Jeff Ben­der is the father to two of the most incred­i­ble kids in the world. He and his wife have been mar­ried since 2005 and reside in the St. Louis area. Jeff found­ed The Lion and The Owl, a com­pa­ny cre­at­ing a com­mu­ni­ty for LGBTQ+ youth to feel safe in while nor­mal­iz­ing the idea of gen­der-neu­tral cloth­ing. The Lion and the The Owl’s mis­sion is to sup­port and cel­e­brate inclu­siv­i­ty and diver­si­ty among our youth through appar­el, com­mu­ni­ty, and education.