St Pete Pride Executive Director Bior Guigni. (Photo by Dylan Todd)
ST. PETERSBURG | St Pete Pride hired a new executive director and restructured its board while planning this year’s 23rd annual celebration.
The nonprofit first detailed its 2025 season in March, sharing its “Rooted In” theme and announcing 11 signature events. They began this month with Shades of Pride and continue with the Mx St Pete Pride Pageant May 25 and St Pete Pride Kickoff Block Party June 1.
Festivities will culminate with the traditional Pride weekend June 27-29. Organizers estimate that over 300,000 people attended St Pete Pride 2024 and expect to exceed that number in 2025, which made securing new leadership a key focus for Dr. Byron Green-Calisch, board president.
The nonprofit launched a nationwide search late last year after the departure of former Executive Director Nicole Berman. Green-Calisch led the charge while serving as interim executive director and overseeing a search for new board members.
“Going into year 23, we needed someone that had a tremendous amount of experience in the nonprofit space, as well as somebody that was passionate about the queer community,” Green-Calisch says.
The board found Bior Guigni, who “was the absolute perfect mix of both of those things,” he says. The queer woman of color and immigrant has over a decade of nonprofit experience.
Guigni previously served as the chairperson for USA Wrestling and the CEO of Beat the Streets New England, which engages youth through the sport to build confidence and community. She used both positions to advocate for inclusion on and off the mat.
“Bior had well-documented experience and was anchored here to the Tampa Bay region,” Green-Calisch says. “We were overjoyed not only with her experience, but also her connection to youth — she’s brought a really deep, rich perspective.”
“I’ve always been a hospitality-driven person,” Guigni says. “Everything that I’ve done has been to serve others and to bring communities together … and what led me to St Pete Pride was the need to engage more with my community.
“I remember what it was like to be an immigrant kid of color in areas where I didn’t feel like I had community or where no one looked or felt like me,” she continues. “… that really led me to mission-driven work so that people never had to feel that way.”
Guigni was hired in January and started at the end of March. She says she’s worked with the board to support this year’s celebration while beginning to plan St Pete Pride 2026.
“It’s been really exciting to have a team that wanted to dive in and explore what the next few years can look like,” she says. “St Pete Pride is not far from 25 years and making positive changes to continue to build and grow … is something that really got me excited about taking this role on.”
Including Green-Calisch, those efforts are supported by 11 volunteers. Board veterans Stephanie Morge and Darius Lightsey serve as vice president and secretary. Molly Robison, who has served in various capacities, also remains on the board.
Alexander Green serves as treasurer, while fellow board newcomers Zoe Blair-Andrews, Trent Brock, Susan DiDino, Travis Geerdes, DeMario Jives and Chris Trevena round out the body. River Bates also serves as St Pete Pride’s community engagement director, Jim DelRio as the director of finance/operations, Duncan Kennedy as volunteer coordinator and staff member Immani Love is also the coordinator for the festival and entertainment.
View the majority if St Pete Pride’s board below, courtesy of the organization:
“Every year our board gets more and more diverse, and I think this year we have brought on diverse life experiences and work experiences,” Green-Calisch says. “This board is committed to making St Pete Pride even more inclusive than it has been in years before.
“Every one of their interviews mentioned their desire to continue to push St Pete Pride forward,” he continues. “They are all committed to expanding St Pete Pride and growing this organization. Maybe soon we can break the Top 5 Prides in the country.”
Guigni believes partnerships will help make substantial growth like that possible.
“I want to connect with all the other incredible organizations that are doing great things and all the other Prides that are happening across the state to really make sure that we are working together and supporting each other,” she says.
“There are so many areas of divisiveness in this world that it doesn’t have to be from us,” she notes. “We can continue to work together, build together, and even in a state like Florida, provide safe, inclusive, joyful, supportive, engaging environments and opportunities for everyone in our community.”
St Pete Pride events are currently underway. Learn more at StPetePride.com and in the official guide published by Watermark Out News, publishing soon.
You must be logged in to post a comment.