Chely Wright

Chely Wright rose to fame as a commercial country singer in the '90s, and has since released eight studio albums and charted more than 15 singles on the Billboard charts. The Academy of Country Music named Wright "Top New Female Vocalist of 1995." Her first hit came in 1997 with “Shut Up and Drive,” followed two years later by her first number one single, “Single White Female,” and in 2005 "The Bumper of My S.U.V.” In 2010, Chely Wright released her eighth album, Lifted Off the Ground produced by Rodney Crowell, revealing a dramatic artistic transformation and emerging as a singer songwriter of the first order.

Chely made history by being the first country music star to publicly come out as gay, which she revealed in her 2010 memoir entitled “Like Me,” published by Random House. In 2016, Wright released her critically- acclaimed studio album entitled I Am The Rain, produced by Joe Henry. The end of 2018 saw the release of the holiday EP Santa Will Find You, which No Depression called the "warmest, most-family oriented" of recent holiday records. Chely released a Americana EP entitled Revival in May of 2019.

Chely also serves as the Chief Diversity Officer, Global Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at Unispace. Under her leadership, Unispace has established a Global Supplier Diversity Program, supported clients through the Art for Impact program, created a DEIB learning and training program ‘We.Belong’, and launched Employee Resource Groups—Women@Unispace and Parents & Caregivers@Unispace. In 2023, Chely won a GlobeSt. Women of Influence Award in the Diversity Champion category and was recognized as a Crain's New York Notable LGBTQIA+ Leader.