A homeless, shivering High School student living in his car by night and attending school during the day would take every lesson endured in these early days to become a leader with grit and grace. Now the CEO of Kickstarter, the world’s premiere crowdfunding platform, Everette Taylor is a creative entrepreneur and a marketing maverick known for elevating the work of artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs. In his role at Kickstarter, Taylor is one of the few black CEOs running a major tech company.

Before joining Kickstarter, Everette most recently served as the CMO of Artsy, the largest online marketplace for buying and selling fine art. During his time at Artsy, he was recognized by Business Insider as one of the World's Most Innovative CMOs and named by Forbes as one of the World's Most Influential CMOs due to the business seeing all-time record revenue growth, brand awareness, user engagement and product innovation during his tenure.

His early career was characterized by a series of notable achievements that set the stage for his current role as Kickstarter's CEO. He first gained recognition as the founder and CEO of multiple successful startups, in particular MilliSense and GrowthHackers. His innate ability to identify untapped opportunities and his unwavering commitment to innovation propelled these ventures forward.

As a founder, Everette started his first company at the age of 19 called EZ Events, which was successfully acquired in 2011. He then established ET Enterprises in 2013, a diverse portfolio of companies that included PopSocial, ArtX, GrowthHackers, and MilliSense. As CEO of PopSocial, he was recognized as Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018 for his innovation in the social media marketing space and Forbes 30 under 30 All-Star in 2019 for exponentially scaling the company.

Outside of the world of business, Everette also serves on the Chisenhale Council for Chisenhale Gallery, a nonprofit that supports artists in making innovative and highly ambitious work. Additionally, he sits on the advisory board for Art at a Time Like This, which works with artists and curators to create art that responds to current social and political events and presents it in public spaces. Although he left college, Taylor received an honorary doctorate degree from Shaw University upon recognition of his “meritorious contributions to human society and welfare for humanity.”

Under Taylor's leadership, Kickstarter has experienced a resurgence, attracting a diverse range of creators and backers from all walks of life. His relentless efforts to cultivate an inclusive and supportive environment are the driving force in revolutionizing how Kickstarter supports and celebrates creativity in all its forms.