Jessica Bruder is a narrative journalist who writes about social issues and subcultures. For her book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, she spent months living in a camper van, documenting itinerant Americans who gave up traditional housing and hit the road full time, enabling them to travel from job to job and carve out a place for themselves in a precarious economy. Her reporting spanned three years and more than 15,000 miles of driving — from coast to coast and from Mexico to the Canadian border. Nomadland was recently adapted into a Golden Globe-winning film of the same name starring Frances McDormand. Bruder is also the author of Burning Book and the co-author, with Dale Maharidge, of Snowden’s Box: Trust in the Age of Surveillance. She teaches at Columbia Journalism School and has written for publications including WIRED, Harper’s, New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Washington Post.

Melissa Febos is the author of the memoir Whip Smart and two essay collections: Abandon Me and the forthcoming, Girlhood, which Kirkus, in a starred review, called “profound and gloriously provocative.” Catapult will publish a collection of her craft essays in 2022.The inaugural winner of the Jeanne Córdova Nonfiction Award from LAMBDA Literary and the recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The BAU Institute, Vermont Studio Center, The Barbara Deming Foundation, and others; her essays have appeared in The Paris Review, The Believer, McSweeney’s Quarterly, Granta, Sewanee Review, Tin House, The Sun, and The New York Times. She is an associate professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program.

Max Frumes leads a news team at Fitch Solutions covering corporate debt and restructuring. He previously was the founding editor of a leading publication covering corporate bankruptcy, and before that reported for S&P’s Leveraged Commentary & Data and The Deal. Frumes received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MSJ from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

Naomi Gordon-Loebl is a writer and a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, Complex, Out, New York, and elsewhere. Formerly, she was the research editor and internship director at The Nation magazine. She is the recipient of residencies and fellowships from the Puffin Foundation, Lambda Literary, Monson Arts, the Studios at Key West, and the Vermont Studio Center. Before working in journalism, she spent five years as a teacher and youth development professional, helping people who had left school to complete their high school equivalency diplomas. She was born, raised, and still lives in Brooklyn.

Melissa Henderson is a prolific writer and digital media executive with past roots at Ebony, Essence, Elle and The Huffington Post. Her speciality is urban storytelling mixed with an international approach. In 2016, she founded Violet Summer, a design and technology-driven boutique writing company. Melissa and her team of creatives publish a quarterly print and digital magazine that features and caters to readers in over 183 countries. The brand also curates and sells home and stationary collections inspired by black history. When she’s not writing or editing, she is building multimedia experiences on and offline. She is currently based in Miami, Florida.

Sujeet Indap is the U.S. editor of the Lex Column at the Financial Times, where he contributes stories across the paper. He has written extensively on the intersection of corporate finance and corporate law. Indap was previously an investment banker before he joined the Financial Times in 2013. He is a graduate of Pomona College and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Indap lives in Manhattan with his wife.

Dr. Martha S. Jones is a legal and cultural historian whose work examines how Black Americans have shaped the story of American democracy. She is a Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All (2020), Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America (2018), and All Bound Up Together: The Woman Question in African American Public Culture 1830-1900 (2007). You can check out some of Martha's recent writing on Vanguard in TIME and The New York Times. She was featured in the new PBS documentary American Experience: The Vote.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, seasoned communicator, and founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships. Susan has 25+ years of experience in marketing, public relations, and sustainability communications, speaking regularly at industry conferences, and contributing to the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Forbes. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, USA Today, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times. Susan is a Vital Voices global corporate ambassador and has received numerous accolades for her voice on social media platforms from Fortune Magazine, Fast Company, and Elle Magazine. She resides in Brooklyn. 

Suzanne Nossel is Chief Executive Officer at PEN America and author of Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All. Prior to joining PEN America, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of Human Rights Watch and as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. She has served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, leading US engagement in the UN and multilateral institutions on human right issues, and in the Clinton Administration as Deputy to the US Ambassador for UN Management and Reform. Nossel coined the term “Smart Power,” which was the title of a 2004 article she published in Foreign Affairs Magazine and later became the theme of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s tenure in office. She is a featured columnist for Foreign Policy magazine and has published op-eds in The New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times, as well as scholarly articles in Foreign Affairs, Dissent, and Democracy, among others. Nossel serves on the Board of Directors of the Tides Foundation. She is a former senior fellow at the Century Foundation, the Center for American Progress, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Nossel is a magna cum laude graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School. 

Helaine Olen is an opinion writer for the Washington Post's opinion section and the senior managing editor for Public Seminar at The New School. She's the author of Pound Foolish: Exposing The Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry and co-author of The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to be So Complicated. Helaine has appeared on The Daily Show, Frontline, C-Span, the BBC, MSNBC, All Things Considered, Marketplace and more to share her commentary on political and economic issues. She serves on the advisory board of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Dana Parish developed Lyme-induced heart failure as a result of being improperly diagnosed by some of the “top” doctors in the country—and had her life saved by Dr. Phillips. A chart-topping Sony/ATV singer/songwriter who has written songs for artists like Celine Dion and Idina Menzel, she has become a major voice in the world of chronic illness. Her popular column on Huffington Post has been read by more than one million people globally.

Steven Phillips, M.D. is a renowned Yale-trained physician, international lecturer, and media go-to expert. Well-published in the medical literature, he has treated over 20,000 patients with complex, chronic illness from nearly 20 countries. Phillips experienced firsthand the nightmare of an undiagnosed, serious infection after nearly dying from his own “mystery illness,” and having to save his own life when 25 doctors could not.

Marlon Peterson is an inspiration whisperer, author, criminal legal system expert, and public speaker. He is the founder and CEO of The Precedential Group Social Enterprises, a social justice-human good warehouse of consultancy, programming, and content co-creation. Marlon is also the host of the DEcarcerated Podcast. Ebony Magazine named Marlon one the 100 most inspiring leaders in the Black community. He is a member of the Aspen Institute Global Leadership Network. Marlon's voice is distinct, heart pounding, and transformational. His TED Talk: "Am I not human? a call for criminal justice reform?", has amassed over 1.2 million views. His writings have been published in various media outlets including The Nation, USA Today, Ebony, Essence, Gawker, The Good Men Project, and others. He has contributed essays to Kiese Laymon's book How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Akiba Solomon & Kenrya Rankin's How to Fight White Supremacy, and Colin Kaepernick's Medium Series: Abolition For the People. Marlon is a soca and steelpan lover, and a Brooklyn representer.

Kristen Richardson was born in London and lives with her son in Brooklyn, NY and Western Massachusetts.

Maya Rodale began reading romance novels in college at her mother’s insistence. She is now the bestselling and award-winning author of funny, feminist fiction. A champion of the romance genre and its readers, she is also the author of the non-fiction book Dangerous Books For Girls: The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels, Explained. Maya has also contributed to NPR Books, Bustle, and The Huffington Post. She lives in New York City.

Carrie is the author of the new acclaimed middle-grade novel Horse Girl (Penguin Random House, 2021) and the bestselling Audible adventure series The Flying Flamingo Sisters (hailed by the New York Times as a Best Audiobook for Road Trips with Kids). An alum of The Groundlings, she's served as a staff writer for Nickelodeon and appeared on Inside Amy Schumer, E! TV and the Today show. As a journalist and essayist, she's contributed to The New York Times, The Atlantic, Architectural Digest, Cosmopolitan, The New York Post and McSweeney's.

Jordan Shapiro, PhD., is a globally celebrated American thought leader. He's senior fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, and Nonresident Fellow in the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. His Forbes' column (2012-17) on global education, learning through digital play, kids and culture was read by over five million people around the world. He is an international speaker and consultant whose fresh perspective combines psychology, philosophy, and economics in unexpected ways. His book The New Childhood: Raising Kids To Thrive in a Connected World (Little, Brown Spark 2018) changed the cultural conversation about parenting and screen time.

Passionate and committed to helping humanity save the world, Michael Slaby is a world leader in media, strategy, and technology, and how together they drive politics and business. He is currently Chief Strategist at Harmony Labs working on accelerating media reform and transformation. Previously, he founded and was Head of Mission of Timshel, a social-impact technology company. He was a Fellow at Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Michael helped lead Obama for America as Chief Integration and Innovation Officer in 2012 where he oversaw all of technology and analytics, and as Deputy Digital Director and Chief Technology Officer in 2008. His new book For ALL the People: Redeeming the Broken Promises of Modern Media and Reclaiming Civic Life published in February 2021. 

Brandon T. Snider is the best-selling author of the award-winning Dark Knight Manual, as seen in Entertainment Weekly, Time, and Forbes, as well as the Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic series. Additionally, he's written books featuring Cartoon Network favorites like Adventure Time and Regular Show, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Black Panther, plus pop culture icons such as Justice League, Star Wars, and The Muppets. His new series Rube Goldberg and His Amazing Machines launches in Fall 2021. Brandon has also written for and appeared on Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer.

Cyndi Stivers is senior curator at TED Conferences. She began her career in hot-type newspapers, and has since shepherded media startups and reinvigorated venerable brands on nearly every platform, including magazines, television, radio, and online. She led the establishment of Time Out in North America (1995-2005), and taught the first digital-magazine workshop at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. While on the board of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) and the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), she drafted the industry’s first internet-publishing guidelines. She graduated from Barnard College (while working full-time as a reporter at the New York Post) and served 14 years as a Barnard Trustee, leading the committee on governance. She is a board member of HYPOTHEkids and KAVI (Kings Against Violence Initiative), and also advises Report for America, Litterati, Miracle Messages, and Ocean Collectiv.

Chelsea G. Summers is a freelance writer whose work focuses on sex, politics, tech, fashion and culture. She is a former academic and professor with Ph.D. training in eighteenth-century British literature, a discipline that has proven to be shockingly useful when writing about contemporary culture. She was a columnist for the now defunct ADULT magazine, and her work has appeared in VICE, Fusion, Hazlitt, The New Republic, The Guardian, and Roxane Gay's Medium series. She splits her time between New York and Stockholm, Sweden, and can be found on twitter @chelseagsummers. A Certain Hunger is her first novel.

Sarah Szalavitz is an accountability architect. She builds artisanal databases that inform both the narrative & the design of systems that encourage us to do better.

Sarah is the founder and CEO of 7Robot, a social design firm.

Michele Weldon is an award-winning author, journalist, storyteller and emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University, where she taught on the undergraduate and graduate levels for 18 years. She is the author of six nonfiction books, including her latest, Act Like You’re Having A Good Time: Essays. She has contributed chapters in seven other books. A senior leader with The OpEd Project since 2011, she has led 35 Public Voices Fellowship initiatives at Northwestern, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Loyola, DePaul and Rush universities, the Ms. Foundation, the McCormick Foundation, Boone Family Foundation, Center for Global Policy Solutions, Urgent Fund Africa and more. She is the award-winning editorial director of Take The Lead, a global women's leadership initiative, and received a 2020 Chicago Journalists Award for Best Independent Blog for her work there. 

Carla Zanoni is an award-winning journalist, writer, poet and media strategist. She was born in Argentina, raised in New Jersey, and has lived in New York City for the past 25 years. She is TED’s first head of audience development, where she focuses on content and programming strategy, analytics, social media and community development. Carla is also writing her first book, a memoir on self worth. Carla was the first global audience and analytics editor to be named on the masthead of The Wall Street Journal. She got her start as a freelance metro reporter and has deep roots in community journalism, including her work at the now former DNAinfo New York and Chicago. She is also a graduate of Columbia University’s School of General Studies and School of Journalism.