WORLDZ, a self-described “multi-cultural marketing summit, and community,” wrapped up its second annual event August 1st in Los Angeles, California. This year’s weekend-long summit attracted 1,500 thought-leaders, startups, and business owners to the Hollywood & Highland Complex. Guests represented over 70 major industries in the hopes of inspiring the next generation of rising talent in the marketing world.
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2017 brought with it a diverse array of keynote speeches by media titan Gary Vaynerchuk, author, and speaker Deepak Chopra, CEO of IHeartMedia Bob Pittman, Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian, author and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner, and founder of NastyGal and Girlboss CEO Sophia Amoruso. Also present was Youtube personality Lily Singh as well as actress and BeSe founder Zoe Saldana. There were also notable performances by BØRNS, Echosmith, and Portugal, The Man.
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for PTTOW!
Workshops offered over the course of the weekend spanned a variety of topics from Youtube Beauty personality Kandee Johnson’s talk on staying real in the digital space and the importance of company values from David Baga, the Chief Business Officer of Lyft. However, some talks remained in-tune with the modern political sphere, as was the case for a talk on using comedy as a form of activism from Mike Farah and Brad Jenkins, the CEO and Director Executive Producer of the Funny Or Die Youtube channel, respectively.
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for PTTOW!
Each discussion was aimed at bettering the forthcoming generation of innovators, with emphasis on building better brands with a clearer sense of brand identity and company ethics. Tom Punch, Chief Commercial & Creative officer of Vice Media, encouraged guests to not shy away from telling the stories that demand to be told, regardless of consequence. Jesse Genet, the CEO of the phone-case startup LuMee, and Adam Duplessie, the founder of social media agency Rise, spoke to the startup community about the ability to turn an idea into a profitable business model.
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for PTTOW!
Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for PTTOW!
The event culminated with the honoring of Chopra, Grammy-Award-winning artist Will.I.Am, Olympic medalist Shaun White, and eleven-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater. Each was presented with the Titan Award, which recognizes each recipient’s contribution to and impact on global culture. The Nelson Mandela Change Maker Award was given to actress, president, and co-founder of The Human Needs Project, Connie Nielsen, as well as Deborah Dugan, the CEO of the RED foundation, for their continuous efforts to promote Mandela’s social legacy.
For more information, visit Worldz.
All images courtesy Getty Images for PTTOW.