Damian Pelliccione
Most companies treat under-served audiences as a marketing afterthought. The commercial reality is the opposite: an audience nobody else is serious about can be the most defensible position a business ever holds. The question for leaders is how to identify that audience, build a product the audience trusts, and turn niche-first conviction into platform-scale economics.
Damian Pelliccione is the CEO and co-founder of Revry, the LGBTQ+ streaming network, and speaks to organisations about building commercially defensible businesses by serving audiences the market has overlooked.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Damian Pelliccione
- They built Revry from a single product gap, no LGBTQ+ app on Apple TV at launch, into a platform with more than five million monthly active viewers across 130+ countries and distribution on Samsung, Roku, Vizio, Comcast Xfinity and Cox Communications.
- Revry reached cash-flow positive status as a niche-first streamer at a moment when the broader streaming industry was contracting. That is a credible answer to boards asking whether audience-led strategy can actually pay.
- A Goldman Sachs Black and Latinx accelerator graduate and Goldman Sachs “Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” honouree, with first-hand experience of raising capital as a minority-owned founder against the actual mechanics, not the rhetoric, of inclusive investment.
- Creator of the GLAAD-recognised series “Drag Latina,” giving them a working understanding of how representation translates into content that audiences and awards bodies treat as serious.
- Brings a non-binary executive perspective into rooms where most senior speakers do not, useful for leadership teams who want substantive content on identity and inclusion rather than rehearsed talking points.
Biography highlights
- CEO and co-founder of Revry, the LGBTQ+ global streaming network, with distribution on Samsung, Vizio, Roku, Apple, Comcast Xfinity, Cox Communications, Google and TiVo.
- Goldman Sachs “Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” honouree and graduate of the Goldman Sachs Black and Latinx 2020 accelerator.
- Named to Business Insider’s “Top 16 Power Player Execs in AD Video Streaming Space.”
- Featured on the Out 100 list and recipient of the West Hollywood Rainbow Key Award.
- Creator of “Drag Latina,” recipient of a Special Recognition Award at the 35th GLAAD Media Awards in 2024.
- Adjunct Professor at Columbia College Chicago, with guest lectures at USC, Los Angeles Film School and BAU University Istanbul.
Biography
When the new Apple TV launched, there were zero LGBTQ+ apps on the platform. That observation became Revry, now a streaming network with more than five million monthly active viewers across 130+ countries and carriage on Samsung, Vizio, Roku, Apple, Comcast Xfinity and Cox Communications.
Revry is a useful case study for any leadership team wrestling with how to build a defensible commercial position. The platform is certified minority-owned and operated, was founded by four intersectional co-founders, and has reached cash-flow positive operations while larger streamers have spent the last two years cutting content and reorganising around losses. Audience-led economics, treated seriously, turn out to scale.
Damian Pelliccione has raised capital from Elevate Capital, Backstage Capital, Collab Capital and LOUD Capital, graduated from the Goldman Sachs Black and Latinx 2020 accelerator and was named to Goldman Sachs “Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.” They were named one of Business Insider’s top sixteen ad-supported streaming executives and featured on the Out 100. They are also the creator of “Drag Latina,” which received a Special Recognition Award at the 35th GLAAD Media Awards in 2024.
Pelliccione is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College Chicago and has lectured at USC, Los Angeles Film School and BAU University Istanbul. For senior buyers, the most useful frame is this: a founder who has converted an under-served audience into a profitable global platform, and can speak to commercial, content and inclusion questions with the same first-hand authority.
Key speaking topics
- LGBTQ+ media and the economics of niche-first streaming
- Building commercially defensible businesses around under-served audiences
- Fundraising as a minority-owned founder
- CTV, OTT and FAST platform strategy
- Inclusion, identity and non-binary executive leadership
- Gen Z and Millennial audience behaviour in digital media
Ideal for
- Media, entertainment and streaming leadership teams
- CMOs and brand leadership reviewing audience strategy and inclusive marketing investment
- Founders, investors and accelerator cohorts focused on minority-owned scale-up
- DEIB councils and ERG leadership looking for content from a working CEO, not a consultant
Audience outcomes
- A concrete reference case for how an under-served audience can become a defensible platform business
- A view of CTV, OTT and FAST distribution from a founder who has negotiated carriage with the major operators
- A grounded read on what minority-owned fundraising actually looks like, beyond the public messaging
- A working executive’s account of non-binary leadership inside corporate media
- Examples of how representation translates into content audiences and awards bodies take seriously
Talks
A working CEO’s account of leading visibly as a non-binary executive inside corporate media and entertainment.
Key takeaways:
- How identity shows up in fundraising, distribution conversations and boardrooms
- Where representation produces commercial advantage and where it produces friction
- What inclusion looks like as an operating practice rather than a brand statement
A personal account of an adult ADHD diagnosis, non-binary identity and immigrant background, and how each shapes the work of running a company.
Key takeaways:
- The practical content of neurodivergent leadership in a senior operating role
- How intersectional identity affects access to capital, talent and audience trust
- What companies get wrong when they treat mental health as a benefits-page item
The Revry case in detail: from a missing app on Apple TV to a profitable global streaming network.
Key takeaways:
- Why niche-first audience strategy can outperform broad-market streaming
- How to negotiate CTV, OTT and FAST distribution as an independent platform
- What founders should know about raising capital as a minority-owned business