Stevona Elem-Rogers (Stevie, like Wonder!) is a writer, educator, and cultural worker bearing witness to Black life with tenderness, clarity, and the South rolling off her tongue. Raised in Titusville, a Birmingham neighborhood founded by self-emancipated people, she was shaped by beautifiers, storytellers, and grassroots strategists whose freedom dreams still guide her work.

Tim Francis was born into a world where ideas, influence, and ambition converged. Raised in New Orleans, the son of Dr. Norman C. Francis, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and legendary president of Xavier University.

Holly Gleason’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, the Library of Congress’ National Registry of Sound Recordings, among other outlets. She was the LA Press Club’s Entertainment Journalist of the Year and the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Association’s Independent Journalist of the Year. A former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame/Case Western Reserve Fellow, she’s the creator of Belmont Book Award-winning Woman Walk The Line, and co-authored Miranda Lambert’s New York Times bestseller Y’all Eat Yet?

One of contemporary American music's biggest names, Kenny Chesney has been selling out major stadiums across the nation for two decades, playing to over a million fans every summer since 2002. He’s sold over 35 million albums and won the prestigious Entertainer of the Year eight times, as well as holding Billboard’s record for the Most Country #1s with 36 chart-topping songs that define coming of age in the flyover in the 21st century. The first country artist to perform at the groundbreaking Sphere, Chesney took No Shoes Nation into a new dimension.

Emilie Taylor Welty is a leader in design build education whose research and practice are grounded in material explorations and expanding access to design. She is an architect and associate professor at the Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment where she also serves as the architecture program director. Emilie is co-founder and principal at Colectivo, a New Orleans based architecture firm. Her award winning practice has built internationally recognized projects that focus on material investigations and affordability.

As your Mayor, Helena Moreno is dedicated to delivering more accountable, more transparent, and more effective city services. She’s working with urgency 24/7 to build the city you deserve, a growing, dynamic city where basic services finally work and all communities thrive.

Scott Wolfe, Jr. is a tech entrepreneur and investor focused on leveling the playing fields in complex markets. He founded and led Levelset, a construction tech company that raised $46M and was acquired for $500M by Procore (NYSE: PCOR). Today, Scott serves as a board director and advisor to high-growth proptech and legaltech companies.

Wes Moore is the 63rd Governor of the state of Maryland. He is Maryland’s first Black Governor in the state’s 246-year history, and is just the third African American elected Governor in the history of the United States.

Lesley-Ann Noel, author of Design Social Change, is a designer, researcher, and educator whose work challenges hegemonic design traditions and centers the voices, experiences, and knowledge systems often excluded from mainstream design research. Her practice is grounded in equity, social justice, and community-led inquiry, drawing deeply on her Caribbean roots and a lifelong commitment to expanding who gets to participate in knowledge-making and design.