Beto O'Rourke Joins OZY Fest 2019

O'Rourke joins diverse lineup including: musical guests John Legend, Miguel and Tove Lo; politicians Stacey Abrams and Gov. John Kasich; comedians Trevor Noah, Dulcé Sloan and Ronny Chieng; thought and business leaders Alex Rodriguez, Malcolm Gladwell, Deepak Chopra, Jameela Jamil, Mark Cuban, Spike Lee, and Barbara Corcoran; celebrity chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Padma Lakshmi and Rachael Ray; and many more.

Tickets on sale NOW at www.ozyfest.com

Mountain View, CA — June 27, 2019 — OZY Media, the media company bringing “the new and the next” to the Change Generation, today announces that 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary candidate and former Congressman Beto O'Rourke will speak at the fourth annual OZY Fest. Heading to the iconic Great Lawn in Central Park on Saturday, July 20th, and Sunday, July 21st, OZY Fest is “New York City’s answer to SXSW” (CNBC), and O'Rourke will be joining Stacey Abrams and John Kasich as the festival's political headliners, along with Axios co-founder Mike Allen as moderator, and more to be announced. O’Rourke will be appearing on the second day of OZY Fest 2019, on Sunday, July 21st. Tickets are available now at www.ozyfest.com.

Two full days of live music, conversation, comedy and food from some of the world’s biggest names and boldest thinkers, OZY Fest has been described by The New York Times as “part music festival, part TED talk, part food fair” and Thrillist proclaimed it “the only NYC summer festival you need to attend.” This year, the festival will be co-hosted by MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez, and will additionally feature musical guests John Legend, Miguel and Tove Lo; comedians Trevor Noah, Dulcé Sloan and Ronny Chieng; thought and business leaders Malcolm Gladwell, Deepak Chopra, Jameela Jamil, Mark Cuban, Spike Lee, and Barbara Corcoran; celebrity chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Padma Lakshmi and Rachael Ray; and many more.

Catch a preview of OZY Fest HERE

OZY Fest 2018 attracted over 20,000 guests who danced to the music of Common, Passion Pit, Young the Giant and Grouplove, laughed with Michele Wolf, Chelsea Handler and Hasan Minhaj, ate with Marcus Samuelsson and Roy Choi, and had their minds blown with thought provoking ideas from Malcolm Gladwell, Hillary Clinton, Karl Rove and many more. Previous OZY Fests included Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, Samantha Bee, Issa Rae, Jason Derulo, Katie Couric, Sen. Cory Booker, Jeb Bush, Eddie Huang and many more.

OZY Fest is made possible in partnership with Ally, Chase, CNBC, European Wax Center, iHeartRadio, SHOWTIME®, Blinded by the Light – In Theaters August 14 and Well Being Trust. Tickets are on sale now at www.ozyfest.com. 

 About OZY Media:

With 50 million monthly unique users and five million subscribers, OZY brings readers “the new and the next,” offering original content with an eye toward the future via its digital, podcast and TV platforms, as well as events. Called “the new media magnet for the news hungry” by Fortune magazine, OZY’s in-depth and high-quality journalism has attracted a number of high-profile media partners, including The New York Times, NPR, PBS NewsHour, TED, The Financial Times, Huffington Post and many more. Guest editors have included Bill Gates, President Bill Clinton, Sen. John McCain, Condoleezza Rice, Kamala Harris and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Founded in 2013 by Emmy Award-winning journalist Carlos Watson and co-founder Samir Rao, OZY is based in Mountain View, California, and backed by leading Silicon Valley investors such as Ron Conway, David Drummond, Marc Lasry and Tom Franco, and a significant investment from German publishing giant Axel Springer.

About Beto:

Beto O’Rourke is a fourth-generation Texan, born and raised in El Paso. After graduating from Columbia University with a degree in English Literature, Beto returned home and started a small technology business that would grow to bring dozens of high-wage, high-skill jobs to the border community. He ran for the El Paso City Council in 2005 and upon being elected became one of the youngest members to ever sit on the council. Beto served two terms before running for U.S. Congress in 2012, taking on a 16-year incumbent and winning. He personally knocked on thousands of doors and held public forums with voters in both Spanish and English.

He would represent one of the world’s largest binational communities in Washington, DC for six years, serving on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Committee on Homeland Security. Regularly returning home, he held monthly all-comers welcome town halls in El Paso where he could hear directly from his constituents. In Congress, he successfully enacted laws that improved access to health care for veterans, added urgent mental health resources for service members and permanently protected thousands of acres of natural land. As a leading voice on immigration and a lifelong advocate for the U.S.-Mexico border, Beto organized a 2,000 person Father’s Day march to Tornillo to raise awareness of family separation. He would continue returning to the camp until all of the children were successfully released.

In March of 2017, Beto launched a historic 19-month campaign to represent all 28 million Texans in the U.S. Senate. Running the largest grassroots campaign the state had ever seen, he rejected all money from political action committees and personally visited each one of the 254 counties of Texas as he held over 350 town hall discussions. Beto ultimately received more votes than any Democrat in Texas history as he excited thousands of first-time voters to go to the polls. Beto is married to Amy, and they are raising their three children -- Ulysses, Molly, and Henry -- in El Paso.

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