
A PURPOSE-DRIVEN COLLECTIVE
WITH ITS SIGHTS SET ON NEW YORK CITY
We are a group of passionate executives, entrepreneurs, creatives, dreamers and doers who mobilize groups and organizations around a shared purpose. By applying a wide array of marketing tools, we move people – to rally around a cause, create community and inspire positive change.
Our Project: NYC
New York City is a city like no other—it’s world-class, emblematic of the American Dream and the most tolerant, diverse and resilient city we know. As New Yorkers, we know what makes this city great and the joy that comes with living here, despite some challenges. It’s time for us to come together, celebrate what’s great about this city (across all five boroughs) and drive the change we want to see.
Our Work
A New York State of Mind
In the mid 1970's, when New York City was on the verge of economic collapse, Billy Joel wrote "New York State of Mind," a love letter expressing his passion for the city. So, when the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc on New York City, we believed that this song could be the rallying cry the city needed. With Billy Joel's support and approval, we created an all-new recording and music video featuring die-hard New Yorker musicians and singers filmed in iconic locations throughout the city’s five boroughs. The video premiered on CBS Sunday Morning, aired on YouTube and Taxi TV throughout the city and ultimately earned over 2.5 billion media impressions, millions of dollars in earned media and industry awards. More info can be found here: nycnext.org

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WE❤️NYC
WE❤️NYC is a cross-sector campaign to showcase the city’s strengths and mobilize New Yorkers to make sure this remains the greatest city in the world. No taxpayer dollars were used for this effort.
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The Longest Table
Over 500 New Yorkers gathered at a table that stretched a full block’s length to share a meal, support the community and celebrate fellow neighbors of all ages.
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Broadway Reunites
A pop-up performance in the middle of Times Square brought the community together and the stars out for the first time since the pandemic shut Broadway down.
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Nextdoor 100
A nationwide celebration of neighbors shining a light on the people who make a difference in our everyday lives, but don’t get the recognition they deserve.
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Rebrand
The USA Today rebrand signaled the company's transition to new digital products, a re-designed paper and a re-imagination of content across platforms.
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Come Together
The Hyatt Regency brand celebrated its 50th anniversary with the launch of “Come Together,” a film that celebrated bringing the community together.
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Purpose Anthem
This video was created to share the brand purpose to its employees and clients: “to serve the greater good of the nation and the communities they serve.”
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Anthem
This anthem spot debuted during the 89th Oscars® speaking to the power of understanding and launching the Hyatt purpose and rebrand globally.
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KIND
Nextdoor chose KIND as its NYSE ticker symbol to signal the brand’s purpose: to cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood they can rely on.
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Portraits
As part of its World of Understanding initiative, Hyatt celebrated cancer survivors with portraits by renowned photographer and fellow cancer survivor, Sandro.
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Day in the Life
This anthem video was created to rally NBCU employees around their purpose: to deliver content that entertained, informed and shaped the world.
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Univision Upfront
The first User Generated Upfront showcasing the power of Univision and its loyal audience was named “Best Upfront of the Year” by The Jack Myers Report.
Our Team
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Maryam Banikarim
Maryam is a marketing industry veteran who has led and infused purpose into some of the world’s top brands including Hyatt, Gannett, NBC, and most recently, Nextdoor. As a co-founder of NYCNext, Maryam mobilized a volunteer army of 700 passionate New Yorkers to incite both action and optimism—by way of pop-up performance events throughout the city's five boroughs, supporting the city’s performing arts community by doing it. Featured cultural institutions included the Metropolitan Opera, stars from Broadway, Central Park, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. NYCNext’s activities ultimately culminated in a love letter to the city in the form of a music video re-imagining Billy Joel’s iconic “New York State of Mind,” featuring a diverse group of talent that included Idina Menzel, Stephen Colbert, Sara Bareilles, and many others.
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Debbie Goetz
Debbie is a marketing executive with a passion for helping businesses embrace change and thrive. She believes transforming brands and organizations starts with knowing your purpose, galvanizing employees, then serving customers, partners, influencers and investors. Wins for her include helping take Nextdoor public as the neighborhood network. Establishing Vyaire as the global leader in respiratory care. Making Hyatt the global hospitality brand synonymous with a “World of Understanding.” Transforming Gannett from a newspaper company to a thriving multi-media conglomerate. Catapulting Univision from a Spanish-language network to one of America’s top 5 media companies. Her early career took her from Wall Street to Madison Avenue where she learned to love the art of numbers and the logic of creative. Though originally from California and a childhood in Ohio, Debbie is thrilled to be back home in New York City.
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Mandy Ansari, Director of Social Media
Mandy Ansari is a marketing executive with a passion for using technology to create meaningful connections between people, brands and causes. Mandy has worked with high-profile clients such as Michelle Obama, Amazon, UberEats, Slack, Bumble, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and more in the beauty, food, fashion and political spaces. What sets Mandy apart is her deep commitment to social impact and community building. Her work has consistently been driven by a desire to use technology to make the world a smaller, more connected place. Mandy holds an MBA from University of California, Berkeley and is a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and has been recognized for her leadership in this area.
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Stephen Tracy, Chief of Staff
Stephen Tracy is a strategic advisor who loves partnering with purpose-driven leaders to build internal operating excellence and support data-driven strategic decisions. Most recently, he was co-CEO and founder at Keap (KeapBK.com), a NY-based scented candle company helping prioritize connection to self and nature. Before his entrepreneurial journey, Stephen gained extensive experience in branding, strategy, and planning across the corporate world. At Google, he partnered with senior leadership and made sense of vast amounts of data about YouTube's multi-billion dollar video business. At Procter & Gamble, he applied data modeling and statistics to better understand trends in sales and marketing. Stephen holds a MA in Cognitive Neuroscience from Cambridge University in the UK and a MA in Information and Data Science from UC Berkeley. Stephen is deeply passionate about building a world filled with compassion and connection.
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Natasha Lerner
Natasha resides in NYC and is currently a social media consultant for MaryamB, a purpose driven collective with its sights set on NYC. She also runs social media for Pulitzer Prize winning-Broadway composer/orchestrator Tom Kitt. Previously she was a social media manager at New York Magazine where she helped manage multiple social media accounts across platforms. She also was an assistant to Jessica Bennett, a New York Times writer and editor. In August of 2020 as part of a grass roots movement of 700 volunteers, she launched the social media for NYCNext, a nonprofit supporting NYC and its artist community. “New York State of Mind,” the music video NYCNext produced garnered over 2B earned media impressions. Natasha is also a graduate of Barnard College where she majored in film studies.
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Lara Mosko
Lara is a proven marketing leader with more than 20 years of experience managing integrated marketing strategies across various industries, including high-level roles at Hyatt Hotels and Univision. Since leaving corporate life, she lends her marketing expertise to organizations across the spectrum, from tech companies to non-profit start-ups. Lara builds brands by leveraging storytelling, consumer insights and celebrity partnerships to build awareness and engagement across the digital and social media landscapes. Most recently, she spearheaded a brand awareness campaign for Nextdoor with country music icon and actor, Tim McGraw, leveraging a 17-market concert tour to create experiential pop-ups for the brand. Prior to that, she oversaw the development of an original branded content and social media campaign for Hyatt with Dua Lipa which generated over 2.6B+ views of her iconic music video.
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Courtney Brown Warren
Courtney is an award-winning brand executive with a passion for storytelling that captivates hearts and minds. She has more than 20 years of experience working with global brands across tech, media, entertainment, non-profit, lifestyle and luxury. Brands include: L’Oreal, WarnerMedia (Time Inc.), Madison Square Garden Co., Audible (Amazon) and Twitter. Additionally, Courtney is a former professor of web development at SUNY Purchase and leads her own brand consultancy, CBW&Co. Most recently, as the Global Head of Brand at Twitter, Courtney led a team of Brand and Digital Content Strategists, Producers and Brand Managers focused on elevated brand strategy, global campaign activations, global brand standard governance, and end-to-end digital experiences. She and her team were at the center of consumer and product marketing work using a mix of data, and insightful, creative vision to propel the brand narrative. Courtney has served as a board member for the NYC Mission Society and the Aging Fund of NYC.
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Andrew Lerner
For most of his career, Andy has been a serial entrepreneur. He was the founding CEO of two data and analytics companies: Trust Metrics and Urban Data Solutions. He continues to serve as the CEO of Trust Metrics. Urban Data Solutions was sold in 2002. In addition, Andy is a co-founder of NYC Next and serves as the head of operations, overseeing finance and production of all events for the non-profit. Prior to that, he was the co-founder of digital media strategy and development firm, Format Studio. Early in his career, he served as vice-president of Time Warner Electronic Publishing in the 1990’s where he was involved in the first days of the transition of traditional print media properties to digital platforms. He has also sat on the board of The Chicago Public Education Fund, Planned Parenthood of Illinois, The Kindling Group, and was an original board member of The Bronx Charter School For Children.
In The Press
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Drawing 700+ Guests to Pot Luck Party
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Feeding NYC’s Need to Connect
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A Campaign to Remind Us That We Love New York (City)
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We love NYC — so let’s take it back from the brink
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Top Marketers Side Projects
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500 Neighbors Come Together
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Much-Needed Neighborhood Fun
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Lighting Up 21st Street
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Cultivating A Kinder Future
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Maryam Banikarim On Purpose
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How To Market A Comeback
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New York Is Not Dead
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Broadway Is Back
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Stars Bring Broadway Back
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Highbrow/Brilliant!