Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director, Refinery29
Piera Gelardi: Biography at a Glance
- Piera Gelardi is co-founder and executive creative director of the trailblazing next-gen media and entertainment company, Refinery29.
- Her company has changed the way media and advertising speaks to and represents women, and reaches a devoted audience of 425 million globally.
- As a creative leader, Piera was recently honored as one of Ad Age's 50 Most Creative People of the year, Entrepreneur magazine’s 50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs, and was featured in Adweek as one of the 37 Women Who Are Disrupting the Status Quo and Championing Gender Diversity.
- An award-winning entrepreneur, creative director, and public speaker, Piera is passionate about using storytelling and creativity to inspire and empower women and spark positive change.
- She believes that Courageous Creativity — boldly using imagination in service of integrity — can create a more inclusive, whole-hearted, beautiful world for all.
Videos
Biography
Piera Gelardi is co-founder and executive creative director of the trailblazing digital media and entertainment company, Refinery29. Her company has changed the way media and advertising speaks to and represents women and reaches a devoted audience of 500 million globally with diverse, original creativity, storytelling, and experiences. She and her team have won numerous awards and honors including spots on both Inc. 500 and Fast Company's lists of most innovative companies.
Piera is passionate about using storytelling and creativity as tools to inspire and empower people, to spark change, and to heal. Her mission is to use these tools to create a more inclusive, imaginative, and beautiful world.
Piera was recently honored as one of Ad Age's 50 Most Creative People of the year, Entrepreneur magazine’s 50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs, and was featured in Adweek as one of the 37 Women Who Are Disrupting the Status Quo and Championing Gender Diversity in Advertising and Tech.
Always scheming and dreaming, one of Piera’s proudest creations is 29Rooms, the wildly creative, interactive exhibition of style, culture, and technology that’s become a viral event sensation.
She is a frequent public speaker, appearing at events like SXSW, INBOUND, Creative Mornings, and TNW, sparking audience's imagination and entrepreneurial spirit. Her talks ignite conversations and offer advice on cultivating creativity, being the most you, and creating inclusive leadership and storytelling practices. She’s often tapped as a creativity, new media, and entrepreneurship expert on outlets like Sirius XM, CBS News, and Business Insider.
When she is not burning the midnight oil at Refinery29, she’s exploring, learning, and expressing herself through relentless gallery hopping, podcast-listening binges, and breaking it down on the dance floor (which sometimes looks more like a subway platform). She is a passionate board member at the Lower East Side Girls Club, an organization that sets under-resourced girls up for success with well-rounded learning and outlets for creative expression and activism.
“Be the spark, live with heart, turn it into art.”
Topics
Play It Forward: How Fun and Games Drive Innovation and Better Teamwork
Amidst the productivity grind of work, play can feel like a waste of time — something juvenile and frivolous — and yet nothing is more critical for creativity, innovation, and teamwork.
In this talk, I share the science-backed benefits of play and the practical steps to bring more of it into your work, life, and organization.
And because it’s a play talk, we’ll be getting up, moving, and playing games together throughout the talk to fuel the learning!
Some themes I’ll address:
—Playful techniques for bringing the best ideas out of everyone
—How to leverage play when times get tough
—How imagination can unlock innovation, solutions, and optimism
—Using games to increase connection in the workplace (especially remotely)
—How play promotes wellbeing
Your Eureka! Moment: Using Creativity To Conquer Challenges & Power Breakthroughs
We are living through a time when so many of us are languishing — feeling stuck, uninspired, and disconnected.
In this talk, I’ll share Creative Tools to help move through blocks and rediscover a sense of inspiration, connection, and innovative ideas.
Creativity is not only within all of us but is also one of our most renewable resources for problem solving.
Some themes we’ll address:
—Strategies for embracing and finding opportunity in change
—Reframing problems to unlock solutions
—Using imagination to conquer frustration
—Creative tools for well-being at work
—How to create the conditions for creativity to thrive in yourself & your team
—How creativity builds confidence and authenticity, drives innovation, and relieves stress
Bring Your Inner Child To Work Day: A Play Workshop For Adulted-Out Adults
Dealing with burnout?
Low motivation?
Lack of connection?
I have an unexpected solution for you… you need to play more!
Play is often seen as something frivolous and juvenile. Something that you put away on the shelf (or reserve for weekends) when we enter the realm of serious adulthood. In doing so, we cut ourselves off from a part of us that has been scientifically proven to help us immensely with resilience, problem solving, and even living longer!
In this interactive workshop incorporating movement and games, I'll teach you how to tap into childlike traits of curiosity, imagination, and PLAY to bring more creativity, wellbeing, connection, and aliveness to your life and work.
As a creative director and entrepreneur, I spent a good part of my career hiding my playful side in order to be taken seriously and I will never, ever do that again. Now I’m on a mission to bring more playfulness, silliness, imagination, and wonder into every space I enter — including yours!
Courageous Action: Building The Bravery To Do Big Things
Want to make big moves but feel stuck playing it small? I want to help you build your bravery muscles so you can break through and bring your dreams to life.
In this inspiring, interactive keynote, I guide the audience through a series of practices they can use to tap into their own purpose, unlock authenticity, find meaning in their work and lives, and dare to take courageous action towards their dreams.
Some themes we’ll address:
—How fearlessness is a myth: be afraid and do it anyway
—How to leverage your character strengths to do scary stuff more confidently
—How to develop bravery muscles
—How to practice getting outside your comfort zone in order to grow
—Why vulnerability is essential for true courage
Creative Shake Up! A Playful Interlude To Boost Your Mood & Unlock Inspiration
In this hybrid talk, dance break I harness the power of play to shift people’s mindsets and help them see more possibilities in their day to day.
As a creative leader known for bringing improv exercises and games to team meetings, I know the power of play to juice the creativity in any room. I’m also a Zoom dance instructor whose built a global community.
I’ll get the audience moving, interacting, and high fiving while also teaching them about the power of play and creativity to thrive at work and in life.
Let’s Make Moves Together!
Some themes we’ll address:
—How to get out of your own way to unlock possibility & inspiration
—The benefits of dance & movement for creativity and wellbeing
—How play creates trust
—Ways to improve your work day through play
—How imagination can unlock innovation, solutions, and optimism
—Using games to increase connection in the workplace (especially remotely)
Hot Pink Powersuit & Other Adventures In Remixing Leadership
Images Have Power: Use Responsibly
The Playful Advantage: How A Playful Mindset Helps You Live Successfully In A Serious World
