Raymond Braun is presenting at the 11th Annual Shorty Awards!
Raymond Braun is an award-winning TV host and media personality (Catfish: Trolls, MTV News, CNN, RuPaul's Drag Race, I Am Jazz, Decoded, Clean Slate, and more), journalist, writer, and LGBTQ advocate. He was named "one of the preeminent queer activists of his generation" by OUT, a Forbes 30 Under 30 Global All Star, and the #1 most influential young LGBTQ leader in the world by the Financial Times Pride Power Rankings.
Raymond is the Executive Producer and Host of the forthcoming feature length documentary, State of Pride, which made its world premiere as the Opening Night Documentary at SXSW Film Festival. The film – directed by Academy Award winners Jeff Friedman and Rob Epstein, and produced in conjunction with leading digital studio Portal A – explores the significance, controversy, and meaning of Pride for young people 50 years after the Stonewall Riots.
Raymond has traveled the world to report on political and social movements. His work has been featured on CNN, BBC, NBC News, ABC, MSNBC, MTV, VH1, Logo, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Entrepreneur, and many more. As Logo’s inaugural Political Correspondent, Raymond helped establish the LGBTQ television network as a key player in conversations about LGBTQ equality in politics through a combination of innovative social media reporting and TV coverage. His coverage has included anti-LGBTQ legislation, the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court marriage equality decision, swing state politics, the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, and both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention. As a reporter on the 2016 campaign trail, Raymond moderated a social media influencers Town Hall with Hillary Clinton and interviewed Chelsea Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Robby Mook, Cecile Richards, and many more on the trail. Raymond also traveled to Orlando the day after the tragedy at Pulse nightclub to provide heartfelt, on-the-ground reporting centered on LGBTQ stories. Raymond’s award-winning political coverage for Logo has also been shared and broadcast by VH1 and MTV News.
Raymond hosted GLAAD’s groundbreaking Southern Stories tour through the conservative “Bible Belt,” an eye-opening social media series that tackled homophobia, transphobia, and racism in some of the most hostile environments for the LGBTQ community. Raymond also partnered with Instagram to curate and launch the first ever LGBT video series on the platform, #VisibleMe, which was featured on the “Explore” homepage of Instagram and trended at #1 on BuzzFeed upon launch.
Raymond started his career as an intern at Google, advancing over his five year tenure to lead YouTube's social media campaigns and programs team before leaving to start his own media and consulting company, RWB Media. During his tenure at YouTube and Google, Raymond originated YouTube's first ever LGBTQ marketing campaign, #ProudToLove, which won several awards and served as inspiration for Google’s broader diversity and inclusion marketing. Under Raymond’s leadership, YouTube became the most followed brand on social media and one of the top five best perceived brands by the LGBTQ community (YouGov Brand Index). Known for reinventing YouTube’s social strategy with bold, creative, and experimental new ideas, Raymond spearheaded more than five #1 organic trending topics globally.
In addition to politics, Raymond’s love of pop culture and entertainment is evident in his correspondent work for several red carpet events and premieres, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Emmys. He has been the official red carpet correspondent for the GLAAD Media Awards (NYC and LA) for three years. Raymond has interviewed everyone from Eddie Redmayne, Chrissy Teigen, Alicia Vikander, and Judith Light to Demi Lovato, Ruby Rose, America Ferrera, and Kylie Minogue.
Raymond was one of 50 media personalities and social influencers to be invited by President Barack Obama to the White House's "Digital Innovators Summit" to discuss and advise Obama's outgoing administration on how to leverage social media. Raymond is regularly interviewed and quoted on LGBTQ issues, Pride, social justice, politics, social media, diversity and inclusion, and technology. He has delivered keynote speeches and interviews at the Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit, Forbes CMO Summit, Stanford Business School (where he co-taught a class), Social Media Week LA and NYC, New York Advertising Awards, Create and Cultivate, and New York Advertising Awards.
Raymond graduated early cum laude from Stanford University with a M.A. in Media Studies (Journalism focus) and a B.A. in Science, Technology, and Society. He received the J. E. Wallace Sterling Award for Academic Distinction, awarded to the top .01% of each year’s graduating senior class at Stanford.
We’re thrilled to have Raymond join us at the 11th Annual Shorty Awards! Tune in to watch the show LIVE starting at 6:30pm ET on May 5, 2019 on YouTube and Twitter.
