WATERTOWN — Author Chris Edwards (Eskandarian) will speak at the Armenian Museum of America, on Thursday, November 16, at 7 p.m.
He will discuss cphanging gender and the powerful role family played in his transition. The program will be in honor of Transgender Awareness Month.
A question-and-answer period and a reception will follow the presenation.
Boston advertising creative director Chris Edwards, son of Ed and Nancy Eskandarian, will discuss life before, during and after his gender transition in heartfelt and hilarious detail. He describes the fear and relief of coming out to his parents and sisters as well as his extended family of Armenians or “Armos” as he likes to call them, and explains the powerful role their support played in his success both at home and at work. His memoir, BALLS: It Takes Some to Get Some, is an Amazon best-seller, Foreword Reviews Indies gold-winner and rated one of the best books of the year by Shelf Awareness.
Edwards made his advertising debut in 1993 as a copywriter at Arnold Worldwide, a high-profile ad agency in Boston. There he used the principles of branding and marketing, along with his ever-present sense of humor, to orchestrate what was quite possibly the most widely accepted and embraced gender transition of its kind — at a time when the word “transgender” didn’t exist.
After building an award-winning career spanning nearly 20 years, he left his Arnold post as executive vice president, Group Creative Director to write his memoir. Since then he has become a sought-after speaker, keynoting at conferences and inspiring audiences at places like Apple, Google and Harvard with his courageous story and compelling message that we all have the power to control how others define us.
