Probably best known for playing Dawn Wiener in Welcome to the Dollhouse, Heather has come of age and recently became engaged to musician Carolyn Murphy. Chalk it up to love, progress and same-sex marriage in California! She takes some time to talk money, matrimony and this business of acting with Queercents. Enjoy!

1. What did growing up in Italian Catholic family teach you about money?
Growing up in an Italian Catholic family didn’t necessarily teach me about money. My mom always instilled in me that it was wiser to save then to spend, but it was great to treat myself to something once in a while.

2. Do you think being out has any impact on what you’re able to earn as an actor?
I don’t think my being out has had any financial implications positive or negative.

3. Describe one money lesson Crutch has learned from her 30-something lesbian friends on Exes and Oh’s.
Truthfully, I don’t think Crutch was open enough to learn anything.

4. You started working at a really young age. How did money play into this?
The only advantage that I had was being able to save larger amounts of money for much longer periods of time.

5. Do you plan on having one of those outrageously expensive Hollywood weddings?
There is definitely not a plan to have an outrageously expensive Hollywood wedding.

6. What is your most significant memory about money?
My most vivid memory of money is that I spent a lot of it on needless things when I was younger, but the biggest gift that I learned was that I am always going to be taken care of regardless, and to not fear success of any kind, financial or otherwise.

7. Have you ever done anything besides acting to earn money?
I worked at McDonald’s for 2 months when I was 15 to get the experience of having a “normal job” which proved to be invaluable because it made me that much more grateful for the gift I was given of being self-supporting and self-employed.

8. Is there a price attached to activism?
I do not think that I could put a price tag on the gift of being an activist. The truth is, it’s easy to reach into one’s wallet and dole out some cash, but it’s another thing entirely to take the time out and lend your voice, your experience, your hope to any given cause. There is a price we pay for being apathetic and afraid.

9. Have you ever had to take any financial risks?
Only when playing blackjack and poker.

10. How do you like to spend your money? How would Carolyn answer this question?
On Caroline, and Caroline would say the same.

More about Heather Matarazzo
Heather Matarazzo, a successful actress since her feature film debut in Welcome to the Dollhouse, which also earned her an Independent Spirit Award at the age of 12, has been captivating movie-going audiences for the past ten years. Most recently, she appeared on Showtime’s The ‘L’ Word and starred as a lead in the sequel to HOSTEL, the 2006 box office hit for Sony Screen Gems. Currently, she can be seen on Logo’s Exes and Oh’s, which premiered in October 2007.

Heather quickly followed up Dollhouse with a breakout performance in the Al Pacino thriller The Devil’s Advocate. In the following years, Heather worked on such films as 54, Getting to Know You, Scream 3, Sorority Boys, and Freshman Orientation as well as the critically acclaimed television movie, Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge, in which Heather plays a mentally challenged teen who is gang raped by a group of high school students.

In 1997, Heather joined the cast of Roseanne for the final season of the smash hit show and in 1999 she began production on Now and Again, the largely successful Sci-Fi television show.

In 2001, Heather starred in Disney’s box office hit, The Princess Diaries, directed by Garry Marshall. In 2004, Heather reprised her role of Lilly in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. 2004 also brought the sleeper hit, Saved! where Heather joined co-stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin in this comedic look at Christian subculture.

Heather currently resides in New York City.

There are a growing number of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams branded “Signature Stores” in such cities as Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta, and now more. Since they showcase their comfortable, stylish and value-conscious collections, it got me thinking about furniture as “investment” and helped start a nice conversation about money.

As you’ll learn, there’s a lot more to Mitchell than making a buck. I hope you enjoy his candid thoughts on furnishings, consumerism and how his money is doing the world some good!

1. When twentysomethings are conditioned to fill their apartments and first homes with IKEA, how do you convince them that well-made furniture is a good investment?
We just share knowledge with people. If you buy a sofa that is $900 and lasts for 3 years versus one that is $1200 that lasts for 8 which is a better investment? If you buy a chest of drawers that last 5 years for $499 versus one that costs $1250 and lasts for decades, which is a better deal?

 It’s also about a sense of style and proportion. We sell our products through retailers that have well trained staff so they can give honest and good information.

2. What is your most significant memory about money?
Over a dozen years ago, Bob and I went to buy a car. I negotiated the price down really well. Then when we went to talk to the finance person, Bob advised me we’d be paying cash. He told me he didn’t like banks, they were not your friend… that if you bought a $20,000 car you’d end up paying $26,000 if you financed it.

Unbeknownst to me, he had squirreled the money away and believe me, we did not have much money then at all.

3. What is your worst habit around finances?
It really is probably giving too much of it to political candidates and causes. I wish we had more to show for it after giving away so much for so many years.

4. Is good decor only for the wealthy? Are fewer, nicer things worth the price?
Of course not, anyone can have a sense of style with little money. I saw this guy a couple of years ago who looked incredibly sexy.

Ends up he bought these seer sucker type pajama pants at Kmart and wore with a white t-shirt and sneakers. Cheap and great looking, AND no one had ever seen that outfit before.

What we try to teach in our book “Let’s Get Comfortable” is about collecting things you love regardless of their price and combining that with simple colors in seating pieces, and warm pictures of family and friends.

The key to it all is balance, not too much stuff and not too little.

5. As business partners do you and Bob see eye-to-eye on money?
He’s tighter than me. We give a good balance to each other. But for sure, he is generous in all ways.

6. Give some tips from your book, Let’s Get Comfortable, on how the consumer can stick to a budget without sacrificing style.
We suggest people make sure they have a great sofa that works for their needs because that will get the primary use.

They can save lots of money by buying inexpensive picture frames that are all the same or the same color for their pictures of family, friends and memories.

Putting them all together on a table or chest, they will look unified and uncluttered, and one then is focused on the pictures that let people know who you are.

7. A favorite topic of mine is the debate over big vs. small homes. I suspect that big homes are better for business, but what’s your personal philosophy with regards to space and filling it with stuff?
My home is only 3500 square feet, which for my income and where I live is not that big. I love it because each room is cozy and not ballroomish. I think you have to have something that makes you feel warm and cozy when you come home, and the same for your guests as well. The size also simply has to function for your needs.

8. What did your parents teach you about money?
They lived beyond their means for many years and always struggled. We were not poor, but because of the way they lived they were always tight. Understanding your net income, knowing what you can and can’t have is really important to peace of mind.

I often find that people that have money problems are in a thought process where they’ll buy something they can’t afford, but feel because they work hard they are entitled to it.

The reality is that you’re not entitled to what you can’t afford.

I know this might sound ridiculous to some, but Bob and I would really REALLY like a private jet because we travel so much. But we know, even though we are not poor, that we cannot afford that luxury.

9. The success of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams as a company has obviously made you rich. How has wealth enriched your life beyond material things?
Well, first I want to make it clear that it has not made me as rich as my mother and many people think(!!!!).

But it has given me the ability to contribute to making life better for others be they gay or not gay. I would have to say that the two things that have enriched my life most is our on site daycare center and starting Faith In America.

 Bob and I invested a half million dollars to build the daycare and now it runs as a non-profit each year. We have 74 beautiful children from 6 weeks to 5 years old thriving in an education-based environment.

And we’re investing a similar amount to create Faith In America to educate America about the harms of religion-based bigotry. As well, we are educating that the history of discrimination in America - the world!!! - is too often rooted in people’s misguided religious beliefs.

10. Money can buy a lot of furnishings and accessories, but can it buy happiness?
If those furnishings and accessories are Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, than YES (wink)! I’m sure most people realize material possessions can’t buy happiness, but it can create an environment that relieves stress and makes people feel welcome, and that can give you happiness.

More about Mitchell Gold
Mitchell Gold, co-founder and chair-man of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams is a different kind of man running a very different kind of business. In every aspect of his personal and business life, Mitchell strives to make a difference.

Besides running a $100 million company, Mitchell is a founder and significant benefactor of Faith in America — a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about religion-based bigotry and how it is being used to justify discrimination against GLBT people. In fact, Mitchell was just named one of Advocate Magazine’s 2006″People of the Year” for his work with Faith in America.

In 1989, he teamed up with Bob Williams, then the promotions art director with Seventeen magazine and together, they started the company in Taylorsville, NC. Riding the combination of Bob’s design talent and Mitchell’s savvy business skills and connections, an industry force was born.

Today, Mitchell is the co-founder and chair-man of a renowned company with 700+ employees that operates out of 600,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space. With over $100 million in sales, products sold through America’s most popular retailers and catalogs, branded retail stores from coast to coast, a first book released in March ‘07 entitled Let’s Get Comfortable, along with media exposure in publications like Time, Fast Company, Inc., The Wall Street Journal and virtually every shelter publication of note, Mitchell, and his company have the very real expectation of redefining what a great brand really is by being a different type of brand…one with meaning and depth.

Nina Smith blogs about LGBT money and finance on Queercents.com.

Of course, when we talk work, the topic of money naturally comes up. Transgender people face challenges in coming out and living openly. This often applies to the workplace. Donna explains how this can impact earning potential and employability. Read her money talk below…

1. Why is under-employment such a significant issue facing transgender people?
It’s actually a very simple answer. Discrimination. Transgender people often make others uncomfortable so they’re not given opportunities to do jobs they’re well qualified to do.

Our society has expectations for men and women – how they look, act, and are supposed to “be” – and it doesn’t treat ambiguity in that regard kindly. Often, transgender people necessarily challenge that binary and have difficulty fitting into these neat little molds. This often manifests itself in unfortunate decisions that are made when it comes to hiring or retaining qualified talent.

I have many friends who held significant corporate roles prior to announcing their transition who ended up unemployed for many months to several years afterwards.

Look at the case of Susan Stanton, the 18-year city manager of Largo, Fla., who was fired after it became public knowledge that she was transgender. That was 18 months ago, and she has been unable to find a similar position anywhere in the country since then.

In order to make ends meet many of us find ourselves forced to take jobs (if we can get them) that are significantly below our skill level, at a significant reduction in pay. The impact that this has, not only on our ability to pay our bills but on our overall psyche, is often devastating.

What can be done to change this? Education. Gradual cultural acceptance. Continued visibility. Persistence. All are important to spotlight what is happening and to lower the barriers of discomfort that prevent many of us from realizing our career potential as transgender individuals.

2. How do you define work these days?
I am still an IT consultant. Specifically, I manage large information technology projects for Fortune 500 companies. Although I’m hopeful to find new challenges, I’m stuck right now for a couple of significant reasons.

First, I continue to pay my a significant amount of money on spousal support each month, so moving into something I’d find more fulfilling and interesting but might also involve a pay cut isn’t really an option right now.

Second, being a consultant allows more flexibility to travel and do the things I do as an advocate. That said, however, I’m actively looking for something that would align my passions as an advocate, my Diversity experience, my people skills, and my corporate background.

3. RuPaul and Mara Keisling both declined my request for an interview. Why do you think money is a taboo subject for so many people?
That may be the first time Mara and RuPaul have ever been used in the same sentence! That’s funny.

I can’t give reasons why others would deny a request for an interview – that’s their business. However, money is one of those touchy subjects like religion and politics that seems to best remain unspoken, especially if you don’t have much of it.

4. How often do you hear of trans elders having issues accessing Social Security benefits?
That’s an area I haven’t come across yet. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, as I’m sure it does.

One of the significant concerns in our community is aging, as that opens a whole new set of concerns. What happens when we find ourselves in senior citizen housing or other situations where we may not quite fit? What about Social Security, or Medicare? What are the long-term health implications of being transgender? There are a number of concerns around aging that are just now getting visibility and need serious study.

5. What is your most significant memory about money?
I was an entrepreneur from a very young age. My father was an academic and I learned that from a young age I could color pictures and sell them to my dad’s colleagues for a nickel or a dime.

Money has always been a means to an end for me, rather than a destination. As I approached 40 years old, I was riding a very successful career and my wife and I had more money than we could imagine. We owned two homes. We bought cars with cash. We rarely worried about money. These days I, like millions of others, live paycheck to paycheck with very little savings.

This journey has taught me quite a bit about letting go of things, and certainly letting go of some of the notions I had about money and security are two particular areas I’ve had to come to peace with.

6. How does money play a role in activism and are financial resources the best way to create change?
Finances play a huge role in activism. In fact, I could argue that activism is as much about money as it is about creating change. The sad fact of the world is that things “cost,” so to be able to travel, to be able to make the proper connections, to be able to hire staff, publish materials, pay for the day-to-day expenses of doing business – it all takes money.

I am typically on boards and often organizations look to their board members as their most significant source of funding. Sometimes that involves a specific give/get financial obligation (for the Human Rights Campaign it is $50 thousand annually) which often sets the bar impossibly high for all but the most creative or affluent. There are expenses with attending board meetings and other events. All in all, I sometimes question whether I can actually afford to be on boards anymore. I just don’t have the money to make all the ends meet.

There are, of course, other roles for people to get involved in activism that don’t involve quite so much money. But fund-raising is a constant challenge for organizations so raising money is often very much part of the day-to-day workings.

7. What is the most common workplace challenge for transgender employees?
That’s a very broad question and I don’t know that there’s any one right answer. Some would say getting a job in the first place is the most common challenge. For those who are transsexual and who transition on the job things like which bathroom to use and general acceptance can be substantial challenges. I’d say that the workplace is actually full of significant challenges for transgender people that each of us will most likely experience to one degree or another.

The good news is that there are efforts to educate and tools to help overcome some of these challenges. I like to believe that we’ve come a long way in that regard. But we’ve still got a long way to go.

8. How did you teach your son the value of a dollar?
From an early age, my son learned that things cost, and that to get them involves saving. My son is 22 years old now, and is very frugal. I think that one of the main jobs of being a parent is teaching your kids how to handle money. Thankfully, my son seems to be doing that pretty well.

Of course, he always complains that he doesn’t have enough of it but that’s a complaint that I think most of us can make.

9. Can you name three companies that have made the workplace better for their transgender employees?
Actually, I can name dozens of them. Corporate America is far ahead of other areas of our culture when it comes to recognizing the unique challenges faced by transgender people.

Companies like American Express, IBM, Microsoft, and others go so far as to cover Gender Reassignment Surgery for employees under their health insurance plans. These are significant expenses many of us traditionally pay for out of pocket, putting it out of reach for most. Workplaces are doing education, they are creating guidelines to support workplace gender transitions, they are removing exclusions in their insurance packages to allow transgender people to take advantage of them, they are explicitly adding ‘gender identity and expression’ to their EEO policies to prevent discrimination.

Corporate America is leading the way in this regard.

All is not as rosy as it might seem, however. Transgender people are still not getting hired for jobs that they’re qualified to do. These policies are wonderful for transgender employees who already work there, but if a company isn’t hiring transgender people or if there are none there in the first place these policies are more window dressing than they are substance.

Also, bad things still happen even in supportive companies. There is often a disconnect between the policies that are established by senior management and those who need to enforce them. As a result transgender people still lose their jobs, they still find themselves facing subtle and not-so-subtle harassment, they still find themselves passed by for promotion.

10. If cost didn’t matter, what’s something you would buy right now?
That’s a good question. Actually, there’s not much in the way of material stuff that I need to “own” right now. The thing I’m more excited about these days are life experiences that I hope to have.

For example, I’ve never been to Europe. I’ve never even been out of North America, and Lord knows that I could use a vacation. My 50th birthday is coming up and I’m hoping to be able to do some kind of a European vacation that involves a cruise through the Greek Isles, so if I had a big chunk of money I think I’d set that up.

More about Donna Rose
Donna Rose is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and advocate for transgender and transsexual issues.

Donna’s leadership role in GLBT advocacy is extensive. She serves on the boards of several national non-profit organizations (HRC, GLAAD, NGLCC). She has an active media presence, including features in The Advocate, USA Today, Marie Claire magazine, and in CNN Money. Most recently, she participated in a 3-part series on Transgender on Entertainment Tonight.

Donna is invited to speak around the country at schools, businesses, conferences. Her website, www.donnarose.com, is a popular source of information and support for and about the transgender community.

Nina Smith blogs at Queercents.com, where this article first appeared.