Imbolo Mbue is the author of the New York Times bestseller Behold the Dreamers, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was an Oprah’s Book Club selection. The novel has been translated into eleven languages, adapted into an opera and a stage play, and optioned for a miniseries. Her new novel, How Beautiful We Were is out now. A native of Limbe, Cameroon, and a graduate of Rutgers and Columbia Universities, Mbue lives in New York.

Madeline McIntosh has been CEO of Penguin Random House U.S. since 2018. She has worked in publishing for almost three decades, and in that time has held positions in publishing, sales, operations, and audio, and was a pioneer in the early development of online sales and in the digital transition. She serves on the Board of Directors of Poets & Writers, the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to serving creative writers, and of Sourcebooks, in which Penguin Random House is an investor. She lives in New York with her husband Chris Pavone, a writer, and their twin sons.

Alicia Menendez is the co-host of MSNBC’s “The Weekend” Saturday and Sunday from 8 to 10 a.m. ET. She is also the author of “The Likeability Trap” and host of the “Latina to Latina” podcast. Menendez joined MSNBC in October 2019 and previously anchored “American Voices with Alicia Menendez.” Prior to joining the network, Menendez served as a correspondent on “Amanpour & Company” on PBS and formerly hosted a nightly news and pop culture show on Fusion called “Alicia Menendez Tonight.” Her reporting and interviews have appeared on ABC News, Bustle, FusionTV, PBS and Vice News. Born and raised in New Jersey, Menendez has been called “Ms. Millennial” by The Washington Post, “journalism’s new gladiator” by Elle, and a “content queen” by Marie Claire.  Menendez is on Twitter at @AliciaMenendez. 

Fashion designer B Michael was born and raised in Durham, Connecticut. His mother was a real estate agent and his father, a certified public accountant. B Michael found early design inspirations in his mother’s creativity and keen sense of style. He attended the University of Connecticut and also studied at the New York Fashion Institute of Technology. B Michael was first hired as an account executive for a Wall Street firm, but decided to pursue a career as a millinery designer. He started designing hats under Oscar de la Renta, Louis Feraud, and Nolan Miller for the 1980s television soap opera Dynasty. Following his success on the show, B Michael became creative director for the Aldo Hat Corporation. In 1989, he decided to launch his namesake millinery line and in 1999 developed and launched his first couture collection with the help of PR Guru Eleanor Lambert. B Michael’s collections have garnered appreciative fans including socialites and personalities such as Cicely Tyson, Ashley Bouder, Amy Fine Collins, Valerie Simpson, Phylicia Rashad, Tamara Tunie, Beyoncé, Nancy Wilson, Susan Fales-Hill, President Barack Obama’s poet laureate Elizabeth Alexander, and Lena Horne, among many others. He also designed Whitney Houston’s costumes for the motion picture, Sparkle. He has shown his b michael AMERICA Couture collection in Beijing, China, Korea and Shanghai, and his ready to wear fashion line b michael AMERICA RED sells in Macy’s department stores across the United States. In 1998, B Michael was granted membership in the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). He has served as a guest lecturer at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. He also serves on the advisory boards of Dream Yard Project, YAGP (Youth America Grand Prix) and the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts. In addition to his work and community activism, B Michael is an avid collector of vintage books, artifacts and photography. B Michael lives in New York City with is life partner Mark-Anthony Edwards and has two daughters, Saferra and Mychal. “After watching an interview with Maya Nussbaum, founder and executive director of Girls Write Now, Maya’s interview with journalist Sheryl McCarthy for CUNY TV – One to One show. Mark-Anthony and I are inspired by the vision and mission of Girls Write Now to support girls at a critical age, by opening up possibilities through writing.” – B. Michael

Janet Mock is the New York Times bestselling author of two memoirs, Redefining Realness (2014) and Surpassing Certainty (2017) about her journey as a Black and Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) trans woman. She’s also a writer, director and producer, most known for her path-clearing and historic work on the Peabody and Emmy award-winning series, “Pose.” Her other credits include Netflix’s limited series “Hollywood,” a revisionist take on 1940s show business, and the global true-crime sensation, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”   The proud Honolulu native is the recipient of many honors, including Harvard University’s Artist of the Year Award (2019), the PEN Center’s Award of Honor (2017), ESSENCE’s Black Women in Hollywood Award (2020), and TIME’s 100 most influential people list. A passionate collector of Black art and an in-demand speaker and lecturer, Janet serves on the boards of the Brooklyn Museum and the Arcus Foundation for social justice.

Wayétu Moore is the founder of One Moore Book and is a graduate of Howard University, Columbia University, and the University of Southern California. She teaches at the City University of New York’s John Jay College and lives in Brooklyn. 

John Osborn is President and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO New York. John has been in this role for twelve years – longer than any other New York agency head. Under John’s leadership, BBDO New York has more than doubled revenues, expanded its client base to include categories like btob, retail, healthcare and more, and diversified its workforce. The result: BBDO New York has been named an Agency of the Year 15 times by various media outlets, including in 2015. John joined BBDO New York in 1991. Over the years, he has demonstrated that he is an energetic, positive and passionate leader with a proven ability to build strong client relationships and to lead big multi-disciplinary teams in the creation of powerful communication programs. For example, he has been actively involved with many of the agency’s clients including FedEx, GE, J&J, Pfizer, CVS, Subway, Lowe’s, Mars, Visa and the American Red Cross, to name a few. He began his BBDO career on Pepsi and was the principal architect of the agency’s integrated marketing efforts, expanding the agency’s service offerings to include digital and social marketing, CRM, design and more. He was named President and CEO of the New York agency in February 2004. John’s notable accomplishments over the years also include his involvement with the “New York Miracle” campaign, which helped lift spirits of New Yorkers in the wake of the September 11 attacks. John has been equally active outside business, lending his talents to other important causes. He is President of the Board of Directors of the Police Athletic League of New York, and he serves as Chairman of the Board of the American Red Cross for Greater New York. He has served as Chairman of the Board of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the “unifying voice for advertising.” More recently, John accepted an invitation from Fordham University to serve as an Executive-in-Residence for its Center for Positive Marketing. In recognition of his accomplishments, John was a recipient of a 2012 AdColor Award celebrating diversity champions in advertising, media, marketing and public relations. In 2003, he was inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement, which honors people 40 years of age or under for their contributions to business. He has also been named to the Crain’s New York Business list of “40 under 40” as well as BtoB magazine’s “Who’s Who in BtoB.” In 2006, John was named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. John earned his BA at Dartmouth, for which he continues to serve as a member of its Alumni Association and Friends of Dartmouth Hockey Program. He is married to Lesley and is the proud father of an 11 year-old daughter (Caroline) and a 10year-old son (John Jr.).     Dated January 2016

Zibby Owens is the author of Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature and children’s book Princess Charming, and editor of two anthologies, Moms Don’t Have Time to Have Kids: A Timeless Anthology and Moms Don’t Have Time To: A Quarantine Anthology. Creator and host of the award-winning, daily podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, Zibby is the founder and CEO of Zibby Media, dubbed “the Zibby-verse” (L.A. Times). It includes publishing house Zibby Books, online magazine Zibby Mag, Zibby’s Book Club, retreats, classes, and events. She also owns Zibby’s Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica, CA. A regular contributor to “Good Morning America” and other outlets, she loves recommending books as “NYC’s Most Powerful Book-fluencer” (Vulture). A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, Zibby currently lives in New York (with frequent visits to L.A.) with her husband, Kyle Owens of Morning Moon Productions, and her four children ages 9 to 16. Follow her on Instagram @zibbyowens and Substack where she tells it like it is.

Rosayra Pablo Cruz is the mother of four children. She owned a small clothing store in Guatemala before coming to the United States. Now living in New York, she is the co-chair of her eldest son's Parent-Teacher Association and is active in her church and community.

Maria Pacheco is CEO of Storyful, a global leader in the provision of verified digital content to newsrooms and of digital media intelligence to corporations.  Prior to joining Storyful, Maria served as deputy head of News Corp’s corporate strategy team, spearheading global initiatives such as partnerships with Big Digital, and partnerships across News Corp companies.  Before her tenure at News Corp, Maria led international business development at Portland Communications, an Omnicom agency, where she also provided strategic guidance to clients on audience engagement, messaging, organizational design and digital campaign execution from New York and London. She has also worked in competitive planning and strategic partnerships at Comcast and ViacomCBS, and started her career at Univision in Miami.  Maria holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Danielle Paige is a graduate of Columbia University and the author of the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series. Before turning to young adult literature, she worked in the television industry, where she received a Writers Guild of America Award and was nominated for several Daytime Emmys. She currently lives in New York City.

Pamela Paul is a columnist for The New York Times, former editor of The New York Times Book Review, and the author of seven books. Her first book, “The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony” was named one of the best books of 2002 by The Washington Post; her second book, “Pornified,” was named one of the best books of 2005 by The San Francisco Chronicle. She is also the author of “Parenting, Inc.”, “By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review,” “My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues”, “How to Raise a Reader,” co-written with Maria Russo, and “Rectangle Time”.

American soul singer Danielle Ponder is both empowering and a powerhouse. In 2020, NPR described her music as anthemic while compassionate; soulful, while bold and strong. She reverberates with a goosebump-inducing passion,.” Danielle attended Northeastern University where she received her Juris Doctorate. For 5 years, Danielle worked as a public defender where she provided criminal defense to the indigent community. While working as a public defender, Danielle also toured Europe and scored an opening spot with George Clinton. In 2018, after five years as a public defender, she made the gutsy decision to pursue her No.1 passion — music. In 2021, Danielle performed at the Newport Jazz Festival where her performance was hailed as one of the stand out performances of the event. 2022 has been a banner year for Danielle with appearances on Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS This Morning, tours with Marcus Mumford, Amos Lee, St. Paul and the Broken Bones and Leon Bridges. Danielle’s debut album, Some of Us Are Brave, is out September 16th on Future Classic. Danielle continues to advocate for criminal justice reform and has been an influential leader in the Black Lives Matter movement in Rochester, NY.

An Arizona native, Kiley Reid is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was the recipient of the Truman Capote Fellowship. Her writing has been featured or is forthcoming in the New York Times, Playboy, Ploughshares, December, New South, and Lumina, where her short story was the first-place winner in the 2017 Flash Prose Contest. Her New York Times–bestselling debut novel, Such a Fun Age, is currently in development by Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Sight Unseen Pictures. Kiley lives in Philadelphia.

Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comedian, writer, producer, actress, and publisher. In addition to writing national best selling essay collections “You Can’t Touch My Hair,” “Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay,” and “Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes,” she launched her own imprint Tiny Reparations Books in 2020. Robinson is also the co-creator and co-star of the podcast “2 Dope Queens” and HBO series of the same name. Other onscreen work includes the TV adaptation of “Everything’s Trash,” and standup special “Sorry, Harriet Tubman,” both of which are produced by her company, Tiny Reparations.