Rob Smith

Our annual Mother and Son trip brought us to Vegas, centered around The Wizard of Oz 💚🩷 We had a spectacular time, once again. These are magical moments and I feel blessed and grateful for the opportunity to spoil Mom rotten.

Christmas Chronicles ❄️
Recapping the holiday season with a few photos.
We managed to pack in as much family and fun as we possibly could, finding magic in every moment.
This really is the most magical time of the year filled with love, gratitude and abundance.

It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by the NEW Pride Agenda with the Community Impact Award. Alongside fellow awardees, Daniel Franzese and Terence Pleasant, it was a moving and inspiring event.

Throughout my career in business, I’ve worked to ensure visibility, acceptance, and opportunity for the q***r community. This award is a reminder of how important it is that LGBTQ+ people are able to thrive, lead, and shape the future in every space.

New York is the birthplace of our movement and continues to stand as a global beacon for equality, possibility and opportunity.

I’m especially grateful that my husband, and community leader, presented me with this award. It was so sweet and moments like this remind me why we do the work is so important and why I love him so deeply.

Congratulations to Kei Williams on becoming the new Executive Director of the NEW Pride Agenda, succeeding the incredible leadership of Elisa Crespo.

And a heartfelt thank you to our generous sponsors, including Centric Brands and The Phluid Phoundation, for supporting this mission and investing in our community.

As September comes to a close, so does a month of birthday celebrations and magical moments.
Over the month, I chose small intimate gatherings as opposed to one big party.
With each opportunity to make a wish blowing out a candle, I realized that there’s nothing I could ask for that I don’t already have. I’m filled with love, abundance and gratitude. Life is good.

One more magical week on the playa.
Highlights: Old friends and new friends, dancing, biking, art, grieving, celebrating, surprise bday complete with homemade cupcakes, unexpected moments, wind, rain, resilience, games, haircuts, sunrises, sunsets, laughing, crying, singing …
After each burn I leave feeling recharged and reconnected to myself and humanity.
Huge thanks to the staff and volunteers who pull together to bring this week to life.
And, to Rod, Otho, Joshua, Alejandra, Hani and the rest of our crew for helping to make each day perfection.

Gimme Gimme Disco 🪩 And nothing better than celebrating with a whole new generation with nieces and nephew 💃🕺

48 hours in So Cal.
Diana Ross, hiking. birthday celebrations and great time with friends. Feeling grateful

The American experiment was built on the necessity of virtue and honor. A people freed from the tyranny of government, they understood, still needed to be checked by their own morality, philosophy, and religion.

The Founders were delegating a whole hell of a lot of responsibility to the people when they freed us from the yoke of the king. They were giving us a gift, sure, but also an immense obligation—to be good citizens, good people, good leaders of ourselves and stewards of our collective resources. This responsibility falls on each of us today, no matter where we live or what form of government we’re under.

Today, while you’re grilling out and celebrating the holiday with friends and family, take a moment to reflect on this tension between freedom and virtue. What does it mean to approach your life with the courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom that guided the Founding Fathers? In what ways have we as a nation perhaps fallen short of the responsibilities that come with freedom?

Let today be more than a celebration—let today be a recommitment to the virtues that make freedom possible. A recommitment to truth, to self-mastery, to taking responsibility, to work. The work of choosing virtue when it would be easier not to, of living up to the responsibilities that this nation demands, of proving worthy of the liberty we’ve inherited. For only through this work can this great experiment in freedom, begun 249 years ago, continue.🇺🇸

During Pride, and every day of the year, I’m reminded that meaningful change doesn’t always come from big teams or big budgets, it comes from a small and dedicated team who care deeply, speak the truth, and lead with purpose.

Our team may be small, but our impact is significant, pushing for equity, representation, and visibility when we need it most.

Pride isn’t just a celebration. It’s a call to action, a moment to educate, to reflect, and to recommit to the work still ahead.

Thank you to our team at Phluid, you inspire me every single day and make me so very PROUD.

To my small but mighty team: thank you for showing up, for leading with heart, and for making this movement matter

Sharing an article from USA TODAY that included part of my coming out story in corporate America.

As a prelude, I’m deeply grateful for the encouragement and support throughout my entire career to show up as my authentic self with every single company I worked with for.
Once I came out, I never looked back. I saw this identity as one of my super powers that allowed me the opportunity to understand underrepresention and build support with other underrepresented groups. Excellence combined with Empathy is a magical combination.

“Smith, 59, came out at the start of his career in the retail industry at 23, trading preppy suits for pierced ears and more colorful outfits. But he still made sure to speak in a deeper voice, hit the links and read the sports pages, all just to fit in.”

“Despite growing political pressure, corporations won’t turn back the clock on diversity because it would harm their businesses”, said Smith, a veteran of Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret & Co. and Levi’s who sits on the board of Steve Madden and runs The Phluid Project , a gender-free fashion brand.

Let’s continue to forge ahead as leaders, encouraging and supporting each person we work with to show up with their honest and authentic selves. I’m grateful for leaders, friends and ally’s that supported me on my journey.

Let’s lead with values and we will continue to make good decisions, regardless of the social and political landscape. It’s great for people and great for business!

Holiday recap part two.
The six of us joined together at the remarkable NIHI Sumba, a luxurious resort in Indonesia.
Thanks to the generosity of Otho, we had the experience of a lifetime.
Highlights include celebrating birthdays, especially Shelly’s, being with horses, spear fishing, hours long massages, long dinners and lazy days by the pool. This experience was one of a kind.
The time with Rod, Otho, Darrell, Shelly and Mark was bliss.
Special thanks to Brian Kelly aka for making this opportunity available.

Sharing a few highlights from our trip throughout Asia.
From Thailand to Cambodia and Vietnam, we immersed ourselves in ancient and modern history and culture.
From the streets of Bangkok, to temples large and small, to Ankor Wat and a deep understanding of the war in Vietnam (which they call The American War) we left educated, inspired and grateful.
The biggest takeaway, however, was the joy expressed with nearly each and every person. Money doesn’t buy happiness, it comes from the heart. It’s a wonderful reminder to see people with “nothing” actually have everything.