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Social Justice Speakers


Our social justice speakers seek to transform the world through empathy, activism, and the entrepreneurial spirit needed to push through truly revolutionary change. Some have already succeeded; others are in the midst of their life’s work.

 

 

 

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Gabby Rivera

Author of Juliet Takes a Breath and the Marvel Comic Series America

Gabby Rivera is an outgoing, outspoken creator invested in fostering better dialogue, inspiring radical creativity, and improving our most vulnerable communities. The author of Juliet Takes a Breath, she’s also the writer of the Marvel series America—featuring the first queer, Latinx teen-girl superhero, ever. 
Nikole Hannah-Jones

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project | Executive Producer of the 1619 Project Hulu Docuseries | MacArthur Genius

Nikole Hannah-Jones was named a MacArthur Genius Grant Fellow (one of only 24 people chosen, globally) for “reshaping national conversations around education reform” and for her reporting on racial re-segregation in our schools. This is the latest honor in a growing list: she’s won a Peabody, a Polk, and a National Magazine Award for her story on choosing a school for her daughter in a segregated city.
 
Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School | Co-Host of Some of My Best Friends Are | Author of The Condemnation of Blackness

Khalil Gibran Muhammad is redefining our understanding of diversity. Former Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Harvard Kennedy School Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy, he explains how “bias education”—race ed.—can help individuals and institutions reconcile past with present and move toward greater equity.
 
George M. Johnson

New York Times Bestselling Author Of All Boys Aren’t Blue & We Are Not Broken | LGBTQIA+ Activist

For George M. Johnson, whose body of work on diversity and queer identity inspires readers across the world to “be themselves unapologetically,” writing has the power to change lives. Their New York Times bestselling memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue, a powerful recounting of George’s adolescence as a young Black Queer boy in New Jersey, is “an exuberant, unapologetic memoir infused with a deep but cleareyed love for its subjects” (The New York Times).
Michelle Coles

Civil Rights Attorney | Award-Winning Author of Black Was the Ink | Former attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice

How can we use the stories of unsung Black heroes to inspire the next generation of leaders? Michelle Coles is uniquely suited to answer this question. She bridges our past and our hoped-for future: a civil rights attorney with a focus on social justice, she’s also written an award-winning YA novel that sheds light on the heroic but forgotten contributions of Black people in American history. Named a Good Troublemaker by the John Lewis Foundation, Michelle helps young people find their voice so they can build the world they want to see.
 
Jonathan Metzl

Physician | Director, Department of Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University | Author of Dying of Whiteness

Can racial resentment have an impact on public health? In his explosive book Dying of Whiteness, psychiatrist, sociologist, and award-winning author Jonathan Metzl revealed how right-wing policies, rooted in white supremacy, have had destructive, often fatal consequences on our well-being. As the lopsided effects of the pandemic once again illuminate our inequities, he steers us toward a path of empathy, cooperation, and better health for all. Insightful and provocative, Metzl’s talks are a sorely needed intervention for a society confronting its biases and rebuilding anew.  
Marcus Bullock

Founder and CEO of Flikshop | Justice Reform Advocate | TED Speaker

At the age of 15, Marcus Bullock was sentenced to eight years in adult maximum security prison—for stealing a car. Now released, he’s turned his entrepreneurial vision into Flikshop, an ingeniously simple app that allows family members to connect with prisoners, who are otherwise isolated, via short messages and photos. Bullock’s story is the buzz of the tech world, the business community, prison reform groups, and audiences from The White House to SXSW to TED. In talks, he shares his powerful tale of perseverance and innovation in the face of remarkable obstacles.
Andrew Marantz

New Yorker Writer | Author of Antisocial

Social media has hijacked the global conversation. We face an informational crisis that is radicalizing youth, sowing confusion, and shaking democracy to its core. For his book Antisocial, Andrew Marantz spent four years with the two groups who increasingly control the web: the founders of social media platforms, and the conspiracists, trolls and white supremacists who use them to advance their toxic agendas. With clarity, courage, and humor, he explains how we got into this mess—and how we can get out. 
Yaël Eisenstat

Former National Security Official | Former Facebook Elections Integrity Head | Berggruen Institute Future of Democracy Fellow | Anti-Defamation League VP

Over the last two decades, Yaël Eisenstat has been a CIA Officer, a U.S. Diplomat, and a special advisor to Vice President Biden. Noticing that more and more Americans were having a hard time finding common ground, she switched her focus from counter-extremism overseas to the dangers back at home—starting with Silicon Valley. Eisenstat’s national security expertise landed her at Facebook, where she had the opportunity to work inside a company playing a major role in one of the biggest threats to our democracy.  Today, Eisenstat helps us navigate the choppy intersection of ethics, technology, society, and politics to create a better future.
John Elder Robison

Author of Look Me in the Eye and Switched On

John Elder Robison grew up with Asperger’s Syndrome, and was undiagnosed until the age of 40—and is living an incredible life.  With poignant examples, he shares a new way to look at disability and difference: neurodiversity is not a disease that needs curing, but a way of experiencing life that requires only understanding and encouragement. His books are the most widely read accounts of life with Asperger’s worldwide, and as a leading voice on autism, he implores audiences to find strengths where others see weaknesses.
Waneek Horn-Miller

Olympian, Activist, and Speaker on Indigenous Health and Reconciliation

Waneek Horn-Miller has overcome discrimination and trauma to emerge as one of North America’s most inspiring activists and Olympians. She empowers our communities to overcome adversity, and helps us turn reconciliation—justice, healing, and dialogue—into a cornerstone of our national institutions.
 
Angie Thomas

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Concrete Rose and The Hate U Give

Angie Thomas’ debut novel, The Hate U Give, has spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list, and her sophomore novel, On the Come Up is keeping it good company. Thomas’ keynotes resonate with the same authenticity, insight, and hope that make her writing so powerful, and give context and background to the culture, politics, and movement that inspired it. 
 
Hua Hsu

Bestselling author of Stay True | New Yorker staff writer | CBS Sunday Morning contributor

Our collective and individual identities are messy, amorphous, and impossible to define—but New Yorker writer and bestselling author Hua Hsu says that’s a good thing. Telling our own complex stories complicates the narratives that are told about us, and opens up new worlds of possibility. Hua’s memoir Stay True—which turned him into a “literary phenomenon” (The New York Times)—touches on the immigrant experience and growing up Asian-American; but more than that, it’s an exploration of grief, pop culture, being young, and how friendship helps us discover who we are.
Soraya Chemaly

Journalist & Author of Rage Becomes Her | Co-Founder and Director of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project

Being human means playing host to a variety of emotions—and it’s not optional. To award-winning author and viral TED speaker Soraya Chemaly, the trick is learning to see them as vital signals, critical to how well our organizations function. Chemaly speaks with crackling lucidity to the wealth of data that our emotions provide us with—at work, at home, and in the world at large. 
David Fleischer

Director of Leadership Lab | Community Activist

Prejudice is on the rise. Isn’t it? If so, then speaker David Fleischer is doing the impossible: reducing prejudice by knocking on strangers’ doors and offering them the opportunity to form new opinions. The effect is tangible—real, data-verified change. And he’ll teach you how to make it happen, too.  
Jelani Cobb

New Yorker Staff Writer | Columbia Journalism School Dean | Speaker on Race, History, Politics and Culture in America

Journalist, educator, and diversity speaker Jelani Cobb writes about the enormous complexity of race in America. Cobb has been praised for combining “the strengths of an on-the-scene reporter, a public intellectual, a teacher, a vivid writer, a subtle moralist, and an accomplished professional historian”—qualities he brings to his gripping talks.
LaToya Ruby Frazier

Award-Winning Photographer | Associate Professor at School of the Art Institute of Chicago | MacArthur Genius

For LaToya Ruby Frazier, art is a weapon—a catalyst for social justice. Her photographs and videos document today’s America: post-industrial cities riven by poverty, racism, healthcare inequality, and environmental toxicity. Bridging the personal with the social, her gorgeous work amplifies the voices of the vulnerable and transforms our sense of place and self.  
Annette Gordon-Reed

Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of On Juneteenth | Harvard Professor | MacArthur Genius

The first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for History, Annette Gordon-Reed is one of the most authoritative voices on race and history in America.
Jamil Zaki

Empathy Expert | Author of The War for Kindness | Director of Stanford's Social Neuroscience Lab

Most people think empathy is a trait—you have it or you don’t. Meaning, if you find empathy too hard, there’s nothing you can do. But empathy is a skill that anyone can get better at, says Jamil Zaki, a Stanford psychologist and one of America’s pre-eminent speakers on empathy.
 
Heather McGhee

Author of New York Times Bestseller The Sum of Us

What if, in the middle of your live TV appearance, someone called in and asked for advice in overcoming racial prejudice? For public policy expert and speaker Heather C. McGhee, the response was natural—she helped. From the personal to the corporate, McGhee’s talks kickstart a much-needed cultural effort towards putting systemic repair into action. 
Negin Farsad

Social Justice Comedian | Director of The Muslims Are Coming! | Author of How to Make White People Laugh

Negin Farsad is at the forefront of social justice comedy—a field that she insists totally exists (or should). A TED Senior Fellow, author of How to Make White People Laugh, and as one of few Iranian-American Muslim female comedian/filmmakers, Farsad uses humor—full-scale ridiculousity—to bridge the racial, religious, social, and immigrant gap. 
Shaun King

Activist | Founder & CEO of The North Star | Author of Make Change

When it comes to the Black Lives Matter movement, they’re talking specifically about human dignity for African Americans. And for this movement, journalist, humanitarian, and activist Shaun King, a columnist for The Intercept and the Writer-In-Residence at Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project, is amongst the most compelling voices.
 
Sue Gardner

Executive Director of The Markup | Former Director of Wikimedia Foundation

The fight to keep the internet democratic and easily-accessible is one of society’s most urgent battles. Sue Gardner, the former Executive Director of Wikimedia, has been speaking on this topic for years. She offers a clear-eyed take on why a robust, transparent, and unobstructed internet, with the free flow of ideas and information, is essential to a healthy democracy. 
Teju Cole

Professor of Creative Writing at Harvard | Author of Black Paper | Former Photography Critic for NYT Magazine

A prodigious novelist, critic, and photographer, Teju Cole’s first novel, Open City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award. His second, Every Day Is for the Thief, was named a Book of the Year by The New York Times. Most recently, Cole produced Blind Spot—a synthesis of written observations and travel photography. 
Wanuri Kahiu

Acclaimed Writer & Director of Rafiki | Co-Founder of AFROBUBBLEGUM

Wanuri Kahiu is an acclaimed artist and filmmaker who shatters conventional thinking about representation in African culture. Kahiu creates work in her very own genre, which she’s coined “AfroBubbleGum”: an aesthetic mash-up of Marvel’s Black Panther and the candy store of your dreams. In talks, Kahiu shows why “fun, fierce and frivolous African art” is a political act.   
Mira Nair

Director of Queen of Katwe, Salaam Bombay!, The Namesake, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Raised in India, schooled at Harvard, and living in New York City, Mira Nair uses her natural grasp of identity conflict to make films that explore race, gender, inter-generational strife, cultural appropriation and displacement. A poignant speaker, she captures beautifully the tug of competing worlds felt by millions of immigrants around the world. 
Spike Lee

Oscar-Winning Director of BlacKkKlansman, Do the Right Thing, and When the Levees Broke

Spike Lee needs no introduction. In person, the provocateur and media icon is never at a loss for words. As one of the most outspoken African American voices, he talks candidly, and with authority, about issues of race in mainstream media and Hollywood, using as a backdrop a rare behind-the-scenes look at his celebrated body of work. 
 
Vanessa Grigoriadis

Author of Blurred Lines: Rethinking Sex, Power and Consent on Campus

For three years, the award-winning investigative journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis embedded herself in colleges across America, conducting hundreds of interviews with the survivors of sexual assault, the accused, the parents, the professors, and the administrators. In her bestseller, Blurred Lines, and in clear-eyed keynotes, she maps out strategies to create safer, happier, more edifying college experiences—not just for students, but also for those who guide their lives in those crucial four years.
 
Anthony Jack

Assistant Prof. of Ed. at Harvard University | Author of The Privileged Poor

A student from a low-income background attends an elite university on scholarship, and finds themself burdened by that status. Upheaval like this will be addressed when modern institutions revise the policies of subtle, and not-so-subtle, exclusion that harden these divisions between students. In the ongoing dialogue about race, inclusion, and social justice, Jack’s talks provide a firm foundation for that conversation. 
Titus Kaphar

2018 MacArthur Fellow | Award-Winning Painter and Sculptor

With more urgency than a headline, Titus Kaphar’s artworks capture the spirit of social justice and change in America today (exemplified in his TIME cover portrait of the Ferguson protests). Kaphar’s art and talks expose racism, inequality, and a criminal justice system that is anything but just.
 
Yancey Strickler

Co-founder & Former CEO of Kickstarter | Author of This Could Be Our Future

Our current society is trapped by three assumptions, says writer and Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler: that the point of life is to maximize self-interest and wealth; that we’re individuals trapped in an adversarial world; and that this is natural. Strickler urges us to discard these three  assumptions, his electric keynotes showing us how we got here and—more importantly—how we can turn this ship around. 
 
 
Naomi Klein

Author of On Fire, No Is Not Enough, This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, & No Logo

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and the #1 international bestselling author of seminal books The Shock Doctrine and No Logo. In her book This Changes Everything, and in powerful new talks, she exposes the myths of the climate debate. 
Reza Aslan

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Zealot and God: A Human History | Executive Producer of United States of Al

Reza Aslan is an internationally-renowned writer, commentator, professor, and religious scholar, whose NYT bestselling books and packed lectures have propelled him to the frontlines in the fight against white nationalism. Aslan argues that it is fear—organized and well-funded—that perpetuates bigotry and victimizes us all. Only united will we have the power to fight it.
 
Major MJ Hegar

Author of Shoot Like a Girl | Leadership Speaker | Foreign Policy 100 Leading Global Thinker

Major MJ Hegar is a force to be reckoned with. While piloting her third tour of Afghanistan, she took a bullet to her helicopter’s windshield. Badly injured, and under heavy fire, she flew her team to safety, conducting a near-impossible landing. An incredible story—soon to be a major motion picture—Hegar’s bravery inspires audiences to persevere through change, hardship, and any obstacles in their way. 
Bill Strickland

An Extraordinary Business and Community Leader

Bill Strickland created an empire by stoking genius in those who believed they had nothing. The Founder and Chairman of Manchester Bidwell—an arts and training center with a $10 million annual budget—Strickland fuels hope, generates jobs, and empowers underprivileged citizens to become experts in any field. With his company tied with Apple for most Harvard Business Review case studies (four), Strickland confidently shows us how to pursue social restoration and profit with a conscience.
Jessica Jackley

Co-Founder of Kiva, the microlending site, and Author of Clay Water Brick

You can do good and do well at the same time. Just ask Jessica Jackley, founder of KIVA, the world’s most successful microlending site. Praised by the likes of Oprah and Bill Clinton, Jackley champions diverse skill sets,  and dreaming big. On stage, Jackley delivers an upbeat and enduring message: you can synthesize your disparate skills to create a meaningful life and career.  
Ashton Applewhite

Anti-Ageism Activist | Author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism

Ashton Applewhite is a leading voice in an emerging movement dedicated to dismantling ageism and making age a criterion for diversity. The author of This Chair Rocks, she reveals the untapped possibilities of late life—in our communities, at work, and in ourselves. 
 
Jeff Chang

Social Historian, Cultural Critic & Community Organizer | Author of We Gon’ Be Alright and Can’t Stop Won’t Stop

“Culture moves before politics,” says Jeff Chang, who writes on art, multiculturalism, and racial progress in post-civil rights America with the sweeping authority of the best social historians. In We Gon’ Be Alright—his acclaimed essay collection, adapted into a digital series—he explores the meaning of diversity in an era of racial and economic resegregation: telling a lively and tumultuous narrative of modern American life.
 
Dr. Richard Heinzl

Founder of Doctors Without Borders, Canada

Richard Heinzl is the founder of Doctors Without Borders Canada: the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization that has inspired a movement among medical professionals to help the world’s most vulnerable populations. Modest and deeply passionate, he shares stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the midst of war and other challenges—and how technology is changing the face of medicine around the globe. 
Kimberley Motley

International Human Rights Lawyer | Author of Lawless | TED Speaker

Kimberley Motley is the only foreign litigator working in Afghanistan. Armed with an unwavering determination and a passion for justice, she navigates the country’s punitive and capricious legal system with unprecedented success. In keynotes, she talks about the global human rights economy, and how and why we should all pay attention to—and take full advantage of—the rule of law.  
Megan Phelps-Roper

Former Member of the Westboro Baptist Church | Author of Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church

Megan Phelps-Roper grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church: a group infamous for its intolerance. But dialogue on Twitter showed her another life was possible—and in 2012, she escaped her home, family, and faith. Now, with a popular TED Talk, a major New Yorker profile, and an upcoming memoir and film adaptation, she is a unique example of how empathy can overcome hate.
 
Wajahat Ali

TED Speaker | Author of Go Back to Where You Came From | Daily Beast Columnist

Wajahat Ali—a New York Times contributing op-ed writer who regularly appears on CNN to discuss politics—is a new kind of public intellectual. In hilarious, politically up-to-the-minute talks, Ali shows how to learn from, and join with what he calls “the multicultural coalition of the willing”—the emergent generation poised for social change.  
Margot Lee Shetterly

Author of Hidden Figures, the #1 New York Times bestseller and hit film

Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures—a #1 NYT bestseller and inspiration for a #1 movie in America—is the true story of the black women mathematicians at NASA who helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. In talks, Shetterly celebrates these unsung heroes, teasing out issues of race, gender, science, and innovation against the backdrop of WWII and the Civil Rights Era .
Jake Porway

Founder of DataKind | AI Engineer + Social Cause “Matchmaker”

As the founder of DataKind, Jake Porway connects nonprofits, NGOs, and other social change organizations with AI engineers and data scientists willing to donate their knowledge to solve social, environmental, and community problems. In his charismatic talks, Porway shows how we can push AI to be a transformative technology that reflects the best, most diverse aspects of our humanity. 
 
Candy Chang

Urban Space Artist Behind the "Before I Die" Walls

World-renowned artist and urban designer Candy Chang engages communities to share everything from their greatest hopes to their deepest anxieties in public. The Atlantic calls her artwork Before I Die “one of the most creative community projects ever.” In her captivating and intimate talks, she demystifies the creative process, inspires personal reflection, and provokes new ideas for community and well-being.  
Molly Crabapple

Award-Winning Artist and Journalist | Author of Brothers of the Gun

Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer whose work has been described as “God’s own circus posters,” by Rolling Stone. Unabashedly political, she worked with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to create a moving and beautiful short film about the Green New Deal. Crabapple’s art engages injustice, subversiveness, and rebellion. 
Angela Davis

Legendary Human Rights Activist

Angela Davis is internationally known for her ongoing work to combat all forms of oppression in the U.S. and abroad. Her work as an educator—both at the university level and in the larger public sphere—has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality.    
Minnijean Brown-Trickey

Civil Rights Legend Who Helped Desegregate Public Schools

In 1957, Minnijean Brown-Trickey changed history by striding through the front doors of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. As a member of the Little Rock Nine, she helped desegregate public schools—a milestone in civil rights history—and alter the course of education in America. Her talks are a sweeping exploration of social change and a reminder that the fight is far from over.