Since 2016, Gentlemen's Factory has hosted some of New York's most anticipated Black professional events, bringing Black and Brown men, and the people who invest in them, into rooms built for growth: dinners, galas, summits, fireside chats, conferences and celebrations. The GF Journal is where those rooms live on. Each story documents a gathering, the partners who made it possible and the people who showed up, with photographs from the night.
Tony and Grammy Award winner Leslie Odom Jr., the original Aaron Burr in Hamilton, filled Gentlemen's Factory with music on a Friday night in March 2025: an up-close performance, a candid conversation and a room that didn't want the night to end.
Read the story & see the photos →In November 2024, Gentlemen's Factory and JPMorgan Chase brought leaders, professionals and builders to one long table in Bed-Stuy for a conversation about the most important thing a family can pass down.
Read the story & see the photos →Every year, Gentlemen's Factory's signature Change Agent Mixer honors the people in our community doing remarkable work. On October 17, 2024, we filled The DL on the Lower East Side to celebrate three of them: journalist Phil Taitt, education leader David Adams and pediatric critical care physician Dr. Ramon Gist.
Read the story & see the photos →Four-time NBA champion and Brooklyn native John Salley came to Gentlemen's Factory on April 8, 2024, for a fireside chat hosted with Coach Ted Gustus, sharing the room with the Bedford Academy High School varsity basketball team, community leaders and GF members.
Read the story & see the photos →On December 1, 2023, Gentlemen's Factory returned to black tie for the 2nd Annual Pay It Forward Black Tie Affair on Wall Street, and the room raised $50,000 for Birthright AFRICA to help young people of African descent connect with their roots.
Read the story & see the photos →On September 27, 2023, Gentlemen's Factory's annual signature Change Agent Mixer filled The DL on the Lower East Side to honor four New Yorkers changing their fields: health executive and author Errol Pierre, physician and Army veteran Dr. Kwesi Blackman, James Beard Award-winning Chef JJ Johnson and TD Bank executive Marcus Gonzales.
Read the story & see the photos →Gentlemen's Factory, Parsons ELab and Innovation Collective filled The New School's Theresa Lang Community and Student Center for an afternoon of panels, a mission workshop and a start-up pitch competition built around Black and Brown leaders in tech.
Read the story & see the photos →On December 8, 2022, Gentlemen's Factory filled a DUMBO ballroom in black tie to honor the business leaders building our community and to raise money for the nonprofits doing the work on the ground. TD Bank powered the night, with Beam Suntory as a sponsor.
Read the story & see the photos →New York City's Small Business Services Commissioner, Kevin D. Kim, came to the Gentlemen's Factory Innovation Lab to walk entrepreneurs through the City's resources for small businesses and its Black Entrepreneurs NYC (BE NYC) initiative, then took their questions directly.
Read the story & see the photos →From the Air Force Academy and the Marine Corps to Wall Street, Oracle and the CEO's office at Infor, Charles Phillips has built one of the most remarkable careers in technology. He brought that story, and the lessons inside it, to a standing-room crowd at the Gentlemen's Factory Innovation Lab.
Read the story & see the photos →Wall Street veteran and former New York City mayoral candidate Ray McGuire sat down with Jeff Lindor at the Gentlemen's Factory Innovation Lab for a candid conversation about his run for mayor, decades in finance, Black wealth and what it will take for our community to rise together.
Read the story & see the photos →
Each Gentlemen's Factory gathering begins with a question: why does this room need to exist? Our signature convenings create platforms for important conversations, meaningful relationships, talent discovery, visibility, learning and action.
People doing the work should know each other. GF's flagship gathering of entrepreneurs, executives, public servants, investors, educators, creatives and community leaders. The goal is not simply networking — it's putting people with ideas, influence, resources and execution capacity into the same room.
We cannot build the future without understanding where we are. Leaders from business, government, education, philanthropy, community and culture discuss the data, identify challenges, examine promising solutions and determine what institutions must build next — grounded in our ongoing research on Black men in America.
Celebrate what we want the world to see more of. Young Black and Brown men are often discussed through the language of problems — this event tells a different story, recognizing leadership, academic achievement, entrepreneurship, creativity, resilience, service and extraordinary promise.
The future cannot be something we only consume. This conference brings together technologists, founders, investors, employers, educators and emerging talent to explore careers, entrepreneurship, AI, innovation, ownership and the future of work.
Partner with us on a convening, sponsor an event or join a cohort. Every gathering in this Journal started with someone who wanted to build something.
