Dot429, a professional network for the LGBT community, recently hosted a conference in New York City.
dot429’s second installment of StraightTalk, a conference bringing together leading LGBT thought leaders, tastemakers and professionals from all industries, gained momentum and applause from attendees at the Tribeca Grand in New York City. The event was sponsored by FIAT 500, a brand whose beliefs fall in line with dot429’s own values of passion, drive and enjoyment of the better things in life.
This conference brought together a line up of speakers from politics, media, design, business, and entertainment. Each panel was as inspiring as the next – addressing the themes of Exposure, Resilience, and Meaning in the context of the LGBT community and humanity at large.
The political panel was the first of the day with speakers Moe Vela, who has served in two White House administrations, and Mark Perriello, a liaison of President Obama’s and currently CEO of the AAPD. Next was the Media segment with author Laura Albert, creator of the JT LeRoy persona and books such as Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, who spoke alongside Janet Mock, transgender advocate and editor of People.com. Then Deborah Dugan, CEO of Project(RED) and straight ally, with famed designer and animal rights philanthropist John Bartlett. Finally, the day was capped off with the hilarious Bruce Vilanch and actor Wilson Cruz, longtime friends of one another, and advocates of the LGBT community.
After the day’s events, guests retired to the Tribeca Grand salon upstairs to enjoy a post panel cocktail hour in which they could mingle with fellow attendees and rub elbows with the speakers themselves while enjoying wine provided by Penfolds and cocktails by Blue Angel Vodka. Ever an incredible meeting of minds, the conversation was especially charged by the inspiration taken from the day’s discussions, and lasted well into the evening.
Elizabeth Birch, former head of the Human Rights Campaign, rounded out the weekend’s events on Sunday with an intimate town hall panel discussion, followed by a brunch attended by the weekend’s speakers and dot429 members.
Does this sound like something you’d like to attend? Join dot429 in March of 2012 for the next installment. Look to dot429.com and dot429’s Facebook page for more updates. To find out more about our speakers at this year’s StraightTalk, visit dot429.com/straight_talk.