Crystal Burwell is a mental health counselor who specializes in treating young people suffering from depression, PTSD, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders. As a director of Newport Academy, a youth mental health clinic in Atlanta, Ga., Burwell focuses on systemic and environmental factors.

Aditi Pai is a professor of biology and co-director of the Teaching Resource and Research Center at Spelman College. She is an expert on genealogy and evolutionary biology, focusing on sexual selection. Pai piloted Spelman’s Genetic and Genealogy Program, where students track their genes, their history, and their relatedness to other humans in the world.

Imelda Reyes is a clinical assistant professor at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and a pediatric nurse practitioner with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Her research focuses on identifying and managing overweight and obesity in children; parental perception of weight and health of children; and reproductive healthcare of teenagers.

Tristan Walker is a technology entrepreneur who aims to diversify the tech industry by recruiting top young Black and Latinx talent to Silicon Valley. In 2012, he left his position as director of business development at Foursquare to found Walker & Company, which creates beauty products for people of color.

David A. Thomas is the 12th president of Morehouse College. He is an expert in organizational change, and spent decades researching and writing about diversity in business leadership. Under his guidance, Morehouse has innovated in STEM education and expanded its online class offerings.

Oncologist and epidemiologist Dr. Otis W. Brawley is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he focuses on developing cancer screening strategies and ensuring their effectiveness. He also directs community outreach programs for underserved populations throughout Maryland.

Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice is the president and dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine. Rice is the first woman to lead a freestanding medical school. She is a Harvard-trained obstetrician and gynecologist and a specialist in women’s and minority health issues.

Charles Isbell is the dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, a professor of interactive computing, executive director of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing, and an expert in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Dorothy A. Brown is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. She is a nationally recognized scholar in tax policy, race and class and has published extensively on the racial implications of federal tax policy. Her new book, The Whiteness of Wealth (2021), covers racism in the U.S. tax code.

Andra Gillespie is an associate professor of political science at Emory University and director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference. Her research focuses on the political leadership of the post-civil rights generation.

Jerry Gonzalez is the founder and CEO of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) and the GALEO Latino Community Development Fund. Gonzalez has been named one of “Georgia’s 100 Most Influential” by Georgia Trend Magazine. GALEO’s mission is to increase civic engagement and leadership development of the Latino/Hispanic community across Georgia.

Michael Leo Owens is an associate professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta, researching urban politics, state and local politics, the politics of criminal punishment, governance and public policy processes, religion and politics, and African American politics. Owens served on the national advisory boards of the Georgia Justice Project and Foreverfamily.

Beverly Tatum is a psychologist, a leader in higher education and an expert on the psychology of racism. Tatum is president emerita of Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts college for women in Atlanta.

Sabrina Harvey Merritt is the founder and CEO of Atlanta-based October Social Media, a social media marketing, training and consulting company.