Mariah Hanson

Mariah Hanson is the founder and creator of the legendary Club Skirts Presents The Dinah, the largest lesbian event in the world and the original version of modern Dinah Shore weekend festivities (www.TheDinah.com).

More than just an event promoter extraordinaire, Hanson is first and foremost an avant-garde business entrepreneur who, in the span of two decades, has created an unsurpassed cultural and social phenomenon and built an impressive empire, from a small, one-night event at a Palm Springs museum with 1,500 participants to booking lavish locations at deluxe hotels over five days with some 15,000-plus attendees and major corporate sponsors under her belt.

Always ahead of her time, Hanson’s natural knack for spotting the next best thing in music has transformed The Dinah into the inescapable venue for recording artists to break through. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, The Pussycat Dolls and Ke$ha are just a few examples of major recording artists whom Hanson had booked while still "unknown" and who then systematically went on to hit international superstardom.

Hanson, who just ended her second term on the Board of Equality California and also sits on the "Women's Night" committee for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, continuously utilizes The Dinah as a platform to mobilize the LGBT community around humanitarian projects and social issues. She's lent her support to various charity causes and activist movements such as GLAAD, NOH8, LOVE IS LOUDER, The San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Community Center, The Women's Building, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Jon Sims Center, Ladies Philharmonic, Uhuru Movement, HRC, Lyon Martin Health Clinic, Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center, and Equality California.