Past Speakers
Speakers at our events have included Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi,
John Lewis, Russ Feingold, Trent Lott, Van Jones, Majora Carter, Tim Russert,
Samantha Power, Seymour Hersh, Ryan Gosling, and Talib Kweli. Below is a
longer list of some past speakers.
Martha Diaz
Community Organizer, founding president of the Hip-Hop Association
Ocean Robbins
Founder and co-director of YES!
Kamran Pasha
Writer and Producer of NBC television series Kings.
Magee McIlvaine
Co-Founder of Sol Productions, a non-profit film company
Maggie Fox
President and CEO, Alliance for Climate Protection
Liz Funk
author, freelance writer, and speaker who focuses on women's and college student wellness
Omekongo Dibinga
motivational speaker, tri-lingual poet, author, and educator
Sara Fatell
Political organizer
Troy G. Clair
Deputy Director of External Relations for Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer
Miriam Zoila Pérez
freelance writer and online communications consultant
Gus Lee
American author and ethicist
Howard Fuller
professor, Marquette Univeristy
Timothy McCarthy
professor Harvard Kennedy School
Shannon Minter, Esq.
Legal Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights
Louis Johnson
comedian
Vince Morris
comedian
Jacqueline DeCarlo
Senior Program Advisor, writer, Economic Justice Program, Catholic Relief Services
Parvez Sharma
activist, writer, and director of the film "A Jihad for Love"
Lyric Thompson
Policy Analyst at Women for Women International
Karin Wang
activist
Tony Lam
producer, screenwriter
Jen Horwitz
Field organizer for Amnesty International USA's Mid-Atlantic Regional Office
Pierre-Richard Prosper
Former Ambassador-at-large for the Secretary of State's Office of War Crimes Issues
R. Nicholas Burns
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Senator Shawn Mitchell
United States Senator from Colorado
Galen Peterson
Founding Director, Turf Unity Music Program
S. Bear Bergman
writer, theater artist, and a queer activist.
Mia Mingus
co-executive director of SPARK Reproductive Justice Now.
Faisal Alam
founder and former director of Al-Fatiha
Kenyon Farrow
activist, writer, and community organizer
Joseph “Church da poet” Churchwell
Poet, spoken word artist, writer
Frank Rich
author
Jamie Kilstein
Political stand up comic and co-host of the critically acclaimed radio show "Drunken Politics"
Nathan Rothstein
co-founder of the New Orleans Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals Initiative
Jessica “FM Supreme” Disu
Poet and community activist
Thomas DeFrantz
professor of theater and dance studies, MIT
Elizabeth Alexander
professor of African American Studies, Yale University
Elvin T. Lim
Assistant Professor, Wesleyan University
Raed Jarrar
architect and political analyst
Ray Rogers
founding director of the Corporate Campaign Inc.
Joseph Steve Franco
National Coordinator at Voto Latino
Josh Norek
Deputy Director, Voto Latino
Yas
hip-hop artist
Rep. Linda Sánchez
United States Representative from California
Miriam Yeung
executive director, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
Mary Mahoney
assistant director, Pro-Choice Public Education Project
Kierra Johnson
executive director, Choice USA
Michael Hirsh
international affairs writer for Newsweek, Washington Web Editor for Newsweek
James Kirchick
assistant editor of The New Republic
Masen Davis
executive director, Transgender Law Center
Maya Rockeymoore
founder, President, CEO of Global Policy Solutions
Kandi Mosset
tribal Campus Climate Challenge organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network
Monique Harden
co-founded Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Mary Anne Hitt
executive director, Appalachian Voices
Robert Cabrales
community organizer, Communities for a Better Environment
Julian Bond
chairman, NAACP. Civil rights activist.
Michael O’Leary
senior vice president and chief counsel for federal affairs and policy, the Motion Picture Association of America
Eloise-Rose Lee
program director, Media Alliance.
Julio Cardenas
Cuban poet and playwright
Michael Bracy
co-founder, the Future of Music Coalition. Advocate for the music community.
Mallika Dutt
founder and executive director of Breakthrough.
Nancy Rubin
former U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Commission on Human Rights
Tom Malinowski
Washington advocacy director, Human Rights Watch
Robert “Biko” Baker
Executive Director of The League of Young Voters.
Senator John Edwards
U.S. Senator from North Carolina, Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination
Malcom Glenn
editor and blogger
Pierce Freelon
activist and blogger
Keli Goff
blogger, commentator, and author of Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence
Hisham Mahmoud
Executive Editor, Zaytuna Curriculum Series
Imam Johari Abdul-Malik
Director of Outreach at the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Washington, DC
Sam Davis
policy analyst
Reverend Lennox Yearwood
President of The Hip Hop Caucus
Timothy L. Jenkins
chairman and CEO of Unlimited Visions, Inc.
Stefanie L. Brown
National Director of the NAACP Youth & College Division
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
director, producer, photographer
Elvis Mitchell
Film critic, producer, interviewer
Rachel Goslins
director, 'Bama Girl
Evan Wright
Author and screenwriter, "Generation Kill"
Eric Kocher
U.S. Marine and a member of First Reconnaissance Battalion
Mary McNamara
Author of "TV Crush" blog on Multichannel News
Elizabeth de la Vega
author of United States v. George W. Bush et. al.
Timothy Telleen-Lawton
policy analyst, Frontier Group
Kirsten Moore
President and CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project
Robyn Spencer
assistant professor of US history
Phil Donahue
host of the Phil Donahue show
Janessa Goldbeck
Director of Membership at the Genocide Intervention Network
Roméo A. Dallaire
Force Commander of the United Nations Mission to Rwanda
Jeff Johnson
Executive Director of Truth is Power
Maya Rockeymoore
President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions
Nikki Skies
Author, Activist, Peforming Artist and Educator
Michael Connery
author and journalist
Ray McGovern
former CIA Analyst
Raed Jarrar
Iraq Consultant to the American Friends Service Committee
Tim Russert
moderator of Meet the Press and Washington Bureau Chief of NBC News
Justin Krebs
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Living Liberally
Laughing Liberally
political comedians
Michael Hoffman
co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War
Matt Ortega
Internet Department for the Democratic National Committee
