Maurice Woods is a principal designer at Microsoft and the founder and executive director of Inneract Project.

Lisa Nakamura is the founding director of the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan.

Kelly Walters is the founder of the multidisciplinary studio Bright Polka Dot and an assistant professor of communications design at Parsons School of Design.

Ari Melenciano is an artist, creative technologist, educator, and the founder of Afrotectopia, a social institution fostering interdisciplinary innovation.

Maxwell Anderson is the president of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Community Partnership.

Deanna Van Buren is the co-founder of Designing Justice Designing Spaces, a nonprofit working to end mass incarceration by building an alternative infrastructure.

Maurice Cherry is the host of Revision Path and the principal and creative director at Lunch.

Janelle Monáe is a singer, songwriter, actor, and producer.

Paola Antonelli is senior curator of the department of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art.

Elizabeth Alexander is president of the Mellon Foundation.