This episode is one of Mark’s most personal conversations yet: a sit-down with his neighbor, his chosen family, and one of his favorite humans on the planet, Rigness Rush. Known simply as "Rig," Rigness is a health-centered space designer, social justice advocate, and visual artist whose fingerprints are on rooms you've walked into, campaigns that moved you, and communities that held you, even if you never once heard his name. That's by design. Rig has always preferred to be felt more than known. But today, he steps into the light.

This conversation travels through spirituality weaponized against a boy just trying to bloom, through the documentary Speaking Out, which dared to hold a mirror up to buried pain, through the quiet revolution of designing healthcare spaces that greet people with dignity rather than shame. It moves through chosen family and biological wounds, through forgiveness that doesn't excuse and love that doesn't look away. And woven through all of it: the question that anchors this whole conversation: what does it really mean to resist, to endure, to show up proudly, scars and all?

If you've ever had to fight just to exist in a room, in your family, in your body, in your identity, listen to this episode.

Guest Bio:

Currently, Rigness helps design health-centered spaces and creates engagement activations rooted in social justice, health literacy, and equity. He continues to emphasize the importance of fostering community insight, which translates research and scientific data into social marketing initiatives. He combines empathy, intuition, and creativity to retool programs and efforts, making them more culturally informed, sustainable, and profitable. Recent campaigns he has driven include the Stand Against Hate Campaign, aimed at fostering accountability and action through disruptive messaging, and the We the People campaign, which bolstered inclusion and equity by creating space for honest engagement and alignment across cultural, racial, and equitable lines of division. Outside of work, Rigness travels the world constantly learning and engaging with people. He strives to develop a heightened sense of global awareness and activism, built on a foundation of empathy and LGBTQ visibility and representation.

Connect with Mark:

⁠Sign up for Mark's Newsletter⁠

⁠Follow Mark on Social Media⁠

Connect with Rig:

Instagram

Questions or comments?

Email us at Hello@MarkTravisRivera.com.

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/swoop/success

License code: SQK0ZY8P3EBIUZYY

Disclaimer Note: The captions in this video are auto-generated, and while we try to ensure accuracy, you may notice a typo or error. Thank you in advance for extending grace.