Chapel Salon

About the event

Join us for our third member-exclusive Chapel Salon, hosted by former-CMO turned community-activist Maryam Banikarim and her guest, TED Fellow Negin Farsad and take part in an involved and insightful conversation on the key elements of strengthening and defining community through identity.

The Chapel Salon is an exclusive seasonal gathering held in the intimate surroundings of Chapel Bar, a beautiful speakeasy that sits beside Church Missions House, the historical six floor building on Park Avenue South that is home to Fotografiska in New York.

Tickets are available individually or paired with a dinner in Verōnika, featuring a beautifully curated feasting menu.

Interested in membership at Fotografiska New York? Learn more here.

Maryam Banikarim

Our host Maryam Banikarim is a recovering-CMO turned community-activist. After leading five major businesses through sweeping transformations and top line growth, Maryam has turned her attention to building community and driving civic participation.

During the pandemic, she co-founded NYCNext, a grassroots volunteer movement which produced live pop ups including A Moment for Broadway and a star-studded video rendition of Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind which won the One Show Award and an Emmy. The most recent initiative of NYCNext is The Longest Table, a communal, outdoor, sit-down potluck lunch with the goal of connecting neighbors to build community, eat and have fun.

In 2022, Banikarim conceived of and launched the WE❤️NYC campaign, a 21st Century version of the 70’s campaign. The goal of the effort is to remind New Yorkers why they love their city and mobilize civic action and community engagement.

Maryam is known as a purpose driven change agent working across a range of industries, from media to hospitality to tech. She’s held C-Suite executive roles at Nextdoor, Hyatt, Gannett, NBCUniversal, and Univision earning a reputation as a bold leader who drove growth, built culture, and created value while inspiring all stakeholders.

Currently, Banikarim is a Trustee of Barnard College, and an Independent Director of One Spa World. She serves on the boards of two press advocacy groups, The Signals Network and Reporters without Borders. Maryam is an advisor to Brand 50, Strawberry Frog, and Cove Hill Partners. She also serves on Fast Company’s Impact Council and the Time 100 Advisory board.

Maryam is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia Business School, and Columbia’s School of International Affairs. She proudly resides in New York City with her family and dog, Charlie.

Negin Farsad

Banakarim’s guest Negin Farsad is a TEDFellow and gave a TEDTalk on social justice comedy seen by millions. She is a regular on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk. She is author of the Thurber Prize-nominated How to Make White People Laugh and host of the podcast Fake the Nation. You can see her on HBO’s High Maintenance, Hulu’s Not Okay, and starring on HBOMax’s Birdgirl. She’s also a gutsy woman on Hillary Clinton’s Gutsy Women series for Apple TV+. Farsad has written for the Guardian, Oprah Magazine, and the New York Times. She once sued the MTA for the right to put up funny posters about Muslims, and won.