W O W F E S T I V A L G U I D EW O W C U R AT O R I A L S TAT E M E N T

“All that you touch you Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change. God Is Change.” - Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower Since March 2020, we have collectively lived on the edge of manageable chaos. Systems failed, racial uprisings occurred, economies faltered, and a pandemic ravaged the world. Normal became a relic of the past in a matter of months. Our curatorial approach to WOW Apollo was slow and steady as everything was constantly moving, changing, and becoming what it would be in the next moment. And the next moment. And the next. It was imperative that we speak to the moment and be present in the now. We convened women in the US and the UK and asked them how they were responding to all of the change occurring around them. We wanted to know what they were thinking and how they were doing. We discussed the failures of government and how the systems we never really trusted were falling apart, and the impact of that disruption on Black people. We discovered that Black women responded by doing what Black women do. We moved forward. We moved our families, communities, and entire nations - forward.

You can feel this forward movement in the structure of our festival. 80 women from the US and the UK who identify as activists, artists, authors, sistafriends, community and cultural workers, entrepreneurs, and healers will be presented at WOW Apollo 2021. Through the voices of these women, our audience will hopefully feel a sense of connection and representation. Curatorially we were intentional about gathering dynamic voices and creating space for women to find healing, laughter, inspiration, and a great recipe in the midst of it all.

Our theme, Black Women Transcending, is a testament to the resilient spirit of Black women and plots this historical moment in time. Welcome to WOW Apollo 2021. Leatrice Ellzy Senior Director of Programming Apollo Theater

A D E L I N EM U S I C I A N

Originally introduced to the world as the front woman for the nu-disco band Escort, French-Caribbean singer, singer and bassist Adeline (pronounced ad-uh-leen) is a prolific songwriter who also produces music as Nightshade with co-producer, Morgan Wiley. Adeline’s critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, released in 2018, garnered praise from NPR, Refinery 29, The Fader and many others. In the summer of 2020 Adeline released her new EP, Intérimes, a genre-blending collection of 7 songs that give a future-facing nod to old school soul, funk and R&B. The EP has received critical accolades spanning VOGUE, Rolling Stone, ESSENCE and American Songwriter. Adeline has toured globally, sharing the stage with such notables as Anderson.Paak, Lee Fields, Chromeo, Big Freeda and Natalie Prass, as well as making recent appearances at Afropunk, Funk on the Rocks (Red Rocks) and Winter Jazz Fest. When she’s in the studio or touring her own music, Adeline plays bass in CeeLo Green’s band.

Website: https://nightshademusic.com

As a Momentum Coach, Aja works with ambitious, multi-passionate humans to craft powerful pathways to personal, financial, and physical empowerment. Aja’s values-driven approach accelerates growth through goal setting, accountability, intention, and mindfulness. Throughout her career, Aja has radically empowered hundreds of her clients, students, and teammates to build momentum towards happier and healthier lives. Her professional background spans to work in operations, project management, human resources, wellness, and culinary arts. Aja lives in Santa Fe, NM (by way of Brooklyn), soaking up as much sunshine as possible while running, hiking, reading, and gardening.

Website: www.ajamarsh.comLinkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ajamarsh/Instagram: @aja.marsh

A J A M A R S HM O M E N T U M C O A C H

W O W A P O L L O S P E A K E R S + P A N E L I S T SListed alphabetically by first name

A L I A N D E R S O ND O U L A

Ali Anderson is a doula, organizer, and public health professional who has worked in harm reduction, sexual and reproductive health, and food justice for eight years. Ali graduated from the University of Southern California with her Bachelors in Science and received her Masters in Public Health from Emory University with a focus on Maternal and Child Health. Ali founded Feed Black Futures after the global pandemic relocated her from farming and organizing work in Jamaica to her family’s home in Southern California. Inspired by global mutual aid and food sovereignty efforts, she saw a need to continue to work in spaces committed to dismantling oppressive systems and create support and nourishment for Black families most directly impacted by COVID-19, food aparthend, and state violence.

IG & FB: @feedblackfutures

Alyssa Martinez is a Bronx native, activist, and a poet. She uses her poetry as a way to impact and communicate with members of her community. Alyssa has performed for the First Lady Michelle Obama, Lin Manuel Miranda, the New York Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She is currently a teaching artist and works with students ages 11-13 on social justice topics through theatre.

Instagram: @lilo_marz

A LY S S A M A R T I N E ZP O E T

A M Y E V A N SW R I T E R

Amy Evans is a writer and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. Her plays have been produced at the Finborough Theatre and the Tricycle Theatre in London, the English Theatre International Performing Arts Center in Berlin, and TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Her play The Champion, inspired by the life of the legendary Nina Simone, world premiered at TheatreSquared in October 2017 under the direction of Reginald Douglas and starring Joy Jones. Amy is an alumna of Hedgebrook Women Writers’ Residency, BRICStudio Performing Arts Residency, 651 Arts’ Artist Development Program, and Interstate 73 Playwrights’ Group and has received a number of awards, including the Verity Bargate Award, a Peggy Ramsay Foundation Grant, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.

A cultural strategist, writer, producer, and entrepreneur, Anasa Troutman is committed to shifting global culture to a culture of care. As President/CEO of The Big We, Anasa and her team engage deeply in storytelling as a pathway to this transformation, executing culture-based strategies for artists, organizations, and brands that are aligned with their vision of a just and loving world. Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Anasa has provided strategic and creative support in many important cultural, political and social justice spaces but is best known for her work as a strategic advisor and executive producer for longtime friend, India Arie. Anasa’s latest project is the restoration of the historic Clayborn Temple, the Memphis church that was the organizing headquarters of The Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968, Martin Luther King’s last campaign, into a center to build cultural, economic power with Memphis’ African-American community. Twitter: @anasatroutman Facebook: @AnasaTroutmanInstagram: @anasatroutmanWebsite: www.anasatroutman.com

A N A S A T R O U T M A NE N T R E P R E N E U R

A N N E T TA L A U F E RW R I T E R / D I R E C T O R

Annetta is the founder of Roman Candle Productions, a film production company focused on black and female–led films. Annetta is currently developing her feature film Colony Rooms, a drama set within the Caribbean community in 1960s Soho London, with the BFI and producer Joy Gharoro Akpojotor, and her film River Mistress with producer Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo and Turnover Films. Her short films have earned her the Best Film award at the BFM International Film Festival/Screen Nation, the Best Screenwriter award at the Indian Cine Film Festival in Mumbai and Best Short Film award at the Black International Film Festival in 2017. She was also BAFTA long-listed for her last short film The Arrival and a recipient of the John Brabourne Award 2017.

Twitter: @annettalauferInstgram:@annettalaufer

M. Asli Dukan is a filmmaker, visual artist and photographer who works primarily in the genres of speculative fiction as a subversive, radical andliberatory practice. She has screened at numerous film festivals in North America including the Imagenation Film and Music Festival, the Langston Hughes Film Festival, the Blackstar Film Festival and at T.O. Webfest in Toronto, Canada. She has been the recipient of several grants, awards and fellowships, including a 2016 Transformation Award from the Leeway Foundation, a 2018 Flaherty Seminar fellowship, a 2020 Independence Public Media grant and a 2020 Sundance Institute Knight Alumni grant. She is in post-production on Invisible Universe, a documentary series about Black creators in speculative fiction. She is also in development on the anthology, horror film, Skin Folk, based on the book by Nalo Hopkinson.

Twitter: @maslidukanInstagram: @maslidukan

A S L I D U K A ND I R E C T O R

A U N J A N U E E L L I SA C T R E S S

Aunjanue Ellis is an Emmy nominated actress known for her work in films like Ray, Netflix’s documentary the Central Park Five, and The Help which won Ellis a SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2015, she was nominated for Television Critics’ Choice Award, NAACP Image Award, Satellite Award and Black Reel Nominations for Best Actress in a Movie or Limited Series for her work in BET’s adaptation of Lawrence Hill’s bestseller, The Book of Negroes. Ellis played in The Birth of a Nation, which won the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. She is president and CEO of Miss Myrtis Films, and co-founder of Take it Down America, both aiming to abolish racist, southern symbols from Mississippi and adjacent states. Recently, Ms. Ellis has starred in the Lifetime hit The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel as Dr. Mattie Moss Clark and was part of HBO’S Lovecraft Country.

Twitter: @aunjanuejlt

Singer, songwriter, cellist AyannaWitter-Johnson is a rare exception to the rule that classical and alternative r&b music cannot successfully coexist. Graduating with a first from both Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Manhattan School of Music, Ayanna was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and became an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre, and the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC. She is a composer, having been commissioned by, but not limited to, the London Symphony Orchestra, The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She has released several EPs and her debut album, Road Runner, via her own record label, Hill and Gully Records, working with producers like James Yarde and featuring artists including pianist Robert Mitchell and rapper Akala.

Website: http://www.ayannamusic.com/IG & FB: @ayannawj

A Y A N N A W I T T E R J O H N S O NM U S I C I A N

B E V Y S M I T HR A D I O H O S T

Quintessential Harlem girl, Gracie Award winner and life-long New Yorker, Bevy Smith is the host of Sirius XM’s “Bevelations” on Radio Andy. Once a wildly successful luxury fashion publishing exec, Bevy shifted her professional goals over a decade ago to pursue a life in front of the camera. Bevy served as moderator of Bravo TV’s revolutionary Fashion Queens, and was a former co-host on the nationally syndicated Page Six TV. Smith’s debut book, Bevelations: Lessons from a Mutha, Auntie, Bestie, which details her transition from a fashion advertising executive into a media personality. Bevy has hosted Fashion for Action, an annual fundraiser for Housing Works, a New York-based thrift store chain and advocacy group that helps find appropriate housing for people living with HIV and AIDS. In 2017, Smith was named Community Champion of AIDS Organization Harlem United.

Website: www.bevysmith.comAll socials: @bevysmith

Bree Newsome Bass is an American filmmaker, musician, speaker, and activist from North Carolina, where she continues her work as an artist and grassroots community organizer. She is best known for her act of civil disobedience on June 27, 2015. On this day, she was arrested for removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house grounds in the aftermath of the Charleston shooting. The resulting publicity put pressure on state officials to remove the flag, resulting in its permanent removal on July 10, 2015. She is also one of the founders of The Tribe, an organizing collective created in the aftermath of the 2014 uprising in Ferguson that was instrumental in the removal of SC’s confederate flag in 2015. Her awards are numerous and range in recognition for her work as both an artist and an activist, including a 2016 NAACP Image Award. Newsome Bass is lately focused on the issue of housing justice, remaining a prominent public speaker on the topic of racial and economic justice.

Twitter: @BreeNewsome

B R E E N E W S O M E D I R E C T O R

B R I A N N A K N I G H TM U S I C I A N

Brianna Knight is a 21-year-old songwriter, poet, and musician, originating from Rockland County. She combines her experiences as a black woman with her ear for music to create stories to empower and entertain. She has won Artist of the Year at SUNY New Paltz and has opened for the singer SAMOHT and the Christian Rapper Ruslan. She’s performed at conferences in the upstate area as well as churches within Rockland County. Through her music, she hopes to inspire those that need guidance or are looking for comfort.

Instagram: @poetdreamingTwitter: @poetdreaming

Brittany Josephina is a wellness practitioner and horticulturist, passionate about unifying people to their true nature. As the co-founder and COO of Black Girl Magik, she creates a space for Black women to connect with their roots and reclaim their personal power through sisterhood, alternative modalities and ancestral healing traditions.

Instagram: @brittany.josephina | @blackgirlmagikTwitter: @BrittanyJosephina | @BlackgmagikWebsite: www.brittanyjosephina.com | www.blackgirlmagik.com

B R I T TA N Y J O S E P H I N A W E L L N E S S P R A C T I T I O N E R

C A M I L L E T H U R M A N S A X O P H O N I S T

Camille Thurman is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and unique interpreter of the jazz tradition. In a short span of years, Thurman has shared stages with such jazz and R&B luminaries as George Coleman, Janelle Monáe, Alicia Keys, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu just to name a few. She leads her band, The Camille Thurman Quartet, which has toured and performed at numerous notable concert venues and jazz festivals around the world including the Kennedy Center and Alice Tully Hall. The New York City native has already earned several distinctive honors for her work, including being a two-time winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award. As a winner of the Fulbright Scholars Cultural Ambassador Grant, Thurman was chosen by the U.S. State Department to perform in Paraguay and Nicaragua with her band. Camille has also appeared on BET’s Black Girls Rock as the saxophonist and flutist in the All-Star Band.

Instagram: @camillethurmanWebsite: www.camillethurmanmusic.com

As the Chief Marketing Officer of Citi, Carla leads Citi’s unified branding and marketing organization in building impactful campaigns that differentiate the brand and fuel the firm’s continued growth. She oversees Citi’s Branding and Sponsorships, Global Consumer Banking marketing and elements of the Institutional Clients Group’s marketing and sponsorship activities, joining the company in 2018 as Chief Brand Office. She leads efforts to bring Citi’s mission of enabling growth and economic progress to life around the world and overseeing a variety of departments. Prior to joining Citi, Carla was Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer of Toys “R” Us, where she served as a member of the company’s global leadership team. She was also Senior Vice President, Brand Management for PepsiCo’s Global Beverage Group, being responsible for driving growth on PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio across 50+ markets around the world, including brands Pepsi & Mountain Dew, for 13 years.

C A R L A H A S S A N TC H I E F M A R K E T I N G O F F I C E R

C H I S A H U T C H I N S O NW R I T E R

Chisa Hutchinson (B.A. Vassar College; M.F.A NYU - TSoA) has presented her plays, which include She Like Girls, Somebody’s Daughter, Surely Goodness And Mercy, Whitelisted and Dead & Breathing at such venues as the Lark Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, CATF, the National Black Theatre, Second Stage Theater and Arch 468 in London. Her radio drama, Proof of Love, can be found on Audible (with a pretty boss rating). She has been a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Lark Fellow, a NeoFuturist, and a staff writer for the Blue Man Group. She’s won a GLAAD Award, a Lilly Award, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, a Helen Merrill Award, and the Lanford Wilson Award. Currently, Chisa is wondering when, if ever, the adaptation of Terms of Endearment that she worked on with Lee Daniels for Paramount will go into production, having been pandemically postponed.

Website: www.chisahutchinson.com

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Chioma is one half of the dynamic sister duo who created Cee Cee’s Closet NYC. This trend setting brand celebrates the beauty of West African culture through fashionable accessories and clothing, handcrafted by tailors and artisans in Lagos, Nigeria. They design sustainable, fair-trade headwraps, clothing, waist beads in their studio in Brooklyn. Cee Cee’s Closet NYC has been featured in notable publications such as Harper’s BAZAAR, Elle,Essence, and Teen Vogue. Through their alluring imagery, they’ve won the hearts of tens of thousands of women across the globe including Tracee Ellis Ross, Jackie Aina, and Shameless Maya. Pinterest: @ceeceesclosetTwitter: @ceeceesclosetnyInstagram: @ceeceesclosetnycTikTok: @ceeceesclosetnycWebsite: www.ceeceesclosetnyc.com

C H I O M A N G W U D OE N T R E P R E N E U R

D A M I E N S N E E DP I A N I S T

A multi-genre recording artist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has worked with legends of different genres, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, J’Nai Bridges, Diana Ross, Ashford & Simpson, and many others. In January 2020, he embarked on his North American tour, “We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., featuring Damien Sneed”, sharing his brand of classical, jazz, and sanctified soul across the country and released his debut classical album, Classically Harlem and We Shall Overcome Deluxe on his label, LeChateau Earl Records. He is an instructor at the Manhattan School of Music, teaching graduate-level courses in conducting, African American Music History, a singer/songwriter ensemble, a gospel music ensemble, and private lessons in piano, voice, and composition.

Instagram: @damiensneedWebsite: www.damiensneed.com | www.lechateauearl.com

Dalila Wilson-Scott is Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer for Comcast Corporation, where she oversees the company’s diversity, equity, & inclusion efforts as well as driving its philanthropic strategy, including its $100 million commitment to advance social justice and equality. Wilson-Scott is accelerating Comcast’s focus on workforce diversity and expanding upon long-standing DE&I efforts around talent pipelines, digital equity, Employee Resource Groups, and employee volunteerism. She recently implemented Comcast’s RISE initiative, founded to support BIPOC-owned small businesses hardest hit by the effects of COVID-19. To date, the program has awarded more than 700 Black-owned small businesses with marketing and technology resources and makeovers.

D A L I L A W I L S O N - S C O T TC H I E F D I V E R S I T Y O F F I C E R

D A W N I E W A L T O NA U T H O R

Dawnie Walton is a fiction writer and journalist whose work explores identity, place, and the influence of pop culture. She has won fellowships from MacDowell and the Tin House Summer Workshop, and earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Previously, she has worked as an executive-level editor for magazine and multimedia brands including Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Getty Images, and LIFE. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she lives with her husband in Brooklyn.

IG & Twitter: @dawniewaltonFacebook: @dawnie.walton

Dee’s Table started three years ago by musician and Jamaican chef Denai Moore. Dee’s Table was originally started as a supper club but has traded at various markets around London like Brick Lane & Broadway Market, with exciting takes on Jamaican classics like Jerk Vegan Ribs & Ackee and Saltfish stuffed dumplings, Dee’s Table created a buzz in the London Food Scene. Dee’s Table has also worked with clients such a Nike, creating a bespoke beetroot crust lentil & sweet potato patty, and can count musicians such as Chronixx as a fan, catering for him and his team to celebrate the release of his most recent album. Dee’s Table has received high acclaim from Time Out during the first ever extended residency at Buster Mantis in Deptford, and has been featured in the Guardian, Eater , Metro and so many more. IG & Twitter: @dees_table | @denaimoore

D E N A I M O O R EC H E F

D O M I N I Q U E S H A R P T O NC O M M U N I T Y O R G A N I Z E R & D A U G H T E R O F R E V. A L S H A R P T O N

Dominique Sharpton is an actress, producer and activist. As the National Director of Membership for National Action Network, one of the nation’s legacy civil rights organizations with more than 100 chapters and 40,000 members across the country, Dominique Sharpton works to activate and engage the next generation of community activists and impact systemic change through local community development. She also produces live cultural events to activate and inspire change.

Instagram: @mrssharptonbright

Ebuni is a qualified trichologist and member of the International Association of Trichologists, whose passion is natural hair. Her aim is to help clients by providing a particular perspective on promoting health and solving hair loss issues. Ebuni has also been hairstyling from a young age and made the decision to pursue this as a full-time career. She has featured on the first series of BBC 3’s TV show Hair to find Britain’s best amateur hairstylist, and was chosen from over 1000 applicants, placing 7th for her efforts. Since then, Ebuni has gone on to work with London Fashion Week, London Collection Men, and at events in both Dubai and Nigeria. She is also the host informative and straight to the point, hair health podcast Snatched Edges.

Twitter: @EbuniAjiduaInstagram: @EbuniAjiduhhair

E B U N I A J I D U A HH A I R B R A I D E R A N D T R I C H O L O G I S T

E L A I N E W E L T E R O T HJ O U R N A L I S T

Elaine Welteroth is co-host of CBS’s The Talk, a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and former Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue. Best known for her work at the helm of Teen Vogue, in 2016 she was appointed the youngest ever Editor-in-Chief at a Conde Nast publication. In 2020, Elaine was appointed Cultural Ambassador for Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote initiative and in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, she helped launch the 15 Percent Pledge, a non-profit advocacy organization where major retailers commit at least 15% of their purchasing power to Black-owned businesses. She is the host of the podcast Built to Last which amplifies the stories of Black founders, past and present. Her debut novel More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are No Matter What They Say was an immediate New York Times bestseller, winning the 2020 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.

All socials: @elainewelteroth

Eniola Mafe is a strategist & international development leader in accelerating Africa’s transformation and growth agenda. She is Co-Founder of #TheNewNigerian, an online community born out of #EndSARS movement, now with over 33,000 members. Eniola currently leads the growth and development of 2030 Vision Initiative, focusing on harnessing 4IR technologies to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals within the next decade. This platform provides a focal point to mobilize more concerted and cooperative efforts by technology companies, governments, civil societies, and international organizations. Eniola also leads the Forum’s engagement in Digital Earth Africa, focused on leveraging earth observation to inform policy and decision making and address key challenges.

Website: www.2030vision.com | www.weforum.org All socials: @EniolaMafe

E N I O L A M A F E2 0 3 0 V I S I O N I N I T I AT I V E L E A D

F E L I C E L E O N J O U R N A L I S T

Felice León is a video producer and presenter at The Root, a leading African American news site in the U.S. There she heads a series called Unpack That—each video deeply delves into an array of topics that are specifically related to society’s tenuous relationship with rac. In 2019, León received a Writers Guild of America nomination for the Unpack That episode, “Tis theSeason: Here’s How Jesus Became So Widely Accepted as White.” León has also hosted and produced many of the site’s viral explainers and on-air interviews, including one-on-ones with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Viola Davis, Ava DuVernay, Regina King and Trevor Noah.

Twitter: @_FeliceLeonWebsite: www.feliceleon.com | www.theroot.com/c/video/unpack-that

Francesca Hogi is a love coach. She teaches people how to fall in love without settling, and how to create lives they love. A nationally recognized and award winning love expert, Francesca’s been featured on The Today Show, in Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, The Huffington Post, and more. She hosts the podcast Dear Franny, where she gives candid love advice and has candid conversations about love. Francesca also appeared on two seasons of the iconic reality show Survivor. She is a co-founder of the new media company, Audio Collective. In 2020, she launched The True Love Society, a membership and love education community.

IG & Twitter: @DearFrannyWebsite: www.francescahogi.com

F R A N C E S C A H O G IL O V E & L I F E C O A C H

G A B R I E L A C E R E Z OA C T I V I S T

Gabriela Cerezo is a 16-year-old from Puerto Rico, in the 11th grade at the Dr. Carlos González school. Gabriela belongs to an organization called Corónate Princesa; a group of youth activists who fight for girls’ rights, and empower young people (especially girls) to take part in issues they are passionate about.

Facebook: @GabrielaCerezoMatías

Artivist Gina Belafonte is the Executive Director of Sankofa.org, a non-profit which educates, motivates, and activates artists and allies in service of grassroots movements and equitable change. An award-winning producer, director, and cultural organizer, Gina is driven by the most urgent social and political issues of our time using art as a tool to fulfill the mission of Sankofa.org. As a visiting professor, lecturer, and public speaker, Gina works with diverse artists, activists, and organizations worldwide to promote cultural and civic engagement and has assisted in mobilizing one of the largest cultural gatherings of artists in the world.

Twitter: @GinaBelafonteInstagram: @peacegina

G I N A B E L A F O N T EF I L M M A K E R & D A U G H T E R O F H A R R Y B E L A F O N T E

H A R R I E T T E C O L EW R I T E R

Harriette Cole’s mission is to help people identify and stand in their greatness. For 20+ years, she has coached entertainers, entrepreneurs, and business professionals in presenting their brands effectively. In 2016, Harriette launched Dreamleapers, an educational platform designed to help people access and activate their dreams. Harriette is the nationally, syndicated advice columnist of Sense & Sensitivity. Cole hosts a radio show, Dreamleapers with Harriette Cole on WBAI in New York City, the Dreamleapers Inspiration podcast, and AARP Black Community Facebook show, Real Conversations with. She is a best-selling author and has published seven books on how to live a great life. Harriette began her career at Essence, where she ran the lifestyle and fashion departments. She was the founding, editorial director of Uptown, and Creative Director and Editor-in-Chief of Ebony magazine.

All socials: @harriettecole

Hasna Muhammad is a visual artist, writer, and educator whose work focuses on family, social justice, and the human condition. As an advocate for education as justice, Hasna provides professional preparation for executive leadership, diversity management, and community engagement for the purpose of diversifying educational and political leadership forces. Hasna is a 2018-2019 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Fellow. IG & FB: @birthmarkmedia

H A S N A M U H A M M A DP H O T O G R A P H E R & D A U G H T E R O F O S S I E D A V I S A N D R U B Y D E E

H E B H J A M A L A C T I V I S T

Hebh Jamal is an advocate against education inequality, Islamophobia and the occupation of Palestine. Hebh has been seen on the NYTimes, TeenVogue, Netflix documentary Teach Us All and many more. Having just graduated from City College of NY with a double major in History and Political Science, Hebh has moved to Germany hoping to further her education.

Twitter: @hebh_jamal

Indya Childs is from Atlanta, Georgia and received her B.A. in Dance from Kennesaw State University. Before the pandemic, Indya was living in New York and dancing with Abby Z and The New Utility. She is currently the founder and director of the Peace, Love, and Dance Project organization which officially launched in September 2020.

Instagram: @peacelovedanceprojectatlantaFacebook: Peace, Love, and Dance Project- Atlanta Website: www.indyachilds.com

I N D Y A C H I L D SD A N C E R

I M X N A B D U LA C T I V I S T

Imxn Abdul, born & raised in Brooklyn, is an artivist, storyteller, organizer and creative, who has been dedicating her life to empowering youth across NYC. In 2016, she became a Founding Member of a youth-led non-profit organization, Integrate NYC, where she is now the Director and Youth Coach. Integrate NYC encourages youth design and pushes out the solutions for an integrated, equitable, and just public school system. Imxn believes that through truth & education, youth are the ideal shapeshifters that can transform the unjust society we live in today.

Instagram: @theimxnabdul

Ilyasah Shabazz is an award-winning author, speaker, and educator. She is an adjunct professor at John Jay, College of Criminal Justice in New York City, where she emphasizes empowerment and inclusion in her teaching. She also works tirelessly to preserve her parents’ legacies for future generations through the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center.

IG & Twitter: @ilyasahShabazz

I L Y A S A H S H A B A Z ZE D U C AT O R & D A U G H T E R O F M A L C O L M X A N D D R . B E T T Y S H A B A Z Z

I R E N O S E N O K O J I EA U T H O R

Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian British writer. Her debut novel, Butterfly Fish, won a Betty Trask award and was shortlisted for an Edinburgh International First Book Award. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Observer, The Guardian, the BBC and the Huffington Post amongst other publications. Her short stories have been published in international publications, including Salt’s Best British Short Stories 2017 and 2020, Kwani?, a magazine based in Kenya, and The Year’s Best Weird Fiction. Okojie’s recent collection of stories, Nudibranch, published by Little Brown’s Dialogue Books was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize. She is the winner of the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for Fiction for her story, Grace Jones. She is a fellow and Vice Chair of The Royal Society of Literature. Twitter: @IrenosenOkojieWebsite: www.irenosenokojie.com

Isisara Bey is producer, keynote speaker, cultural curator and facilitator for performances, conferences, festivals, workshops, training, travel retreats and board meetings. As a keynote speaker, Isisara brings her powerful presence, rich subject matter and engaging delivery exploring the principles of leadership, mindset and personal empowerment. As an event and workshop facilitator, she blends core content with human development processes, cultural rituals and theater games, allowing participants to experience individual agency and their own creativity toward an enhanced capacity to accomplish goals and manifest dreams. As an event producer, she serves as Artistic Director of the March on Washington Film Festival, an annual Civil Rights and social justice-themed festival of short, documentary and narrative films, first person accounts, scholarship, the performing arts, a student filmmaker competition and student journalist fellowship program in the nation’s capital.

Website: www.isisarabey.com Instagram: @isisarabey

I S I S A R A B E YA R T I S T I C D I R E C T O R

J A S O N R E Y N O L D SA U T H O R

Jason Reynolds is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, a two-time National Book Award finalist, a Kirkus Award winner, a two-time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. He is the 2020–2021 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His many books include When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys (co-written with Brendan Kiely), As Brave as You, For Every One, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Look Both Ways, and Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. He currently lives in Washington, DC.

Twitter: @JasonReynolds83Instagram: @JasonReynolds83Website: www.jasonwritesbooks.com

Jessamyn Stanley is an award-winning yoga instructor and founder of The Underbelly, a series of yoga classes & an online shop available internationally via web, iOS, and Android. Her virtual yoga studio is a home for wellness misfits who may feel displaced, discouraged, or overlooked due to a lack of diversity in the health and fitness community. Her first book, Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear. Get On the Mat. Love Your Body, has inspired global audiences to discover the power of yoga. Her highly anticipated second book, YOKE: My Yoga of Self Acceptance will be released on June 22nd, 2021. IG & FB: @mynameisjessamynTwitter: @JessNotJazzWebsite: www.jessamynstanley.com

J E S S A M Y N S TA N L E YY O G A I N S T R U C T O R

J U L I E D E X T E RS I N G E R

Julie Dexter is a world-renowned, award-winning, British singer, songwriter, and producer. Her single “Ketch A Vibe” was featured in national radio ads for Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama and she was recently honored at the Black Women in Jazz Awards with the Afro Caribbean Soul of Jazz Award. From jazz to world music, soul and beyond, Julie Dexter is one of an elite few whose talent can transcend genres. She makes it all work on her own terms, as an audaciously independent artist with an undeniable connection to her audience.

Instagram: @juliedexterFacebook: @JuleDexterWebsite: www.juliedexter.com

Karen Chilton is a New York-based actress, playwright, and author. A native of Chicago’s Southside, Ms. Chilton received her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from NYU-Tisch School of the Arts, and her Bachelor of Science in Economics from Bradley University. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed biography of jazz, classical pianist Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist from Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC, which she recently adapted for the screen. She is currently a playwriting fellow with the Liberation Theatre Company where she has begun work on a new full- length stage play, RIGAMAROLE. Most recently, she was commissioned to write a new opera in collaboration with composer & pianist Damien Sneed, for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ New Works, Bold Voices Lab; the opera entitled The Tongue & The Lash will have its world premiere in Spring 2021. She is a Goldberg Prize-Finalist of 2020, an O’Neill Nat’l Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist of 2019, and Winner of the NPT Writers Festival.

Instagram: @mskarenchilton

K A R E N C H I L T O NC U R AT O R A N D D I R E C T O R

K A R E N R O S EH E R B A L I S T

Trained in Eastern and Western Herbal Medicine, Master Herbalist, Karen M. Rose has dedicated her life’s work to empowering individuals to reconnect to their own ancestral traditions. Over the past 20 years, she has created several outlets to offer her teachings and healing modalities to women, people of color, Black, and LGBTQX communities. The opening of the Brooklyn-based, Sacred Vibes Apothecary in 2009, was merely the beginning. Karen has now expanded her enterprise, opening Sacred Botanica and Sacred Spice in 2020, two new locations in Brooklyn, to make healing more accessible to the greater community.

Instagram: @empresskarenmrose | @sacredvibesapothecary

K Bailey Obazee is founder and director of PRIM, a platform for storytelling which also produces OKHA, a monthly queer and Black book club. Born a Nigerian and raised in East London, she grew up wanting to go in politics, ultimately working on building for and with her Queer & Black community is numero uno. She is also an events & culture curator, researcher, host and DJ. K’s focus is storytelling, and, in particular, ensuring storytelling by people with Black ancestry is available and readily accessible. She has so far collaborated with British Vogue, AKO Caine Prize, Arts Council England and has been featured in The New York Times, and she’s still getting busy.

Instagram: @Drybabe | @prim.black

K . B A I L E Y O B A Z E E E N T R E P R E N E U R

K E I S H A S U T T O N - J A M E SG R A N D D A U G H T E R O F P E R C Y S U T T O N

Keisha Sutton-James is a consultant who works with clients in the political, media, activist and corporate diversity spaces. Her work influences the next generation of elected officials, creators, activists and corporate citizens to ensure that the voices of people of color are represented in all of society’s corridors of power. She is currently producing PERCY100, a year of events and activations around the legacy of her grandfather, Percy Sutton and serving as campaign manager for Alvin Bragg, candidate for Manhattan DA. She serves on several not-for-profit boards, including as Chair of the Alliance for Women in Media.

Instagram: @ksuttonjamesTwitter: @ksuttonjames

Kenya Hunt is the Fashion Director of Grazia UK. Her career spans from working for some of the world’s most influential women’s titles on both sides of the Atlantic since her postgraduate days as an Assistant Editor at the seminal magazine, Jane, to her years as Deputy Editor of ELLE UK. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Vogue, Marie Claire, The Evening Standard, just to name some publications. She has made several appearances on BBC Woman’s Hour, Sky News and more. As the founder of R.O.O.M. Mentoring, she advocates for greater diversity within the fashion industry by providing a supportive network for some of the many talented aspiring designers, journalists and image makers of colour London has to offer. An American based in London, she lives south of the river with her husband and two sons.

Website: www. Kenyahunt.com Instagram: @kenyahunt

K E N Y A H U N TA U T H O R

L AT O S H A B R O W NE N T R E P R E N E U R

LaTosha Brown is an award-winning visionary thought leader, institution builder, Cultural Activist and Artist, and Connector. She is a nationally recognized, “go-to” expert in Black Voting Rights and Voter Suppression, Black Women’s Empowerment, and Philanthropy. LaTosha is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter, Black Voters Matter Fund and Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, all designed to boost Black voter registration and turnout and increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities. She is the visionary, founder and co-anchor of a regional network called the Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium, a $100 million, 10-year initiative to invest in organizations that serve Black women and girls. IG, FB & Twitter: @MsLaToshaBrown

Lola Fayokun is a youth campaigner and activist, with her work focusing on the climate crisis. She works with the UK Student Climate Network, a grassroots network that hosts youth climate strikes in England and Wales. Her role with the network has been seen in her involvement in the organization and delivery of Britain’s largest climate protests in history and centers around, promoting an anti-racist vision of climate justice!

Instagram: @youthstrike4climate

L O L A F A Y O K U NA C T I V I S T

LY N E L L G E O R G EA U T H O R

Lynell George is an award-winning Los Angeles based journalist and essayist. A former staff writer for both the Los Angeles Times and L.A. Weekly, she focused on social issues, human behavior as well as visual arts, music and literature. She is the author of No Crystal Stair: African Americans in the City of Angels (Verso/Doubleday) and After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame, a collection of her essays and photographs (Angel City Press). Her latest book, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler was published by Angel City Press in 2020. Twitter: @LynellGeorgeInstagram: @lynellgeorgewriterWebsite: www.lynellgeorge.com

Marcus Samuelsson is the acclaimed chef behind many restaurants worldwide. He has won multiple James Beard Foundation awards for his work as a chef and as host of No Passport Required, his public television series with Vox/Eater. Samuelsson was crowned champion of Top Chef Masters and Chopped All Stars, and was the guest chef for President Obama’s first state dinner. A committed philanthropist, Samuelsson is co-chair of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), which focuses on underserved youth. Author of several cookbooks, in addition to the New York Times bestselling memoir Yes, Chef, Samuelsson also co-produces the annual Harlem EatUp! festival, which celebrates the food, art, and culture of Harlem. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Samuelsson converted his restaurants Red Rooster Harlem, Marcus B&P in Newark, and Red Rooster Overtown in Miami into community kitchens in partnership with World Central Kitchen, serving over 200,000 meals to those in need.

IG, FB & Twitter: @MarcusCooks

M A R C U S S A M U E L S S O NA W A R D W I N N I N G C H E F A N D R E S TA U R AT E U R

M I C H E L L E G I P S O NF O U N D E R O F W R I T T E N M A G A Z I N E

Michelle R. Gipson is the publisher and founder of Written magazine and the host of Wine and Words, trademarked literary events in partnership with Hammonds House Museum in Atlanta, Ga. Gipson is a veteran journalist with over 25 years of experience in print, radio and television. She has also been published in several Chicken Soup series books including Chicken Soup for the African American Soul and Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul. Written, once a bi-monthly nationally syndicated publication and now a digital resource that celebrates the reader and celebrates the word through interviews, reviews and relevant social commentary. As a print publication, Written was distributed to 15 African-American newspapers with a print and on-line readership that exceeded 150,000 per issue.

Moikgantsi Kgama is the founder of the ImageNation Cinema Foundation, a Harlem-based nonprofit media arts organization, ImageNation presents progressive media by and about people of color, with the goal of establishing a chain of art-house cinemas dedicated to these works. Through a variety of public exhibitions and programs, ImageNation fosters media equity, media literacy, solidarity, cross-cultural exchange and highlights the humanity of Pan-African people worldwide. ImageNation is currently developing its existing Raw Space Culture Gallery into a 60-seat, boutique cinema-café dedicated to Black and Latino film, music and culture. Moikgantsi was named one of “25 Women Who Are Shaping the World” by Essence Magazine, received the Trailblazer Award from Reel Sisters Film Festival, and a proclamation from the City of New York for her work with ImageNation.

Socials: @moikgantsi | @imagenation.us

M O I K G A N T S I K G A M AF I L M M A K E R

N A J A U S T I NE N T R E P R E N E U R

Naj Austin is an entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Somewhere Good and Ethel’s Club. She has spent the last five years in the tech industry building digital and physical products making the world a more inclusive and equitable space.

Instagram: @najaustin | @ethelsclubTwitter: @najjmahal | @ethelsclub

Natalie Hernandez is a journalist, pursuing her master’s degree at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. She is studying urban reporting with a specialty in broadcasting. Natalie was a former intern for CNBC and has also previously worked for CBS and BronxNet TV. Natalie’s relationship with the Apollo Theater Education Program stems back to 2016, when she was given her first internship opportunity. Here, she worked as the operations and marketing intern, and she assisted in planning the 2016 Teen Takeover. Natalie has been a co-host for the very special Apollo Teen Takeover events in 2017 and 2018.

Instagram: @nataliemariaherTwitter: @nataliemariaher

N ATA L I E H E R N A N D E ZJ O U R N A L I S T

N I K K I G I O V A N N IA U T H O R

In 1968 she self-published her first poetry book, a nineteen-page staple-bound volume entitled, Black Feeling Black Talk, which sold some 2,000 copies in its first few months, which allowed Giovanni to self-publish her second book of poetry, Black Judgement. During the late 60s and early 70s, after the birth of her son, her frequent appearances on the Black entertainment show SOUL!!, alongside her lecture tours, made her one of the most popular and recognizable poets of the Black Arts Movement. In 1971, she published her first children’s book, Spin a Soft Black Song, and released the album Truth Is On Its Way Is On Its Way, in which she read her poetry with and in juxtaposition to the New York Community Choir. Giovanni has received numerous awards, including seven Image Awards from the N.A.A.C.P. and over two-dozen honorary degrees.

Sierra Leonean-American filmmaker, Nikyatu’s films have screened at festivals nationally and internationally. Her short film Suicide By Sunlight: a project funded by Through Her Lens and sponsored by the Tribeca Film Institute and Chanel, made its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. She is currently in pre-production on her feature film NANNY, centering around a West African Nanny in New York City, haunted by a vengeful supernatural presence that threatens to dismantle the American dream she has painstakingly assembled. In addition to making films, Nikyatu teaches filmmaking as a tenure track Assistant Professor. She is repped at MACRO and CAA.

Instagram: @nikyatuWebsite: www.nikyatu.com

N I K Y AT U J U S UD I R E C T O R

R A C H E L O K E S O L AF I T N E S S T R A I N E R

Rachel is the creator of Afrifitness, a trainer, and motivator, providing fun workouts to afrobeats music. Afrifitness is an African-dance inspired workout that infuses popular African dance style with current afrobeats music to create energizing and easy-to-follow workouts.

IG, FB & Youtube: @afrifitness

Rebecca Carroll is a writer, creative consultant, editor-at-large, and host of the podcast Come Through with Rebecca Carroll: 15 essential conversations about race in a pivotal year for America (WNYC Studios). Most recently, she was a cultural critic at WNYC, where she also developed a broad array of multi-platform content, and a critic-at-large for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Essence, the Guardian and New York Magazine, among numerous other publications, and she is the author of several books about race in America, including the award-winning Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America. Her latest book, Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir, was published this month, and has been optioned by MGM Studios and Killer Films with Rebecca attached to adapt and executive produce for TV.

R E B E C C A C A R O L LW R I T E R

R E N É E W AT S O N

Renée Watson is a New York Times bestselling author. Her novel, Piecing MeTogether, received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her booksinclude Love Is a Revolution, Ways to Make Sunshine, Some Places More Than Others, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, Betty Before X, co-written with Ilyasah Shabazz, and Watch Us Rise, co-written with Ellen Hagan, as well as two acclaimed picture books: A Place Where Hurricanes Happen and Harlem’s Little Blackbird, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Renée splits her time between Portland and New York City. Her novel, Love Is a Revolution, is a coming-of-age story about loving one’s friends, community, one’s own self-image as a plus-sized girl, and finding that inner Black Girl Joy. Instagram: @harlemportlandTwitter: @reneewauthorWebsite: www.reneewatson.net

Rosanna Amaka grew up in South London and is of African and Caribbean heritage. THE BOOK OF ECHOES is her debut novel. She began writing this novel over twenty years ago, to give a voice to the Brixton community in which she grew up, and to reflect some of the changes that have occurred in the community over time. The book is about life, pain and hope and was inspired by a wish to understand the impact of history on present-day lives and the journey of her ancestors.

Twitter: @RosannaAmakaInstagram: @RosannaAmakaWebsite: https://rosannaamaka.com

R O S A N N A A M A K AA U T H O RA U T H O R

S A - R O CM U S I C I A N

Once dubbed by Okayplayer as “one of the most formidable microphone mavens in the game,” Sa-Roc is an artist for a socially conscious generation. In 2016, Sa-Roc was signed to Rhymesayers and she has released a string of powerful music videos along the way, including “Deliverance”, “Hand of God”, “Goddess Gang”, and “Forever”, the latter which has garnered over 4 million views on Youtube. In 2020, she embarked on a national tour with rapper Rapsody and made her debut on the world-renowned NPR Tiny Desk At Home series that led fans to describe her simply as “the truth” and technically “the best lyricist in recent times.” Her album, The Sharecropper’s Daughter, the title of which pays homage to her father’s experience growing up sharecropping tobacco, is in Sa-Roc’s own words “a sonic reflection on the generational inheritance of trauma and triumph that shapes our humanity and influences the way we see the world.”

Website: www.sa-roc.com

Sage Crump is a culture strategist, artist and facilitator who expands and deepens the work of cultural workers, and arts organizations in social justice organizing. Based in New Orleans, but working nationally, she believes in leveraging art, creative practice, and the cultural sector to transform systemic oppressions. Sage is also a member of Complex Movements, a Detroit-based artist collective whose interdisciplinary work supports local and translocal visionary organizing. Sage is principal and co-founder with artist muthi reed of The Kinfolk Effect (TKE). TKE is an incubation space for multimedia, interdisciplinary artwork that examines the movement of Blackness through time and space. She is the Program Specialist at the National Performance Network and holds the position of Chief Architect at the Emergent Strategies Ideation institute, a body that shapes the way movements think about and go about transforming the world we live in.

IG & Twitter: @sagesense

S A G E C R U M PC U L T U R E S T R AT E G I S T

S H A N E L L E G A B R I E LP O E T

Shanelle Gabriel is a poet, singer, and lupus warrior from Brooklyn, NY. Widely known for featuring on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, she has shared the stage with many artists, including Jill Scott, Nas, Nikki Giovanni, and more. She was listed as one of “8 Millennial Feminist Poets That Deserve Recognition” by BET and curated poetic performances for Fast Company Magazine’s International Innovation Festivals. Shanelle has also spoken alongside the President of the National Institute of Health, and she was featured in a documentary on the Lifetime Network regarding her battle with lupus. She is the Interim Executive Director at Urban Word, a youth organization that promotes literacy and youth voice through poetry & hip-hop.

Twitter: @ShanelleGInstagram: @ShanelleGabriel Facebook: @friendsofshanellegabrielWebsite: www.shanellegabriel.com

Shannon M. Houston is a poet, critic and Emmy-nominated TV writer. Her work has been heavily influenced by her strange but interesting times, coming of age in Boston, Cleveland and New York. Houston graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2011, and went on to become a pop culture writer, and TV and film critic. In 2016, Houston sold a pilot to Amazon, and has since written on Hulu’s The Looming Tower, Amazon’s Homecoming, Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, HBO Max’s Station Eleven, and HBO’s Lovecraft Country. She lives in Southern California with her three children and their beloved turtle.

Twitter: @shannonmhoustonInstagram: @shannonmhoustonofficial

S H A N N O N H O U S T O NS C R E E N W R I T E R

S H A N N O N K E N N A R DC O - F O U N D E R O F B A B Y T R E S S

Shannon Kennard is the co-founder and Creative Director of Baby Tress. As a full-stack marketer and a curator of beautiful things, she wields passions for the brand by engaging their community through visual and written storytelling, product development, and thoughtful design.

Socials: @shopbabytressWebsite: www.Babytress.com

Shanti Das is an accomplished entertainment industry veteran, speaker, author, and philanthropist. Shanti worked in the entertainment business for over 25 years. Her music industry career included positions at Capitol Records, Columbia Records, Sony Urban Music and Universal Motown where she worked directly with some of music’s top talent like OutKast, Usher, Prince, TLC, Toni Braxton, Erykah Badu, and more. As a result of Shanti’s extensive community work in the 2000 decade, she decided to establish her very own nonprofit, The Hip-Hop Professional Foundation, Inc. The foundation was rebranded under the name Silence the Shame, Inc., the mental health movement that has led the way since 2016. Silence the Shame, Inc. has received global awareness and has become a commonly used hashtag to normalize the conversation in America. Shanti’s foundation curates community conversations, offers wellness training, creates content and broadens awareness & education around mental health and wellness.

IG & Twitter: @shantidas 404 | @silencetheshame Facebook: @silencetheshame

S H A N T I D A S A U T H O R

S H E L LY B E L LE N T R E P R E N E U R

Named as one of Entrepreneur magazine’s “Top 100 Powerful Women in Business”, Shelly Bell is a computer scientist, system disruptor, and business strategist who moves ideas to profit while empowering people to live, build, and foster better relationships. She connects entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations in order to diversify their talent pipeline, increase equity, and grow their brands. Her organization, Black Girl Ventures (BGV) is a culturally converging ecosystem igniting economic security, civic engagement, and hyperlocal infrastructure at the intersection of STEM education and entrepreneurship for Black and Brown woman-identifying founders, funders, and veterans.

Instagram: @iamshellybell | @blackgirlventures Facebook: @theshellybell | @blackgirlventuresWebsite: www.iamshellybell.com | www.blackgirlventures.org

Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu is a political & women’s rights activist. She has taught intersectional feminism to female refugees and asylum seekers, scrutinizes government policies from a gender and diversity inclusion perspective, and co-organizes women’s marches and social campaigns. She is a New York Attorney and Solicitor of England & Wales. She has broad expertise in financial services, as a writer, public speaker and political commentator, being featured in mainstream and online media. She founded the Women in Leadership publication as a platform to drive positive change on current issues that impact women globally through inspiring personal leadership journeys. An academic enthusiast, she has an Executive MBA (Cambridge); PhD (Birkbeck); LLM (London School of Economics & Political Science); MA (Westminster) and LLB Hons (Buckingham University). FB, IG & Twitter: @SholaMos1Website: www.drshola.com

S H O L A M O S - S H O G B A M I M UL A W Y E R & A C T I V I S T

S TA C Y R E N A E LY N C HAT T O R N E Y & D A U G H T E R O F B I L L LY N C H

Stacy Renae Lynch is running for NYC Council in the 7th District to bring greater equality to government and to heal the division and wounds that exist in our city, only heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. As former Deputy Director in the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Stacy managed First Lady Chirlane McCray’s public affairs and the Mayor’s interaction with external government agencies and key community stakeholders like the NAACP, the New York Urban League, the Asian American Federation, the Black Institute, the National Action Network, and Rainbow Push. Like her father, Stacy has developed genuine relationships in many different industries- from law, politics, corporate America and government.

Instagram: @misslynchnycTwitter: @misslynchnyc

Suzanne Kay is a writer and filmmaker, currently working on a documentary about her mother, the late actress Diahann Carroll, among other projects. She produced and co-wrote a feature film, Cape of Good Hope, which won numerous awards and nominations, including Honorable Mention for the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, National Board of Review, and NAACP Image Awards. She has been published in Huffington Post, the Southampton Review and BigCityLit and writes a blog on race. Twitter: @SuzanneKay19

S U Z A N N E K A YF I L M M A K E R & D A U G H T E R O F D I A H A N N C A R R O L L

S Y R E E TA B R O W NM A N A G I N G D I R E C T O R

Syreeta Brown is a Managing Director at Citigroup working in HR and currently heads up Citi’s Global Talent Acquisition Strategy & Programs function, leading the team in managing Citi’s enterprise-wide TA operating infrastructure. She provides Business Management support to the Global Head of Talent Acquisition & People Insights to help manage financials and operating reviews, HR Control & Compliance needs for the function, and she coordinates external engagement with global partners and suppliers / agencies. Syreeta will shortly be taking up a new appointment in Citi as Head of HR for the Global Functions and Operations and Technology business in our Europe, Middle East & Africa region, as leader of the People strategy and HR practices regionally for 20,000 employees.

Tanya Compas (she/her) is a youth worker and the founder/CEO of Exist Loudly, an organization that supports queer, Black youth in the UK through spaces of joy and community. Running events such as Queer Black Christmas and Queer Cutz, Exist Loudly is committed to providing spaces in which queer Black youth are able to be just that, young people! It is a space where they can build friendships, chosen family and most importantly, where their queer, trans and Black identities can be affirmed, celebrated and Exist Loudly.

Instagram: @TanyaCompas | @existloudly Twitter: @TanyaCompas | @existloudlyuk

TA N Y A C O M P A SE N T R E P R E N E U R

T E N I O P E A D E W U M I - G U N NS O C I A L S C I E N T I S T A N D R E S E A R C H E R

An industrial hygienist by training, Teniope Adewumi-Gunn has occupational and environmental health consulting experience in the US, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. She was previously the Environmental Justice Research and Policy Manager for nonprofit Black Women for Wellness, where she led advocacy efforts to regulate the chemicals found in our cosmetic products. Her work has been featured in HuffPost Live, Cosmopolitan, Essence Online, CityLab, ThinkProgress, and more. She holds a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from UCLA. Adewumi-Gunn is currently a Science Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council, focusing on the intersection of climate change and worker health.

Website: https://www.nrdc.org

Theresa Rose Sebastian is a climate and social justice activist. Her passion for environmental justice was ignited when she and her family found themselves stuck in the Kerala floods of 2018. These floods opened up Theresa’s eyes to the reality of the climate crisis. Calling both India and Ireland home, she recognized the disparity revealed by the crisis, and how it impacts the world around her. Her current work revolves around increasing educational awareness through curriculum, social media, and working on policy reform to ensure a sustainable city to pass on to the next generation.

Twitter: @TessieIsHungry

T H E R E S A R O S E S E B A S T I A NA C T I V I S T

T I N A D A V I SS V P O F C O R P O R AT E S P O N S O R S H I P S A N D M A R K E T I N G

Tina Davis has proven her ability to stay relevant and innovative, working across major industries including Banking, Tourism, Sports, Retail and Packaged Goods in her 20 years of marketing. Tina has led award-winning brand programs for companies including brands Jordan/Nike, Pepsi, Las Vegas Tourism, KFC, CA Anti-Smoking and US Army. During her time at Citi, Tina has developed and spearheaded numerous breakthrough programs, including Summer and Winter Olympic and Paralympic campaigns spanning from 2012-2016, CitiBike, award-winning North American Cards campaigns and the launch of Citi’s first interactive blog site. In December 2020 Tina was appointed to the newly created role of Managing Director, Global Brand Management. Tina’s responsibilities include Brand Storytelling/Advertising, Brand Standards, Visual Identity and Design, Content Platform and Purpose Marketing. In 2011, Tina proposed and instituted the function of global sponsorships at Citi, leading the oversight of Citi’s global sponsorship strategy and its implementation. She has also directly managed several of Citi’s high-profile sponsorships.

Toni Jones has served as a life coach and mental health advocate for women. Now, as an Affirmation Musician, she has found creative ways to promote the message of conscious well being and mental health. One way that she creates to promote this message is through music. On March 19th, 2019, during Women’s History Month, she launched Affirmations for The Grown Ass Woman. On March 28th, 2020, during Mental Health Awareness Month she launched her EP Affirmations and Chill . Her newly released album I See Me Mantras debuted on World Mental Health Day on October 10th, 2020. Toni believes that the new era of women’s leadership is evolving with the core requirement of being consciously committed to well being inside out, starting with the way you talk to yourself!

Instagram: @iamtonijones Twitter: @wifeyourlife Youtube: Toni JonesWebsite: www.iamtonijones.com

T O N I J O N E SL I F E C O A C H

T O N Y A P I N K I N SD I R E C T O R

Tony Pinkins is the Tonya Award winning veteran of nine Broadway shows, numerous off-broadway shows, day time dramas As The Word Turns and All My Children, night time series Army Wives, Scandal, Gotham, Fear of the Walking Dead, and Madame Secretary. She will be appearing in the upcoming STARZ series Run the World and is currently filming Women of the Movement for ABC, playing the grandmother of Emmett Till. Tonya has won the Tony, OBIE, Drama Desk, Out Critics Circle, Garland, LA Drama Critics, 3 Lortel , Audelco, Monarch, NAACP Theater, Stage Raw, Alfred Drake and Clarence Derwent Awards. She has been nominated for an abundance of awards including 3 Tonys, The Olivier Award, the NAACP Image award, Ovation, NOEL, Audience Choice, Black Theater Alliance, and the Saturn Award. Tonya is an outspoken activist who made the New York Times for roasting herself. She is the author of GET OVER YOURSELF: How to Drop the Drama and Claim the Life You Deserve. Her podcast, You Can’t Say That, has been covering the hot topics of the day, especially what Tonya calls the “red pilling of America”.

IG & Twitter: @tonyapinkins

Zoe began her culinary career by selling Ghanaian food outside her front door in order to fund her Creative Writing MA at Goldsmiths, University of London. After the popularity of the stall she set up selling peanut stew, she decided to host a supper club in her home - it sold out, and Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen was born. She has taken her fresh interpretation of classic Ghanaian flavours to venues across London, Berlin, Accra, and New York, and has become a leader in the new African cuisine revolution. Described by the Observer as “the standard bearer for West African food” and named by Nigel Slater as ‘one to watch’ bringing immigrant food to Britain. She was named one of “London’s Hottest Chefs” by Time Out and most recently has been included as one of ‘The 44 Best Female Chefs in the World’ by Hachette Cuisine France. She became a judge at The Great Taste Awards in 2016, which is known as the Oscars of the UK food industry, and in 2018, she won the Iconoclast award at The James Beard.

IG & Twitter: @zoeadjonyoh | @ghanakitchenFacebook: @zoesghanakitchenWebsite: www.zoesghanakitchen.co.uk

Z O E A D J O N Y O HA W A R D W I N N I N G C H E F

T H A N K Y O U

WOW - Women of the World Festival is presented in partnership with The WOW Foundation.

WOW Festivals are presented by arrangement with Southbank Centre, London.

The Apollo’s 2021 Women of the World Festival is generously funded by Lead Sponsors Citi and NationalGeographic, Sponsor Audible, with additional support from Comcast.

The Apollo’s season is made possible by leadership support from Coca-Cola, Citi, Sherman FairchildFoundation, Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, the Jerome L. Greene Arts Access Fund in theNew York Community Trust, HBO and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

Public support for the Apollo Theater is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New YorkState Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York StateLegislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.