Dr. Blackstock has received numerous awards and honors, including the American Medical Women’s Association’s 2021 Presidential Award, the 2021 Harvard Humanist of the Year, and the NAACP Brooklyn Chapter’s 2022 Valiant Service Award. Her writing, including numerous OpEds, has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Scientific American, the Washington Post and New York Magazine. Dr. Blackstock received both her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University, making her and her twin sister, Oni, the first Black mother-daughter legacies from Harvard Medical School. In June 2021, Dr. Blackstock signed a book deal with Penguin Random House Books for her generational memoir, LEGACY: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. LEGACY was published on January 23, 2024, was an instant New York Times best seller and is currently available to order. Dr. Blackstock currently lives in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York, with her two school-age children.

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At the core of Darrell’s mission is a profound passion for the convergence of technology and culture, a driving force that fuels his dedication to creating positive change. Beyond his role at Microsoft, Darrell also serves as the chair of the board for multiple nonprofit organizations, where his leadership and guidance have a lasting impact. Additionally, he provides valuable advisory support to numerous other organizations, further solidifying his status as a visionary leader dedicated to making a difference in the world.

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Crenshaw is a widely cited scholar whose writing has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Review, the National Black Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, and the Southern California Law Review. Crenshaw’s groundbreaking work on Intersectionality was influential in the drafting of the equality clause in the South African Constitution. She was the special rapporteur for the Expert Meeting on Gender and Race Discrimination and coordinated NGO efforts to ensure the inclusion of gender in the World Conference in Racism’s Conference Declaration. Crenshaw is a co-editor of Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement and assisted on the legal team representing Anita Hill at the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Crenshaw is also the author of Say Her Name, Black Women’s Stories of State Violence and Public Silence, and co-author of Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected. Crenshaw is a sought-after speaker who conducts workshops and trainings on intersectionality and structural racism around the world. Crenshaw has facilitated workshops for human rights activists in Brazil and India and for constitutional court judges in South Africa and elsewhere.

Crenshaw received AALS Triennial Award for Lifetime Service to Legal Education from the Association of American Law Schools, the 2021 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women’s Section of the Association of American Law Schools, and Lifetime Achievement Aways from Planned Parenthood, the ERA Coalition, and was voted one of the ten most important thinkers in the world by Prospect Magazine. She also received the 2023 Winslow Medal from the Yale School of Public Health, has been named the 2023 W.E.B Du Bois Medalist at Harvard University, and was the recipient of the New Press Social Justice Award. Crenshaw’s Intersectionality Matters! ranks among the top 5 percent of podcasts, and her internet series “Under the Blacklight: The Intersectional Vulnerabilities that Covid Laid Bare,” received a WEBBIE recognition. She is a frequent contributor on MSNBC and NPR. She currently sits on the boards of Sundance Institute and the Algorithmic Justice League.

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At just 11 years old, Marley launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks drive in November of 2015 with the help of the GrassROOTS Community Foundation, leveraging the power of media to reach a larger audience. The #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign eclipsed its original goal after her story went viral and was picked up by media outlets around the world, including Ellen, BBC News, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, The View, NPR  and several others.  Bloggers, schools, youth-focused organizations and millions of individuals helpedMarley collect over 15,000 books to-date, donating them to libraries, schools and others in need, including in Jamaica, her mother’s place of birth. 

In response to her fearless work, Marley was  invited to speak at the White House’s United State of Women alongside Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, The Forbes Women’s Summit, United Nations Girl Up, Inbound, CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, the Social Innovation Summit and several others. She was honored with the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award, also known as the “the Golden Globes of Intellect,” in the Youth Category in 2017, for her transformative work around representation in literature. Dias was also honored by TIME as one of the 25 most influential teens in 2018 and was recognized as the youngest member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list to date.

While serving as an Editor in Residence at ELLE, Marley interviewed Ava DuVernay, Misty Copeland and Hillary Clinton.  She has also been featured in a Microsoft Commercial, a Disney World Resorts digital campaign and a Walmart Black History Month campaign, to name a few of her partnerships.  Additionally, Marley has done interviews with Teen Vogue, Refinery29 Unbothered, Glamour, and more.

Marley’s campaign would not be possible without GrassROOTS Community Foundation (GCF), a public health and social action organization that has given her the training for success. GCF – co-founded by Marley’s mother Dr. Janice Johnson Dias –  funds, supports, develops and scales community health and wellness programs for women and girls. They also advocate for policies and practices that reduce disparities and foster equity. 

Marley’s passion and advocacy goes beyond her love for reading, She has been an outspoken voice for several issues that resonate with her life vision and mission. Along with other Super Girls from the GrassROOTS Community Foundation, Marley started Green Ribbon Week to bring awareness to the need for mental health resources for teens. 

In 2020, Marley added Executive Producer to her many titles with the launch of Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices on Netflix. The show, also hosted by Marley, features celebrities reading books that feature Black characters and authors. In 2021, the show was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Children’s Programs category.

In April 2022, Marley was invited to the White House to offer comments during a policy briefing hosted by Gender Policy Council Director Jen Klein. The meeting – which also included Ambassador Susan Rice and a small group of girls and young women identified by leading national girls organizations and initiatives – featured a discussion on how to address the nation’s mental health crisis. 

Marley is a student at Harvard where she writes for the Harvard Crimson. She also currently serves as the National Education Association’s (NEA) National Ambassador for their Read Across America campaign. Marley also has been published in national publications like Rolling Stone and Elle, Essence Girls United and others. 

Her #1000blackgirlbooks resource guide can be found here.

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Ms. Alexander wears many hats, including actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer and director—one of the country’s boldest, most daring, and powerful voices. As a creator, she recognizes that entertaining stories, when socially conscious and carefully constructed, have the capacity to create impact and meaningful change. As co-founder of Color Farm Media, she is on a mission to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to both media and electoral politics.

Color Farm Media, self-described as the “Motown of film, TV, and tech,” develops and produces scripted and non-scripted content for film, television, streaming and podcast platforms. Color Farm’s most recent project, about the legendary Congressman and civil rights icon, John Lewis: Good Trouble, won the NAACP Award Best Documentary and was nominated for three Emmy Awards.

Color Farm is also currently producing two podcasts. On Reparations: The Big Payback, they are partnered with The Black Effect Network and iHeartMedia. Finding Tamika, which will premiere in March 2022, is in partnership with Audible and SBH Productions (Kevin Hart / Charlamagne Tha God). Color Farm also has several scripted film and television projects in advanced stages of development. Ms. Alexander also previously co-wrote the Buffy the Vampire spin-off, “Giles,” a graphic novel collaboration with Joss Whedon and Dark Horse. And Ms. Alexander co-created the award-winning, ground-breaking sci-fi series, “Concrete Park,” which was published by Dark Horse.

Ms. Alexander has also stepped into the arena of film director. She is currently co-directing a documentary film about the first reparations bill for African Americans entitled The Big Payback.

In addition to her entertainment career, Ms. Alexander is a critical thought leader on racial and gender equity and leadership. She serves as a Board member for One Fair Wage and Exponent, and is highly involved with many other social and racial justice orgs, including The Poor People’s Campaign, Color of Change, NAACP, UNCF, and others. Her work in content reflects the social activism work she does on the ground.

A sought-after speaker, Ms. Alexander delivers keynotes on topics including leadership, communications & performance, and diversity & inclusion. Born in Winslow, Arizona, Ms. Alexander grew up in Flagstaff before moving to Philadelphia.

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Her voice is the nexus between the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and Black Lives Matter.

“There is power in my voice! It is a divine gift that I use to connect different worlds. I bridge the philanthropy world to the grassroots community, traditional politics to grassroots politics, and practitioners to the scholarship of movement building.”

Ms. Brown is the Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter Fund and Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute. These initiatives are designed to boost Black voter registration and turnout, as well as increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities.

Ms. Brown is also the Visionary, Founder and Co-Anchor of a regional network called the Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium. This is $100 million, 10-year initiative to invest in organizations that serve Black women and girls. The goal of the consortium is to create a new approach to philanthropy by allowing every component of the program, inception to execution, to be created by Black girls and women in the South.

Ms. Brown is also the 2020 Hauser Leader at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, the 2020 Leader in Practice at Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program, and a 2020-2021 American Democracy fellow at the Charles Warren Center at Harvard.

What’s Next?

Ms. Brown has worked in 23 different countries to include Kenya, Guyana, and Brazil. Her next mission involves resourcing and empowering women across the Diaspora. “I don’t want women to be seen as victims; they are the problem solvers for the world. I am convinced that Black Women are going to liberate the world!”

In the Media

Ms. Brown has received numerous awards and accolades for her work. She has been featured on ABC, CBS, CNN, Democracy Now, and PBS. Her Op-Eds have been showcased in the New York Times, Politico and Essence. Her work has also been highlighted in several docuseries: What’s Eating America?,  American Swamp, and Finding Justice. To learn more about Ms. Brown, please visit www.mslatoshabrown.com.

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Mr. Harper, a Southwest Philadelphia native and a proud product of the School District of Philadelphia. He currently attends the American University, in Washington D.C., as a part of the awarding-winning Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholars program and is currently majoring in public relations strategic communications with a minor in education.

When Mr. Harper was 17 years old he co-founded UrbEd Inc., a nonprofit that advocates for a quality and efficient urban education, by working to disband the school-to-prison pipeline, increasing teacher diversity, improving building conditions, and advocating for local control of schools.

In his role as Assistant Vice President for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, Mr. Harper has the opportunity to serve on the board of directors for the internationally recognized fraternity, lead courageous conversations, assist with building innovative systems, all while providing service and advocacy for a wide range of communities.

Mr. Harper has a mission to create sustainable change for generations. His advocacy work and desires have allowed him to serve as the founding executive director of UrbEd Inc., national policy director for Student Voice, School District of Philadelphia k-12 Counseling Advisory Group, and as a Commissioner on the City of Philadelphia Youth Commission. Mr. Harper’s dedication has been featured in Good Morning America, TIMES magazine, The Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Mr. Harper looks forward to entering the classroom after graduating from American University while pursuing his master’s degree.

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Since 2003, Dr. Lubin has served as founder and president of the Center for Urban and Racial Equity (CURE), whose mission is to partner with people and organizations to advance equity through policy, systems, institutional, and community change. Since its inception, Dr. Lubin and her team have advocated for racial equity as a core value and process for developing and assessing public policies, work environments, and community program and services. She has advised and led equity-centered programs, assessments, trainings and transformation processes with organizations and government agencies including the DC Office of Planning, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Reinvestment Fund, ZERO TO THREE, Vera Institute for Justice, and numerous housing and community development organizations. As an agent of change, CURE released the 2020 Racial Justice Presidential Scorecard rating major candidates on their policy positions related to racial equity, prompting several Democratic campaigns to request evaluations of their policy proposals to improve their rankings.

Dr. Lubin previously served as health equity strategist for the New Orleans Health Department, director for Allies for Reaching Community Health Equity, and communications director for national organizations including the Black Women’s Health Imperative and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. Committed to promoting women’s heart health and wellness, Dr. Lubin is also the author of The Heart of Living Well: Six Principles for a Life of Health, Beauty and Balance and recipient of the General Mills Foundation’s Cheerios Sisters Saving Hearts award for her Heart and Style initiative to prevent heart disease among Black women. She is also a former Congressional Black Caucus Foundation public health fellow.

She is frequently called upon by media for her expertise on race, politics, health and social policy and was a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. Dr. Lubin has been featured in national media outlets such as CNN, BET, Ebony, Essence, The Hill, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The New York Times, CityLab and MarketWatch. As a sought-after speaker, she presented at TEDx Mid Atlantic and has spoken at the White House, in addition to many other nationwide appearances.

Since 2015, she has served as an adjunct professor for Howard University’s Department of Sociology, where she’s led community-centered urban research initiatives funded by the National Park Service. Prior to that, she served as a professorial lecturer at American University.

As a lifelong learner, Dr. Lubin completed her PhD in sociology from Howard University with specializations in medical sociology and social inequality. She also earned a master of public health from Emory University and a bachelor of arts in psychology (cum laude) from Florida State University.

A second-generation Haitian American, Dr. Lubin grew up in Miami’s rich cultural milieu of immigrants from the Caribbean and Central and South America. This experience profoundly shaped her sense of justice, equity, and appreciation of the beauty and humanity of all people.

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