Ken E. Nwadike, Jr., is a peace activist, motivational speaker, and video journalist known as the Free Hugs Guy online. Nwadike Jr is the founder of the Free Hugs Project, which produces motivational videos to spread love, inspire change, and raise awareness of social issues. His ‘Free Hugs’ videos have reached hundreds of millions of views on Facebook and YouTube. Once a homeless athlete himself, Ken is a leader who exemplifies resiliency and the power to pivot, creating a PPE company during the pandemic to protect his loved ones and those at risk who could not find them. He began the Black and Blue Podcast in 2020 ​with Sherriff Chris Swanson to make Unity cool and engage students in the civil discourse necessary for us all to move forward. With so many feeling alone due to the impact of COVID-19, Ken has the power to create truly important connections and positive human interaction.

Once America’s most notorious neo-Nazi, now a consultant for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and an inspirational speaker for Conscious Campus, Jeff Schoep tirelessly holds keynote talks, lectures, and workshops from his unique vantage point. For over 2 decades, Jeff Schoep lead America’s largest neo-Nazi organization, the National Socialist Movement (NSM), overseeing its growth to a nationwide movement. Beginning in 2016, through interactions with a black musician, Daryl Davis, and a Muslim film maker, Deeyah Khan, Jeff began to question not only his work, but his entire life. Experiencing relational dialogue and interpersonal relationships with those he once vilified changed Jeff’s life forever. In 2019, he left the the NSM and publicly denounced the ideology. In 2020, Jeff founded Beyond Barriers, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to a world devoid of extremism, radicalized organizations, hate, violence, coercive and violent ideologies. In addition to working alongside both community and government agencies, such as the Office of Juvenile Justice Department (OJJDP), Jeff and his organization, Beyond Barriers, have worked with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, RAND Corporation, International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE), mental health professionals, academic research and development teams, religious and educational institutions across the United States and abroad.

Kane is an international touring spoken word poet and hip hop artist, educator, and National Poetry Slam finalist. He is the Associate Director and an artist alumnus of Next Level, a cultural diplomacy program that sends American hip-hop artists around the world to use music and dance in promoting cultural exchange, artistic collaboration, and community building. Kane has performed, taught, and managed programs with youth and adults of all ages across the U.S. and abroad on five continents. Kane’s one-man show, Temples of Lung and Air, is a work of hip hop theater that premiered at Playmakers Repertory Company in 2018, was featured at the United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC in 2019, and will run as a full production at the Detroit Public Theater in Nov-Dec of this year. As a recording artist, Kane has released multiple albums featuring his poetry and hip hop music. He also featured on Grammy Award-winner King Mez’s debut album My Everlasting Zeal, and topped the Spotify Viral 50 billboard in May 2017 featuring on the song North Cack with G Yamazawa. The music video for the song appeared on BET Jams, and went on to win Best Music Video at the Hip Hop Film Festival in Harlem, NY. He has been a keynote speaker at various conferences, a TEDex presenter, and performed at the Shriver Report Live hosted by Atlantic Magazine. Kane showcased mainstage at NACA West in 2014, as a lecturer at NACA Nationals 2017, and won Best Educational Session at NACA South 2017.

CJ (he,him/they,them) is a performance poet, arts educator, and community organizer from Chapel Hill, NC, whose work is rooted in storytelling and social justice. CJ co-directed, produced, and starred in a historical reenactment of the 1947 Freedom Rides, performed at many national and local music festivals, including Gnarnia, Shakori Hills and Bonnaroo, and acted in a production of Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments. His career as an educator has allowed him to work with young people awaiting trial at the Durham Youth Home, older inmates whose voices have been silenced within the Orange County Correctional Facility, and high school and college-aged men pushing to redefine masculinity in their schools and communities. Additionally, he has collaborated with organizations such as Transplanting Traditions, Benevolence Farm, and Growing Change on the intersection of storytelling and food justice. CJ most recently appointed as the first Poet Laureate of Chapel Hill. He is committed to speaking truth to power and aims to be a bridge for communities who can’t always see themselves in each other.

Cady Shawi is director of the Woody Guthrie Center. As a historian and museum professional, Shaw brings more than 15 years of experience to the Tulsa Arts District. In her previous positions with the Choctaw and Cherokee nations, she curated exhibitions for the Municipal Library at Versailles in Paris, France; the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.; the Choctaw Cultural Center; and various locations throughout Oklahoma, California, and Texas. As director of the Woody Guthrie Center, Shaw will present major exhibitions, plan events and programming, and provide day-to-day oversight of the center among an extensive list of other responsibilities.

Steven Jenkins is director of the Bob Dylan Center, having moved to Tulsa in 2022 to take on this dream job following three decades of working in the nonprofit arts and culture sector in the San Francisco Bay Area. Steve has held leadership positions at museums, film festivals and publishing companies, and is the author and editor of several books and journals on visual arts. He also is the co-writer of a book for teen agers titled 97 Things to Do Before You Finish High School. Steve loves all sorts of music and movies and is an avid reader and traveler.

Grant Hughes is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist with an extensive work history, spanning several industries from public education to health technology to real estate. He began his career as a public-school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he taught for several years on assignment with Teach for America.

Hughes is currently a real estate investor and owner of BLRE Investments, an organization that invests in multi-family residential property and storage facilities. Additionally, he is the Founder and CEO of Drink Good Wine, a direct-to-consumer wine curation business that identifies and supports natural and regenerative wine-making practices, and he is the Co-founder and Managing Director of the Bush Hughes Foundation for Progress, an Oklahoma based family foundation he started with his wife Sophia Bush Hughes that is committed to creating positive change in our communities and in our nation through targeted support of individuals, organizations, and artists.

Previously, Hughes was the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of FocusMotion Health, an AI driven orthopedic recovery and virtual therapy company that was gamifying post-surgical recovery. During his time at the helm, FocusMotion Health was named the #2 Most Innovative Company in Sports by Fast Company and he received multiple patents.

Hughes graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma with two degrees, a BBA in Entrepreneurship, and a BA in Letters where he was selected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. At the University of Oklahoma, he was a member of the President’s Leadership Class under President David Boren and served on the advisory council for the JC Penney Leadership Program at the Price College of Business.

Grant also obtained a Master’s in Education from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and he went on to receive a Master’s in Business Administration from the Ross School of Business and a Master’s in Environmental Science from the School of Environment and Sustainability, both at the University of Michigan where he was a member of the interdisciplinary cohort of the Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Hughes won the Michigan Business Challenge Business Plan Competition for the most promising business to come out of the University of Michigan, and he was named the MBA Entrepreneur of the Year by the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.

While in Michigan, Hughes served as Co-President of Revitalization & Business Initiative, where he connected University of Michigan students with Detroit's evolving business landscape. He also cofounded and worked as President of Design+Business where he successfully developed new courses and curriculum for MBA students.

Hughes is also politically active and vocal about progressive issues. His voice has been featured in GQ and in Glamour alongside his wife, Sophia Bush Hughes.

Chuck Hoskin Jr. serves as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, the largest tribe in the United States with more than 440,000 citizens. Prior to being elected in 2019, he was Cherokee Nation’s Secretary of State and also served as a member of the Council of the Cherokee Nation. As Principal Chief, he increased minimum wage at Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses and secured the largest language investment in the tribe's history to expand Cherokee cultural preservation. He appointed the tribe's first delegate to the U.S. Congress. He prioritized health and wellness initiatives, including record investments in behavioral health and addiction treatment. Chief Hoskin has also expanded tribal workforce training programs, sustainable housing, protections for natural resources, and educational opportunities for Cherokees of all ages. He, along with First Lady January Hoskin, has elevated the voices of women and children, and their safety, within the Cherokee Nation Reservation.​

Dr. Tiffany T. Crutcher is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was thrust into the national spotlight following the death of her twin brother Terence Crutcher, who was shot by a police officer in Tulsa while holding his hands in the air. The murder of her brother compelled Tiffany to speak out against police brutality, particularly the killing of unarmed black men. She has chosen to turn her personal tragedy into an opportunity to bridge fear and mistrust and help transform a justice system that has perpetuated injustice dating back to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when white rioters burned down her great-grandmother’s prosperous community of Black Wall Street. Dr. Crutcher has remained committed to organizing coalitions throughout the country that promote the interests of minority communities. Dr. Crutcher is the founder of the Terence Crutcher Foundation (TCF), whose primary focus is criminal justice and policing reform, providing scholarships to African-American students, community and youth development, and policy advocacy.