Chrissy Gephardt is the first openly gay family member of a presidential candidate. Her father, Congressman Dick Gephardt, ran in the 2004 presidential democratic primary. Due to her fathers political involvement and the spotlight on her sexuality, Chrissy Gephardt decided to involve herself in LGBT issues, becoming a spokesperson for equal rights and social justice. Gephardt is a part of... read full bio
Christine Schanes is a speaker and public educator. She has been working for over two decades to give insight into the issues of homelessness. Collaborating with government leaders, various organizations, schools, and other groups, Schanes creates workshops and special programs regarding the topic of homelessness. Schanes founded the Center for Justice and Social Compassion E-Z ID Clinic Program, which helps... read full bio
Abdul El-Sayed is a doctor, activist, and health expert. El-Sayed has authored several books on social issues facing the United States of America, including Healing Politics. El-Sayed is also a host of Crooked Media’s America Dissected podcast, which explores topics in health. This advocate has served as Health Commissioner of the City of Detroit, is a professor at Columbia University’s... read full bio
Carole Baskin is an American animal sanctuary executive and animal rights activist who is the owner and CEO of the non-profit, Big Cat Rescue. Baskin’s non-profit has gained attention internationally for bringing attention to the plight of captive big cats and she has been featured on outlets such as Animal Planet, Discovery, The Today Show, People Magazine, CNN, and more.... read full bio
Scottie Madden, born Scott James, is an author, writer, director, speaker, and showrunner. Madden was a late-stage trans women and has previously been in the television production industry for over 30 years. Scottie had been an alpha male that worked in male productions that would take people through jungles, glaciers, and deserts all over the world and Scottie worked as... read full bio
Bree Newsome is an American filmmaker, speaker, musician, and activist who first gained national attention after an act of civil disobedience. Newsome was in South Carolina in front of the statehouse when she climbed up the flagpole and pulled down the Confederate Battle flag, a racist symbol. Newsome was then arrested which sparked attention of why the flag was even... read full bio
Judy Shepard is an LGBT-rights activist and Executive Director and Board President of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Judy is the mother of the late Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old that was a student at the University of Wyoming. Matthew was beaten and pistol-whipped in Laramie, Wyoming. He died six days later in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado and... read full bio
Shannon Reeves is a civil rights advocate, speaker, and political strategist who is the Assistant Professor of Political Science at Alabama A&M University. Through his work with Alabama A&M University, Reeves teaches undergraduate courses in American Politics and Public Administration. Reeves was born in San Francisco, California, and he has earned his B.A. in Political Science from Grambling State University... read full bio
Raymond Winbush, also known as Tikari Bioko, is an American scholar, author, researcher, psychologist and educator who is known for researching the impact of racism and white supremacy on the global African community. Winbush was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. When Winbush was young, he scored high on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test and went on... read full bio
Peniel E. Joseph is an American historian, scholar, teacher, and activist who talks on race issues. Joseph holds professorship at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the History Department in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. Joseph was born and raised in New York and he went on to earn his B.A. in... read full bio
Otis Moss III is best known for being the pastor for Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ where he speaks on reaching inner-city black youth and talks on black theology. Moss is the son of Otis Moss Jr. who was an affiliate of Martin Luther King, Jr. where they worked together. Moss was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and originally... read full bio
Ory Okolloh is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger, who is best known for being the Director of Investments at Omidyar Network and for being the former Policy Manager for Africa with Google. Okolloh has previously earned her bachelor’s in political science from the University of Pittsburgh and also earned her law degree from Harvard Law School. As a writer,... read full bio
John Kasaona is a conservationist who is known for working with people to reinvent conservation in Namibia where he works to turn poachers into protectors of species. While under South African rule, the animals in Namibia began being poached drastically and after Namibia gain independence, the Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation worked with local communities such as Kasaona’s to... read full bio
Helene D. Gayle is an American doctor who is best known for being the CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, which is one of the nation’s leading community foundations that works with doctors, non-profits, residents, and community leaders to help create efforts to improve quality of life for the residents of Chicago. Gayle was born and raised in Buffalo, New... read full bio
Harry Edwards is an American sociologist and civil rights activist from East St. Louis, Illinois. Edwards has earned his B.A. from San Jose State University and has earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He has been a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and during his career he has spent most of it researching on experiences... read full bio
Fred Ssewamala is the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor at the Brown School and is also Professor of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. He has also been an Associate Professor of Social Work and International Affairs at Columbia University School of Social Work, has been a Global Through Fellow with Columbia University and a Senior Research Fellow with... read full bio
Speaking, writing and media production professional Austin Channing Brown offers inspiring leadership on racial justice in America. She is the Executive Producer of the web series The Next Question and the author of the New York Times best-selling book I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, which was chosen as a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub choice. Her lectures and seminars... read full bio
Jessica Willis Fisher is a country and Americana singer/songwriter, performer and author. She thinks that by telling each other our stories, we may change the world. Jessica was the front woman of her renowned family band, The Willis Clan, until she left at the age of 23, having grown up as the oldest child in a strict and religious home. She is... read full bio
American actress Kate Moennig's outstanding performances have had a huge impact on the entertainment business. Moennig is most known for playing Shane McCutcheon in the revolutionary television series The L Word from 2004 to 2009. Her brilliance and adaptability have won many viewers. In the television series Young Americans in 2000, she made her acting debut as Jake Pratt, demonstrating her early... read full bio
Cristina Jiménez Moreta works as a storyteller, political strategist, and community organizer. She is the former executive director and co-founder of United We Dream (UWD), the nation's largest youth-driven organization run by immigrants. At the age of 13, she and her family fled Ecuador for the United States, where she grew up without documentation. Under Cristina's direction, UWD has expanded... read full bio
