Edgar “Dook” Chase, IV is a proud New Orleans native, and business owner. He is Owner/President of Chase Concessions, LLC, Executive Chef at Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, proprietor of Leah’s Kitchen and Dook’s Burgers and a partner in a number of other restaurants in the New Orleans International Airport. Chase holds a Masters of Business Administration, and a formal Culinary degree from Le Condon Bleu Paris, France. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Finance from Dillard University in 2004.

Charles M. Blow is an acclaimed journalist and op-ed columnist for the New York Times who appears frequently on CNN. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Fire Shut Up in My Bones and the New York Times bestseller The Devil You Know. He lives in Atlanta.

Betsy Fischer Martin is an Emmy-winning journalist and TV news executive. Currently she is Executive Director of AU School of Public Affairs' Women & Politics Institute and an SPA Executive in Residence. She is also a former co-host of Bloomberg Politics' Masters in Politics Podcast. She also founded her own consulting business, Fischer Martin Media, where she specializes in providing media training to corporate executives.

Freddi Williams Evans is an independent scholar and author of award-winning books for children as well as adults.

Darren Walker is president of the Ford Foundation, a $16 billion international social justice philanthropy. Under his leadership, the Ford Foundation became the first non-profit in US history to issue a $1 billion designated social bond to stabilize non-profit organizations in the wake of COVID-19.

Before joining Ford, Darren was vice president at the Rockefeller Foundation, overseeing global and domestic programs. In the 1990s, he was COO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, Harlem’s largest community development organization.

Sue Strachan has sat at the intersection of culture and human behavior with a drink at the ready. Cocktails were at the ready. Her first book was "The Cafe Brulot" (2021), followed by “The Obituary Cocktail” (2025), both part of LSU Press Iconic New Orleans Cocktail series.

Nick Spitzer is a Professor of Anthropology at Tulane. He has hosted & produced public radio’s American Routes, a weekly vernacular American music, interview and cultural program heard nationwide for 25 years. Nick founded the state of Louisiana Folklife Program (1978), where he helped create the Baton Rouge Blues Festival, Louisiana Folk Festival, Spanish Town Mardi Gras and granting programs for traditional artists and cultures statewide.

Nathaniel Rich is the author, most recently, of two works of nonfiction on environmental themes: Second Nature, which includes the story that serves as the basis for the film Dark Waters; and Losing Earth, a finalist for the PEN/E.O.

Tom Piazza is celebrated both as a novelist and as a writer on American music. His twelve books include the novels The Auburn Conference and City Of Refuge, the short-story collection Blues and Trouble, the post-Katrina manifesto Why New Orleans Matters, and the essay collection Devil Sent The Rain. He was a principal writer for the innovative New Orleans-based HBO drama series TREME, and the winner of a Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey. He lives in New Orleans.