BENTLEY WEDERSKI FOUNDATION

The BENTLEY WEDERSKI FOUNDATION was started alongside UTILITARIAN. The foundation is dedicated to providing opportunity for Wyoming’s LGBTQIA+ community - a community that has long been underrepresented and under attack.

The foundation’s goal is to invest in and strengthen the LGBTQIA+ community in various ways. One of our objectives is to provide Wyoming students interested in fashion or the arts experiences outside of the state in hopes that they, like Bentley, will come back and bring new industries to Wyoming. Other objectives include building and strengthening LGBTQIA+, minority, and arts organizations around the state.

Bentley Wederski was born and raised in rural Wyoming. Growing up as a gay man in a conservative state led to many childhood traumas and abundant descrimination. Bentley moved to NYC after high school graduation to attend university at FIT and later went on forging a fashion career at companies from THE ROW to Anthropologie. Bentley returned to Wyoming in 2020 in order to start his fashion brand. Upon returning to Wyoming, he vowed two things - 1. His brand would be at the forefront of advocating for equal rights and racial/social justice, and 2. He would create a much needed space for the LGBTQIA+ community in Wyoming and help young minorities in the state like he wished someone would have done for him growing up.

Ergo, a percentage of UTILITARIAN profits will be donated to the BENTLEY WEDERSKI FOUNDATION to help pioneer a more equitable path forward for the state of Wyoming and beyond.