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Trending Speakers 

Speakers presenting at the cutting edge of politics, social justice, the arts, science, and more.

 

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Gabby Rivera

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

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—that’s catching headlines from The New York Times, CNN, Vogue, and beyond.
 
Emily Bazelon

Author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration

Emily Bazelon sheds vital light on the enormous and oft-misused power of the American judicial system in shaping our society. Her crucial research—as explored in both her talks and new book, Charged—provide a bracing investigation of a criminal justice system with unchecked power, and the remarkable efforts being made to address and reform the national crisis that mass incarceration represents.  
 
Wajahat Ali

Attorney, Playwright, and New York Times Op-Ed Contributor

Wajahat Ali speaks on the multifaceted American experience, covering our growing need for cultural unity, racial diversity and inclusion. 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. 
 
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. 
 
David Wallace-Wells

Author of the Instant New York Times Bestseller The Uninhabitable Earth

In his critically-hailed instant New York Times bestseller The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells tells the epic story of our time. In urgent talks, he asks key questions—how will the map of global power shift as coastlines are redrawn?—and reminds us that everything is within our control, so long as we resist complacency.
 
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—by celebrating art that’s made for the simple joy of it. In talks, Kahiu shows why “fun, fierce and frivolous African art” is a political act, because seeing African citizens as healthy, financially stable, and fun-loving emphasizes their humanity in crucial, refreshing, and much-needed ways. 
 
Jamil Zaki

Director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab | Author of The War for Kindness (June 2019)

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. Zaki offers an exciting new take on empathy: how to make our workplaces, our homes, our world, more empathetic.
 
Angie Thomas

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of On the Come Up and The Hate U Give

When Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up was #1 on The New York Times bestseller list, the #2 spot was held by her debut novel, The Hate U Give. 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. 
 
Paul Tough

Bestselling Author of How Children Succeed and Helping Children Succeed

Paul Tough challenges the belief that intelligence, endlessly measured by test scores, is the sole predictor of how well a child will do in school and in life. In his bestselling book How Children Succeed, he ushered in a tidal change in thinking with his argument that curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, self-control, and grit are better indicators of success than IQ.