Her Story
About Ruthie
Ruthie Ofrasio is an event producer specializing in theater, festivals, music, cabaret, and drag. She produces an annual arts festival every year that celebrates emerging queer and femme artists, known as the Cosmic Cherry Arts Festival, where proceeds are donated to nonprofits such as Outright International. Her recent work includes organizing the march for New York City Pride and preparing a Fashion Week show. She began producing in 2019 while working in hospitality, where she served as director of hospitality for restaurants for about 10 years. Now pursuing entrepreneurship full-time, she also manages admin and social media for a stamps company in Jersey City, NJ. She attributes her drive to advocating for her queer brother and creating community and safe spaces for artists to feel authentic.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ruthie
01What do you attribute your success to?
A lot of the reason why I work with the queer community specifically is because of my brother. He is queer, he's a little baby drag queen trying to get his start. I was advocating for him our whole lives. Anytime I work on something like New York City Pride, I find myself thinking about my brother and how we used to go to Pride together when he was younger. I love cultivating community and safe spaces in which people can feel like their best and most authentic selves, and it brings me joy to work with artists and see them inspired.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My biggest piece of advice is to really have a support system and community for yourself. As an entrepreneur, it feels like I'm doing a lot of things alone, but I'm really grateful to have mentors, or like old bosses and coworkers, or just collaborators, and even just friends, who are able to talk me down off the ledge when I need time. Collaborators in the community are also people who help give me work and who help put my name in rooms that otherwise my name wouldn't have been in there. Having a really strong community and network of people that you can rely on is a big game changer and a huge contributor to any kind of success.
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