Colette Pichon Battle is co-founder and Vision & Initiatives Partner for Taproot Earth, a global organization which emerged from the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy that she founded and led in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She and her colleagues are influencing manifold aspects of our ecological present, including equitable disaster recovery and global migration, community economic development and energy democracy.

LaTosha Brown is an award-winning organizer, political strategist, and jazz singer with over 20 years of experience with political empowerment, social justice, leadership development, wealth creation, and civil rights. She is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, a power building Southern based civic engagement organization that played an instrumental role in the 2017 Alabama U.S. Senate race. LaTosha is principal owner of TruthSpeaks Consulting, Inc., a philanthropy advisory consulting firm in Atlanta.

KD is a visionary mother, organizer, and strategist grounded in ancestral knowledge and a deep connection to the land. As Executive Director of the Climate Justice Alliance, KD engages in national community organizing and land rematriation while leading bold, collaborative strategies that center frontline communities, Indigenous futures, and sovereignty, to advance a Just Transition to a livable and healthy world.

Michelle Erenberg has worked as a policy advocate, community organizer, and coalition coordinator for more than a decade. Her past work experience includes community organizing for Planned Parenthood in New Orleans and coordinating a diverse coalition of environmental, community and faith-based organizations across the Gulf Coast in response to the 2010 BP oil spill. She has served as a board member with the National Council of Jewish Women Greater New Orleans Section and 10,000 Women Louisiana. Michelle is a recipient of the 2022 Jane Bagley Lehman Award for her work fighting for reproductive justice. 

FreeQuency is an anti-disciplinary storyteller and community organizer whose work interrogates and occupies the in between. Their multigenre offering, (On |Un-) Becoming: POEMS is available for purchase at FreeQuencySpeaks.com.

Hannah Fried is a Co-Founder and CEO of All Voting is Local and AVL Action. Previously, Hannah served as the National Director and Deputy General Counsel for Voter Protection on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. She is a frequent commentator on voting rights and democracy issues, and has been featured in outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Axios, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, MSNBC, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Nikishka is a social entrepreneur, community organizer, writer, and podcast host with over a decade of experience building economic democracy. As founder and CEO of The Guild, she has helped create a cooperative ecosystem in Atlanta that enables communities to control their economic futures and build deep democracy through collective ownership models. The Guild is a worker-owned cooperative, building community-owned models of land, housing and real estate as a means to close the racial wealth gap and create self-determination for marginalized communities. Nikishka is also the founder and Managing Director of Groundcover, a $30M impact investing fund focused on shared equity models. 

Aditi Juneja is the Executive Director of Democracy 2076, an organization founded in 2023 working long-term to change our Constitution, political culture, and political parties. She was previously Chief of Staff at the Movement Voter Project and during the first Trump administration worked at Protect Democracy where she led the work of the National Task Force on Election Crises during the 2020 election. Her writing has been featured in Vox, NPR, and Non-Profit Quarterly. She received her J.D. from NYU Law School and a B.A. from Connecticut College.

A dedicated and accomplished coalition builder and legal professional, Rukia Lumumba is director of the Policy & Electoral Justice Project of the Movement of Black Lives (M4BL) and co-founder of the People’s Advocacy Institute (PAI). Rukia works at the intersections of criminal and electoral justice, engaging communities in community-led governance, community-driven public safety initiatives and an intentional grassroots process for cultivating ideas and developing solutions to violence, punitive legal systems, and social injustice facing far too many communities.

Brionté believes in a healthier, more vibrant future for all people and the planet. She is dedicated to teaching people how to self-organize and build strategic partnerships to protect the environment, advance racial equity, and grow civic engagement. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Georgia Conservation Voters, where she works to advance a healthier, cleaner, and more affordable future by advancing climate and environmental justice policies, electing pro-environment candidates, and holding elected officials accountable for their actions and votes.

Peyton Rose Michelle (she/her) is a 28-year-old trans woman based in Lafayette, Louisiana. She serves as the first Executive Director of Louisiana Trans Advocates, where she leads LTA’s legislative initiatives and helps lead LocALL (Legislative Organizing Coalition for All LGBTQ+ Louisianans), which LTA co-founded. She also became the first openly transgender person to be elected in the state of Louisiana in July 2020. All in all, Peyton combines her talents in advocacy, marketing, and organizing to effect change.

Ashley K. Shelton is the Founder, President, and CEO of the Power Coalition, a statewide 501c3 table in Louisiana. The Power Coalition uses a broad-based strategy that combines community organizing, issue advocacy, and civic action all while increasing the capacity of community organizations throughout the state to sustain and hold the work. She also was the former Vice President of Programs at the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF), now the Foundation for Louisiana.

Dr. Victoria Williams, DHA, LMSW, CBS, and Doula, is a maternal-child health leader and advocate with over a decade of experience advancing reproductive justice and equitable care. She serves as Advocacy Director and Member-Owner of Birthmark, where she leads community-driven programs and policy efforts supporting families across the New Orleans area, particularly in maternal healthcare deserts. Dr. Williams is deeply committed to trauma-informed care, maternal health education, and improving outcomes for Black birthing people.