MARIAH HANSON
The founder and producer of Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend, Mariah Hanson has been bringing women together to revel in the Palm Springs sunshine for 25 years. What started as a one-night event for 1,500 participants has grown into a massive, world-renowned party drawing some 15,000 attendees to the most lavish and deluxe locations in the desert, becoming one of the largest tourism boosters to the Coachella Valley. Hanson´s brainchild “is designed to celebrate our culture, our lives, our womanhood, our community and our legacy in the most joyful way possible,” she says. The five-day extravaganza features entertainment, pool parties and a platform for humanitarian activism. The event also has proven to be a crystal ball into the future of the music industry; some of the “unknown” talent Hanson has chosen to headline in past years, like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, the Pussycat Dolls and Iggy Azalea, all broke out into superstardom. Besides the top-notch entertainment, the main attraction has been the freedom for women from all over the world to come together and be themselves, Hanson says. “We change lives,” she says. “I see it every year. We offer a space where lesbian women and their friends can live out loud in the most celebratory way possible, and it changes people.” -SJ
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