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.

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.

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.

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.

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). 

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.

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.