Podcasts about San Francisco Pride

Christina Cauterucci speaks with Suzanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride, about the goals and challenges of organizing Pride this year amid the corporate retreat from LGBTQ+ issues. They discuss the current political climate, how corporate sponsorship shapes the event, and how to maintain visibility and safety without losing political urgency.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christina Cauterucci speaks with Suzanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride, about the goals and challenges of organizing Pride this year amid the corporate retreat from LGBTQ+ issues. They discuss the current political climate, how corporate sponsorship shapes the event, and how to maintain visibility and safety without losing political urgency.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christina Cauterucci speaks with Suzanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride, about the goals and challenges of organizing Pride this year amid the corporate retreat from LGBTQ+ issues. They discuss the current political climate, how corporate sponsorship shapes the event, and how to maintain visibility and safety without losing political urgency.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christina Cauterucci speaks with Suzanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride, about the goals and challenges of organizing Pride this year amid the corporate retreat from LGBTQ+ issues. They discuss the current political climate, how corporate sponsorship shapes the event, and how to maintain visibility and safety without losing political urgency.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Fawcett breaks down the biggest stories of the day, including Ukraine's significant drone attack on a Russian airfield and the implications of President Trump's negotiations for a ceasefire. Also, a financial crisis in Los Angeles could be leading to potential layoffs of thousands of municipal employees, and the fallout from Anheuser Busch's withdrawal from the San Francisco Pride sponsorship. Additionally, Planned Parenthood's decision to sell its Soho building and Governor Tim Waltz's controversial comments regarding Tesla's stock. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Commonwealth Club World Affairs is pleased to host a special evening with SF Pride Board President Nguyen Pham. Nguyen finishes his last term with SF Pride this year, after serving for a total of 8 years on the board of SF Pride. As president emeritus of San Francisco Pride, a nonprofit that produces the SF Pride Celebration and Parade, Nguyen Pham has proudly led the iconic organization through pivotal moments in the modern LGBTQ+ equity movement. Prior to his election as president, he served as vice president and secretary of the organization, comprising a record eight consecutive years of board service. In 2019, he helped to produce the inaugural SF Pride Golf Tournament, SF Pride's most lucrative board-led annual fundraiser to date. He continued that tradition with the tournament's sixth annual convening in 2024, which was a resounding success. Nguyen is also director of philanthropy at Frameline, a San Francisco-based arts organization aimed at changing the world through the power of LGBTQ+ cinema. In 2024, Nguyen became the first person of color as well as the first openly LGBTQ+ president of the Mensa Foundation, a charitable organization working to unleash intelligence for the benefit of humanity. Additionally, he is in his 23rd consecutive year as a performer with CHEER San Francisco, the Official Cheer Team of the City and County of San Francisco, and an all-volunteer nonprofit performance group that raises charitable funds globally for community members facing life-challenging conditions. Adding to his overloaded plate, Nguyen produces and emcees local and national events on a pro bono basis to raise charitable funds for numerous nonprofits. A proud Bay Area native, Nguyen earned his BA from UC Berkeley and his MBA from San Francisco State University. Join us for a fun and informative talk with Nguyen Pham. See more  Michelle Meow Show programs at Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California. THIS PROGRAM CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one's ever died from futo! Shay Tiziano discusses transitioning from LARPing to kink, exhibitionism, incorporating camp into performances, and the importance of active bottoming. They also cover event production, teaching rope, and their upcoming book.Shay Tiziano (she/her or they/them) is a dynamic presenter and self-suspender renowned for their innovative, acrobatic bondage performances and friendly, attainable, and risk-mitigation-focused approach to kink education. She is the author of Tying & Flying, the first-ever book about self-suspension, and Creating Captivating Classes, a guide for kink and sexuality educators. Based in San Francisco, Shay is the stages & entertainment co-lead for the Folsom Street Fair and produces the acclaimed bondage and fetish performance event Twisted Windows. She hosts events including BENT, Rope Lab, and Friction, as well as curating performance showcases for the Seattle Erotic Art Festival Aerial & Bondage Stage, Tethered Together, Ropecraft, and San Francisco Pride's Leather Alley.Instagram: @shaytizianoExplore 800+ high-quality rope bondage tutorials taught by world-class instructors: https://shibaristudy.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/shibari.study/Twitter: https://twitter.com/shibari_studyYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShibariStudyFetlife: https://fetlife.com/users/856858

Join us in downtown San Francisco for the second annual summit on some of the hottest topics facing the LGBTQIA+ communities.  Welcome by San Francisco Human Rights Commission Director Sheryl Davis Suzanne Ford and Nguyen Pham of SF Pride California vs Hate, Chhaya Malik, deputy director for dispute resolution, California Civil Rights Department   Morning Keynote: Honey Mahogany, performer, small business owner and activist Moderator: Michelle Meow Lenny Emson (Kyiv Pride)  Charlene Liu (Shanghai Pride)  Nicolas Rodriguez (PRIDE SV - Marcha Por la Diversidad en El Salvador)  Natalie Thompson (Interpride co-president, World Pride DC 2025)   This program is supported by SF Pride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us in downtown San Francisco for the second annual summit on some of the hottest topics facing the LGBTQIA+ communities.  Robyn Adams, Remembering Nex Benedict Moderated by: Oliver Elias Tinoco, a queer, undocumented, community youth advocate hailing from South San Francisco by way of Guanajuato, Mexico,  Ewan Barker Plummer, chair of the San Francisco Youth Commission, which advises the Mayor and Board of Supervisors on all issues impacting young San Franciscans.  Daniel Trujillo is 16 years old and loves drawing, playing guitar, bass, and drums, building Lego, and playing in the Tucson Jazz Institute. Daniel recently helped plan a national action in Washington, D.C., called Trans Prom, a creative action by and for trans youth. Connie Murphy is a trans psychology student and community organizer. She works in youth advocacy and creates environments where queer youths can thrive, most recently organizing LYRIC's Lavender Ball.  Nano Luksanacom, upcoming senior, Lowell High School Dr. April Silas, LGBTQIA+ AC Bia Vieira, CEO, Women's Foundation California Roger Doughty, Horizons Foundation Schuyler Bailar, first openly transgender athlete to compete on an NCAA Division 1 men's team Suzanne Ford Michelle Meow   This program is supported by SF Pride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a Text Message.Breanna Morello is a former Fox Corp, Newsmax, local news, MLB producer. She has also spent several years reporting on the issues that matter most. After Fox Corp threatened to put Breanna on unpaid leave for not getting the Covid jab, she left the corporate media world and made her way into independent journalism. Breanna's goal is simple. She aims to be a truth seeker and amplify her findings through her new podcast.Breanna Morello is a former Fox Corp, Newsmax, local news, MLB producer. She has also spent several years reporting on the issues that matter most. After Fox Corp threatened to put Breanna on unpaid leave for not getting the Covid jab, she left the corporate media world and made her way into independent journalism. Breanna's goal is simple. She aims to be a truth seeker and amplify her findings through her new podcast.Sav HernandezSav HernandezTWITTER: https://x.com/sav_says_ TWITTER: https://x.com/sav_says_https://x.com/sav_says_ Mark MitchellMark MitchellYOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@rasmussen_poll  YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@rasmussen_pollhttps://www.youtube.com/@rasmussen_poll  To Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To To Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To ▶ www.breannagold.com▶ www.breannagold.comOr Call 720-605-3900 Or Call 720-605-3900 Sean ParnellSean ParnellWEBSITE: https://rumble.com/c/BattlegroundPodcast WEBSITE: Support the Show.► ReAwaken America- text the word FLYOVER to 918-851-0102 (Message and data rates may apply. Terms/privacy: 40509-info.com) ► Kirk Elliott PHD - http://FlyoverGold.com ► My Pillow - https://MyPillow.com/Flyover ► ALL LINKS: https://sociatap.com/FlyoverConservatives

Democrats continue to reel after the disastrous presidential debate on Thursday. Will Joe Biden drop out of the race this week? Is Pat about to sell his house and his beavers? An Army widow posts her thoughts on Joe Biden denying deaths of U.S. service members under his watch. The White House is arguing that Biden had a cold during the debate, which led to his poor performance. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the January 6 defendants on Friday. What's the deal with Justice Amy Coney Barrett? Executive branch loses power. Rep. Thomas Massie's wife passed away. Nancy Pelosi says it's Donald Trump and not Joe Biden's cognitive abilities that Americans should be concerned with. Public sex acts at a San Francisco Pride event. Are companies realizing that "going woke" fails every time? Ask Tractor Supply Company. Klaus Schwab under fire for ageism at the World Economic Forum? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biden admin flying previously deported illegals BACK, experts questions whether milk is racist, & some crazy footage from the San Francisco Pride parade  Watch the show on Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/ChrissyClark Stories:  1. Biden Admin Flying Previously Deported Illegals Back To US - Free Beacon 2. Lawyers Told Top Trans Group To Avoid “Evidence-Based Review” Of Child Sex-Change Guidelines - Daily Caller 3. Biden Admin Attempted To Use School Children To Register Left-Leaning Voters - Daily Caller 4. Experts Question Whether Milk Consumption Is A Form Of White Supremacy - DailyMail 5. Police Redefine Laws To All Full Nudity At Pride Event In San Francisco - Tenet Media Watch my stream for Isabel Brown: https://rumble.com/v54wxci-biden-red-pills-legacy-media-and-democrats.html Get stories, shows, & MORE by subscribing for FREE to underreportedstories.substack.com

Chef Melissa King is one of the most exciting talents in America's culinary scene — with a unique cooking style that combines the Bay Area's best ingredients with modern techniques and Asian flavors. King visits Google to share her thoughts on current events, the importance of her visibility as a queer Asian woman in the culinary industry, and meals to make. Chef King recently won Bravo's Top Chef All Stars: Los Angeles Season 17 and was also the winner of All Star's Fan Favorite. She previously placed as a finalist on Top Chef: Boston Season 12. As a proud Asian-American, queer woman, King has a passion for supporting the community — working with non-profit organizations and LGBTQ+ charities such as The Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project, Black Visions Collective, Asian Americans For Equality and more. She was honored as a Celebrity Grand Marshal for San Francisco Pride and has modeled for Levi's Strauss Co. in a global campaign advocating for the LGBTQ+ community. Originally published in June of 2020. Visit http://youtube.com/TalksAtGoogle/ to watch the video.

Welcome to the Bad Queers Pride episode! Kris and Shana take a trip down memory lane to discuss their favorite pride memories, reflect on the iconic moment that was Janelle Monáe's headlining pride performance and standing ten toes down with Ms. Rachel after she gets backlash for wishing her audience 'Happy Pride'.  Then they wrap up the episode with sharing their top 5 song on their pride list.Shoutouts: Kris: Durand Bernarr - En Route is the best of the summer. The music, The visual EP - has no business being this good. Follow and support @durandbernarrShana: Center on Halsted: It's the midwest's most comprehensive community center dedicated to advancing community and securing the health and well-being of the LGBTQ people of Chicagoland. - Follow and support on IG @center_on_halsted Episode notes:[0:17] Queer Urban Dictionary [2:44] Category is: Standing on Love - Ms. Rachel wishes her audience 'Happy Pride' and of course there is backlash[8:35] Category is: Janelle Monáe's headlining performance at WeHo Pride [14:02] Category is: Pride Memories [41:58] Bad Queer Opinions - Top 5 songs on our Pride Playlist [48:43] ShoutoutsWe are on Patreon!! Support the podcast by subscribing to our Patreon: patreon.com/BadQueersPodcastAffiliates we actually love Support Lucky Skivvies and our pod by using coupon code badqueers10 for 10% off your next purchase. Treat your butt today.Shop NowEmail us for advice at badqueerspodcast@gmail.com or DM on InstagramFollow us @badqueerspod on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Tik TokLove our soundtrack? Check out Siena Liggins: @sienaligginsLike us? Love us? Leave a review The opinions expressed during this podcast are conversational in nature and expressed only for comedic purposes. Not all of the facts will be correct but we attempt to be as accurate as possible. BQ Media LLC, the hosts, nor any guest host(s) hold no liability over the conversations on this podcast and by using this podcast you unders...

Released by Jito Presents to promote the main event for SF Pride in 1999

The Bay team is sharing each of their favorite episodes of 2023. This episode, picked by editor Alan Montecillo, first published on June 28. In it, we hear from Gwenn Craig, a queer elder who reflects on the transformation — and corporatization — of San Francisco Pride, and why it still matters now more than ever.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Wowashwow over Zoom video!Rising hip-hop artist and female powerhouse, Wowashwow, has released her sophomore album, The Algorithm. This body of work is a testament to Wowashwow's ability to blend her punk rock heritage, eccentric indie hip-hop vibes, freestyle rap finesse, and a fearless approach to "obliterating the pop formula." The result is a genre-fluid experience that defies categorization. Produced by Sam J Garfield, The Algorithm challenges the premeditated and quantified nature of algorithms that govern online society and social media-crazed humankind, and it seeks to shatter the rules and bring back the magic and essence of art, music, and creativity. With the visual surrealism of Missy Elliot, the untamable energy of Tina Turner meets Mick Jagger, and the genre-fluidity reminiscent of Radiohead; our South Jersey/Philly raised visionary is presenting a body of work so profoundly groundbreaking, that it is fragmenting the current set of rules and obliterating the mundane nature of it all. The Algorithm loosely tells the story of a character from another dimension visiting planet Earth, providing a unique perspective on their experience navigating between worlds. It's a manifesto of authenticity and empathy, reminding us that we are all aliens in a world controlled by the algorithm. The question arises: Who will be the first to crack the code?MORE INFO: At age six, Wowashwow was writing her first original songs which quickly led to an early career as the lead guitarist and singer of punk rock band, “Rise from Ashes.” This newfound fame evolved into a tour where she opened for The Ramones' drummer, Marky Ramone, and recorded her first album under the direction of the iconic rock legend, Steve Albini. At age 18, Wowashwow moved to NYC and discovered the underground hip hop and ballroom scene, heavily influencing her approach to songwriting, stage performance and overall lifestyle. Now hailing from Los Angeles, she's played over 15 shows in two years, opened for Snoop Dog and Travis Barker, appeared at the Soul Train Awards 2022, charted #115 on the Hot300 List and has been featured in Earmilk, iHeart Radio's Arena Podcast, and has been on regular radio rotation on 101.5 FM (Los Angeles). On top of releasing her own music, Wowashwow hopped onto Love Bailey's track “Hornatia” late last year, with PAPER Magazine referring to her vocals as “commanding” and “hypnotic.” Following its release, “Hornatia” was an official selection short for the Cannes Film Festival. So far 2023 has been a whirlwind for Wowashwow, with a Tiny Desk Contest nomination, performances at San Francisco Pride, Venice Pride and Miami Pride, and a debut her previous body of work at The Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles.We want to hear from you! Please email Hello@BringinitBackwards.comwww.BringinitBackwards.com#podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #Wowashwow #TheAlgorithm #NewMusic #ZoomListen & Subscribe to BiBhttps://www.bringinitbackwards.com/followFollow our podcast on Instagram and Twitter! https://www.facebook.com/groups/bringinbackpodThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4972373/advertisement

In this episode Peelo G. and Pratibha discuss being too old at the Club while celebrating SF Pride (boobs may have been out…), the importance of Pride during this political climate and how Peelo G. had no success being hit on (or did they)? hmmm.....Take a listen because it definitely sounds like Peelo G. had some success.

It is a privilege to welcome recording artist WOWASHWOW as a guest of The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast. Known as the Queen of the Bop, WOWASHWOW has a flare for the theatrical and a freestyling fluency fierce enough to threaten the male-dominated hip-hop scene and brings an “unbridled bravado thorough no holds barred, unapologetic rhymes.” On top of releasing her music, WOWASHWOW hopped onto Love Bailey's song, “Hornatia,” near the end of 2022, and PAPER Magazine referred to her vocals as “commanding” and “hypnotic.” Following its release, “Hornatia” was an official selection short for the Cannes Film Festival. The Los Angeles transplant has played over 15 shows in two years, opened for Snoop Dogg and Travis Barker, appeared at the 2022 Soul Train Awards, charted number 115 on the Hot 300 List, and was featured in Earmilk and iHeartRadio's Arena Podcast. Her music has been on regular radio rotation on the City of Angels' KQBH 101.5 FM. So far this year, she has been nominated to perform on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert, performed at San Francisco Pride and Venice Pride Festivals, and debuted some of her work at the iconic LA music venue Hotel Café. In this edition of The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, WOWASHWOW previewed her upcoming album, The Algorithm, which is scheduled to be released on July 7, 2023. She also shared the stories behind her songs, including “Class Enrollment,” “Pu$$i Power,” and “Rick Ross.”

In this episode, Allison and Daniel discuss their weekend being on a yacht to celebrate Daniel's birthday and attending San Francisco Pride. Daniel tells the story of how he got his phone stolen and what he had to do to get it back. So get ready to set sail to pickpocket nation as we celebrate our last episode of pride month in this nautical episode of Gay Area.

Tanya has an underwear revelation that she needs to get off her chest, while also sharing her secret to light packing.  Becca is back from San Francisco Pride and is ready to tell all! Plus, we break down the new season of And Just Like That. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

KCBS Radio's Foodie Chap Liam Mayclem is here to help you celebrate Pride Month with this Weekend's events from San Francisco Pride to the Whitehouse Inn Bar.

In this episode of ABL Live, we covered a variety of topics including Trump's CNN Townhall hosted by Kaitlan Collins, Tucker Carlson exposing the deep state in an unearthed clip with himself and Tulsi Gabbard on her podcast, Tucker Carlson reviving his prime time show exclusively on Twitter, the controversial Atlanta Boot Girls who have gone viral on Tik Tok, rocker Dee Snider of "Twisted Sister" being dropped from San Francisco Pride after a lifetime of service to the community, Trump being ordered to pay $5 million dollars after a lawsuit from E. Jean Carroll, Lori Lightfoot blaming her election defeat on racism and Donald Trump, the Detroit female police officers who home invaded a fellow officer, and much more!

San Francisco Pride's Not Gonna Take Dee SniderThe Hamfisted Irony That Only Cis-Het Men Can ProvideWe Finally Quit Netflix...But Then......and more!Check Out 10 Essential LGBTQ Memoirs -- Please Subscribe and Give Us A Review (5 stars or more, preferably!) SUPPORT US ON PATREONCheck out Medway Pride RadioFIFTEEN MINUTE FAVE: "Lick Shots" by Missy "Misdemeanor" ElliottFifteen Minute Faves Playlist: APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFYVisit our Linktree to Follow Our SocialsPROMO: Witches Talking TarotThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5831047/advertisement

Comedian Kimbles Hume joins Adam as they discuss cancel culture and why some people or companies are too big to take down. Mark Geragos calls in after getting inspired from Adam's rant to take on the Menendez Brothers case and gives some insight into a new piece of evidence which could be a potential game changer. Next, Chris reports the news. San Francisco Pride distancing themselves from Dee Snider, Randi Weingarten testifying before congress about school closures, the surgeon general saying loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking, and Jay Leno handing out donuts during the Writer's strike. Finally, Adam talks to actor and writer Andrew McCarthy about his new book, ‘Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain'. Andrew tells Adam about getting kicked out of NYU, working with John Hughes, and how he and the other actors used to hate being referred to as the ‘Brat Pack'. PLUGS: Check out Andrew McCarthy's new book ‘Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain' available tomorrow wherever you find books Learn more about Andrew at AndrewMcCarthy.com And follow Andrew on Twitter, @AndrewTMcCarthy Listen to Mark Geragos' podcasts, ‘Reasonable Doubt' and ‘Beyond Reasonable Doubt' wherever you find podcasts And follow Mark on Twitter, @MarkGeragos See Kimbles Hume live: La Jolla, CA - The Comedy Store - Tomorrow, Thursday, and May 16th Phoenix, AZ - House of Comedy - May 18th Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern - June 4th And find out more at KimblesHume.com And follow Kimbles on Twitter and Instagram, @KimblesHume THANKS FOR SUPPORTING TODAY'S SPONSORS: OReillyAuto.com The Jordan Harbinger Show Angi.com 4Patriots.com enter ADAM

Hour 3 -  Good Monday morning! Here's what Nick Reed covers this hour: An update on the shooting in Texas. "Twisted Sister" front man Dee Snider's performance at San Francisco Pride has been canceled after the legendary classic rocker supported fellow rock legend Paul Stanley's rebuke of allowing children to undergo gender transitions. Mexico's president revealed that his government denied entry to US military aircrafts which intended to fly over Mexican territory to look for an alleged spy balloon from Asia. Colleges are bringing back segregation. A Black man has been charged with fatally shooting two White strangers in the back of the head in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as part of what authorities are calling a racially motivated hate crime.

The Biden administration has been revising down the data on previous jobs reports - The revisions show a much slower jobs market than we thought // Man pleads guilty in Seattle to fatal shooting of special needs teen at 2020 CHAZ // Biden Taps Former Failed Nominee Neera Tanden For Domestic Policy Adviser, Replacing Susan Rice // Dee Snider axed from San Francisco Pride lineup for tweet opposing child sex changes // We don

When lightning strikes and is effectively bottled, it creates a special kind of magic that can cause the world to take notice. For KingQueen, such is the story behind their protest anthem “Burn This Motha” - out December 9, 2022. The five-piece Los Angeles LGBTQIA+ pop rock group wrote the single together, going on to perform it to thousands of people at San Francisco Pride just days after the US Supreme Court took away the Constitutional Right to Abortion. KingQueen knew they had to record the track, placing it in the hands of producer Kevin McCombs (Papa Roach). Sabrina Petrini is the founding vocalist for the project, with members Adam Gimenez on guitar, Brandon Valerino on keytar, Jake Absher on drums, and Ella G. Burgos on bass. The name KingQueen came from performing alongside drag queens, and while they call each other “queens” the singer said she didn't feel like a king or queen. One of the drag queens responded, “No, you're a KingQueen,” and it stuck. “This song feels like an evolution for us,” singer Sabrina says. “It's very simple, straightforward, raw and honest. No holding back. We love what we do and we genuinely care about people and our community. KingQueen is all about identity and finding a place you can call home. We aren't a political band but we're also not going to stay quiet when human rights are being taken away! This is about equal rights, trans rights, and being pro-choice.” When award-winning filmmaker K. Rocco Shields (Love is All You Need?) came on board as a director and producer with her production company Genius Produced, KingQueen knew they really had tapped into something special.  https://kingqueenmusic.com/

The InterPride podcast series, InterPod, where the world comes together for the LGBTQIA+ community, is proud to launch our 29th episode, TDoR 2022 | White Privilege, Racism, and Trans Leadership. The LGBTQIA+ community has come a long way in the fight for acceptance. However, our voices matter and will be heard. Many LGBTQIA+ community members have fought for decades for the right to be seen and heard. About Episode 29 In this episode, we talk with Suzanne Ford (she/her), the interim Executive Director of San Francisco Pride, about Trans Day of Remembrance, white privilege, racism, and trans leadership. About Suzanne Ford (she/her) San Francisco Pride's Interim Executive Director is Suzanne Ford (she/her). She is the first trans woman to hold the position in the history of San Francisco Pride and a fierce activist working toward equal rights for the trans community. Suzanne lives in the SF Bay area with her wife, Beverly, and son, Daniel. She is available to speak to groups or employers about trans issues and her experience facing the world as a trans woman. Follow San Francisco Pride on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook Listen in as we hear from Suzanne Ford! Special Edition From 2021 TDoR InterPod: ShaGasyia “Shea” Diamond Shea Diamond is an American singer, songwriter, and transgender rights, activist. Her music is chiefly soul and R&B and includes elements of blues, rock, hip-hop, and folk. Follow Shea on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook Want to contribute as a guest? Visit https://www.interpride.org/podcastcontributor. Follow InterPride on social media at Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Apple | Google | Eventbrite | Medium | Twitch

Hey friends! This is the San Francisco Pride episode. Join us while we recall our weekend and shout out all the great people we met on our adventures. From skipping around the Castro district to double dutching in Dolores park, we go over it all! This wouldn't be a gay podcast if we didn't acknowledge the new Beyoncé song! We finally give our opinions on the track and also our opinions on the gay sex convo surrounding this weeks episode of P-VALLEY. In the Reality Round-up we talk the new season Married At First Sight! new couples and new experts are on the horizon. We close out by explaining how Diana Jenkins is the biggest flop in Rhobh history and how the girls of Rhoa are self producing.

It took Gay Pride Weekend for San Francisco to get back to normal! Lets discover queer luxury skin care God Derek Arnell - https://byderekarnell.com/ And Gilbert Baker - who created the gay pride flag—https://gilbertbaker.com/ and what about Dennis Peron The Prince of Pot—https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Peron lets visit Legendary San Francisco gay bar Aunt Charlie's —https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-francisco-pride-gay-bar-aunt-charlies/ finish the evening at the Cinch on Polk Street https://thefrisc.com/polk-streets-cinch-saloon-its-pride-roots-showing-straddles-gay-sf-old-and-new-ca57462be397?gi=ee45e4901d1a --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sanfranciscodamn/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/sanfranciscodamn/support

This week Out In The Bay, we have the hosts of San Francisco Pride 2022 – Honey Mahogany and the legendary Sister Roma from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

This week Out In The Bay, we have the hosts of San Francisco Pride 2022 – Honey Mahogany and the legendary Sister Roma from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

This week we welcome Founder and Executive Director of Oakland Black Pride, Olaywa K. Austin (they/them) to discuss how Oakland Black Pride came to be, their queer history in Oakland and how we can celebrate Pride better.  Shoutouts:Shana:The Trace App - The first ever transition tracking app that includes a curated community. This app provides support during transitions and a safe place to celebrate your transition and connect with your allies. Currently in Beta - follow @thetrace.app on IG   Kris:  Woxer for their boxers with pockets. It is next level. Follow @woxer on IG Olaywa: James Cox(@federal_flashes), Director of Outreach and Avery Hines (@averyzeus), Program Director for Oakland Black Pride - Follow @oaklandblackprideBad Queers is co-hosted by:Shana Sumers: @shanahasagramKris Chesson: @kris.chessLet's keep in touch:Email us for advice at badqueers@theherapp.com or DM on InstagramFollow us @badqueerspod on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Tik TokLove our soundtrack? Check out Siena Liggins: @sienaligginsShoutout to our sponsor HER App

The organizer of the Odd Fellows who participate in the San Francisco Pride Parade discusses some of the history and invites those interested to join them on June 26, 2022. Send an email to trbarton743@aol.com if you can attend!

Organizers of San Francisco Pride banned in-uniform police officers at this year's event because they say some LGBTQ community members feel unsafe in their presence. In response, SFPD announced that officers will skip the parade. Mayor London Breed and other city agencies followed suit. Interim Pride executive director Suzanne Ford and SFPD officer Kathryn Winters join host Cecilia Lei to share their sides of the debate. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's almost 2022, and it's time to gather together #IRL for our annual year-end Michelle Meow celebration. Join us for a celebration of another successful year of "The Michelle Meow Show" at The Commonwealth Club of California. Enjoy some great speakers, food and wine, artwork and fun. SPEAKERS César Cadabes Performance Artist; HIV/AIDS Activist; Advisory Board Member, Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Jacqueline Chiang Artist Anjali Rimi President and Co-Founder, Parivar; Board Member, The LGBT Asylum Project and San Francisco Pride; Rans Advisory Committee Member, Office of Transgender Initiatives, San Francisco Mayor's Office Michelle Mijung Kim Author, The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change Denise Huynh Owner, Tay Ho Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's almost 2022, and it's time to gather together #IRL for our annual year-end Michelle Meow celebration. Join us for a celebration of another successful year of "The Michelle Meow Show" at The Commonwealth Club of California. Enjoy some great speakers, food and wine, artwork and fun. SPEAKERS César Cadabes Performance Artist; HIV/AIDS Activist; Advisory Board Member, Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Jacqueline Chiang Artist Anjali Rimi President and Co-Founder, Parivar; Board Member, The LGBT Asylum Project and San Francisco Pride; Rans Advisory Committee Member, Office of Transgender Initiatives, San Francisco Mayor's Office Michelle Mijung Kim Author, The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change Denise Huynh Owner, Tay Ho Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on December 17th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest is Carolyn Wysinger, board president of SF Pride. Days after San Francisco Pride elected its first majority-trans board and re-elected its longest-tenured Black president, Netflix released “The Closer,” the latest standup special by Dave Chappelle. Several weeks later, the fallout continues over its homophobic and transphobic content. Now the comic is coming to the Chase Center on Nov. 4 for a show.        The problem with this isn't one of free speech. It's that fundamentally, Chappelle sees LGBTQ+ people and Black people as distinct entities whose very existence is at odds with one another. Chappelle's words completely erase the existence and the work that Black LGBTQ+ people have undertaken for decades in our communities.  While he attempts to make valid points about anti-blackness in the LGBTQ+ community, he fails — because he simply doesn't have the depth to be able to frame this conversation about who gets access to LGBTQ+ success. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us for an important intergenerational conversation with LGBTQ Asians and Pacific Islanders and their allies. Our panelists will share QTAPI stories and experiences of the dual pandemics of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19; their histories as Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States; their past and current roles in community organizing and the political process; as well as other issues that are part of the current cultural and political shifts and relevant to the experiences of QTAPI individuals. Meet the Speakers Ignatius Bau was the HIV prevention program coordinator at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum in the mid-1990s, and served as a member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and advisory groups about HIV/AIDS for the federal Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes for Health. He also has served on the board of directors for the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Community HIV Project, Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, National Minority AIDS Project, and Funders for LGBTQ Issues. Cecilia Chung is the senior director of strategic initiatives and evaluation at Transgender Law Center, a health commissioner of San Francisco and an internationally recognized civil rights leader in the LGBT and HIV community. Chung has served as the co-chair of GNP+ and is currently a member of the WHO Advisory Council of Women Living with HIV. Vince Crisostomo is a gay Chamorro (Pacific Islander) long-term HIV/AIDS survivor who believes in the healing power of community and has dedicated more than 30 years to HIV/AIDS activism and LGBTQ communities. He is passionate about bringing health care to all and social justice equity to people of every sexual identity, HIV status, gender, race and age. Crisostomo is SFAF's director of aging services and previously managed the Elizabeth Taylor 50 Plus Network for long-term HIV survivors. He co-chaired the HIV & Aging Work Group and was an active member of the Mayor's Long-Term Care Coordinating Council. Crisostomo has led a number of grassroots HIV advocacy and LGBTQ organizations in the United States and overseas. He was executive director of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS, founded the Pacific Island Jurisdiction AIDS Action Group, and served as a United Nations NGO delegate for the Asia Pacific. In 2019, having won the popular vote, he was community grand marshall for San Francisco Pride. In July 2021, he was appointed to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission's LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee. NOTES This is a free program; any voluntary donations made during registration will support the production of our online programs. A complimentary lunch will be provided before the program for in-person attendees. The Commonwealth Club thanks Gilead Sciences, Inc. for its generous support of The Michelle Meow Show.  Program presented in partnership with GAPA Theatre, The Connection at the San Francisco Community Health Center, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and The Commonwealth Club of California. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. SPEAKERS Ignatius Bau Former HIV Prevention Program Coordinator, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum; Former Member, President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS Cecilia Chung Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Evaluation, Transgender Law Center; Health Commissioner, San Francisco Vince Crisostomo Director of Aging Services, San Francisco AIDS Foundation Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host and Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 6th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for an important intergenerational conversation with LGBTQ Asians and Pacific Islanders and their allies. Our panelists will share QTAPI stories and experiences of the dual pandemics of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19; their histories as Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States; their past and current roles in community organizing and the political process; as well as other issues that are part of the current cultural and political shifts and relevant to the experiences of QTAPI individuals. Meet the Speakers Ignatius Bau was the HIV prevention program coordinator at the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum in the mid-1990s, and served as a member of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and advisory groups about HIV/AIDS for the federal Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes for Health. He also has served on the board of directors for the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance Community HIV Project, Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, National Minority AIDS Project, and Funders for LGBTQ Issues. Cecilia Chung is the senior director of strategic initiatives and evaluation at Transgender Law Center, a health commissioner of San Francisco and an internationally recognized civil rights leader in the LGBT and HIV community. Chung has served as the co-chair of GNP+ and is currently a member of the WHO Advisory Council of Women Living with HIV. Vince Crisostomo is a gay Chamorro (Pacific Islander) long-term HIV/AIDS survivor who believes in the healing power of community and has dedicated more than 30 years to HIV/AIDS activism and LGBTQ communities. He is passionate about bringing health care to all and social justice equity to people of every sexual identity, HIV status, gender, race and age. Crisostomo is SFAF's director of aging services and previously managed the Elizabeth Taylor 50 Plus Network for long-term HIV survivors. He co-chaired the HIV & Aging Work Group and was an active member of the Mayor's Long-Term Care Coordinating Council. Crisostomo has led a number of grassroots HIV advocacy and LGBTQ organizations in the United States and overseas. He was executive director of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS, founded the Pacific Island Jurisdiction AIDS Action Group, and served as a United Nations NGO delegate for the Asia Pacific. In 2019, having won the popular vote, he was community grand marshall for San Francisco Pride. In July 2021, he was appointed to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission's LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee. NOTES This is a free program; any voluntary donations made during registration will support the production of our online programs. A complimentary lunch will be provided before the program for in-person attendees. The Commonwealth Club thanks Gilead Sciences, Inc. for its generous support of The Michelle Meow Show.  Program presented in partnership with GAPA Theatre, The Connection at the San Francisco Community Health Center, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and The Commonwealth Club of California. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. SPEAKERS Ignatius Bau Former HIV Prevention Program Coordinator, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum; Former Member, President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS Cecilia Chung Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Evaluation, Transgender Law Center; Health Commissioner, San Francisco Vince Crisostomo Director of Aging Services, San Francisco AIDS Foundation Michelle Meow Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show," KBCW TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Host and Moderator In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on October 6th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pat recaps the good, the bad, and the ugly of NYC Pride. Kate joins the show to update us on her life, and YouTuber Eduardo Sanchez shares his experience as a first-time New York pride-goer and the differences between San Francisco Pride and NY Pride. Plus a Barstool VS America recap. That and more. Like, rate, and subscribe!

Damian Pelliccione is the co-founder and CEO of Revry. We discuss saying no to his family cheese business, being an early expert in live video for car shows, launching the 1st Queer streamer network from his living room, how a delayed mortgage and the launch of QueerX festival almost bankrupt the company, the power of grassroots marketing during SF Pride, how diversity inclusion starts with ownership, and changing the narrative for the Queer community.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up, a podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Damian Pelliccione:Cut to November, around Thanksgiving of 2015. I was playing a new Apple TV. You install it on your TV and you search for apps of apps that are of interest to you. I searched lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer. Nothing came up. I was like, ding. The light bulb went off. This is it. We're going to create the first LGBT streaming network. I had Alia, LaShawn, and Chris in my living. I said, "I have this idea. What do you guys think?" They were like, "Yeah, let's do it. We're all in." Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Damian Pelliccione, the co-founder and CEO of Revry. Damian was born in Canada, and since a young age had a passion for the creative arts. So he passed on taking over his family's large cheese and food distribution business, and moved to New York City to study acting and production. But after the tragic events of 9/11, Damian decided to move to LA and became an early mover and shaker in digital video. He did it all, from early web streaming and YouTube production, to producing live streams at car shows, and even running his own digital workshops. Chris Erwin:In 2015, Damian was sitting in his living room with three friends, frustrated by the fact that there wasn't any queer streamer apps on platforms like Apple TV or Amazon Prime, so he decided to change that and soon after launched the first 24/7 queer streamer network, Revry TV. Chris Erwin:Damian and I get into a lot of different things during our chat. Some highlights include how a delayed mortgage and the launch of the QueerX festival almost cost Damian the company, the wild success of grassroots marketing at San Francisco Pride, why Damian was such a standout at one of my executive dinners in LA, and changing the narrative for the queer community. Chris Erwin:All right, I'm pumped that we get to publish this episode during Pride month. Let's get to it. Chris Erwin:Damian, thanks for being on the podcast. Damian Pelliccione:Thanks so much, Chris, for having me. It's exciting to be here. Chris Erwin:Awesome. Let's rewind a bit. Why don't you tell me about where you grew up and what your household was like. Damian Pelliccione:Yeah, so I grew up actually in Canada. I'm from Toronto, a suburb of Toronto actually called Unionville, which is a small town, colonial, turn of the century, Victorian home that I grew up that was built in the later 1800s. It was a wonderful place to grow up because it was extremely multicultural. There was definitely not one of anything in terms of race and culture. Ironically enough, even though my family is extremely Italian, my father was actually born in Italy and immigrated at six years old to escape World War II. He was the youngest of six. Both my nonna and nonno, which is Italian for grandmother and grandfather- Chris Erwin:Oh, I'm Italian as well. Damian Pelliccione:Really? Chris Erwin:My mother was born in Italy, in Trieste, on what used to be the Yugoslavian border. I know nonna and pop pop. That's my grandparents. Damian Pelliccione:Parli Italiano? Chris Erwin:No. My mom spoke Italian growing up, and spoke it with my grandmother, but never taught the children. To this day, we always give my mom crap about that. Damian Pelliccione:[inaudible 00:03:33]. This is where my talking with my hands, that is completely my Italian [crosstalk 00:03:39]. Chris Erwin:It's all coming together now. Damian Pelliccione:All coming together, yeah. My family, my dad, was from [inaudible 00:03:46], which is in the [inaudible 00:03:49] province of Abruzzo. Unfortunately it was ravaged by a massive earthquake in the early 2000s. Since recovered, but we still have family there. I have cousins actually there. My dad... cross section of Damian is my dad was the entrepreneur in the family. Him and my uncle started the family business, which is huge in Canada. We're, I think in the top five biggest Italian cheese distributors to Canada. Chris Erwin:Wow. Damian Pelliccione:They obviously distribute to the United States as well. They built that from scratch, my dad and my uncle, and now all my cousins run the company. I had no interest in selling cheese. Chris Erwin:Was the opportunity was available to you and you were just like, "Ah, pass"? Damian Pelliccione:Of course. In a big Italian family, the opportunity was given to me and my sister. Both of us past. My sister, Kelly, was definitely going into a different sector than sales and cheese distribution. It's ironic, because I'm in distribution, but I'm more on the film and TV side of distribution, not the food side of distribution. Definitely was very inspired by my father, who was a tremendous salesman, and an entrepreneur who ran his own businesses and obviously started the big family business with my uncle. Damian Pelliccione:Then, ironically enough, my mother is also Italian, but she is third generation. Her and her parents were born in Canada. Her grandparents were born in Italy, a different part of Italy, too. Calabria, which is the heel of Italy, just across from Sicily. It's a little bit different in terms of Italian traditions between the two families, but obviously my mom and my dad are wonderful people. My mother was a politician. She was chairman of the Catholic school board. So was my father, actually, before my mother was. She ran the race relations committee in our city where we grew up. You can see, my mother was a politician, and my father, the entrepreneur, and out comes Damian. Chris Erwin:Yeah, I was going to say, I was like, it makes total sense because I think about, you're the ultimate showmen. You have incredible charisma. I remember that from when we first met at one of our executive dinners. Then the entrepreneurial bend, now I know where that comes from. Yeah, totally get it now. Damian Pelliccione:One of the biggest things, you know Toronto. Most of my family lives in Woodbridge, or Vaughan, which is extremely Italian, predominantly Italian. My mother and my father were very much, this is instilled in me and my sister growing up, about being respectful and understanding and learning about all races, religions, and cultures and walks of life. They chose Unionville, which is a part of town where it was very eclectic. I had friends from all over the world, whose families were immigrants from all over the world. I had so many different cultural upbringings. My parents even made me and my sister, even though I was raised Catholic... I'm not very practicing myself. I consider myself Agnostic, but made us go to all the different: Hindu, Jewish, Islam, all the different sects to see what that religion could provide. Chris Erwin:Would you actually go to their places of worship? Damian Pelliccione:Yeah. I went once or twice to multiple places of worship my mother would take me and my sister to because she wanted us to experience everybody. I think that is where, at least for me, it was instilled at a very young age, were authenticity, diversity, and inclusion, before it was even a thing. This is the late 80s, early 90s. I'm 40 years old now. That was always a part of my upbringing. I think it's ironic where you have a mother politician, father, entrepreneur, and very inclusive family in terms of how we were raised and outcomes Damian and Revry. Chris Erwin:Your mother was super ahead of the times giving you exposure to these different religions and different cultures early on. I get that. I see that as a seed for what you're doing for the overall queer community, trying to drive awareness and inclusion and change the message around queer culture. I think that's brilliant. Chris Erwin:I think that you are involved in the dramatic arts and the school for film and TV at an early age as well. Was this something that came out in your teen years, or before then? When did that start to be? Damian Pelliccione:I was a scene stealer before I was even five years old. I think my performance started at family functions where I have some cousins, and we're all born the same year. I would direct and create the family productions. The kids would get together and we would put on some kind of a show, where it was a musical number, a comedy, or whatever. We would perform for the whole family in the living room. I did this growing up, I think until the time I was 10 or 12 years old. We made that a fun family activity. Of course that led me into being an actor, and I started with community theater, just like anyone else does in Unionville or Markham, Ontario, where I'm from. Damian Pelliccione:From there, I auditioned for the Arts York program, which is part of Unionville High School. Unionville High School ironically enough had this arts program that was to take kids from all over the region, so not just by town, but other surrounding townships who specialize in music or dance, or visual arts, or drama. I was accepted to the drama program and had the most amazing inspirational teachers. These folks are still family members of mine. They inspired me in so many ways to stay in the arts and stay in drama. My passion when I was a teenager and into my early 20s was to be an actor. That's what led me to New York City. I got into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and graduated from that program in 2001. Damian Pelliccione:Then 9/11 happened, and I had already booked a gig in Los Angeles. I was going to do this actor showcase for agents and managers and casting directors. I had a really good friend, one of my good friends from high school, is Hayden Christiansen, who is, as you know, Darth Vader. Hayden, like, come to LA, you should come to LA. I came to LA. Did the showcase, stayed on his couch I think for one or two nights and at a hotel and with other friends. Before the end of the week, I had been booked. I had been booked on a short. Got a commercial agent, got a theatrical agent. Chris Erwin:Okay, interjection. Along this journey, was your family supportive, or were they increasingly questioning, like, Damian, we have ae family cheese business, why are you not involved? Everyone else is here, what are you doing? Damian Pelliccione:No, they've been supportive the whole way through of my career. I am very lucky and blessed. They've been supportive of me, as a queer man, and they also have been supportive of Chris and I, my partner. They've been extremely supportive of my career. They knew, I think, what they were getting into at an early age, that this was pathway, was to be in entertainment. They helped my entire journey, both financially... I was very lucky, and I'm blessed that I had that opportunity. And even my immigration to the United States, because remember, I'm not an American citizen. I am now. I only became an American citizen three years ago now. They have been extremely supportive of my career the entire time, and supporting me early on and when I was in college, obviously financially, and then also with my move to Los Angeles. And then from there, I did what every other actor does. I waited tables for probably almost 10 years. Chris Erwin:You're at Hayden Christiansen's, on his couch, and then all of a sudden you start getting booked. You get an agent, so you're like, okay, this is happening for me. My career is taking off, right? Damian Pelliccione:Here's what's funny. After I finished school in New York, which is a two year program at ADA, I made a deal with my parents. I had been accepted to Concordia University in Montreal for philosophy, which ironically enough I had failed in high school. I'm like this is kind of funny that they accepted me for philosophy. I packed up my apartment in New York. This is, again, a month after 9/11. The decision was if I don't book an agent or manager or things don't start to feel like they're going to pick up in Los Angeles, then I'll go to Montreal, and I'll tell the movers to take my stuff to Montreal, or take my stuff to Los Angeles. Damian Pelliccione:I got lucky. They took my stuff to Los Angeles, and that was October of 2001. It was a crazy time to be in Hollywood. It was an exciting time to be 20 years old and moving to LA, and just hitting the ground running. I think one of the biggest things is that I've always had commitment to everything that I do, good or bad. I think that that has been my greatest life lesson. It was an exciting time. It was back when there was still pilot season, and you test for pilots. I tested for a bunch of pilots, and back when the casting process wasn't about your Instagram influence or your Facebook, or your YouTube. It was well before all those times. It was the old school... I think I even still have my black and white, 8 x 10 head shots that they had from that era. It was an exciting time. Damian Pelliccione:Look, when you're 20 years old, and I was also coming out at the time as gay and queer, it was a great place to be for me, both professionally and socially. Chris Erwin:In terms of pursuing your career, where do you start to hone in, which is like okay, of all the different types of acting or genre or projects that I can do, where were you starting to lean into more? Damian Pelliccione:Like I was saying, my early 20s was all about acting. I auditioned for a bunch of things, worked with agencies. My biggest booking to date was the Gilmore Girls. I actually had one pretty big scene with Alexis Bledel, and a character whose name was Lance. It was season five. I still have... well people and friends and family who watch it on Netflix, marathon watch it. They're like, "Oh my God." They'll screenshot it with their phone and send me a text. I still get residual checks from that show, because it's such a legacy project, right? It was wonderful to do that. I had done a bunch of independent. I had done a bunch of commercials. I had a pretty decent resume as an actor, but then the writer's strike happened in 2009, and it changed. Damian Pelliccione:That's when there was a dramatic shift. My roommate at the time, Deanna Nicole Baxter, who is a true inspiration of mine, had started to create a web series. This is 2006. Remember for context, YouTube launched in 2005, 2006. Chris Erwin:Is this like lonelygirl around that time, too? Damian Pelliccione:Before. Chris Erwin:Before, wow. Damian Pelliccione:This is [inaudible 00:13:44] 88, which won the first daytime technical Emmy for best broadband drama. I saw Deanna do it, and I was completely inspired by her commitment for work and the team that she had. I was like, oh, she can do it, I can do it. I'm always inspired by other people. I surrounded myself with amazing like-minded friends who I still have today, who have always been supportive. We've always supported each other's work along the way. This is my chosen family, as we say in the gay community. It's also, we need to inspire each other to push ourselves to do more. Deanna was one of those, and still today, is a big inspiration for how I lead. Seeing her win the first ever Emmy, was, hey, if she can do it, I'm going to do it. I created a web series vehicle for myself, called Homolebrity. Chris Erwin:Wait, hold on. Wait, hold on. Homolebrity? Damian Pelliccione:Homolebrity, yeah. It's not a very PC name for today, but the idea was to play off the reality boom at the time, and queer celebrity and the reality boom. I remember I was pitching it to Logo, which had just launched as well in 2007 in hopes that we'd get our own TV deal. Bright eyes, big hopes. The whole thing was, regardless of it just going to the web, we did it. We did another one. We did a superhero fantasy show called [inaudible 00:15:04]. We just, I kept producing and producing and producing, and eventually I wasn't putting myself in it, because people are like, "Oh, you're a great producer." Chris Erwin:Were you self distributing, or were you distributing through third-parties? Damian Pelliccione:Oh yeah. No, we were self distributing, just like everybody else. You would call it, I guess user generated content, but we were doing it on a bigger scale and a lot more scripted. It was a really exciting time, and I just got really good at producing. Here's where the transition happened, and I transitioned out of being an actor and being a producer. I produced for other people, and more projects. Damian Pelliccione:I started our own little production company. I remember my first office, which is right at 5th and Spring, because I had a loft in downtown. This is now, cut to 2007-2008. I had a couple of friends. One was an editor and a shooter. The other one was a producer as well. We had this office that was 150 square feet, one room, [inaudible 00:15:58], and three desks. We were like, we're going to be a production company. We just started producing stuff. We produced things for broadband TV and we produced things for YouTube. Some of them we got paid for, and some of them we didn't. We produced Illeana Douglas with Easy to Assemble. I think it was her second or third season. It was a lot of folks who were, they saw and recognized our skillset for user generated content and specifically the web. That was our first office. Chris Erwin:You transitioned from an actor to a producer. Then you're having more and more projects. Some you're getting paid for. Where do you think this is headed? In this moment when you're like, I'm on my way to be a film producer. Damian Pelliccione:That was literally what I was thinking. I'm like, I'm on my way to be a film producer, and I love the journey, and I love production. Even just now, I produced something in house for us last week and every time I get to be on set it reminds me about my passion for even just being a producer and how much fun it is. Then afterwards, we did this for awhile and produced a whole bunch of work, a lot of editorial content, broadband TV, when broadband had been around different areas and different cities. Damian Pelliccione:You could bid for different stories or pitch them stories, very much like a newsroom. That was really exciting. We did a bunch of different op ed pieces and exciting pieces. We even, I remember covering the... this is so funny. I was covering Prop 8 in the 2008 elections, the proposition for equality marriage. There was this big rally in downtown Los Angeles, and it was a lot of Yes on 8, and for context, Yes on 8 was you're anti gay marriage. No on 8 was you're pro gay marriage. I was at a Yes on 8 rally, and I thought I was undercover. I was with my friend, Logan, who produced a show called The Yellow Mic. I was interviewing people and asking them questions about why are you voting yes, and tell us your theories, and collecting the other side of the story, which is really interesting. Damian Pelliccione:Then all of a sudden, the police are like, "We're going to put up blockades in the No on 8 people." They stopped the intersection and there was Yes on 8, No on 8 people across the aisle yelling and screaming and holding up their signage and marching. All of a sudden, Sacha Baren Cohen shows up. He did a film where he was the gay character. He shows up. No one knows who he is, and we were the only who had cameras. I'm like, "Oh my God, that's Sacha Baren Cohen." We got him doing it. We were the only ones with cameras. I remember the next morning we sold it to the news and TMZ. That was my foray into being a paparazzi, which was kind of exciting. It ran on, I think KTLA even and TMZ the next day. Chris Erwin:Oh wow. Where does this lead you, Damian? You're being opportunistic. What's the next major step as you're working your way to eventually be the founder of Revry? Damian Pelliccione:The next step was I worked at Dogma Studios, [inaudible 00:18:41] who was my CEO there saw something in me. Started producing a lot of great content, did stuff with Taylor Dane, Taylor [inaudible 00:18:48] who has since passed, and some great comedians. Dogma, of course, happened during the recession in 2009. I only got to be there for a year, and Scott cut our department. But Scott's like, "Hey, we have this great space. Do something with it." The next thing that I created was with Deanna, which was web TV workshop, which was literally, we're like, hey, what do people do in a recession? They go back to learning new skills. We created our own, tried to produce content for the web with an Emmy award winning actress, writer, director, Deanna Nicole Baxter, and Damian Pelliccione, entrepreneur and web producer as well. Chris Erwin:Was it an early master class, like you sold these as tutorial videos? Damian Pelliccione:Not even videos. We did videos a year later, but we were doing it brick and mortar, where on Tuesday nights every week, or Tuesday/Thursday nights, and we had [inaudible 00:19:36] speak and then [inaudible 00:19:38] speak. [inaudible 00:19:38] we had speakers... like lonelygirl from [inaudible 00:19:41]. Everybody, they all come and speak in the class and we would have different topics ranging from production, all the way to the distribution and understanding the technology and YouTube. It was an eight week course. We were packed. We were full. We did that for a year, and then we created an online version, which now you can still on [inaudible 00:19:58], which was shot, I think in 2000, oh my God, '10 or '11. They still use it on their website. Yeah, it was an exciting time, and that took us into technology. Damian Pelliccione:From there, just to bridge the gap to Revry, Deanna and I were approached an Israeli casting startup called Audish, which was a self casting website, because now we're going into the world of not having to do self casting, which is now the norm, and shooting yourself and making sure it's all final. I was head of business development and user experience. Deanna was head of sales and marketing. Chris Erwin:Is this the first time that you're working for somebody else, or a startup? Because before it's like these are your own projects. Damian Pelliccione:Yeah, Dogma was, they were more of a post house, and I worked for them. They were established. They were not a startup, but yes, this was the first time working for a startup. It was Audish. It was super fun. We'd work at the founder's house in West Hollywood in the Hills, and we were this small team. We just loved it. Then from there we got approached by another startup, which was kind of doing something similar, another Israeli casting startup called eTribez which still exists. Then from there, I got approached by Chevy and Cadillac to do auto shows, both domestic and abroad. In the auto shows I was doing, I was product present. They put me on stage on what those rotating stages to talk about the cars. Chris Erwin:How did they find you? How did Chevy and Cadillac say, "We think Damian's going to be a great showman to sell our cars?" How does that come to be? Damian Pelliccione:I had a friend who worked for the agency, and the agency saw some of my work and said, "Hey do you want to do this?" I'm like, "Hell yeah, I get to travel the country." It was good pay. Then through that work, I suggested, "Hey, you know what you should do? Put a camera up connected to your GM website." Then all of a sudden it became this whole big thing about streaming these presentations. I was the first one to suggest this. This is 2013. You got 250,000 people coming through the Chicago Auto Show or the Detroit Auto Show. Put a camera in front of it and show the rest of the world what's happening here. That was huge. Then from there, they sent me to Geneva. They're like, "Oh, can you go do this for Cadillac in Geneva?" I'm like, "Sure, yeah. Why not? I've never been to Switzerland." I did it for a year. It was really exciting. GM is super, super corporate. I'll leave it at that. Damian Pelliccione:Then I found myself back in startup. The startup that I ended up leaving GM and Cadillac for was a German streaming company called Make.TV. I promise, this is the last one before I get to Revry. I'm giving you my entire resume right now. Chris Erwin:No, it's a great story. Damian Pelliccione:Make.TV, which has since been acquired by LTM group, I was head of VD for North America. Then someone got pregnant in Germany and they get a four year option. They gave me Globe. During my time there, I created a partnership with YouTube Space LA in New York. I actually trained creators at Space LA and Space New York on how to use this proved technology. It was a proven vendor of YouTube on how to stream live, and using multi cam and all that great stuff. I really got my feet wet with SaaS, and SaaS tech ed. I knew everybody in the YouTube market, all the influencers, all the execs, all the players, all the Space people in New York and LA, even in Space Dubai and Space Japan. It was really cool. They sent me all over the world. I went to Dubai for [inaudible 00:23:08]. I went to Singapore for broadcast Asia. Of course I was always at IBC in Amsterdam. I always at NAB here in Vegas. I went to all the entertainment tech shows and met everybody, and really understood the technology in a way and where it was going. Damian Pelliccione:I did that with Make.TV up until 2016, so almost three years, two and a half years. Chris Erwin:Were you developing a relationship as, okay, Damian is one of the preeminent digital producers, also with a specialty in live streaming as well? That was the brand you were creating for yourself. Damian Pelliccione:And understanding the technology, first and foremost. Going to all these technical trade shows, you're in front of all the new SaaS tech players, which used to when you went to NAB, a small section of one of the convention room floors. Now it's multiple floors, because it's all software. It's no longer hardware. Software and SaaS obviously in streaming is so huge. We were very OG SaaS tech streaming technology. Definitely carved a space for my knowledge. I just love this stuff. It was combining my love of technology and producing and content and entertainment into distribution and understanding really the ins and outs of how technology effectuates the consumer experience, and how that was my vision of how that would shift. Of course all of the things I thought of back then are all now definitely coming true today, or are already at fruition. Chris Erwin:Hey, listeners. This is Chris Erwin, your host of The Come Up. I have a quick ask for you. If you dig what we're putting down, if you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating wherever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work, and it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it everybody. Let's get back to the interview. Chris Erwin:Damian, I think next up is that you found Revry with three other co-founders. Tell me about that. Damian Pelliccione:Ironically enough, I was in Germany prepping for IBC in Amsterdam. I only speak a few words in German, and there's nothing to watch. There's not that much English content on TV that was in my hotel room. I watched the Apple broadcast every September, and then even when it was... before I'd even watch it every September when they had the new product launches with Steve Jobs, who's a hero of mine. Damian Pelliccione:I saw the announcement of the Apple TV, and specifically TV OS, the new operating system. I was like, wow, this is going to be huge. This is going to change TV. I see something here. I want to build something. I was inspired to do something. Of course, I didn't know what right away, right? It hadn't dawned on me. Damian Pelliccione:Cut to November, around Thanksgiving of 2015. When Chris, my partner, broke his iPhone, the glass on the iPhone. You used to go to the Apple store and they'd fix it there for you. Apple Care. I was playing a new Apple TV, and Alia, who is now my co-founder and our COO, she had gotten it in October when it came out. She's like, "It's super cool. You should get it. You should get it." Damian Pelliccione:I bought it, and you install it on your TV at home, and you search for apps, just like when you get an iPhone that's blank, of apps that are of interest to you. I searched lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer. Nothing came up. I was like, ding. The light bulb went off. I was like, this is it. We're going to create the first LGBTQ streaming network. I had Alia, LaShawn and Chris in my living. I said, "I have this idea. What do you guys think?" They were like, "Yeah, let's do it. We're all in." Chris Erwin:That just sounds so easy, because many people will say, "Oh yeah, I was recruiting them and they had different jobs, and someone just had a baby. They have financial obligations." But you guys, you're sitting in a room. You tell them the idea, and they're like, "Yeah, let's do it." Damian Pelliccione:I think everyone, besides... I'm just an entrepreneur who's crazy and has all the ideas. One of out of ten works. This is the one that's worked the biggest, in the biggest way. Alia wanted to be in entertainment. She was an attorney, went to law school with Chris. Her background is more small business and startup and employment law. I think she was over working at the firm she was at. Damian Pelliccione:LaShawn, besides being an Army veteran, woman of color like Alia, she is a graduate of the American Film Institute for editorial. She knows all the editorial, and she's our Chief Product Officer, is amazing at what she does in terms of spinning up channels. She was working on a freelance project, editing a film at the time. She was ready for the next big challenge. Damian Pelliccione:Chris, who was I think the most interesting story, he was the attorney for Shark Tank, and even worked on People's Choice awards. That was his biggest legal job. Prior to that he was at Original Productions doing a lot of the reality TV production contractions. When you're on a studio like that, it's not necessarily the most exciting thing. Depending on who your bosses were at the time... that's all I'm going to say about that. They're not necessarily the nicest people to work for. He was ready for a change. He's like, "This wasn't what I thought it was going to be." Damian Pelliccione:It's also difficult when I'm the one that's all over the place doing a whole bunch of different jobs. I'm like, "Let's quit both of our jobs, make no money for five years, and start this startup." Chris will tell you, it's the greatest decision he's ever made his entire life, the same with Alia and LaShawn. What we have built and what we have accomplished in five years consumer basing, this June, when we first started marketing our product at San Francisco Pride in 2016, drove ourselves up to SF, because gay capital of the world. Bigger Pride than Los Angeles, of course. We had a lot of friends up there that were going, so we're like why not? It's going to be a fun weekend. Self printed pink tshirts with a horrible old Revry logo on it. Giant postcard size fliers. I don't know why we thought that was a good idea. We hit the streets handing out the fliers. Chris Erwin:What were you promoting? Damian Pelliccione:Download our app, download our app, download our app. Just download our app and watch some great content. For those who you know, San Francisco, everyone parties in Delores Park on the Saturday before the Sunday of the parade. We were just walking through Delores Park handing out fliers with these hideous pink tshirts, fuchsia tshirts on with the Revry logo, old school Revry logo. People are like, "Oh, what street marketing team do you work for?" I'm like, "No, that's the CBO, that's the CPO, that's the COO. I'm the CEO." They're like, "What?" They're like, "You must really believe in what you do." I'm like, "No, we totally do." We were positing it on the porta potty stalls. We were trying to stick them up to walls and on posts. Damian Pelliccione:By the end of the weekend, we ended up getting booked on Oakland News. Two days later, San Francisco News. Bay Area News. Chris Erwin:What was the reception as you were telling people in the streets in Delores Park about Revry? Did they immediately get it? Were they confused? Damian Pelliccione:They got it, and they downloaded it, and they were watching stuff. They were subscribing. Again, this is the easiest sell, because it's queer capital of the world and San Francisco, tech capital of the world. They totally were in it to win it. I think they were just more astounded by our commitment, and that we're doing it in a very nontraditional, grassroots way. Damian Pelliccione:By the end of that weekend, had a friend of a friend of a friend who introduced us to Mac World. He was queer. He was a writer for Mac World. He's like, "I got to do a story on you." He did the interview that weekend. It didn't come out until about a month later, but once it was published, it was instantaneous downloads that rippled into 10 different languages and 100 different media publications, because Mac World is such a major player that we were the first LGBTQ TV OS app ever created for Apple TV. Damian Pelliccione:Even today, I will say we are bound to be featured again on IOS this next month in June. Everyone at Apple are big fans of Revry, and they keep featuring us, which I'm very happy about. I said it in this interview. If Tim Cook is listening, my ultimate dream is to have lunch with him in Cupertino at the Spaceship. I would fly up there in a heartbeat if he said yes. We'll see. You never know. Dream. Dream big. Chris Erwin:I think that's something I've seen in tracking your business over the last couple years since I first met you at that dinner, was that your resilience, persistence, and passion just always pays off. You've gotten a lot of nose in raising money and pitching partnerships, but then you call me three, six months later, and you're like, "I ended up getting that partnership. Yeah, we just got a check. Yeah, we just closed that round." Feels like the Tim Cook lunch in Cupertino is coming up. I'm excited to get that call from you. Damian Pelliccione:You'll be the first one to know, for sure. Chris Erwin:You mentioned that you launched QueerX in 2016. I want to hear about that, and then there's a pretty crazy moment in 2018 when you were running out of money. You had to do some unique financing structures to figure it out. Tell us about that. Damian Pelliccione:We're crazy. We launched two things at the same time. The former name of it was Out Web Fest. Then we rebranded to QueerX in 2019. We launched our own festival, kind of playing off the LGBT film festival circuit, but more focused on the short form side. Digital content, shorts, music videos, things that are typically not as publicized as feature films in the LGBTQ film festival consumer markets. Damian Pelliccione:We wanted to carve out that space and really highlight these new up and coming emerging voices. The big caveat to this was this is a great way to connect, create, an experiential event, create community, and also find content for Revry. At the end of the day, this is how we even seeded our application at the early stages, because folks were excited not to play in the festival. I would say about 50-60% were also excited to license us their content. It became a tool to curate content for our platform. Damian Pelliccione:Cut to 2018, an investor didn't write a check when we thought they were going to. That was going to be a thing that was going to float the festival. I was two weeks out from the festival, freaking out trying to figure out how to raise $10,000. I ended up getting a creative mortgage. I say that because it was a hard money loan, and not that it has interest... not terrible. I think at the time it was only 6%, but definitely- Chris Erwin:That's pretty good for hard money. Damian Pelliccione:Yeah, definitely on the high end, but because my credit wasn't the greatest, because when you start a business your finances drop a little bit. You're not making as much money. You're taking a pay cut. That was the only available loan to me, but I was able to close it quick enough to be able to float what we needed for the festival. I remember how stressful that was and tears and joy when it did all come through. That's I think the testament to our resilience. That's just one story. There's multiple stories on how... not to get too down in the weeds, but how anytime we were close, and this is any startup has this problem, running out of money or close to the end of your burn or your runway, and you're like, "Oh shit, when is the next check going to come in? Is that investor really going to come through the door and cross the line? Are we going to get the revenue we need?" These are the stressors of your first five years. Damian Pelliccione:Then eventually as time goes on and you sustain, you get... this becomes less and less of an issue. I can count at least two or three moments in time with Revry where I thought we were going to go bankrupt, or we weren't going to be able to pay our payroll, or whatever. There is always some saving grace, whether it was my home and our mortgage, that first time, or an investor that just came out of nowhere that then we would be able to get a check from to be able to sustain the difference in what we weren't making up in our burn for revenue. That's been kind of our mode, that and staying lean and really understanding how to run a business and scale a business with not a lot of money. We are four minorities. We represent veteran, LGBTQ, Latina, African American women, immigrant. I do consider myself non-binary. Chris Erwin:Just to be clear, these are the four co-founders of Revry. I think it's the most diverse founding team that I've ever worked with or been exposed to. Damian Pelliccione:That's our superhero strength. Because we represent so many different cultural, racial, sexual identities, gender identities and backgrounds, I think is a testament to our resilience, our skillset, and our ability to move at a really fast pace. We even got knocked in the beginning from being four co-founders. They're like, "It's never going to work. Someone's going to drop out. Something's not going to happen," whatever. It's like being in a rock band, I always say. It's like if you can get past your first few years, you probably can sustain. Damian Pelliccione:Alia, LaShawn, Chris, and I are very close. We even have founders night out once a month, just social time for the four of us. We support each other in every possible way of our business. I am saying, I proved all the nay sayers wrong that no, you can have four co-founders. You can diversity and inclusion. We believe that diversity and inclusion starts, authentic leadership starts from ownership. That's why we're four equal co-founders. No one owns any more equity than the next person. We leave from that pillar when I'm talking to a tech partner or a vendor, when I'm talking to a content creator, filmmaker, or distribution company. When we're talking to, even advertisers, like Lexus or [inaudible 00:35:53] who we work with, the main pillar and mission with our company is true reflection, authenticity, and diversity, and inclusion within our community. Damian Pelliccione:Because the great thing about being LGBTQ or queer, we like to add queer. We're adopting unapologetically queer, is that you're not one race. You're not one gender. You're not one sexual orientation. You're not one cultural background. You're not one language. Queer exists all over the world. This is a really exciting moment for us, and the rest of the world, and the entertainment business to be embracing what we're doing with Revry in such a big way where we've got some pretty big wins coming down the pipeline which we'll have announcements for in Pride month in June. Chris Erwin:Which leads to the next question of what is next for Revry? Now that you've been doing this, I think you said, for the past five years that you've now been officially consumer facing, right, with the product in the market, tell us how many different apps, how much programming do you have? Let's fast forward three to five years out. Where are you headed? Damian Pelliccione:Yeah, so right now Revry is available in over 280 million households and devices. That is our reach. This is our sweat equity over the last three years, and really understanding the market and the differential between... we call ourselves a trihybrid of fast, free, ad supported streaming TV, AVOD, ad video on demand, and SVOD, subscription video on demand. We started as a subscription video on demand platform when SVOD was not as big of a thing as it was today, and building that subscription audience. That was hard. Now today, it's super competitive and competing Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon, and Apple TV Plus, and all the ones that have way deeper pockets than I do. I think where we saw a major opportunity, which was in 2017, we started with Pluto TV, a fast channel. Revry was the first LGBTQ network on Pluto TV. Then a year later we launched on Xumo TV in 2018. We crushed it and we brought in advertisers like Lexus. They were the first advertiser. They actually unbounded us six months after we launched. Damian Pelliccione:So, launched in 2016. January 2017 I receive an email from our info at Revry.TV email from this agency that represents Lexus and asked if we did advertising. Of course we get that, we're like, "Yes, we do." You figure it out, because you don't want to say no to that opportunity. Luckily we have the Pluto TV channel to be able to figure that out on, which launched the next quarter. It was great, and they've increased their spend year over year and we're a major partner of Lexus, specifically in the LGBTQ space. We're very honored to have worked with them for so long now since 2017, but we saw just based on that one advertiser and that one channel, the opportunity for having free, linear TV. Damian Pelliccione:Today it's the cable killer. It's fast. It's going to overtake the market. I believe that the new cable networks are the smart TV manufacturers. The Samsung, the Vizios, the LGs, the Sonys even now are getting into this space. These are the ones that will lead the charge and why you won't need a subscription pairage package to your teleco broadcaster like Comcast or AT&T, and what Comcast bought Xumo, and why AT&T is mostly likely going to go into facet as well, to catch up to the market. Damian Pelliccione:Cut to day, we're on 35 fast platforms, more than half of which we are the exclusive and/or only LGBTQ provider. We are also on SVOD platforms, like Xfinity. We're about to launch on a few other big ones coming down the pipe this summer. Our distribution footprint is so massive, and it's not just US. We just launched May 12th with Samsung UK. We launched in a territory in March, which I can't talk about, because we're still in beta for that. We're launching with Australia this week. Actually in just a few days we launch TV across Australia. Next month we're launching in another Latin American territory. Then later on in North America, and hopefully Canada. Damian Pelliccione:It's just been this rolling explosion of opportunity with big partners like TV and Samsung and Vizio, and really embracing what we're doing in the content and how we're distributing. I think the next phase, to answer the question of the business, outside of continuing to spin up channels and build more connections for our networks so now we're not just one network, we have multiple networks... we have our North American English feed, our global English feed, our USA English feed, but we also have Revry News, the first ever LGBTQ 24/7 news network. We have OML under our Revry, which stands for Oe More Lesbian, the first ever queer women acts lesbian network, which has exploded. Revry LatinaX, the first LGBTQ Spanish language network. Damian Pelliccione:Then we have a few more announcements coming up later this year for specialty channels of language specific channels, because, again, we exist as people, LGBT people everywhere, and we're massive underserved in the market other than the few things you can watch on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, or whatever territory that you live in, or on YouTube. There's no global network like Revry for our community until now. Damian Pelliccione:Really, for us, it's taking over all those global markets and tapping into... even outside of just English speaking markets, the community in Brasil, the community in Mexico, the community in India, the community all over Europe, and very soon the community in Africa. That's exciting to me. What's more exciting from a social impact standpoint is we don't have a barrier to entry. Yes, we still have our subscription product. We call it Revry Premium. That's upgrade from our... just like Peacock, right? The idea there is that if you want greater access and no ads, you pay the subscription price. You don't need to register to our site. You can just go on and start watching. Download the app and start watching anywhere on any device. Damian Pelliccione:The social impact site is like no matter your socioeconomic background, or where you are in the world, you can access Revry content. You as a trans person in Saudi Arabia, as a lesbian in Russia, as a gay man in South Africa can watch great, free content that is ad supported to see your story, to see yourself reflected. Damian Pelliccione:We've had letters from all over the world. The letter was after the Mac World article. That was from a gay man in Saudi Arabia who wrote me a message on LinkedIn of all places, from an anonymous profile saying, "I'm a queer man from Saudi Arabia. I read your Mac World article. I didn't know really what gay meant. I'm closeted, and I now see that there are other people out there like me. Thank you for doing what you're doing. I love this film, so and so." That was powerful. That's not the first. I have that framed, by the way. That message is framed and sits next to my desk, a reminder for why I do what I do every morning. When you're creating something way bigger than yourself, it gives you so much more purpose and drive than any other job you could ever have. That, I equate to our success. Damian Pelliccione:The other opportunity that I had where I saw the impact that Revry is having as a platform was when I was in India in June of 2019. I went to Mumbai to speak at the queer film festival, KASHISH. At the opening night ceremony, they had all the guest speakers come in and just say hello and give a little insight into what their talk would be later on in the week. All these queer female filmmakers surrounded me at the after party. We had this one title called The Other Love Story by this great filmmaker, [inaudible 00:42:50] in London, about this lesbian relationship in Bangalore. It was a scripted show. We branded it as a Revry original distributed in 2017 and '18, and it exploded, like these numbers from India, which we never expected. Again, testament to massively underserved market, but big opportunity. No one's tapping that. Damian Pelliccione:These queer women were so excited to meet Revry, a representative from Revry, let alone the CEO. I was like, "Oh my God. I'm so excited to meet you, too. Tell me what your project is. Can I license something?" That's where my mind goes in distribution, licensing and acquisition. This one girl's like, "No, no, no. Damian, I want to show you something." She pulls out her phone and shows me her Tinder. I'm like, "Why are you showing me your Tinder?" She funnels for lesbian, right? All the images in the grid were images were from The Other Love Story, our acquisition original from that territory. Damian Pelliccione:For context, we're celebrating 50 years of Stonewall right now in the United States, but for context, they only have their stonewall moment in 2018 where they decriminalized being LGBTQ. This is a year later that I'm in that territory. For fear of discretion, for their friends, their families, their jobs, or their places that they live or worship, that's how they identify themselves. Queer women specifically, and I started crying. I took this girl to dinner. I woke up Alia, LaShawn, and Chris in the west and was like, "Hey you have to, have to hear this story. This is huge. Everyone was crying." Damian Pelliccione:Even when I tell this story, I still get a little emotional, but it shows the power of the impact that media and a platform like Revry can have for the greater good of our community on a global scale. I've been quoted saying this story and the Saudi Arabia story multiple times in the past, but I will continue to quote it on all the interviews that I do, because that is the impact that we're having. That is the most exciting and biggest reward that I can receive as a founder. Chris Erwin:Beautifully put. Look, before we move on to the rapid fire, Damian, in terms of reward, what are the exit opportunities as you think about Revry? Where does this go? Do you just continually raise funding, or is there an exit that you're targeting in the next two to three years? I know the common answer is heads down building, we have a lot more to do, but what are you really thinking there, you and the three other founders? Damian Pelliccione:Heads down building, we have a lot more to do for sure. A lot more that we want to do and where I'd like to take this company, and where the founders, collectively, Alia, LaShawn, Chris, and I would like to take this company. We always knew from inception that this was not an idea business. We were an acquisition. When you look at the consolidation that's happening right now, MGM being bought by Amazon, Disney buying Discovery, I don't think that my thesis of acquisition is going to have very much longer before we're sucked up into a bigger machine. I wouldn't hate that, to be honest. I don't think any of the founders... I think we're all excited for that opportunity once it presents itself with the right partner. Damian Pelliccione:Right now, what am I doing? We're raising our next round. Series day is next. We'll see where the future takes us, but there's other conversations happening in the background. I think we're a really hot ticket item. We are the market leader, clearly, hands down the market leader for LGBTQ end streaming. We would be a great acquisition for any of the major studios at this point. And for the right price, not just the right pice, the right upside, but more or less being able to be capitalized in a way with the powers of a bigger studio and keep running the business the way we want to, which is to focus now more into the original side of content, and to create our whole slate of content and market and distribute that. I think that is a big value proposition. Damian Pelliccione:When you look at the stuff that we're coming out with this Pride season, I'm very proud of our slate of originals and content and shows and specials that we are about to announce just in a few days. Chris Erwin:Awesome. Last thing before I move on to rapid fire, Damian. I want to give you and the team some kudos. I remember, I threw an executive event nearby when our office was in Culver City. I think this is in the summer 2019. I did not know you, nor Revry before this. I think one of the guests that was commenting was like, "Oh, I want to bring this guy, Damian. He's electrifying. Can I add him to the guest list?" I was like, "Sure. Let's see." I remember, I think there was three or four long tables. You ended up sitting directly across from me. I just remember from the moment that we sat down, you not only lit up the space between us, but the entire table. I had such a good time talking to you. I got so excited by your vision and your gumption and your energy. That kicked off us working together on a few different fronts. Chris Erwin:I remember, and I was like, this is just a show that existed for this couple hours together, or does this persist? As I have continuously gotten to know you and the team better, and going to your office for an offsite and meeting the other members of your team, like you said, I had hesitation. I'm like, four co-founders? How does that work? But you guys have something very special in what you're building in your product, very special between the four co-founders, and your mission is fantastic. I know without a doubt that you guys are going to be coming out in a very, very special place. Keep on doing what you're doing. It's been amazing to track your journey, and it's fun getting to know you. Damian Pelliccione:We love you, Chris. You've always been a big cheerleader since we've met, and we appreciate your support. Chris Erwin:Cool. With that, we're going to move into the rapid fire round. Six questions. The rules are as follows. The answers are to be very brief, at most one to two sentences, but could also be one or two words. Do you understand the rules? Damian Pelliccione:Yes. Chris Erwin:Great. Let's dive in. Proudest life moment? Damian Pelliccione:Mumbai, India. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do less of in 2021? Damian Pelliccione:Work. No, I'm kidding. Chris Erwin:That's totally fair. Damian Pelliccione:What do I want to do less of? I want to eat less. Chris Erwin:You want to eat less, okay. What do you want to do more of? Damian Pelliccione:Exercise. Chris Erwin:What one to two things drive your success? Damian Pelliccione:Passion, innovation, love. Chris Erwin:Final three. What advice do you give media execs going into the end of 2021? Damian Pelliccione:Fail fast, fail big, and learn. Chris Erwin:Any future startup ambitions? Damian Pelliccione:Cannabis. Chris Erwin:Huh. Okay, I have to ask, what are you thinking on the cannabis front? Damian Pelliccione:Don't know yet. I have a passion for it, too. I think there's a frontier and a gold rush. I think there's so many healing qualities to it and so many unlocked potential and scientific research on what this plant can do. I wanted to be a part of that in some way. It hasn't revealed itself exactly, like what sector of cannabis, but I just know that I definitely want to... if I were to start another startup, it would definitely be in the cannabis sector. Chris Erwin:That'll be a good reason to have you on the show a second time, about your new venture. Damian Pelliccione:Yeah, there you go. Chris Erwin:Last one, very easy. How can people get in contact with you? Damian Pelliccione:Easy. You can go to our website, Revry.TV. You can also find me on Instagram, Damian, D-A-M-I-A-N media, M-E-D-I-A, or Revry TV, R-E-V-R-Y T-V. Chris Erwin:Awesome. All right, Damian. Thanks for being on the show. This was a delight. Damian Pelliccione:Thank you so much for having me, Chris. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Chris Erwin:I got to say, I just love spending time with Damian. He is so positive. He is so effusive. He always brings a smile to my face. That interview was a real delight. All right, before wrapping up, we have an exciting announcement. Rock Water has launched our second podcast. It's called the Rock Water Roundup. In under 15 minutes, me and my colleague, Andrew Cohen, breakdown recent media and commerce news. We already have, I think around seven or eight episodes up, and we cover topics like live stream commerce and whatnot's $40 million capital raise, the growth of creator competition series, including the recent Logan Paul and Floyd Mayweather fight, the rapid growth of the resale market, including Etsy's $1.6 billion acquisition of Depop, and so much more. Chris Erwin:You can get it wherever you listen to your podcast: Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, you name it. And you can also go to Rounduppodcast.com. We're getting some really good feedback on the short, what we like to call micro cast format. Would love to have you check it out. All right, that's it everybody. Thanks for listening. Chris Erwin:The Come Up is written and hosted by me, Chris Erwin, and is a production of Rock Water Industries. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and remember to subscribe wherever you listen to our show. If you really dig us, feel free to forward The Come Up to a friend. You can sign up for our company newsletter at wearerockwater.com/newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter at TCU Pod. The Come Up is engineered by Daniel Tureck, music is by Devon Bryant. Logo and branding is by Kevin Zazzali. Special thanks to Andrew Cohen and Mike Booth from the RockWater team. 

I grew up in a small town on the Central Coast of California. There were no references to queerness, queer history, or queer culture in the media when I was growing up and formulating gender and sexuality. There was definitely a void of such discussions in my hometown. This environment presented many difficulties, but most of all, it made it difficult for my young queer self to embrace my whole being. Eventually, I left that small town on a journey that would lead to blasting my closet door off its hinges. My journey to becoming a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence began the Sister's home town of San Francisco. The first time I saw the Sisters was at San Francisco Pride in 1991. I was fascinated by their look, their drag, and the way they appeared to mock traditional aspects of our society invoking the sacred clown. At the time, I had no interest in drag nor did I ever imagine that I would find myself among these wonderful beings. I lived an out and proud existence without becoming too involved in radical activism. I led most of my adult life as a cis, white, gay, male with centrist politics . . . until one day . . . several family members demonstrated that their moral high ground and their conservative political views were more important than my safety, my love, my marriage, my freedom, my existence, and my life. I realized that the 30 plus years of being out and proud had not changed my family's views nor had there been significant societal changes in marginalized communities. I could no longer stay silent to the oppression and violence caused by transphobia, homophobia, biphobia, racism, sexism, classism, ableism, audism, ageism, xenophobia, or bigotry based on religious affiliation . . . It was time to become LOUD AND PROUD . . . Enter The DC Sisters! The DC Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence provided an outlet that sparked my creativity and taught me to spread joy and love in the world. Then one day . . . After many manifestations . . . Sister Soyuna Pasiva was born of stardust, biodegradable glitter, petty coats, and vintage fashion. Upon manifesting in our universe, she saw a world yearning for Love and Joy. A world desperately in need of Drag Queen Activism and the Sacred Clown. Soyuna joined the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and dedicated herself to tearing down stigmatic guilt and promoting universal joy. Her goals are to glitter bomb everything in biodegradable glitter, make sure that the carpets always match the drapes, and always be the twirliest girl in the world. Sister Soyuna Pasiva shares her Joy with the world on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/soyunapasiva/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SoyunaPasivaDC). This is an open call to anyone that has a gratitude story or practice that they'd like to share. Just email me at the address Hello@gratitudespace.com, If you have enjoyed the podcast pls subscribe and rate us. You could look at this as your way of showing me a little gratitude. In Gratitude, Chris --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gratitudespace/message

I grew up in a small town on the Central Coast of California. There were no references to queerness, queer history, or queer culture in the media when I was growing up and formulating gender and sexuality. There was definitely a void of such discussions in my hometown. This environment presented many difficulties, but most of all, it made it difficult for my young queer self to embrace my whole being. Eventually, I left that small town on a journey that would lead to blasting my closet door off its hinges. My journey to becoming a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence began the Sister's home town of San Francisco. The first time I saw the Sisters was at San Francisco Pride in 1991. I was fascinated by their look, their drag, and the way they appeared to mock traditional aspects of our society invoking the sacred clown. At the time, I had no interest in drag nor did I ever imagine that I would find myself among these wonderful beings. I lived an out and proud existence without becoming too involved in radical activism. I led most of my adult life as a cis, white, gay, male with centrist politics . . . until one day . . . several family members demonstrated that their moral high ground and their conservative political views were more important than my safety, my love, my marriage, my freedom, my existence, and my life. I realized that the 30 plus years of being out and proud had not changed my family's views nor had there been significant societal changes in marginalized communities. I could no longer stay silent to the oppression and violence caused by transphobia, homophobia, biphobia, racism, sexism, classism, ableism, audism, ageism, xenophobia, or bigotry based on religious affiliation . . . It was time to become LOUD AND PROUD . . . Enter The DC Sisters! The DC Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence provided an outlet that sparked my creativity and taught me to spread joy and love in the world. Then one day . . . After many manifestations . . . Sister Soyuna Pasiva was born of stardust, biodegradable glitter, petty coats, and vintage fashion. Upon manifesting in our universe, she saw a world yearning for Love and Joy. A world desperately in need of Drag Queen Activism and the Sacred Clown. Soyuna joined the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and dedicated herself to tearing down stigmatic guilt and promoting universal joy. Her goals are to glitter bomb everything in biodegradable glitter, make sure that the carpets always match the drapes, and always be the twirliest girl in the world. Sister Soyuna Pasiva shares her Joy with the world on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/soyunapasiva/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SoyunaPasivaDC). This is an open call to anyone that has a gratitude story or practice that they'd like to share. Just email me at the address Hello@gratitudespace.com, If you have enjoyed the podcast pls subscribe and rate us. You could look at this as your way of showing me a little gratitude. In Gratitude, Chris --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gratitudespace/message

Queer bars all over the country (world) were closing before this damn pandemic. And now, momma, the future is unclear.Where's all this going?How will the queer community gather in the coming years?What is the magnet that will bring people together in the future?What will the affects of the pandemic be on how, when, why, and where the queer community gathers?Will there be a renaissance of the gay bar?What will the physicality of queer space of the future look like?Two denizens of the queer nightlife world, Honey Mahogany and Grace Towers, are coming to Manny's to discuss these questions and more.It's going to be a free flowing sit down, maybe a planning session, as both of these queens find themselves in the midst of gathering people together using the digital world and all of its accouterments.About Honey Mahogany:The child of East African political refugees, Honey Mahogany was born and raised in San Francisco. Honey's father worked as a cab driver for Yellow Cab Co-op and Honey's mother put herself through school while raising two-children and eventually worked in finance.Honey completed most of her education in the Bay Area and received her Masters in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley in 2009. Soon thereafter, Honey got a job working at the Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County (RCC) where she worked as the Community Mental Health Director, and became the center's first full-time employee.It was around this time that Honey Mahogany was also establishing herself as a performer in San Francisco, eventually garnering international attention when she appeared on the television show RuPaul's Drag Race. Since appearing on the show, Honey has become a regular host at San Francisco Pride and has also launched two successful POC centered LGBT events: Mahogany Mondays & Black Fridays.As time went on, and the impacts of the second tech boom became more and more apparent in San Francisco, Honey began to see more of her favorite independent venues and businesses close, and more and more of her friends, family, and community members leave San Francisco.In 2016, when the Stud Bar was threatened with closure, Honey joined a group of her friends in establishing a collective that eventually took over ownership of the space and worked with City Hall to Save Our Stud. This effort lead Honey to get further involved in community organizing, and soon Honey began helping to mitigate displacement in one of San Francisco's most diverse and heavily impacted neighborhoods, the Tenderloin, by founding the Compton's Transgender Cultural District.Realizing the incredible value of civic engagement, Honey joined the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and became Co-President of the club a year later. Honey was then appointed to the SF DCCC, becoming the first black trans-identified person to serve on the body. Honey continues to organize and fight for the most vulnerable communities in San Francisco every day as a legislative aide in the District 6 Office, and hopes to be able to continue her service on the SF DCCC as an elected member.About Grace Towers:Grace Towers turns heads wherever she goes. In just seven short-but-fabulous years in San Francisco, she has made a deep impact on the life of the city by carving out queer spaces and nurturing the queerdos who frequent them. She has Graced the city with her signature sabor latino, innumerable commanding performances, generous philanthropic endeavors, transformative mentorship programs, and legendary genderfuck style. Through her unwavering commitment to community, she encourages self-acceptance, creative expression, body positivity, and the use of DRAG as as a portal for change—all with effortless Grace, style, and poise.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Announcements. Pride 2020: Playbill/Pride Plays: The Men from the Boys by Mart Crowley, directed by Zachary Quinto, streams through June 29, 2020. Pride Spectacular Sunday June 28,2020 at 5 pm Pacific. Global Pride live stream, focusing on Black Lives Matter, and featuring guests ranging from Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi to Adam Lambert and Lavern Cox and the Dixie Chicks, starts Saturday June 27, 2020 at 7:30 am Pacific time, continuing through Sunday. San Francisco Pride is hosting two days of live events, with multiple streams featuring musical guests, panel discussions and more, starting Saturday morning and continuing through Sunday. Sunday main stream special guest is singer Thelma Houston, along with W. Kamau Bell and BLM co-founder Alicia Garza. A second stream features community programmed stages The Oasis Pride Drag Show starting on Saturday June 27th at 7 pm. Theatre Rhino  Post-pride Zoom community mixer with Peaches Christ on Monday June 29 , 7 pm. Register at therhino.org New Conservatory Theatre Center A Night Out with Katya Smirnoff Skyy Tues., June 30, 6 pm. Other Announcements. The Playground is presenting, in honor of Black Lives Matter, a Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project: Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids by Vincent Terrell Durham, Streaming through June 30th. Co-sponsored by 30 companies, including Berkeley Rep, Marin Theatre Company, Custom Made Theatre, Cal Shakes, Cutting Ball, etc. Bay Area Book Festival. Merlin Sheldrake and Michael Pollan on Entangled Life, Tuesday July 7, 2020, noon Pacific. The Booksmith lists its entire June on-line schedule of interviews and readings on their website, which includes Lockdown Lit every Tuesday at 11 am. Book Passage author events: Dominique Crenn, Sat. June 27, 4 pm Pacific; Jill Biden, Sun. June 28, 4 pm Pacific. Registration required. Theatre Rhino Thursday play at 8 pm June 11, 2020 on Facebook Live is Frank Kameny: Eyes on the Stars, conceived and performed by John Fisher. The Death of Ruby Slippers by Stuart Bousel, on Zoom, July 7, 2020, 7 pm, register in advance. Shotgun Players. Streaming: The Claim, workshop production. The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, July 9-12, 7 pm. Registration required. San Francisco Playhouse.Every Monday, SF Playhouse presents Zoomlets, a series of short play table reads. Monday June 29, 7 pm: Rules of Comedy by Patricia Cotter. Kepler's Books presents Refresh the Page, on line interviews and talks, June 25, 7:30 Mohsin Hamid. June 30, 7 pm: Joyce Carol Oates with Leila Lalami National Theater At Home on You Tube: A Midsummer Night's Dream.   Bookwaves Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky. Recorded in January 2013. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie revolves around the matriarch of a black family of the Great Migration and her children and grandchildren, and was an Oprah Book Club selection. From the New York Times review: “Hattie Shepherd, the title character of Ayana Mathis's piercing debut novel, is at once a tragic heroine with mythic dimensions and an entirely recognizable mother and wife trying to make ends meet. Her story, set in 20th-century Philadelphia, is one of terrible loss and grief and survival, a story of endurance in the face of disappointment, heartbreak and harrowing adversity.” This was a debut novel. Complete 44-minute Radio Wolinsky podcast.   Arts-Waves Mart Crowley, author of “The Boys in the Band” and its sequel, “The Men from the Boys,” in conversation with Richard Wolinsky on October 31, 2002. Mart Crowley's play The Boys in the Band, which deals with the lives of gay men in the 1960s burst upon the off-Broadway scene in 1968 and ran for a thousand performances, becoming a film directed by William Friedkin two years later. In 2002, he wrote a sequel titled The Men from the Boys, which took place 35 years later, after Stonewall and after the AIDS epidemic. It premiered at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre on November 9, 2002. This past year, Broadway saw a revival of The Boys in the Band, featuring Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannels and Jim Parsons. Several members of that cast, including Mario Cantone and Denis O'Hare return to their roles for a live stream of The Men From the Boys, directed by Zachary Quinto, streams through June 29, 2020 on playbill.com/prideplays Mart Crowley died of a heart attack on March 7, 2020 at the age of 84. Complete 62-minute Bay Area Theater podcast.     The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – June 25, 2020: Ayana Mathis – Mart Crowley appeared first on KPFA.

Luann de Lesseps is a mess at the San Francisco pride parade. What's up with Liza Minnelli's health? Terry Crews testifies about sexual abuse in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Lori's Study of Duh: Oxford University says we are alone in the galaxy. Don't put Vaseline on your cuts.

San Francisco Pride's Grand Marshals 1-2-16 by Michelle Meow

Independent Journalist- Thor Benson; Gary Virginia- San Francisco Pride Board of Directors 10-25-16 by Michelle Meow