Michael Murphy is the Founding Principal and Executive Director of MASS Design Group. An architecture and design specialist, Murphy creates projects based on research of how architecture can project beauty and meaning into life. Murphy has presented keynote speeches at events such as TED Talks. MASS Design Group has won awards such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters... read full bio
Reza Aslan is an award winning writer, professor, producer, and scholar. Aslan is best known for his award-winning, best-selling books, including Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth and God: A Human History. This creative mind has produced series on channels like HBO; his shows include The Leftovers and Dune: Sisterhood. Aslan contributes to a variety of publications,... read full bio
Minnijean Brown-Trickey was an essential player in desegregating public schools. She was a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group that changed the narrative of civil rights. Brown-Trickey was awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the Wolf Award, the Spingarn Medal, and more. She has served in key counterparts of the government, specifically during the Clinton administration as the... read full bio
Molly Crabapple is, first and foremost, an artist. Her work is known for setting a new standard of storytelling and journalism—she is an award-winning animator that created live-illustrated explainer journalism. Crabapple has worked with people such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Jay Z, and The ACLU. Her art has been displayed in incredible venues like the Museum of Modern Art and... read full bio
Emily Bazelon is a journalist, author, and speaker. She covers a spectrum of social issues in her work, confronting mass incarceration, bullying, power disparity, and America’s national crises. Bazelon is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, has authored the best-selling title Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration, and is a Truman... read full bio
David Wallace-Wells is an author and editor. Currently, he is the deputy editor of New York Magazine, where he frequently contributes his insight into climate, science, and technology. He is well-known for his cover story on global warming and climate change worst-case scenarios. Wallace-Wells authored the best-selling The Uninhabitable Earth, which confronts key questions regarding global issues caused by potential... read full bio
Chuck Klosterman is a culture expert and author. Klosterman has authored ten books, redefining American culture with a modern perspective. He has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Esquire, Spin, The Guardian, and many more notable publications. Amongst his multitude of books, Klosterman has authored titles including Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, But What If... read full bio
Marcus Bullock is a social advocate and entrepreneur. Having had an experience in prison, Bullock set out to change the narrative of inmates in the system. Upon being released from prison, Bullock started his own painting company. He is now CEO of Perspectives Premier Contractors, which helps newly-released individuals acclimate to their lives. Bullock also founded Flikshop, an app that... read full bio
Johanna Kandel is founder and CEO of The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness and is also author of the book “Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder.” Kandel founded The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness after recovering from a ten-year battle with various eating disorders. The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness is based out of West Palm Beach, Florida, and since it’s... read full bio
Sohaila Abdulali is an Indian author and sexual assault survivor advocate. Abdulali was born in Mumbai, India, and when she was only 17 years old she was sexually assaulted in Bombay while walking with her friend. This caused Abdulali severe trauma, and since then she has gone on to share her story of being a survivor through strength and honor.... read full bio
Payton Head is an activist and community leader who was the former President of the Missouri Students Association. Head focuses on fighting hate with love, and helps develop cultures that are grounded in equity. Head began his work in activism after the events that happened in Ferguson and he started working on improving race relations in Missouri. While working as... read full bio
Rachel Cargle is a writer, speaker, lecturer, and activist whose work circles around the intersection of race and womanhood. Cargle uses her social media to create meaningful conversations, to encourage critical thinking, and have meaningful engagement with people from all over the world that she wouldn’t normally have the chance to talk to. As a speaker, Cargle has talked on... read full bio
Richie Reseda is an activist, feminist, hip-hop artist, and co-founder of the non-profit, Initiate Justice. Reseda began Initiate Justice while he was incarcerated, and it is a non-profit that help people affected by mass incarceration to change laws to end punitive justice systems and to invest in the people and communities to help reduce harm. Reseda also works with organizations... read full bio
April Reign is the creator of the hashtag that went viral, ‘#OscarsSoWhite,’ a thought leader and influencer, a former lawyer, an activist, a diversity and inclusion consultant, and writer. Reign gained attention after tweeting out the hashtag ‘OscarsSoWhite,’ during the Oscars nominations announcement. She started the hashtag as she felt that the nominations had a lack of nominees of color.... read full bio
Helen Zia is a Chinese-American journalist and activist who is known for her activism for Asian American and LGBTQ rights. Zia was born in Newark, New Jersey, and she later studied at Princeton Unviersity where she was a student at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. While studying there, she became founder of the Asian American Students... read full bio
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts is an American professor, writer, political commentator and activist who is best known for his part in the Black Lives Matter movement. As a professor, Roberts has taught the course “Black Lives Matter: Race, Resistance, and Populist Protest,” at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individual Study. His course gained attention after being one of the... read full bio
Jim Obergefell is an American civil rights activist who is best known for being the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, which was the case that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States. Obergefell began the Obergefell v. Hodges case after finding out that he could not be listed as his late husband’s surviving spouse on his... read full bio
Eric Alva is an author, LGBTQ rights activist, and veteran who was the first Marine that was severely injured in the Iraq War. Alva was born in San Antonio, Texas, and after graduating high school, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps as a gay man knowing that the military excluded all gays and lesbians from service. Throughout most of his... read full bio
Will Strickland is a hip-hop industry veteran who has served as co-principal of Keikwalk Consulting, which is an entertainment marketing, promotions, and consulting firm in Toronto. Strickland is also known for being a educator that educates client on hip-hop culture. He has been the producer of the first ever online concert in black music history which he produced while working... read full bio
When Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her room in 2002, Ed Smart did what any dad would do: drop everything and look for her. Now, two decades later, Ed is a nationally famous and highly respected spokesperson for child protection and safety. He advocates for new legislation to be done to aid in these efforts. He is on the board... read full bio
