The Stories We Tell. The Risks We Take. The Things We Build.

An Unexpected Second Act

For more than 25 years, Adrian Cardwell held leadership roles in corporate sales and marketing, managing substantial budgets, building businesses, and navigating both successes and failures. Outside work, he spent three decades collecting LGBTQ+ artifacts, a pursuit that began with his own search for identity, history, and community.

 

In 2022, those experiences converged when he founded Badge Of Pride, a Dallas-based nonprofit and community archive. Drawing on his background in strategy, storytelling, and organizational leadership, Adrian set out to bring LGBTQ+ history to broader audiences.

 

In partnership with Irving Archives & Museum, he developed Badge Of Pride: From Silence…To Celebration!, a landmark exhibition featuring more than 600 artifacts. The exhibition welcomed over 3,000 visitors and earned major honors from the American Alliance of Museums, National Council on Public History, and American Association for State and Local History.

 

Adrian also created, executive produced, and co-wrote CORRESPONDENCE: Letters of Queer Resistance, Love & Revolution, a three-part theatrical program drawn from LGBTQ+ historical writings. He has presented at national professional conferences and co-authored articles in Exhibition and Informal Learning Review.

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FEATURED TALK

I Didn’t See This Coming

The Unlikely Story of the Biggest Little Queer History Exhibit in Texas

 

What began as a personal search for identity and belonging in West Texas eventually became a nationally recognized LGBTQ+ history exhibition.

 

In this candid, funny, and deeply personal presentation, Adrian explores what corporate leadership taught him about storytelling and persuasion, what a painful failure revealed about ambition and responsibility, and how the objects he collected to find his own connection to history ultimately helped thousands of people find theirs.

 

What does leadership look like when the stakes are personal, the resources are limited, and nobody can tell you how it ends?

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Pivoting With Purpose

Experience, reinvention, and starting over

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What happens when you leave a career where you know the rules and enter a field where you're the newcomer? Adrian explores the value of transferable skills, the discomfort of learning from scratch, and the challenge of finding purpose without assuming that past success guarantees future results.

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Building a Grassroots Institution

From personal passion to public responsibility

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Starting a nonprofit is one thing. Building an organization that can outlast its founder is another. Adrian examines the practical challenges of fundraising, partnerships, governance, and organizational growth, including the difficult transition from making every decision yourself to sharing responsibility with others.

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Claiming Space for LGBTQ+ History

Community memory amid political pressure
 

What does it take to bring LGBTQ+ history into public view when institutions are navigating political pressure and the possibility of controversy? Adrian examines institutional concerns, community participation, the choices behind historical storytelling, and what happens when anticipated opposition meets actual audience response.

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FORMATS

Available for keynotes, leadership programs, conference presentations, fireside conversations, panels, and workshops.

 

Presentations can be tailored for corporate audiences, universities, museums, libraries, nonprofits, professional associations, LGBTQ+ organizations, and employee resource groups.
 

BOOKING AND FEES

Speaking engagements are paid, with all proceeds benefiting Badge Of Pride. Fees vary by presentation format, audience, and scope. Hosts cover agreed travel and related expenses.

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Interested in bringing Adrian to your organization or event? Complete the inquiry form to start a conversation about your audience, goals, and availability.