Heather Cox Richardson is Professor of History at Boston College. She has written about the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the American West in award-winning books whose subjects stretch from the European settlement of the North American continent to the history of the Republican Party through the Trump administration. Her most recent book is Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and The Guardian, among other outlets

Chef John Currence was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a family that loved to cook and spend time in the kitchen. 

His parents’ travels during his childhood, combined with the family’s years in Europe, brought the dishes of the world to their dinner table while time spent hunting and fishing in South Louisiana became the foundation in which Currence’s passion for food was firmly rooted.

Steve Gleason played for The New Orleans Saints from 2000-2008. As a counter-culture athlete who spent his off-season adventuring in third world countries, he will always be remembered for his blocked punt on the night the Louisiana Superdome reopened for the first time after Hurricane Katrina.

Michele Norris is one of America’s most trusted voices in journalism, earning several honors over a long career, including Peabody, Emmy, Dupont, and Goldsmith awards. She is a columnist for The Washington Post Opinion Section, the host of the Audible Original Podcast, Your Mama’s Kitchen, and from and from 2002 to 2012 she was a cohost of NPR’s All Things Considered.

Jessica Norwood is the founder of RUNWAY, a social enterprise that provides startup capital to Black founders. Her innovative work has been profiled on NPR and Bloomberg Television and in Essence magazine, Next City, Fast Company, and Conscious Company, and she has participated in fellowships at Harvard University, Duke University, and Southern University College of Business for emerging leaders. Learn more about Jessica’s leadership and work at www.jessicanorwood.com.

Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN and the bestselling author of Pappyland and The Cost of These Dreams. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family. 

Heather Watts joined New York City Ballet in 1970 and was one of the last of the famed Balanchine Ballerinas. She worked closely with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins at NYCB, and was an international ballet star retiring from performing in 1995. Post-stage, Watts has been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine where she covered arts and culture for over two decades.

Damian Woetzel is the seventh president of The Juilliard School, where he is championing excellence rooted in creativity and inclusion, and prioritizing affordability and access to the highest level of artistic education. Since retiring in 2008 from a 20-year career as a principal dancer with New York City Ballet, Woetzel has taken on roles in arts leadership including artistic director of the Vail Dance Festival since 2007 and director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program (2011-18).

Brittany N. Williams is a SAG-AFTRA & AEA actress, writer, singer, director, and the author of THAT SELF-SAME METAL (Abrams 2023), Book #1 in the FORGE & FRACTURE SAGA. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Howard University (HU, You Know) and an MA in Classical Acting from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama (Carrie Fisher’s alma mater for 18 months).

Tracy K. Smith was born in Massachusetts and raised in northern California. She earned a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. From 1997 to 1999 she held a Stegner fellowship at Stanford University. Smith is the author of four books of poetry: The Body's Question (2003), which won the Cave Canem prize for the best first book by an African-American poet; Duende (2007), winner of the James Laughlin Award and the Essence Literary Award; Life on Mars (2011), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; and Wade in the Water (2018).