New York Times Best- Selling authos of, "So You Want to Talk About Race." Her work focuses primarily on issues of race and identity, feminism, social and mental health, social justice, the arts, and personal essay. Ijeoma Olua lives in Seattle Washington. In 2015, she was named one of the most influential people in Seattle and in 2018, she was named IJEOMAone of the 50 most influential women in Seattle. Her work on social issues has been published in The Guardian, OLUA The Stranger, the Washington Post, AUTHOR & ACTIVIST ELLE magazine, NBC News and more. Elladj Balde cofounded Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance, a nonprofit organization committed to combating racial inequality in the figure-skating world

He uses his voice as a black ELLADJ athlete to encourage black, indigenous, and people of color to follow their dreams. He has also BALDE won many medals in Canadian FIGURE SKATER figure skating Championships. Kehinde Wiley was born in Los Angeles and enrolled in art school at a young age. He now has studios in both LA and NYC and painted the official portrait of President Obama that will be hung in the White House.

He is best known for KEHINDE his ultra-realistic, modern and colorful WILEY portraits. VISUAL ARTIST Misty Copeland was the first female African American principal dancer to be a part of the American Ballet Theatre.

She has had many lead roles in performances such as, The Firebird, Gulnare in Le Dorsaire, Swanilda Coppelia, Odette, and a dual lead role in Swan Lake. MISTY COPELAND BALLET DANCER She has written several children's books encouraging her readers to spark change. She has also founded a non-profit called One Pen, One Page.

At the age of 22, Amanda was the AMANDA youngest poet to ever speak at a presidential GORMAN inauguration. POET Batiste is a Grammy- nominated musician and JON bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. BATISTE In 2020, he released a hit MUSICIAN single featured in the Pixar film, Soul.

Jon Batiste was born in Metairie, Louisiana where he was one of seven brothers and played the drums in his family's band. Reynolds was named as JASON the Library of Congress’ National Ambassador REYNOLDS for Young People's Literature in January AUTHOR 2020.

Reynolds' best-selling novel in 2016, Ghost, was nominated for multiple awards and he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstandng Literary Work. EDOUARDO JORDAN Jordan was named a StarChefs Rising Star CHEF and won Eater Seattle's 2015 “Chef of the Year” title. He was named one of the Best New Chefs of 2016 by Food & Wine In 2018 he was one of Seattle's most magazine. influential people and he currently owns three resturants in Seattle, JuneBaby, Salare, and Lucinda Grain Bar.