Over the course of his illustrious career, Pulitzer Prize winner, bestselling author and journalist Buzz Bissinger has talked at length with some of the world’s greatest athletes to define the singular qualities that make them so great. His books include Friday Night Lights, the #1 New York Times bestseller.  In his new book, Mosquito Bowl, set in the atmosphere of World War Two and Okinawa (240,000 died in 82 days including Americans, Japanese and Civilian) and a group of exceptional Marines who in their previous lives had been exceptional college football players. Two Marine regiments played an improbable football game against each other on Guadalcanal on Christmas Eve of 1944 as close to the real thing as you can get. Three months later they shipped out for Okinawa. Of the 65 who played, 15 were killed.  Bissinger's July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story “Caitlyn Jenner: The Full Story,” was a groundbreaking force for transgender visibility worldwide. His Vanity Fair cover story on Serena Williams was published in June, 2017.  

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The renowned journalist is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Century (with Peter Jennings), In Search of America (with Peter Jennings), Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months That Gave America The Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War and most recently,  Seen and Unseen: Technology, Social Media and the Fight for Racial Justice, co-authored with Temple University’s Marc Lamont Hill.  In his new lecture, SEEN AND UNSEEN:  The Impact of Technology and Social Media On The Fight For Racial Justice, a multi-media lecture, and audience discussion, Brewster reveals the consequences of our shifting media on race. He shows how the cellphone and social media have democratized technology, exposing racial injustice, even as they have also bridged communities heretofore unconnected, and established a definitive record, one carrying disturbing truths. Brewster uses historic imagery (“The Birth of a Nation,” iconic photojournalism) to show how the media have always played a defining role in the story of race, and he utilizes modern media — video, stills, Tweets and memes — to explain the lasting impact of America’s recent racial incidents in places like Kenosha, Charlottesville, and Minneapolis. Are we a different people because we saw video of George Floyd being crucified by a Minneapolis police officer? Brewster thinks we are, and deep his analysis of that video may well show you what you did not see.

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The highest-ranking officer to challenge the military’s anti-gay regulation which sparked a national dialogue resulting in the implementation of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  In her multimedia talk, "In Pursuit of Social Justice & LGBTQ Rights,” Col. Cammermeyer interweaves her own life experiences with the legal and political struggles working toward social justice for homosexuals serving in the military and same sex couples to marry. Her autobiography Serving in Silence was made into an NBC Emmy Award-winning television movie, produced by Barbra Streisand, in which Colonel Cammermeyer was portrayed by Glenn Close.

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Forty years of work on the African continent have carried Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher across 300,000 miles and through remote corners of 45 countries in exploration of more than 200 African cultures. In the process, this team of world-renowned photographers has produced seventeen widely acclaimed books and made four films about traditional Africa. They have been granted unprecedented access to African tribal rites and rituals and continue to be honored worldwide for their powerful photographs documenting the traditional ceremonies of cultures thousands of years old.  As an intrepid team of explorers, they are committed to preserving sacred tribal ceremonies and African cultural traditions all too vulnerable to the trends of modernity. Carol and Angela present a visual journey into African Ceremonies and Culture and the lessons learned - the importance of these ceremonies and rituals that keep us in balance with the environment and in touch with our own spirit worlds. Their program also shows how by celebrating our differences we have the best chance of living peacefully.

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The author of eight books and world-renowned healer and teacher, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He immigrated to America with his brother Deepak with whom he co-authored the bestselling double memoir Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny and the American Dream. His latest book, now also a lecture, is The Two Most Important Days: How to Find Your Purpose — And Live a Happier, Healthier Life (written with Gina Vilo, Dec. 2017). He has spoken in more than 25 countries on topics relating to medicine, leadership, happiness and living with purpose.

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Barbara Corcoran’s credits include straight D’s in high school and college and 20 jobs by the time she turned 23. It was her next job that would make her one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the country: She borrowed $1,000 and quit her job as a waitress to start a tiny real estate company in New York City. Over the next 25 years Barbara would parlay that $1,000 loan into a $5 billion real estate business building the largest and best known brand in the business. The Star on ABC’s reality hit Shark Tank is author of the best seller Shark Tales, how I turned $1000 into a billion dollar business!  As a speaker, Barbara brings her front-line experience and infectious energy to every group she addresses.  Motivational, inspirational, and sometimes outrageous, Barbara Corcoran’s tell-it-like-it-is attitude is a refreshing approach to success.


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OUR WELLNESS JOURNEY: Movement, Mindfulness & Minimizing Stress, An Experiential Event.  Author, singer, mother, and speaker, Reema was born into a family of yogis and has been teaching yoga and Ayurveda internationally since 2002.  Reema is the internationally recognized founder of Yatri Yoga whose workshops sell out globally.  Deeply rooted in the heritage of India while raised in the United States, Reema describes her journey to find her own authentic voice and life's purpose. Reema incorporates storytelling to get the audience engaged in practices that include breathing, movement, song, visualization, and self-discovery.   The mind can heal us or hurt us. Move your body while replacing harmful thoughts and emotions with ones that are empowering and liberating. Loosen the blocks in body and mind. Cultivate the clarity and vitality to contribute your unique gifts to the world. After all, it is in the giving that magic happens, and life becomes meaningful, easeful, and joyful. Reema has taught wellness workshops, trainings, and retreats in over twenty countries, across five continents. Reema's students range from Sting, Edie Brickell, Paul Simon, and Zainab Salbi to students, therapists, and health professionals worldwide.

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Artist, writer and a New Yorker Cartoonist since 1999, Matthew Diffee presents "How to Be An Idea Factory," a laugh filled multimedia journey into the creative process.  He is the editor of three volumes of The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw and Never Will See in The New Yorker (Simon & Schuster) and Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People (Scribner). His work has appeared in TimeThe Huffington PostThe Believer and Texas Monthly magazines. He has done illustration work for bands like the Punch Brothers and for a special collector’s edition of Stephen King’s novel Under the Dome

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John Donvan & Caren Zucker

John Donvan & Caren Zucker

Topics

Activism Autism Journalism

Best-selling authors and Emmy Award Winners John Donvan and Caren Zucker bring to life, in an engaging and entertaining presentation, the turbulent history of autism – still the most controversial diagnosis of our time. Their 17 years of research yield fascinating nuggets of insight on psychology, medicine, and the practical challenges of being different. John and Caren unfold a series of stories demonstrating how the struggle to find a place in the world for those on the autism spectrum represents one of the great unheralded civil rights battles of our lifetimes.

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The globally celebrated women's rights activist and political leader is a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and forced child marriage. She was named one of Time Magazine’s "100 Most Influential People in the World" (2016). The New African Magazine selected her as “One of the 100 most influential Africans” (2017).   At the age of 28, she became the youngest African to ever be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (2018).   In February 2018, she was named the first ever UN Women Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa addressing FGM and Child Marriage.  She became a political leader in her country of birth when she was selected as the vice presidential candidate for People’s Democratic Organization for Socialism and Independence (PDOIS) in The Gambia's December 2021 election.  Confronting her past, her family, her culture, her religion, country and its leaders, Jaha became a lightning-rod for change in The Gambia where she returned to initiate a grassroots campaign that led to the government ban on FGM and child marriage bringing her global recognition. Jaha is the founder and executive director of the non-profit organization Safe Hands for Girls. She is the subject of The Guardian and Accidental Pictures' feature documentary 'Jaha's Promise,' which tells the story of a young woman who returns home to successfully campaign against the brutal practices of FGM that almost destroyed her life.  She is also a recipient of the 2018 Eleanor Roosevelt Medal of Honor.



Kathy Eldon has worked as a teacher, journalist, author and film and television producer in England, Africa and the United States. In 1998 Kathy launched Creative Visions Foundation, inspired by the life of Kathy's son, Dan Eldon – artist and photojournalist- killed at the age of 22 in 1993, while on assignment for Reuters in Somalia. Since 2004, the organization has acted as an incubator, accelerator and agency for more than 360 projects and productions by artists, filmmakers, playwrights and leaders of social movements. Creative Visions, which has impacted more than 100 million people, has been recognized as a United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO.)  In 1990, Kathy founded Creative Visions Productions to produce films that would inspire action. Kathy is the author of 17 books, including Angel Catcher, Soul Catcher and Love Catcher (Chronicle), a series of popular self-guided journals written with her daughter Amy.  Kathy is editor of the best-selling collection of her son Dan's journals, The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon. She has been profiled in many other books, including Arianna Huffington's On Becoming Fearless, Those Who Dare.  Her talks celebrate the remarkable achievements of Dan, and the inspiration from other people whose inspiration for social change have impacted the lives of millions of others. Kathy, a popular speaker (with two TEDx talks including “The F-Word Transformed” - about Forgiveness), has been featured on countless television and radio programs globally, including several appearances on Oprah and a segment on Oprah's "Producer's Favorites."

Environmental leader Erica Fernandez immigrated with her family from Michoacán, Mexico, to California when she was 10 years old. Fighting for climate and environmental justice, Fernandez won her first major battle at 16, when she organized to defeat a proposed controversial natural gas pipeline running through her community. Still in her 30s, Fernandez is a seasoned community organizer and advocate, receiving numerous awards, including the Brower Youth Award, the Gates Millennium Scholarship,  the Jane Goodall Global Leadership Award and the Latino Role Model, among others. Currently, a Field Organizing Specialist at the Solidarity Center in México, Fernandez speaks across the U.S. and internationally on organizing and leveraging community-driven solutions for environmental, educational, and social equity. Erica believes that we can all make a difference if we believe in ourselves and the power of communities working together for change. She graduated with honors from Stanford University, earning two Bachelor's degrees and a Master's Degree in Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies from the Stanford Graduate School of Education.

The most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world is The New York Times bestselling author of Thinking in Pictures: My Life with AutismAnimals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human, among others. An innovator and animal scientist, her remarkable life story, with all its challenges and successes, was made into an HBO feature film starring Claire Danes. Her TED Talk "The World Needs All Kinds Of Minds," has been viewed almost 5 million times. Dr. Grandin is sought after globally to speak about her experiences with autism, cattle handling and the humane treatment of animals. She has been featured widely in the global media. Time Magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people.

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The president and CEO of Fair Food Network (www.fairfoodnetwork.org) is a national leader in sustainable agriculture and food systems and a respected partner for policymakers, philanthropic leaders, and advocates nationwide. He is the author of Fair Food: Growing a Health Sustainable Food System for All, is an inspiring guide to changing not only what we eat, but how food is grown, packaged, delivered, and sold. The book is required reading at more than 25 colleges and universities. For fifteen years he co-led the Integrated Farming Systems and Food and Society Programs for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

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Slater Jewell-Kemker

Slater Jewell-Kemker

Topics

Activism

Slater Jewell-Kemker is an award winning filmmaker, celebrated climate activist, storyteller and speaker who has been making films since she was six. Her 13 year feature documentary YOUTH UNSTOPPABLE: The Rise of the Global Youth Climate Movement follows the rise of the global youth climate movement.  It’s screened at hundreds of film festivals around the world, premiering at the prestigious Guadalajara Film Festival and  Traverse City Film Festival, winning awards at MountainFILM in Telluride, Planet in Focus, FReDD, Pelicam, Buster, Orlando, Sidewalk, BendFILM, San Francisco Green Film Festival and most recently the Protect our Planet Award at the Innsbruck Nature Film Festival. Slater, a director, writer, producer, editor, cinematographer and composer, her entire being hardwired for filmmaking and telling stories.  She regularly gives talks and workshops with young people and schools about the power of the youth voice and the importance of storytelling within activism. With a background of 15 years in the climate, environmental and social justice movements, Slater is taking the next step into environmental storytelling. She’s currently exploring the sacredness of nature and how our survival and adaptation as human beings depends on our ability to rethink our relationship to each other and the planet, falling back in love with the land and life around us. Born in Los Angeles to filmmaker parents, Slater  Now based outside of Toronto on a farm, Slater is the youngest ever Resident of the Canadian Film Centre’s Directors Lab. 

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Bill T. Jones, the acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and director, is the artistic director, cofounder, and choreographer of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and executive artistic director of New York Live Arts. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including Tony Awards for FELA! and Spring Awakening, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a MacArthur "Genius" Award. In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded Jones the National Medal of Arts, the country's highest honor for achievement in the arts. In 2000, the Dance Heritage Coalition named him "An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure."

The founder of The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project and author of The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village (Viking Penguin) is working on behalf of HIV/AIDS orphans in rural Uganda to end systemic deprivation, poverty, and hunger through a holistic approach to community development, education, and healthcare. Showing how one person can make a difference in the world, he was recognized as a CNN Hero.

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S. Mitra Kalita recently launched Epicenter-NYC, a newsletter to help New Yorkers get through the pandemic, and co-founded a new media company called URL Media, a network of Black and Brown-owned media organizations that share content, distribution and revenues to increase their long-term sustainability. She’s on the board of the Philadelphia Inquirer and writes a weekly column for Fortune.

Dr. Mukesh Kapila:  The author of Against A Tide of Evil: How One Man Became the Whistleblower to the First Mass Murder of the Twenty-First Century, is a medical doctor and veteran of humanitarian crises and ethnic cleansing in Iraq, Rwanda, Srebrenica, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. In March 2003, he arrived in Sudan to head all UN Operations. Facing global indifference to stop the mass murder he documented he “blew the whistle,” bringing worldwide attention to the atrocities in Darfur. Presently the Special Representative for the Prevention of Crimes Against Humanity for the Aegis Trust and is based in Geneva, he remains one of the world's leading activists bringing awareness to and trying to stop the continuing mass murders in the Sudan.

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Ed Kashi is an award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker dedicated to documenting the social and political issues that define our times. In his multimedia lecture "The Art of Visual Storytelling: A Global Journey," Kashi takes audiences to the front lines of a wide range of critical global issues he has documented for almost 40 years while on assignment for publications, media and organizations including National Geographic, TIME, New York Times Magazine, NBC.com and Human Rights Watch, among others.  A member of VII Photo Agency since 2010, Kashi has been widely recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition. A sensitive eye and an intimate relationship to his subjects are signatures of his work. He as published seven books. He presents his captivating multimedia lecture: THE ART OF VISUAL STORYTELLING: A Journey Around the World.

 

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Tish Lampert is a photojournalist, writer, podcast host of "America Speake," and the author of the forthcoming book, WE PROTEST: Fighting for What We Believe In (Rizzoli). Lampert has focused her lens on activism since the early seventies, documenting significant events related to human rights, civil liberties and conflict. Throughout the years she has been drawn in by the human condition. "I take photographs that celebrate the human spirit and create awareness of civil injustice. My work reflects a visual documentary of our nation’s contemporary historic milestones, and reminds us where we’ve been, who we are, and brings into focus our changing democracy, framing the story through the power of the printed image." In the last few years we have seen a wave of activism wash across our nation and inspire unprecedented protest and civic engagement. People have come together in record-breaking numbers, outspoken and persistent. With the winds of resistance at their backs, people linked arms and set out to defend our freedoms and each other. Lampert's visual lecture WE PROTEST, captures the spirit of the heroes and ordinary citizens on their activist journey to define their American Values during the most conflicted era in our recent history. Like her book, her talk presents a chronology of social-change movements that have dominated the headlines of the past several years: the fight for women's rights and gender equality, immigration rights, civil liberties, gun violence, and the environment. Lampert's book, and now lecture, takes us to the front lines of activism, where she has documented each protest and their respective leaders, as well as the legions of ordinary Americans standing together to protect the values of our great nation. Her program is a call to action, inspiring citizens to stand up and fight for social justice.

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Paul Rogat Loeb has spent forty years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment--asking what makes some people choose lives of social commitment, while others abstain. His five widely praised books include Soul of the Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times and The Impossible Will Take A Little While. He has lectured at over 400 colleges and universities --including Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Chicago, Michigan, MIT, Yale, Duke and presented keynote address at numerous conferences. He founded the Campus Election Engagement Project, a national nonpartisan effort to help colleges and universities engage students in elections.

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Barbie is a strong, independent doll. But is she a feminist icon? It’s complicated. 

Since her introduction in 1959, Barbie’s impact has been revolutionary. Far from being a toy designed by men to oppress women, she was a toy invented by women to teach women what was expected of them, for better or for worse. Whether tarred-and-glittered as antifeminist puffery or celebrated as a feminist icon (or, at any rate, an important cultural touchstone in understanding feminism) Barbie has undeniably influenced generations of girls. In here multimedia talk based on her forthcoming book Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography Of A Real Doll (March 2024), cultural critic, investigative journalist, and first-generation Barbie owner M. G. Lord uncovers the surprising story behind Barbie’s smash success in an engaging multimedia lecture.  M. G. Lord is also the author of The Accidental Feminist and Astro Turf.  An associate professor of the practice of English at the University of Southern California, Lord cohosts the podcast "LA Made: The Barbie Tapes" with Antonia Cereijido. For twelve years, she was a political cartoonist for Newsday.

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Rebecca MacKinnon

Rebecca MacKinnon

Topics

Activism Internet Freedom Journalism

Rebecca MacKinnon is director at New America of the Ranking Digital Rights project whose Corporate Accountability Index evaluates the world’s most powerful Internet, telecommunications, and other ICT sector companies on free expression and privacy criteria. She is author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle For Internet Freedom (Basic Books, 2012) and co-founder of the citizen media network Global Voices Online.

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Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times called him “one of the unsung heroes of modern times,” and he is arguably the most influential man that most people have never heard of. His name was Fazle Hasan Abed, and his work changed the lives of millions. But his story has never been told—until now.  Previously a journalist, Scott MacMillan worked closely with Abed for seven years as his speechwriter and now serves as BRAC USA’s Director of Learning and Innovation. In his new book, HOPE OVER FATE: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty (Rowman & Littlefield), the author shares the story of a complicated man and why his transformative approach to poverty and development is more relevant than ever. This is a story with much-needed lessons for positive social change that can be applied widely. Even amidst today’s challenges, poverty remains one of the most pressing concerns facing our global community.  Abed started a temporary relief effort for refugees in Bangladesh in 1972 that became BRAC, one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the world that now has over 100,000 employees.  He created one of the most effective anti-poverty programs in history.  While the book is a biography of Abed, it's also the biography of an idea: the idea that hope itself, or people’s understanding that they can change the world around them rather than resigning themselves to fate, can itself help break the poverty trap. This insight is backed up by hard economic science.  Scott is an engaging speaker and "hope" is a concept we need to have much more for us all to create a better world. Hope Over Fate and Scott’s speaking engagements and conversations will hopefully help fuel that outcome.

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WYNTON MARSALIS, a New Orleans native, is an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, educator and a leading advocate of American culture. He has recorded more than 80 jazz and classical recordings, which have won him nine GRAMMY® awards and sold over 7 million copies worldwide. Marsalis made history in 1997, when he became the first jazz musician ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for his oratorio Blood on the Fields. His lifetime commitment to inspiring and uplifting people though artistic excellence in jazz, has had an unparalleled impact both in the United States and around the world. Wynton Marsalis serves as the Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Director of Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.


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Mark Mathabane touched the hearts of millions worldwide with his sensational best-selling memoir, Kaffir Boy:  The True Story of A Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa, which describes the effects of South Africa’s system of legalized racism and oppression on black lives in vivid prose. In his new book The Lessons of Ubuntu: How an African Philosophy Can Inspire Racial Healing in America (Skyhorse Publishing, December 2017), Mathabane uses his experiences with race in both South Africa and in America, where he has lived for the past thirty-seven years, to provide a fresh, timely, and provocative approach to the search for solutions to this country's number one and most intractable social problem. Mathabane challenges both blacks and whites to use the language of Ubuntu to overcome the stereotypes, half-truths, misconceptions, and mistaken beliefs they have of each other so they can connect as human beings to achieve racial healing. Without this human connection, Mathabane argues, the racial divide will only get worse and make lasting solutions virtually impossible.

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Suketu Mehta's book, This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant's Manifesto, was selected by Publisher's Weekly as one of the top ten books of 2019 (Farrar, Straus, Giroux). There are few subjects in American life that prompt more discussion and controversy than immigration. But do we really understand it? The renowned author attacks the issue head-on. Drawing on his own experience as an Indian-born teenager growing up in New York City and on years of reporting around the world, Mehta subjects the worldwide anti-immigrant backlash to withering scrutiny.  The book is a timely argument for why the United States and the West would benefit from accepting more immigrants. Suketu Mehta's earlier book Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, won the Kiriyama Prize and the Hutch Crossword Award, and was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, the Lettre Ulysses Prize, the BBC4 Samuel Johnson Prize, and the Guardian First Book Award.  He has won the Whiting Writers’ Award, the O. Henry Prize, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for his fiction. Mehta’s work has been published in The New YorkerThe New York Times MagazineNational GeographicGrantaHarper’s MagazineTime, and Newsweek, and has been featured on NPR’s ‘Fresh Air’ and ‘All Things Considered.’

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Jamie Metzl is a leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist and author. His most recent book is Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity.  An expert advisor to the World Health Organization and one of the leading visionaries of the post-COVID world, Jamie Metzl has written widely and done hundreds of national interviews (CNN, NPR, Bloomberg, etc.), published many high-profile editorials, spoken in online events on the crisis to hundreds of thousands of people, and become a leading advocate for responding smartly to the current crisis and conjurer of hope in a better future.  Starting from a talk he gave and blog post two months ago, the organization he founded, OneShared.World, has now grown to a global movement of people from nearly 100 countries working to collectively solve the world’s most essential common problems. They together drafted and released the Declaration of Interdependence in multiple languages, which has been officially delivered to the UN and all governments.

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In the American Southwest and its borderlands, no other social justice advocate has made a greater impact on the lives of undocumented workers than internationally acclaimed Enrique Morones. Morenes is founder and Executive Director of GENTE UNIDAa human rights border coalition addressing the challenges of immigrants along the US and Mexican border. Morenes is also the founder of Border Angels and The House of Mexico, and is saving lives and making a difference.  His organizations have given a human face to countless migrants while offering them compassion in the form of food, water, clothing, education, advocacy and hope. Morones is recognized as one of the 100 most influential Latinos in the USA by Hispanic Business Magazine.  He is author of The Power of One: The Border Angels Story and has appeared widely in the national media.  He believes we all have the power, "the power of one" to make a difference in the lives of others. Whether the best of times or the worst of times, how will you use the power? This is the topic of his inspiring talk.  He has appeared widely in the national media.



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The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) are the producers of the James Beard and duPont-Columbia Award-winning series, Hidden Kitchens heard on NPR’s Morning Edition and two Peabody Award-winning NPR series, Lost & Found Sound and The Sonic Memorial Project. Hidden Kitchens is a deeply layered series about the transformative power of food. Their first book, Hidden Kitchens: Stories, Recipes & More, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Their latest NPR Special, "Hidden Kitchens World" was hosted by Frances McDormand. They also produce "The Hidden World of Girls (Girls and the Women They Become)" a series heard on NPR, with a special hosted by Tina Fey. Stories of coming of age, rituals and rights of passage, secret identities.  Women who crossed a line, broke a trail, changed the tide. Their podcast, "The Kitchen Sisters Present…" is part of the Radiotopia network from PRX. They won a 2017 Webby Award for their Radiotopia podcast The Kitchen Sisters Present and on the same day were honored with a 2017 James Beard Foundation Award (the Oscars of food) for their NPR series Hidden Kitchens: War and Peace and Food, heard on Morning Edition. The Kitchen Sisters multimedia presentations have the feel of a journey, of culture, history and story told in surprising and artful ways that evoke a powerful sense of place and community, and that bring audiences in to the storytelling process.

Books

Charles Pellegrino

Charles Pellegrino

Topics

Autism Nuclear War Titanic Interstellar Flight

Pellegrino’s 20+ books include three New York Times bestsellers,  Her Name, Titanic (selling over one million copies), The Jesus Family Tomb (Co-authored with Simcha Jacobovici), and To Hell and Back: The Last Train from Hiroshima (Rowman & Littlefield2015).   Pellegrino is a scientist who spent more than thirty years helping to develop the field of forensic archaeology. James Cameron has acquired a film option on Pellegrino's To Hell and Back: The Last Train From Hiroshima and Ghosts of Hiroshima. Pellegrino continues research work in Japan and at various A-bomb test sites.  As a forensic archaeologist, Pellegrino has worked at sites ranging from the Titanic and the flash-fossilized cities of Vesuvius to the World Trade Center, Hiroshima, and ancient tombs in Israel. Pellegrino is an explorer who has traveled in submersibles to deep-ocean hydrothermal vents and (twice) to the Titanic with James Cameron.  Pellegrino is a science advisor to James Cameron for the Avatar Series. Pellegrino's lectures include  1. "Oppenheimer.  What Happened Next: To Hell & Back, The Last Train from Hiroshima"  Pellegrino's multimedia program takes you beneath the detonations based on forensic archeology and the author's interviews with members of history's most exotic minority: people who survived Hiroshima then fled to Nagasaki and survived the second atomic bomb; and, 2. Eyewitness Titanic: The Sinking. The Expeditions. The Lessons,  A multimedia journey with the explorer, scientist and author of the bestseller, Her Name, Titanic, a key reference for Cameron in making his film Titanic.  Pellegrino sailed with three of the four major expedition groups and dove twice in the MIR Submersible with James Cameron down to the Titanic, where they probed the interior of the wreck with high-tech robots.

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The Rev. Dr. Steve Pieters, a long-term survivor of AIDS who is perhaps best known as the gay pastor with AIDS whom Tammy Faye Bakker interviewed on television in 1985, is portrayed in the 2021 feature film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, starring Jessica Chastain whose performance earned her a 2022 Oscar nomination for Best Actress.  The interview, a pivotal scene recreated in the movie, upended the conservative Christian community and had a huge impact on many gays and lesbians. In his talk, I Keep On Dancing: My Journey Through AIDS, Rev. Pieters shares a living history of AIDS and his remarkable story of recovery that serves as an inspiring example of healing and hope. He has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Sunday TimesTIME magazine, and numerous television talk and news shows including CNN, Headline News, CBS This Morning, and Real Life with Jane Pauley, among others. He is also featured in the 2000 documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

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The author of I Have The Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice and Hope (with Jenn Abelson) & Founder, #I Have The Right To, is a high school sexual assault survivor. Raised in Japan, Chessy matriculated to St. Paul’s School—a boarding school in New Hampshire that her father and sister had attended. There, as a freshman, Chessy was the victim of a sexual assault. Chessy’s case and the trial garnered national and international media attention, as her assault was part of a ritual competition at the school called "Senior Salute." Two years later, in Chessy’s pursuit of justice, she decided to step forward publicly. In August 2016 she launched the #IHaveTheRightTo initiative with the organization PAVE, for which she is an ambassador. As a PAVE ambassador, Chessy travels around the country to speak about the importance of consent education in K-12 schools and college and community speaking engagements; encouraging survivors and others to assert their most important, basic rights; and uses her voice to let other survivors know that they are not alone. To learn more visit ihavetherighttobook.com.

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Author of the viral Medium piece “Poor and Traumatized at Harvard,” and the book Calm Clarity: How to Use Science to REWIRE YOUR BRAN for Greater Wisdom, Fulfillment, and Joy  (Tarcher/Perigee, 2018),Due Quach (pronounced Zway Kwok) is a pioneering social entrepreneur and inspiring speaker who helps people across diverse backgrounds from inner city teenagers to CEO’s become aware of and break free of biases, mindless patterns and self-limiting beliefs to realize their fullest potential. A refugee from Vietnam who grew up in poverty, Due turned to Neuroscience to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder and graduate from Harvard College and the Wharton MBA program. After building a successful international business career, Due decided to pay it forward by developingThe Calm Clarity Program, a neuroscience-based leadership and resilience training that empowers people to realize their full potential.

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“One of the 25 Women Changing the World” — People.  One of the “100 leading global thinkers” — Foreign Policy Magazine.  The Iraqi-American humanitarian, bestselling author, TV Host, and media commentator is co-founder of Daughters for Earth a movement of women and girls around the world who are rising up to solve climate change and heal our one and only home (www.daughtersforearth.org).  At the age of 23, she founded Women for Women International. The organization has since helped over 500,000 marginalized women rebuild their lives in 8 conflict areas. Zainab is the author of several books including the national bestseller Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam, and her latest, Freedom is an Inside Job: Owning Our Darkness And Our Light To Heal Ourselves And The World. Her TV shows include “Through Her Eyes with Zainab Salbi” on Yahoo! News, exploring contemporary issues from a female perspective and #MeToo, Now What? which was broadcast nationally on PBS (2018).

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One of the world’s leading photographers and documentary filmmakers with THE POWER AND THE PASSION TO CREATE, taking audiences on a multimedia journey into the inner dynamics of the creative process and its outer expression.   Steve Jobs, the Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, Steve Martin, wil.i.am, Alicia Keys, and hundreds of other musicians, film directors, writers, actors, comedians, entrepreneurs, scientists (including Nobel Laureates), athletes, politicians and space explorers are among the subjects of Seeff’s 900 photo sessions; 400 of which he filmed. Seeff presents video clips and images from his sessions as he shares what he has learned about creativity from the world's most accomplished people. 

Elif Shafak Turkey's most widely read woman writer, blends Western and Eastern traditions of storytelling, bringing out the voices of women, minorities, subcultures, immigrants, and global souls, creating one of today's most unique voices in literature. The author of 14 books, ten of which are novels shows how listening to stories widens the imagination; telling them lets us leap over cultural walls, embrace different experiences, and feel what others feel. She builds on this simple idea to argue that fiction can overcome identity politics.  Defying cliches and transcending boundaries, her works draw on different cultures and cities, and reflects a strong interest in history, philosophy, culture, mysticism, Sufism and gender equality.  Her nonfiction covers a wide range of topics, including belonging, identity, gender, mental and cultural ghettos, daily life politics, multicultural literature and the art of coexistence.


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David K. Shipler co-hosts the podcast, Two Reporters. He writers online at The Shipler Report. The veteran New York Times journalist is the author of seven books including: Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword, a timely assessment of the state of free speech in America; Rights at Risk: The Limits of Liberty in Modern America, examining violations of the constitutional principles that preserve individual rights and civil liberties from the courtroom to the classroom; The Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties, an incisive look at the violations of civil liberties in the U.S. that have accelerated since 9/11; the New York Times bestseller The Working Poor: Invisible in America; and, Arab and Jew that won the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. Colleges & universities may consider a multi-day, multi-topic residency.


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One of the world’s most renowned environmentalists, who through her books Biopiracy, Stolen Harvest, & Water Wars has made visible the social, economic and ecological costs of corporate-led globalization. Her books The Violence of the Green Revolution and Monocultures of the Mind pose essential challenges to the dominant paradigm of non-sustainable, industrial agriculture. In 1991, she founded Navdanya, a national movement in India to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. It has since served over 2,000,000 men and women farmers. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the 1993 "Right Livelihood Award," the Alternative Nobel Prize. Forbes magazine identified Dr. Shiva is one of the top Seven most Powerful Women on the Globe (2010).

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Ayisha Siddiqa is a Pakistani-American  human rights and land defender serving as a Youth Climate Advisor to the UN Secretary General. In 2020, she co-founded Polluters Out, a global youth activist coalition, and helped launch the Fossil Free University, an activism training course. As part of her activism, Ayisha has helped organize multiple school strikes for climate action that mobilized hundreds of thousands of young people. She has directed and led campaign efforts at the international level to help achieve victories such as the Loss and Damage Fund at COP28. Her expertise in lobbying around climate negotiations has earned her recognition as a strategist among national and youth delegations in the UNFCCC.

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It's the age-old question: Is there life on Mars?  Steve Squyres, lead scientist of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission, sets out to answer that question and relates his findings. Squyres dreamed up the mission in 1987, saw it through from conception in 1995 to a successful landing in 2004. He serves as the principal scientist of its $400 million payload and continues to be a key member of the scientific team directing the Rovers day-to-day movement on Mars and alyzing the Rovers' findings.  He is the author of Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet.

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George Steinmetz

George Steinmetz

Topics

Photojournalism & Photography

One of the worlds most recognized aerial photographers, George Steinmetz has spent much of the last 12 years motoring above the earth’s deserts in an experimental gas powered paraglider. The award-winning National Geographic photographer's multimedia lecture takes you with him as he sets out to discover the few remaining secrets in our world today: remote deserts, obscure cultures & the mysteries of science and technology. 

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Visual Voices: The Art Miles Mural Painting Experience

Visual Voices: The Art Miles Mural Painting Experience

Topics

Activism Interactive Events Arts & Culture

THE ART MILES MURAL PROJECT: 25 Years • 5,000+ Murals • 500,000+ People • 100+ Nations, bringing a totally interactive mural painting experience to your community.  The event features our noted muralist who works with the sponsoring organization in advance of your event to design the mural concept to address an issue your group or community cares about.  Our muralist designs and outlines the mural on a 5' x 20' canvas to prepare for your event where your community members contribute their collective brush strokes to complete the mural that remains in your community to display for a month following the event. It then becomes a part of the Muramid Arts and Cultural Center collection that will be shared with audiences in San Diego and in curated tours nationwide.  Inquire about the Art Miles Mural Touring Exhibitions.



Loung Ung, a child survivor of the Cambodian genocide diuring which she lost both parents and two siblings, is author of three books, including her bestselling memoir First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. Her memoir was made into the critically acclaimed film produced and directed by Angelina Jolie from Netflix. Loung Ung co-wrote the screenplay with Jolie.  First They Killed My Father is a recipient of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.

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The Iraq War veteran and former sergeant in the U.S. Army is the Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program The Center for a New American Security (CNAS).  She had previously served for two years as the Director of the Center for Women Veterans for the Veteran's Administration (2016-2018).  While at the V.A., Williams was the primary adviser to the Secretary on department policies, programs and legislation affecting women veterans. She is the author of Love My Rifle More Than YouYoung and Female in the U.S. Army, a memoir about her deployment to Iraq: & Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War.

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David A. Wilson is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and the founder of theGrio, the largest and most influential African-American digital and cable news platform. He wrote, co-directed and was the subject of the award-winning MSNBC documentary film "Meeting David Wilson," which chronicled his journey through his family's past to find answers to America's racial divide. In his program, How to Talk About Race Without Starting A Riot, a lecture, film screening and discussion with the audience, he uses the conversation featured in the film with a 62-year-old white man -- also named David Wilson -- who is a direct descendant of his family's former enslavers. In a moment when critical race theory has become a political wedge issue, David offers a blueprint for how Americans can engage each other with civility and respect and find common ground when discussing the nation's most divisive history.  The discussion includes the state of race relations today, how we got here, where we're headed and, more importantly, how we can all play a part in the solution.




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Emmanuel is the subject of the documentary film Emmanuel's Gift (narrated by Oprah Winfrey), directed by Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern. Emmanuel has dedicated his life to changing the perception and treatment of the disabled in his homeland. To focus the attention of his countrymen on this issue, Emmanuel decided to ride a bike across Ghana. Though he'd mastered pedaling with only one leg, there was another obstacle: he didn't own a bike. He sought out the Challenged Athlete Foundation in the United States. In July 2002, on a bicycle provided by the CAF, Emmanuel embarked on his journey, which was documented in newspapers and on the radio. By the time he reached his destination, Emmanuel was a national hero. He is the recipient of the ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

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Stephen Young

Stephen Young

Topics

Diversity/Race Leadership

Stephen Young's widely acclaimed lecture and seminar MicroInequities: The Power of Small™ has been embraced by over 20% of Fortune 500 corporations in 35 countries, in every region of the world and is being touted by corporate America as the new paradigm for diversity and leadership. McGraw-Hill published his top-selling book, Micromessaging: Why Great Leadership is Beyond Words. For more than a decade, Steve has been a featured speaker at business conferences worldwide.

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Brigadier General Peter Zwack

Brigadier General Peter Zwack

Topics

Leadership Geopolitics

Brigadier General Peter Zwack (Ret.) has been appearing almost daily on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper, and widely in the national and global media, providing analysis on Russia’s war on Ukraine, Russia and the challenges faced by the west. General Zwack served as the United States Senior Defense Official and Attaché to the Russian Federation during the challenging years of 2012-2014 when Ukraine was invaded by Russia with the annexation of Crimea.  A Woodrow Wilson Center Global Fellow at The Kennan Institute, General Zwack traveled extensively, and lived (Moscow 2012-2014) in the former Soviet Union and Russia for 33 years.  His books include:  Swimming the Volga: A U.S. Army Officer's Experiences in Pre-Putin Russia;  and, Afghanistan Kabul Kurier, a memoir about serving in Afghanistan.  His illustrated talks include  "Understanding Putin’s War on Ukraine, Russia & the Challenges Faced by US & the West" and " U.S. – Russia – China – India Quadrangle: What does this mean for the U.S. Moving Forward?
He also provides a greater context of an increasingly dangerous power competition between the US/NATO/EU and other likeminded nations, with Russia, and the growing influence of aggressively rising China, with India rapidly appearing in the geopolitical horizon and how these shifting relationships can shape the course of the world ahead.   BG Zwack's talks are infused with compelling vignettes and stories, rooted in over three decades of unparalleled on-the-ground eyewitness expertise and his ongoing outreach work and research in these regions.