Breaking through the lavender ceiling
We invite you to our first ever in-person RiseOUT event at Nordstrom at their flagship store in NYC
We launched RiseOUT year ago, and to celebrate this milestone we're throwing our biggest event to date where we will bring together gay industry leaders to share what it takes to break through the lavender ceiling and make it to the top!
Meet our Role Models:
Chris Salgardo
Chris Salgardo is an entrepreneur, men's lifestyle expert, philanthropist, and author. As the former president of Kiehl's Since 1851 and author of MANMADE: The Essential Skincare and Grooming Reference for Every Man, he became known as the face of men's skincare and grooming. Today Chris is the Founder & CEO for ATWATER , a premium line of skincare dedicated to helping men put their best face forward.
Steven Rank
Merging his big-agency experience and formal design studio training, Steven formed SARANKCO Creative Studio in 2007. Over the firm's 15+ years, he's built a reputation for designing meaningful interactions that create enduring relationships between people, products, and brands.
Rob Smith
CEO and Founder of The Phluid Project, GET Phluid and The Phluid Phoundation, has created a brand, combining his profession, which is retail, along with his passion, a commitment to social justice.
He worked his way through Macys for over two decades, working within four divisions and finishing with his final position as GMM/EVP Macys Corporate in product merchandising. Gaining new experiences, Rob became GMM/EVP at Victoria’s Secret and the Children’s Global Chief Product Officer for Nike, Levi’s Jordan, Hurley, and Converse with Haddad Brands. Rob leads the CSR committee as a Board of Director for Steve Madden, is a member of Titanium Worldwide, and is an Executive in Residence with Wunderkind and The Fashioneering Lab.
Stick around after the panel discussion to mingle over beverages and h'ordeuvres with our panelist and guests, provided by Nordstrom.
Please RSVP here to join us. To ensure we order the right amount of food, please let us know your availability in advance.
Thank you!
RiseOUT is thrilled to host two Role Models Fritz Friedman interviewed by Evan Weiner
RiseOUT is thrilled to host two Role Models Fritz Friedman, Former SVP of Worldwide Publicity and Corporate Communications at Sony Pictures interviewed by Evan Weiner, Director of Corporate Marketing at GoDaddy
ROLE MODEL FRITZ FRIEDMAN
Fritz Friedman is President of The Fritz Friedman Co., a Los Angeles and San Diego-based production and marketing company. Formerly Senior Vice President of Worldwide Publicity and Corporate Communications at Sony Pictures, Friedman is currently a producer on several film and television projects including “Korematsu vs. The United States” and “The World of Fear.” He sits on several Boards including the Board of Trustees for Boston College High School, California Humanities and Loyola Productions, the global Jesuit production company. He was also an adjunct professor at The Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Friedman received his BA from Vassar College and his MA from The Annenberg School at The University of Pennsylvania.
ROLE MODEL EVAN WEINER
Evan is currently a Director of Corporate Marketing at GoDaddy, overseeing the enterprise's global social marketing function and center of excellence. Evan's career has always been firmly rooted in strategic marketing and brand building, including building the social marketing functions at public technology brands like Newegg, TrueCar, and GoDaddy, as well as having worked agency-side and as an internal consultant. He enjoys supporting the marketing and LGBTQ+ communities and holds advisory roles with Brand Innovators and Reaching Out MBA, and is a contributor and content partner for Adweek. Evan holds both his B.S. and MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Matt Repicky
RiseOUT is thrilled to host Role Model Matt Repicky, Chief Brands Officer at Tailored Brands home of speciality menswear retail brands such as Men’s Wearhouse.
ROLE MODEL Matt Repicky
Matt Repicky has over 20 years of experience operating as a global marketing leader and brand steward. He is currently the Chief Brands Officer at Tailored Brands, home of specialty menswear retail brands such as Men’s Wearhouse. In prior roles Matt served as the Head of Global Brand Marketing for Barbie, during a time of significant transformation for that globally renowned and iconic brand. He also led marketing for a portion of Amazon Fashion’s portfolio, and began his career at top tier consulting firms servicing global clients across a variety of industries.
David Dancer and Joseph Taiano
RiseOUT is thrilled to host two Role Models David H. Dancer, Head of US Marketing at Opy interviewed by Joseph Taiano, Managing Director - Global Marketing of Consumer Industries at Accenture.
ROLE MODEL David Dancer
David H. Dancer, Head of US Marketing at Opy
A pioneer in global marketing, branding, eCommerce, and customer experience, David H. Dancer has a powerful track record of creating and implementing innovative marketing, product, and consumer initiatives that transform and position purpose driven companies for growth and sustained success.
David’s passions for inspiring talent and collaboration led to many of his extraordinary accomplishments, starting at American Express, where he forged numerous retail marketing programs for the financial conglomerate. While continuing to leverage his expertise within the financial services landscape, David excelled as the Head of Visa’s Marketing Consulting organization, where he led end-to-end marketing for Visa’s top financial institution partners.
As the EVP of Marketing for Teleflora, David spearheaded all B2B and B2C marketing initiatives and P&L responsibility for eCommerce and product development functions, maintaining the company’s key leadership position within a heavily competitive space.
Most notably, David held the CMO title at MedMen, building the organization’s first-ever formal marketing and insights program, enabling the business to become the most recognized cannabis brand in the industry, significantly contributing to the company’s explosive revenue growth, earning a Cannes Lion for the brand’s bold campaign, “The New Normal”.
Furthermore, David implemented his broad expertise as the CMO at Inspire Clean Energy, offering strategic marketing support to leverage the company’s disruption within the energy industry through its innovative clean energy and smart home service, empowering consumers to fight climate change.
Recently, David has reverted to his original roots, joining Opy, a global leading Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) FinTech corporation as their Head of US Marketing.
David obtained his B.S. in Management at Ball State University and currently splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City.
ROLE MODEL Joseph Taiano
Joseph Taiano, Managing Director - Global Marketing of Consumer Industries at Accenture
An innovative and creative leader with more than 20 years of experience in B2B marketing, Joseph Taiano has spent his career leading marketing strategies aimed at Fortune 500 brands in diverse industries such as Retail, Consumer Goods, Travel, Financial Services, and more.
His unique background combines business acumen with a strategic marketing mindset, giving him the ability to understand key drivers of revenue growth and how marketing can be an enabler of it.
Raised in New York City and starting his career as a CPA at Deloitte, he learned how businesses were run by working with some of the world’s most prestigious private equity firms. In the year 2000, he took that business foundation and entered the world of B2B marketing. He joined Accenture in 2004 where he has held a variety of leadership roles and has been the global CMO for several multi-billion dollar industries, predominantly focusing on the consumer.
Having led both global industry teams and regional geographic teams, he has a passion for simplifying the complex and making global programs regionally relevant to drive sales. He has been instrumental in leading the account-based marketing model for Accenture. His creativity is expressed through storytelling and content development. He has been an author and key contributor to countless research and thought leadership programs.
Joe is a vocal advocate for inclusion and diversity in the workplace. He has led multiple programs for Accenture’s Pride employee resource group and is a frequent speaker on the topic. He resides in Hell’s Kitchen, NY.
Mark Brashear
ROLE MODEL Mark Brashear
RiseOUT is thrilled to host Mark Brashear, a visionary, dynamic, passionate leader and lifelong entrepreneur. Among his many achievements, Mr. Brashear has served as President and CEO of John Varvatos Enterprises, Global President of Michael Kors Menswear, and Chairman and CEO of HUGO BOSS of the Americas.
ROLE MODEL Rustin Richburg
Interviewed by Rustin Richburg, Chief People Officer at BARK this conversation will focus on the lessons Mr. Brashear experienced rising through the ranks of the fashion industry, and how the intersection of self-identity, authenticity, and professional drive resulted in a stellar career.
We invite our audience to come prepared with questions to glean insights from Mr. Brashear’s success.
Inaugural RiseOUT speaker series featuring Jeremy Lowenstein
Role Model Jeremy Lowenstein
We believe that the gauntlet of growing up gay creates a gritty resilience that makes LGBTQ+ leaders unstoppable. RiseOUT is thrilled to host Jeremy Lowenstein, Chief Marketing Officer of Milani Cosmetics for a conversation about his rise to the top as an out gay man. This will be a no holds barred conversation discussing what it means to live authentically. Interviewed by his Adweek Executive Mentee, David Knapp will probe on Jeremy’s role models, advice for cultivating career sponsorship, and giving back to the community. We invite our audience to come prepared with questions to glean insights from Jeremy’s success.