2024-25
2023-24
Anneliese Singh, PhD, LPC, is an award-winning author, researcher and speaker on issues of social justice and liberation.
As a counselor and psychologist, Singh found that inside each of us exists a longing to be a part of something bigger – a just world that serves everyone. This longing is connected to the deep healing we must do inside of ourselves and our communities to root out the ways inequities live within our bodies, minds and spirits. And that’s exactly why she engages in social change work from a focus of shared liberation and love. And her books – The Racial Healing Handbook and The Queer and Trans Resilience Workbook – guide individuals and communities in healing strategies aimed toward thriving, equity, and justice.
Kat Lazo is a director, producer and host who has made a name for herself as the internet’s favorite no-nonsense Latina who tells it how it is -- both in front of and behind the camera.
After years of casting directors asking her to “say it a little more urban” or “can you give us a neck roll?” (a.k.a. portray the “spicy” Latina stereotype) she decided to take things into her own hands and make her own media, creating her own YouTube channel.
As a video producer for Mit, she’s most known for her series -- “The Kat Call.” She developed and hosted the series, where she debunked taboos and misconceptions about the Latino community. Within three seasons the series has garnered over 15 million views.
Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, merges storytelling with pedagogy to help understand larger forces at play.
As a first generation student and Nicaraguan immigrant, Prisca’s passion is in naming the experiences of first generation students navigating systems not built for them. As the oldest immigrant daughter, she explores the ways that sexism impedes the development of girls and women. As a graduate from a white serving institution, she names systemic racism as a roadblock for success and decolonizes
western notions of said success. Prisca also explores the relationship between religious trauma through Christianity and white supremacy within the US empire, which is where her theological training really shines.
As a respected storyteller, Prisca has traveled across the country telling stories to countless college and university students. Prisca merges storytelling with pedagogy to help folks understand the larger forces at play, also known as systemic oppression.
2022-23
As two self-described African-American lesbians, racism is not new to Cheralyn and Stacey Stevenson. In fact, the couple experienced racism long before they ever experienced homophobia. But the Stevensons never let bigotry stop them, especially when it came to forming their own family in the deeply conservative state of Texas.
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic began, racism was affecting the health of Black people and other people of color. And Harvard public health expert Dr. David R. Williams is leading the research on how racism makes us sick.
Haben Girma
Ijeoma Oluo (ee-joh-mah oh-loo-oh) is a writer, speaker and internet yeller. Nigerian American raised by a white mother in the Pacific Northwest, Oluo infuses personal anecdotes with facts and figures in her #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race.
2021-22
Negin Farsad
Formally educated from Ivy League schools in race relations, international public affairs, and theater, Negin Farsad translates that experience into her own brand of “social justice comedy.” Her routines often feature her satirical takes on politics, sex and her experiences navigating the cultural dynamics of her Iranian-born Muslim family.
Huffington Post named Farsad one of the "53 of our Favorite Female Comedians,” and she was also selected as a TED Fellow. And her book How to Make White People Laugh is a humorous yet poignant memoir on growing up Muslim in the post-9/11 U.S.
Also known as the Snap Chat Rabbi, Sandra Lawson pushes the boundaries of the intersections of queer, black and Jewish. Rabbi Sandra’s vision is to help build a more inclusive Jewish community where all who want to come are welcomed, diversity is embraced, and people can come together to learn and to pray.
Anand Giridharadas
Afflicting the comfortable is a talent mastered by journalist Anand Giridharadas. Known for his brazen yet nonchalant takedowns, Giridharadas will not hesitate to, say, talk about breaking up monopolistic companies like Google -– while speaking at Google -– all with the ease of someone making small talk about the weather.
As a journalist, Giridharadas began his career in 2005, reporting as local Mumbai correspondent for the International Herald and The New York Times. Giridharadas is also the author of the best-sellers "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World," "The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas," and "India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking." He currently serves as an editor-at-large for Time Magazine, an on-air political analyst for MSNBC, and the author of the newsletter The Ink.
JuJu Chang
JuJu Chang, Emmy Award winning co-anchor of ABC News Nightline, joined us virtually Oct. 6 to discuss issues facing the Asian American community and why representation and their stories matter.
“People would ask me, in a very concrete way, how to be antiracist,” Kendi said in an interview. “Eventually I realized that it was a question that I could answer."