In 2018, Ryann Richardson made history, becoming the 50th Anniversary Miss Black America and taking up the mantle of the country’s first pageant and nationally televised celebration of women of color. Before that, the tech marketer-turned-founder and Diversity & Inclusion leader spent 10 years building brands and shaping internal culture for companies spanning from early-stage startups to billion-dollar “unicorns” to the Fortune 500. Her work earned her a spot as the youngest honoree on Savoy Magazine’s list of Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America and set her on the path to discovering her unique purpose as a champion for underrepresented voices.

As President and Co-Founder of diversity-focused HR-tech platform, ExecThread, she helped underrepresented executives capture elusive C-Suite career opportunities. Now in her second act as a founder, her company, Ellington Lafayette Co. is building a new type of tech incubator, focusing exclusively on startups that drive social equity for women, people of color, and other marginalized communities.

Ryann led East Coast regional marketing and partnerships at Uber. She’s credited with directing the company’s marketing presence at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and later developed Uber’s first comprehensive multicultural marketing strategy. Ryann also co-founded Uber’s employee-led Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.

Ryann was previously Vice President and Head of North American Marketing for UK-based private aviation marketplace app, Victor, and early in her career, worked on the national expansion of the MetroPCS wireless brand, launching its Mid-Atlantic markets after T-Mobile’s acquisition of the then regional company.

Today, Ryann travels the US as a Keynote Speaker focusing on access and equity for women and people of color and giving talks on “Authenticity and Assimilation”, “Building Purpose-Driven Careers” and “The Politics of Race, Beauty, and Power”. She featured as an expert commentator in the upcoming feature documentary, Subjects of Desire, exploring the evolution of American beauty standards and the appropriation of Black cultural aesthetics. Ryann is a native of the Washington, DC area and now calls Brooklyn, New York home.