Brian Tolleson
"Communities and consumers are audiences now. The sooner you start cultivating, empowering and entertaining your audience, the closer you are to achieving your goals."
Highlighted SOCIAL IMPACT Projects:
2023
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Eugene J. Gangarosa, M.D. Award for Excellence in International Health
2022
Change The Pattern
Impact Director for National HIV/AIDS outreach program with the National AIDS Memorial
2022
Becoming Better Ancestors: 9 Lessons to Change The World
Impact Director and Executive Producer with Dr. William “Bill” Foege and Dr. Mark Rosenberg, Gates Ventures, Rockefeller Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Ford Foundation, CDC Foundation, The Carter Center, Hilton Foundation, Task Force for Global Health
2021
Ethic Alliance
Equity Advisor for global venture advising, protecting and rewarding whistleblowers
2020
Zane Venture Fund and Zane Access
Equity Advisor for new investment fund focused on early, minority-led startups
2020
Workshop: What Could Congress Do About The Pandemic?
Selected Proposal and Panelist
2020
Project Light: Successful campaign to pass Hate Crimes legislation in Georgia
Organizer and Leadership Team
2020
Korean Democracy Foundation Forum; Seoul, South Korea | Humanization in Memorialization: Characters In The Movements- Heroes, Perpetrators and Victims
Publication, Presenter and Panelist
2019
Breaking Barriers: Sports and Human Rights in partnership with Super Bowl LIII, ESPN, Nike, FedEx, Athlete Ally and Human Rights Watch
CEO and Executive Curator
2019
Atlanta Super Bowl Host Committee, Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta, GA
Civil & Human Rights Advisory Board Member
2019
Fragments, a new MLK Exhibit in partnership with the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Pentagram
CEO and Executive Curator
2019
Harvard LGBTQ Conference
Queer Resilience: Stories from Artists and Activists at the Vanguard
Panelist and Presenter
2019
The Meaning of Hope: The Best of The Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection in partnership with the King Scholar Content Committee, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and FedEx
CEO and Executive Curator
2018
Institute for Healthcare as a Human Right at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights
CEO and Founder, Member, Advisory Committee
2018
70 Days of the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in partnership with The United Nations, Porsche Cars of North America and The Consul General of Switzerland
CEO and Executive Curator
2018
LGBTQ Southern Survey in Partnership with Georgia State University
CEO
2018
The King Scholar Content Committee at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in partnership with Morehouse College and FedEx
CEO and Founder
2018
International Human Trafficking Institute at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Co-Founder
2017
Take Action Experience at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in partnership with Change.org
Executive Creative Director
2016
Campaign to defeat discriminatory Religious Liberty Bill in Georgia
Organizer and Georgia Equality Champion for Equality Award Recipient
2016
LGBTQ Institute at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Founder
2015
National Center for Civil and Human Rights Augmented Reality App, in partnership with GSU Media Lab and artist Paula Sher
Executive Creative Director
2013
Gwist, in partnership with Google Labs (first LGBTQ YouTube venture)
Co-Founder
2005
Logo by MTV Networks (first LGBTQ 24/7 media brand)
Founding team
Brian Tolleson is a co-founder and managing partner at Lexicon Strategies. His expertise is the strategic development and delivery of change-driving, multi-platform communications, branding, and marketing (digital, social, broadcast, print, mobile, AR/VR) and running large programs at the intersection of human rights movements, technology, and corporate empowerment to authentically advance social justice and public health.
Brian most recently served as CEO at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the acclaimed cultural institution curating the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection of Dr. King’s works and personal papers, as well George C. Wolfe’s definitive exhibit of the African American civil rights movement in the Jim Crow South. Brian and The Center have helped provide strategic oversight to convene and advance dialogue productively, deliver critical research and thought leadership around historic and current rights movements as diverse as March for Our Lives, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Immigration rights, LGBTQ Equality, Anti-Human Trafficking and Housing Affordability.
Previously, as CEO and Head of Content at BARK BARK, the branded content marketing agency he founded, successfully sold and exited, Brian led his team through near-constant growth and amassed over 300 brand and distributor clients. Successes include the launch and sale of of a YouTube channel venture funded in part by Google Labs as well as establishing the largest global branded content network with the world's leading production companies (like ITV, Cineflix, Nuyorican, Pilgrim) and delivering award-winning integrated campaigns for the world's largest brands (P&G, Unilever, Chase, ConAgra, SC Johnson, Clorox, Mercedes Benz, General Motors, Starbucks and many others.)
In the time before BARK BARK, Brian has been a VP of Creative and Marketing, and Creative Director, as well as an Executive Producer, at various networks at MTV Networks in NYC, part of media giant Viacom. He has created over 100 hours of television for the MTVN group of networks (including essential creative and strategy for Nickelodeon, Nick Jr.,CBS, CBS News and Logo). He was responsible for the creative pitch and creation of the brand, the brand strategy, and the successful greenlight and launch of Logo, the first-ever 24-7-365 channel for LGBT Americans. Previous to MTVN, Brian ran Naked Eye Films, a branding and production company, serving diverse clients such as Kraft, General Mills, Warner Brothers, Turner Entertainment, CNN, Nick and WWF.
Brian began his career in Los Angeles at world-famous talent agency Creative Artists Agency and continued as a story editor at Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Entertainment, working for Multi-Academy Award Winning Producer Douglas Wick on such feature projects as GLADIATOR (Oscar Best Picture, Golden Globes Best Picture, BAFTA Best Film), SPY GAME, STUART LITTLE, GIRL, INTERRUPTED (Oscar Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress), BEWITCHED and THE CRAFT. He graduated from Emory University with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in Biology and holds his Master of Public Health from Rollins School of Public Health at Emory as well.
Brian’s work as a creative, a content strategist, a producer and a director have been honored by the Clios, Cannes Lions, Promax, BDA, AIGA, CTAM, The Tellys, The Ad Club and numerous film festivals and industry organizations. He received a 2009 Emmy Nomination for Best Promotional Campaign and his creative and strategic work on Kathy Griffin’s album received a 2009 Grammy Nomination as well.
Brian currently serves as a co-founder of the international development firm, Connexion South, as well as Advisor to Zane Ventures, a VC Firm dedicated to diverse founders and teams and to Ethic Alliance. He is the Founder of The LGBTQ Institute at The National Center for Civil and Human Rights. He has previously served on the Board and Executive Committee of NCCHR, of The Atlanta Ad Club and The Plaza Theatre Foundation, is a former National Board Director and Past Chair of The Governance Committee for the Association of Independent Commercial Producers, the industry’s five billion plus dollar trade organization.
Recently, Brian has been named to Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Power 100 report naming Atlanta’s 100 most influential people, was awarded The Georgia Equality Champion for Equality Award, Eugene J. Gangarosa, M.D. Award for Excellence in International Health, Emory University’s GALA Alumnus and Entrepreneur of the Year Awards and is a member of Leadership Atlanta’s 50th Anniversary Class of 2020.
Sample Projects
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