Michelle Mitchell works at the vibrant intersection of media, social impact, law and policy — amplifying diverse, underrepresented voices, creating partnerships that elevate and nourish communities of color. Michelle drives strategy for the Strategic Communities Initiative, within Facebook’s Media Partnerships organization across Entertainment, News and Sports Partnerships — making representation real. Michelle spent ten years […]

Laurise is the Content Strategy Editor and founding member of @r29unbothered, the Refinery29’s IG for Black female empowerment, Laurise is an industry leader in all things audience development and digital growth. Prior to R29, Laurise has done social media for Fox Searchlight, MTV, ELLE magazine, Seventeen magazine, Girls’ Life magazine, Urban Outfitters and more. She […]

Sean McInerney is the Director of Human Resources at sparks & honey— where he’s worked for a little over 2 years. Prior to working at sparks & honey, Sean worked in Human Resources for droga5— a NYC based advertising agency. He’s also worked in account management and, prior to that, hospitality management.

A philanthropist who has presented over $1,000,000 in scholarships over the past eight years through her nonprofit Hip-Hop Sisters Foundation. An actress on shows such as Power, Queen of the South, SWAT, and more. Terms like lyricist, inspirational speaker, DJ, pioneer, icon, and entrepreneur describe one of the most prolific and well-respected female Hip Hop […]

Harvey Mason jr. is the Interim President and CEO of the Recording Academy®. In this role, he is the presiding officer of the Recording Academy and presides at all meetings of the Board of Trustees. He also chairs the Executive Committee and serves as a member of each Standing Committee, and in an Ex Officio […]

Jose is a Recruiter at Google in NYC supporting various Marketing teams in NYC, Bay Area, Los Angeles and Atlanta. As a seasoned Talent Acquisition professional, Jose has partnered with hiring managers at all levels to support their staffing needs and to creatively strategize on pipelining talent, at scale. Prior to Google, Jose spent 9 […]

Mita Mallick is a corporate change-maker with a track record of transforming businesses and cultures. She is head of diversity & inclusion and cross-cultural marketing at Unilever. Mallick is a columnist for SWAAY, and her writing has been published in The New York Post, Scary Mommy and The Riveter.

Named one of Essence Magazine’s ‘50 Founder’s to Watch’, Gia Lowe is a purpose-driven disrupter. As a social entrepreneur she is the founder of Glowe Group – a strategic marketing consultancy; Co-founder of CURLFEST, a beauty festival with close to 45,000 attendees annually, and Co-Founder of Curly Girl Collective, an multicultural agency & community of […]

Benjamin Lopez is responsible for the overall design, strategic planning and execution of all programs for the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). As Executive Director, he supervises the selection process and management of the Latino Media Market, a highly curated market that takes place during the NALIP Media Summit, the largest and most […]

Tom Llamas is an Emmy award-winning journalist, anchor of ABC News’ “World News Tonight” weekend editions and breaking news and live events for ABC News Live, and chief national affairs correspondent, reporting for all ABC News programs and platforms. Llamas has covered the most important stories in recent history. Most recently, he worked on investigative […]