Quint Davis is the CEO of Festival Productions Inc. and the Producer/Director of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, one of the world’s great festivals.

Juan Williams is a prizewinning journalist and historian. He is the author of the best-selling civil rights history Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954–1965, which accompanied the PBS series of the same name.

Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist and creator of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans, previously named “Best Show of the Year” by Apple.

Bryan Batt- Author of 3 books: She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother, Big Easy Style, {Pontchartrain Beach, A Family Affair.Most known as “Salvatore Romano” on the iconic TV series Mad Men (2 SAG awards), Boadway: Sunset Blvd.

Gayle Wald is Professor of American Studies at George Washington University. Her latest book, This Is Rhythm: Ella Jenkins, Children’s Music, and the Long Civil Rights Movement, is a biography of the legendary “First Lady of Children’s Music” and was dubbed “stellar” by Booklist. It is the product of 7 years of research, including dozens of interviews with Jenkins and access to her personal archives. Wald’s other books include It’s Been Beautiful: Soul!

Rose Vines grew up in Sydney, Australia. At an early age she exhibited signs of being a rabblerouser: Her first protest action at the age of 11 was to pen a letter to the premier of Victoria imploring him not to hang Ronald Ryan. Ryan went on to be the last man executed in Australia, so Rose’s letter clearly failed to make an impact.
She went on to Sydney University where she studied English and Politics and dedicated herself to developing her protest skills.

STEPHEN SPOTSWOOD is an award-winning playwright, journalist, and the creator of the Pentecost & Parker mystery series. He is the winner of the 2017 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Original New Play, winner of the 2021 Nero Award for best American mystery, a two-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Mystery, and an Edgar Award finalist. As a journalist, he has spent much of the last two decades writing about the struggles of wounded veterans, and his dramatic work has been widely produced across the United States.

Danzy Senna is the author of six critically acclaimed books of fiction and nonfiction. Her first novel, Caucasia, won the Book of the Month Award for First Fiction and the American Library Association’s Alex Award. Since publishing Caucasia, Senna has become one of today’s most widely respected voices tackling multiracial and complex social identities. Her other books include the novel Symptomatic, the memoir Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

Sasha Sagan’s essays and interviews on death, history, and ritual through a secular lens have appeared in The Cut, O the Oprah Magazine, Parents, Atmos and beyond. She is the author of the critically acclaimed book For Small Creatures Such As We. She is also the host of the podcast Strange Customs. Sasha regularly speaks in the U.S. and abroad about the ways science can inform our traditions and expand our sense of wonder.

Andrew Ross Sorkin is an award-winning journalist for The New York Times and a co-anchor of Squawk Box, CNBC’s signature morning program. He is also the founder and editor at large of DealBook, an online daily financial report published by The New York Times that he started in 2001. Sorkin is the bestselling author of Too Big to Fail and the co-producer of the 2011 film adaptation, which was nominated for eleven Emmy Awards. Sorkin is also the co-creator of the drama series Billions on Showtime.