but he
remained optimistic, sometimes joking
about it with his siblings. That Sunday
his father broke the silence, telling
Inman he loves him anyway. Today he
says the two are completely back to
normal, and Inman feels he has a better
understanding of his relationship with
his sexual orientation.
“I never want ‘gay’ to define me,”
he says. “I want to be someone who
happens to be gay, but is proud to be
gay. Michael is gay, not gay is Michael.”
His experiences have fueled him
throughout his tenure as OIB president.
He leads his executive board on bi-
weekly conference calls and has brought
in several companies to address LGBTQ
culture in the business world. This year
one of the main goals of OIB was to
send students across the country to gain
knowledge and experience outside of
Ohio. OIB sent one student
to a conference in New York, Out 4
Undergrad, and six to Reaching out
MBA (ROMBA) in San Francisco –
including Inman.
Attend a conference – check.
Although ROMBA is a conference for
MBA students, Inman was allowed to
attend as a prospective MBA student.
The focus was split between business
lectures or panel discussions and how
to represent one’s self in a business
world and change the culture. A
recurring theme Inman noticed was
speakers talking about the lack of
LGBTQ representation at the top of the
corporate ladder, with a lot of companies
noting that “it’s a revenue thing.”
Currently Tim Cook of Apple, Inc. is the
only openly gay CEO in the Fortune 500.
Given the opportunity, Inman would
happily join that short list.
“If I were a CEO I would be so out.
Our generation is more accepting, and
I’m going into entertainment anyway,”
says Inman, who is minoring in Music
Media and Enterprise with plans to land
a career in talent development before
becoming a CEO. “It’s core values. I’m
not changing who I am because of you.
Who I like to hold hands with does not
affect our profit revenues, it’s irrelevant.”
Inman plans to attend ROMBA
again, but as a double minority he says
it’s important that he check off a black
MBA conference first in order to feel
connected to both. On campus, he feels
support from both communities, which
was one of the primary reasons he
picked Ohio State over the nine other
business programs to which he was
accepted.
“OSU has it all,” he says. “I wanted to
become a leader, get involved, find an
internship and be connected to a city.
Fisher just has endless opportunities.”
One of those opportunities: studying
abroad – check. Inman has his ticket to
London for May semester punched, but
his agenda doesn’t include partying with
Big Ben or dancing across the Tower
Bridge. He wants to network. The next
phase of his Buckeye Experience includes
getting an internship abroad, so Inman
has begun making his London LinkedIn
connections with top entertainment
companies in hopes of landing a few
lunch and coffee dates.
For Inman, networking is a tool he
has been crafting and coddling for years.
Classmate Hannah Cedargren was
fortunate enough to witness the mastery
while taking a study break with Inman.
The two decided to stop by Sullivant
Hall just to take a look around. Inman
saw an open door to an arts and sciences
room and decided to enter. Names were
exchanged, hands were shook and just
like that, STAE was born.
Student Talent Agent Experience
(STAE) was Inman’s brainchild since
he was a child. STAE connects students
on the business and talent development
side of entertainment with student
entertainers (models, musicians, etc.)
and helps these students gain access
to opportunities on campus and in
Columbus.
“Michael is a remarkable person,”
says Cedargren, who has been friends
with him since high school. “I’ve seen
him gain confidence in college, but
what’s more important is the sincerity
and enthusiasm in everything he does.”
After his summer internship in
Nashville (internship – check) there
are still a few things left for Inman to
check off in his remaining two years as a
Buckeye. But one can imagine he’s got a
plan for them.
“I always think through things,” he
says. “Coming out did that, being a
middle child did that, going from public
to art school did that. I’m simply just
staying open to new things and not
assuming anything. I promise I’m not
that cool.”
By the time he checks off the last
item on his Buckeye Experience, there’s
one thing we will know before he does:
Michael Inman is that cool.
“I want to be
someone who
happens to
be gay, but is
proud to be
gay. Michael is
gay, not gay is
Michael.”