Data Expert Rigel Cable Is Instagram Influencer Rigel Cable

Rigel Cable is a director of data analytics at digital commerce agency Astound Commerce—but you might know him better by his influencer persona, Rigel Gemini. Though Cable makes sure to keep his influencer advocacy and day job separate from each other, he still tries to bring "visibility and presence" to both ends of his life as a queer person from a mixed background. Through Astound, Cable said he's able to bring insights to gender and behavior that clients might otherwise not consider. "I am proud to be openly LGBTQ+ in the workplace," he said. "I know that for some clients, I may be their first out LGBTQ+ business partner, and that's a great opportunity." Before Astound, Cable landed his job with Goodby Silverstein & Partners while still in college. "Many of my undergraduate classmates were joining investment banks, management consulting firms or entering politics, but I knew I wanted to be in the creative marketing industry," he said. He spent the early days of his career working with clients like Adobe, Doritos, Got Milk! and Häagen-Dazs. "Analytics has allowed me to balance my quantitative and logical mind with my creative and strategic skills," he said. Cable spent his final three years in California in Los Angeles, where he got deep insights into social media, which helped him grow his influencer track. After getting encouragement from his artist husband, Cable grew his Instagram account and landed some impressive gigs. He was an official ambassador for L.A. Fashion Week and L.A. Pride and also held partnerships with brands like Google, Johnson & Johnson, Lexus and LifeStyles. As Rigel Gemini, he focuses on advocating to his over 100,000 followers, which is largely made up of queer, trans and gender nonconforming youth across the world. Now in Atlanta, he partners with local LGBTQ+ organizations like Atlanta Pride and produced an art show with his husband last year called Fabnormal, sponsored by Lexus. In its inaugural event, they saw more than 400 attendants, had over eight queer performances and raised close to $2,000 for TRANScending Barriers, a trans- and gender-nonconforming nonprofit in Georgia. "Creating space for the queer and trans communities, showcasing talent from our community and centering voices for people of color have been core to what I want to do," he said. "It's what I'm passionate about, and it's a place where we all can help contribute where others have dropped the ball." How He Got the Gig He interviewed with current boss Bridget Fahrland, head of digital strategy at Astound Commerce, where to this day she jokes that "[he] talked her into hiring [him] in one meeting." Cable spent six years as a senior analyst, then made his way to associate director and is now director. (Astound Commerce merged with customer experience and software solutions company Fluid in March 2018.) Big Mistake Cable said the biggest mistake starting out in the agency world was "feeding into workplace pressure to be part of the 'cool kids' club." "Agencies can be like fraternities or sororities," he said. "And it used to bother me that it felt like there was always an 'in' group and 'out' group." Lesson Learned Cable feels he wasted his time trying to impress workplace cliques. In the end, seeking the approval of others never ended up being worthwhile ("except for maybe your boss," he noted). Pro Tip "I keep my influencer work totally separate from my day job and restrict it to the nights and weekends, but I'm a Gemini so I love the duality. I get this question all the time in the professional world: 'How do you have time?' My answer: 'We've made the choice to have no kids!'"

Leadership & Talent

Data Director Rigel Cable Moonlights as LGBTQ+ Influencer Rigel Gemini

2 identities in the marketing and social worlds

Nicole Ortiz

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Nicole Ortiz