My name is Dominique Madsen, and I was the General Manager and Box Office Manager of the Denver music venue Your Mom’s House until November 2024. After a mass employee walk-out due to illegal and unsafe workplace practices, my final paycheck was processed and then reversed. To date, I have not been paid.

I am asking for help because my family is now facing food insecurity, mounting medical debt, and the very real threat of homelessness—not because I did anything wrong, but because I spoke up against unlawful workplace practices and have spent the past year being retaliated against for it.

Within a month of my departure, the business was sold. The current owner had previously been hired by the former owner to “clean up” payroll issues and presented herself as a neutral third party. She promised for weeks to pay my wages, but always had an excuse to push it out even further. Following a public appeal for payment on social media, I was blocked and the harassment doubled down.

After an exhaustive nine-month investigation, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) issued a legal determination that both the former owner and the business entity itself are jointly and severally liable for my unpaid wages. That order has been ignored, and new ownership has even directly mocked and told me I would have to sue her to see closure.

Instead of paying what is legally owed, the current owner retaliated by falsely accusing me of felony embezzlement. These claims are completely untrue. No criminal charges have ever been filed against me. Despite this, I have spent the past year enduring defamation, harassment, civil lawsuits, and threats of criminal action. These false accusations have been repeated publicly and privately throughout Denver’s music and arts community and have even appeared in unrelated court filings, permanently damaging my reputation in an industry where trust is everything.

As a result, I have been effectively blacklisted from the industry I love and helped support. I cannot secure work—equitable or otherwise—not due to my performance or ethics, but because of false statements that have spread unchecked in a small, interconnected community. Doors close before I am given the chance to speak.

The impact on my household has been devastating. We cannot afford food. We are drowning in medical debt. Our housing is no longer secure, and we legitimately do not know if we will be able to make rent again in the coming weeks. My mental health has been deeply affected by a year of fear, instability, and public character assassination, and my family does not deserve to be living with these consequences.

Meanwhile, the business continued operating until very recently, when it was publicly shut down for unpaid taxes. As additional reporting emerges, my name has once again been brought into the conversation through repeated false accusations rather than accountability. With further media coverage imminent, I am deeply concerned about continued harassment and retaliation.

This fundraiser is not about revenge. It is about survival.

Funds raised will go directly toward food and basic necessities, housing stability, medical expenses, and essential living costs while I continue pursuing lawful resolution and rebuilding my life.

I am speaking out not only for myself, but for others who have been harmed, silenced, or financially devastated by abusive and unlawful business practices. No one should lose their livelihood, reputation, and stability simply for demanding to be paid what they earned.

If you are part of the Denver community, the music industry, or simply believe that wage theft and defamation should not be rewarded, your support—or even a share—means more than I can express. Denver’s music scene is built by workers behind the scenes, and false narratives can end careers overnight.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for believing me. And thank you for helping my family hold on to hope during the hardest chapter of our lives.