Jun 7, 2022
GHTA welcomes two keynote speakers at its annual conference

The Gift & Home Trade Association (GHTA) released detailed information on the 2022 conference keynote speakers, Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, co-founders of Beekman 1802 for the 2022 GHTA Conference that will be held in Tampa, Florida, Sep. 21-23.

“Join Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, co-founders of Beekman 1802, as they share the benefits and importance in turning retailers and sales staff into brand ambassadors through the power of storytelling. They will offer practical tips on how to tell stories that are meaningful and will resonate with consumers that result in brand loyalty and sales,” GHTA noted in a recent email.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Brent Ridge, co-founder, Beekman 1802

Dr. Brent Ridge, co-founder, Beekman 1802
Dr. Brent Ridge graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine before doing a fellowship in the genetics of aging at Harvard University. He completed his medical training at Columbia University and a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Mount Sinai where he joined the faculty. He was responsible for establishing the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai. He additionally holds an MBA from NYU Stern.
With his husband, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, he founded Beekman 1802 in 2008.

His current research interests center around the role of Kindness and how it influences physiological aging and mental health.

Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, co-founder, Beekman 1802

Josh Kilmer-Purcell, co-founder, Beekman 1802

Josh Kilmer-Purcell, co-founded Beekman 1802 after he and his partner, Dr. Brent Ridge, traded in city living for rural life on the Beekman farm in Sharon Springs, NY. During the 2008 recession, the award-winning advertising executive lost his job, and with a looming mortgage and 100 rescued goats in the barn, he and Ridge started making goat milk soap and soon launched a company they called Beekman 1802, paying homage to the farm’s namesake. Neighbor by Neighbor, word spread and the company flourished – from soap to science, they created a collection of Clinically Kind® skincare products. Beekman 1802 didn’t start out a beauty brand, but it became one of the world’s largest goat milk-based skincare companies.

Kilmer-Purcell is also a New York Times best-selling author of three books, two of which are memoirs.

About Beekman 1802

Beekman 1802 was born in 2008 when founders, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge, moved to the historic Beekman farm in rural Sharon Springs, New York. There they found a tight-knit community and 100 goats looking for a home. Next thing you know, they became the world’s biggest goat milk-based skincare company, earning the right to call themselves the first and only certified microbiome-friendly brand at Ulta stores for the moisturizing, exfoliation, and nourishing properties of the goat milk found in their products across the board. With their Clinically Kind approach to skincare that’s clinically tested, scientifically proven, and made for sensitive skin, they have long proven, There’s Beauty in Kindness.

For more information about the 2022 GHTA Conference, visit www.giftandhome.org. To register for the event, complete the online form.




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