Aaron Rasmussen is an entrepreneur, inventor, and game designer. He's best known as a founder of educational platforms MasterClass and Outlier.org, the latter known for creating impactful for-credit online college courses with the aim of promoting affordable, equitable education. Students at Outlier receive transcripted transferable credits from the University of Pittsburgh. Outlier recently launched associate degrees with Golden Gate University that cost less than the average Pell Grant award enabling students to receive an education at zero cost to them. At MasterClass, Rasmussen was both Creative Director and CTO, creating courses taught by notable experts. The video game he co-wrote, BlindSide, has won multiple awards and is being adapted into a film.

Alejandro Aravena graduated as an architect from Universidad Católica de Chile in 1992. Between 2000 and 2005 he was a professor at Harvard University, where he founded Elemental, a "Do Tank" founded in 2001. Elemental is led by Alejandro Aravena along with partners Gonzalo Arteaga, Juan Cerda, Victor Oddó, and Diego Torres.

In 2010 he was named Honorary International Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects. Since 2011, he has been a member of the Council of the Cities Program of the London School of Economics. In 2014, he gave a TED Global Talk. Aravena's and Elemental's works have been recognized by awards including the Silver Lion at Venice Biennale (2008) and the Gothenburg Award for Sustainability (2017). In 2016, Aravena was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize and was the Curator of the XV Venice Biennale. Since 2020, he has been the President of the Pritzker Prize Jury.

Anya Schiffrin is the director of the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a senior lecturer who teaches on global media, innovation and human rights.  She writes on journalism and development, investigative reporting in the global south and has published extensively over the last decade on the media in Africa. More recently she has become focused on solutions to the problem of online disinformation, earning her PhD (with honors) on the topic from the University of Navarra. She is the editor of Women in the Digital World, (Routledge, April 2023) Global Muckraking: 100 Years of Investigative Reporting from Around the World (New Press, 2014) and African Muckraking: 75 years of Investigative journalism from Africa (Jakana 2017) She is the editor of Media Capture: How Money, Digital Platforms and Governments Control the News (Columbia University Press 2021.) Dr. Schiffrin's work with economist Haaris Mateen on the valuation of news has been cited in the Atlantic, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post and many other publications. She is a leading thinker and commentator on AI and publishing, media sustainability as well as mis/disinformation and media impact.

Armando Iannucci’s screenplay for the film 'In The Loop' was nominated for an Oscar at the Academy Awards. His iconic series for the BBC 'The Thick of It'  was nominated for 13 BAFTA Awards, winning five during its four series run. Among his own award-winning shows, he is also the co-creator and writer of the popular Steve Coogan character Alan Partridge. Armando's HBO comedy 'Veep' has picked up numerous awards, including four Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series over the last four years. His film adaptation of Charles Dickens' 'The Personal History of David Copperfield' was released in January 2020, which has won numerous awards including Best Screenplay at the WGBA and Best Screenplay at BIFA, was also nominated for a Golden Globe, and won a 'Seal Distinction' from the US Critics' Choice Association. In 2017, he published 'Hear Me Out', a new book on classical music, and released the feature film 'The Death of Stalin', which was nominated for two BAFTAs and won Best Comedy at the European Film Awards. His latest HBO series, 'Avenue 5', which starred Hugh Laurie and Josh Gad, ran for two series on SKY 2020 and 2022. Armando is currently working on a new comedy for HBO entitled ‘The Franchise’ with Sam Mendes, and will be making his debut as a playwright with ‘Pandemonium’ at London’s Soho Theatre, followed by the highly anticipated stage adaption of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr Strangelove’ which sees Armando reuniting with Steve Coogan in the titular role. The play will open in London’s West End in fall 2024.

Arwa Damon is a five-time Emmy winning former CNN Senior International Correspondent. While her career has taken her across the globe, she is best known for her coverage of the Middle East, especially out of Iraq and Syria, and for the human stories she brings into her reporting. She is also the recipient of numerous Peabody Awards, the Investigative Reporters and Editors award for her coverage of the 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, and the prestigious “Courage in Journalism” award by the International Women’s Media Foundations. In 2015 Arwa founded her charity, the International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance, INARA, that provides comprehensive holistic medical and mental health care for children impacted by war and natural disasters who otherwise would not be receiving treatment. In 2022 Arwa parted ways with CNN to direct and produce the award-winning documentary “Seize the Summit” and focus on growing and expanding INARA. She is also a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council.

Becky is Coda Story’s Senior Audio Producer. She produced and co-wrote Coda’s podcast series for Audible – ‘Undercurrents: Tech, Tyrants and Us’. Before joining Coda Becky spent 25 years with the BBC as a foreign news producer, for radio and TV. She was based in South Africa and Kenya for 7 years, and before than spent many years in Asia. With the BBC she produced the award-winning ‘Blood Lands’ podcast, a true crime story set in rural South Africa. She also produced BBC News’ first virtual reality news documentaries and is especially interested in using spatial sound to create immersive experiences.

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Branko Brick started his book publishing career in 1984 in what was then Yugoslavia. The highlights included the complete works of William Shakespeare, Complete Greek Tragedies and Miroslav’s Gospel, the Serbian nation’s holiest book, which was included in Unesco’s Memory of the World upon re-publication. In South Africa, Branko launched, and edited, several publications, including the magazines Timbila, Brainstorm, Maverick and Empire, and the newspaper 168, South Africa’s final weekend newspaper. In late 2009, Branko launched Daily Maverick, an online daily with readership of 12-million monthly unique visitors as of 20 March 2023. In June 2018, Branko won Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity, considered South Africa’s premier journalism award. The #GuptaLeaks, Daily Maverick’s most famous contribution so far, in collaboration with amaBhungane and News24, brought many more awards, among them the 2019 Global Shining Light Award, shared with Maria Ressa’s The Rappler in Philippines.

Christopher Wylie is a social researcher and data scientist. He has served as a senior adviser in both the British and Canadian governments, and has extensive experience using technology to improve communication and citizen engagement. With an avid interest in cultural applications of technology, his postgraduate research focused on fashion trend forecasting. Christopher is the former Director of Research for Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group, which was a UK-based military contractor specializing in information warfare. He witnessed firsthand how culture, information and algorithms were being weaponized by militaries, governments and companies to undermine elections around the world. In 2018, Wylie worked with The Guardian and New York Times as a whistleblower to expose how social media data was being exploited and turned against ordinary citizens. His testimonies at the United States Congress and British Parliament served as a wake-up call for many and have quickly led to new legislative proposals in both countries.

Claudia Milne is senior vice president, Standards and Practices for CBS News and Stations, where she oversees all CBS News editorial standards and ensures they are being maintained across all CBS News, stations and digital platforms.

Ed Caesar is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He is the author of two books, most recently The Moth and the Mountain, which tells the story of a solo attempt to climb Everest in 1934, and was named a Times and Sunday Times book of the year, among other awards. As a journalist, he has covered war, organised crime, financial crime, and some more enjoyable things, like DJs, tennis matches, and the world's largest diamond. Kevin Costner once asked him if he was "anxious to die". He is not.

Eliza Anyangwe is Managing Editor of CNN’s multi-award-winning gender inequality reporting team As Equals, and co-founder of The Gender Beat, a collaborative project to promote nuanced, impactful gender journalism and build a supportive community for those who produce it. Before joining CNN in February 2021, she was Managing Editor of The Correspondent, a platform for constructive, member-funded, ad-free journalism. Eliza has spoken about gender, journalism or international development on stages from SXSW to TED Global; has written for The Guardian, Al Jazeera and the FT; and has appeared on Newsnight, BBC World Service, PRI’s The World and Our Body Politic, among others. She is a contributing author to Africa’s Media Image in the 21st Century, published by Routledge.

Illustrator George Butler reports on the ground from conflict zones, climate hotspots and humanitarian crises, using pen, ink and watercolours to highlight personal stories of resilience. By slowing down and going deeper than the headlines, his humanistic approach is shifting how we think about the news. He has written and illustrated two books on Migration and Ukraine. His work has been published by the BBC, The Guardian, NYT,  and is held in V&A Museum collection.

He is a TEDx speaker and TED Fellow and his drawings for VQR magazine won Best Illustrated story at the ASME Awards in the USA in 2023.  In 2014 he won the V&A Illustration Award and the Breakaway Award at the International Media Awards presented by Don McCullin.  And in 2023 he was shortlisted for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Award.

George is a co-founder of Action Syria, a NGO he started to support doctors and teacher salaries in Syria, which has raised £9million.

Ghaith Abdulahad is an award-winning Iraqi author and journalist, born and raised in Baghdad. He studied architecture at the University of Baghdad before turning to journalism in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S. invasion. Since then, Abdulahad has reported extensively for The Guardian, covering major conflicts across the Middle East and beyond—including Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Iraq. His work has earned numerous awards, including the Orwell Prize for Journalism, the British Press Award, and two Emmys, among others. In 2023, he published his critically acclaimed debut book, A Stranger in Your Own City—an unflinching account of the catastrophic aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the years of civil war that followed.

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2000, Giorgi studied the piano without ever thinking about a professional career as a pianist. He is passionate about the folksongs of his country, which he likes to arrange and sing. He even participated in the Georgian version of ‘The Voice’ and won the competition at the age of 13. He continued his musical training at the Paliashvili Central Music School for Gifted Children and entered the Tbilisi State Conservatory, in the class of Revaz Tavadze. Giorgi’s pianistic career took a decisive turn in April 2019 when he won First Prize at the Vigo International Piano Competition. A few months later, Giorgi won Third Prize and the Audience Prize at the Sixty-Second Busoni Competition. In 2021, he received the Hortense Anda- Bührle Special Prize at the Fifteenth Géza Anda Piano Competition in Zurich, which was followed by an invitation to take part in the KlavierOlymp in Bad Kissingen, where he won First Prize and the Audience Prize. In March 2023, Giorgi celebrated another great success. He won the 2nd Prize at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and was also awarded the Junior Jury Prize, the Prize for the best chamber music and 5 out of 6 audience prizes. Since September 2021, Giorgi has been studying with Nelson Goerner in Geneva. He is supported by the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation and the Géza Anda-Foundation. In the 2022/23 season he is a Classeek Ambassador artist. He is supported by Bayer Kultur’s stARTacademy. Alongside his career as a classical pianist, he has created with his friends an electronic and experimental music group, Tsduneba, which means ‘temptation’ in Georgian.

Joe Sabia is a filmmaker and digital artist with an intuitive talent for conceiving viral concepts and formats. Joe is the creator and interviewing voice of Vogue’s iconic “73 Questions” series featuring 90 of the world's biggest A-list celebrities like Taylor Swift, Adele, Roger Federer, Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lawrence. He is also the interviewer of the annual “Billie Eilish, One Year Later” series for Vanity Fair. Joe directed his first feature film “FEDERER: 12 FINAL DAYS” for Amazon Studios on the retirement of Roger Federer from tennis, alongside director Asif Kapadia. He currently acts as a creative director for TEAM8 Studios, leading the development and execution of content for Roger Federer, Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton. Before Studio Sabia, Joe was the SVP of Creative Development at Condé Nast Entertainment, leading the creation of digital franchises like Wired's “Autocomplete Interviews”, Vanity Fair’s “Lie Detector Interviews”, Glamour’s “You Sang My Song”, GQ’s “Actually Me”. Joe is an advisor to Masterclass, The Moth, Outlier.org and Tonebase Piano. He runs his own creative strategy agency/production company called Studio Sabia, with clients like Audible, Youtube, Spotify, American Express, Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, Carnegie Hall, and UNICEF. Joe is a lifelong classical piano lover and amateur pianist and considers himself the unofficial cultural ambassador to the country of Georgia.

Johnny Harris is an Emmy-winning independent journalist and contributor to the New York Times. Based in Washington, DC, Harris reports on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe, publishing to his audience of over 5 million on Youtube. Harris produced and hosted the twice Emmy-nominated series Borders for Vox Media. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways.

Jon Lee Anderson is an internationally recognised journalist, author, and war correspondent. He began his reporting career in the early 1980s, chronicling Central America’s civil wars for TIME magazine and other journals. As a New Yorker staff writer since 1998, he has covered numerous international conflicts, including those in Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Angola, Mali, Liberia, and Central African Republic. Anderson’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, El Pais, Internazionale, The Financial Times, and other publications. Jon Lee has also written about well-known contemporary figures, such as Gabriel García Márquez, Hugo Chávez, Fidel Castro, Augusto Pinochet, Spain’s King Juan Carlos, and Saddam Hussein. He is the author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, The Fall of Baghdad, and several other books. He has won a number of awards and distinctions, including several from the Overseas Press Club, as well as the Maria Moors Cabot Gold Medal for his reporting on Latin America. Jon Lee is on a number of journalism award juries, including the Swiss-based True Story Award, the Michael Jacobs Travel Writing Fund, and as a member of the board of directors of the Fundación Gabo (formerly New Journalism Foundation), founded by Gabriel García Márquez, he helps choose winners for the annual Premios Gabo. Once a year, he gives workshops to young Latin American reporters.

Joseph E. Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is also the co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD, the co-chair of The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) and the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute. Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001. He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University, in 2000. He has been a member of the Columbia faculty since 2001 and received that university's highest academic rank (University Professor) in 2003. In 2011 Stiglitz was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2024 he was named an Honorary Academician by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society.

Julia Watson is a food writer and has contributed to publications including The Observer, The Sunday Times, the Mail on Sunday, the Washington Post, Gourmet, The National Interest and other outlets. She has also broadcast on NPR. For almost a decade she was the Food Writer for international news agency United Press International and ran her own food web site, eatWashington.com. She twice won Gourmand International’s award for World’s Best French Cookbook. Bruno's Cookbook has just been published by Knopf in the US and by Quercus in the UK.

Julie Posetti is the Global Director of Research at the International Center for Journalists. She previously was a Senior Research Fellow at the RISJ and led the Journalism Innovation Project at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. She researches at the intersection of journalism, digital media, and freedom of expression. Posetti is the author of Protecting Journalism Sources in the Digital Age (UNESCO 2017) and the co-editor of Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation (UNESCO 2018). She was awarded her PhD in December 2018, and her academic research has been published internationally in peer reviewed journals and scholarly books. Dr Posetti brings over two decades of high-level international journalism practice to her research, including time as a news editor, documentary reporter and national political correspondent with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). She has been awarded the Australian Human Rights Awards for Radio, and the Australian National Press Club’s ‘German Award for Journalism’. More recently, her work has been published by The Atlantic, Harvard University’s Nieman Lab, the BBC, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian.

Liz Gibbons is Executive Editor of the BBC World Service’s Long Form and Investigations Department which produces a range of documentaries and podcasts including Africa Eye and BBC Eye, and also produces short form digital investigations. Liz is a former Deputy Editor of BBC Newsnight and previously ran the BBC’s World News TV channel.

Founder and CEO of News Revenue Hub, former Publisher of Voice of San Diego.

Michelle Darby has been facilitating stories through directing, acting, singing, and teaching for almost 40 years. She began teaching true, personal narrative storytelling at Stanford University in 2013. Most recently, she curates and coaches stories for WGBH/The World’s “Stories From the Stage” in Boston, MA. Ever since discovering theater in college, Michelle has been passionate about the power of personal stories to transform the teller and the listener.

Nabeelah Shabbir is a British-Pakistani freelance journalist, based in Amsterdam. As Senior Research Associate at the Washington DC-based International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), Nabeelah collaborates with a small team of women investigating topics such as: disinformation in newsrooms around the world; journalism after the pandemic; and online violence against women journalists. She is co-author of a series of reports at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford about digital-born news media; innovation in news media in the Global South; and the impact of the Panama Papers investigation, three years on. At The Guardian, Nabeelah shared a British Journalism Award with the “Keep it in the Ground” team, which focused its reporting on fossil fuel divestment and climate change, in 2015. She was also a “European Young Journalist” of the year for her writing in Kosovo in 2008.

Nadia is a writer and pianist. She is a regular contributor to the Financial Times and her articles, essays, and criticism also appear in publications including The New Yorker, National Geographic, the Guardian, and the Times Literary Supplement among several others. She was editor-in-chief of The Calvert Journal, an award-winning magazine covering contemporary art, culture and society in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Prior to that, she was Moscow correspondent for The Independent. Her first book, a memoir on music, life and the art of amateurism, will be out in 2025/26 by WW Norton and Faber & Faber.

Natalia Antelava is a co-founder of ZEG Fest and co-founder and editor-in-chief of Coda Story, an award-winning newsroom that covers the roots of global crises. Originally from Tbilisi, Natalia has been a BBC correspondent in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East, Washington DC and India. She has covered the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008, the wars in Iraq and in Eastern Ukraine and reported undercover from Burma, Yemen and Uzbekistan. Her investigations into human rights abuses in Central Asia, Iraq and the United States have won her a number of awards. In addition to a career in broadcast journalism, she has written for the Guardian, Forbes magazine and the New Yorker. She is currently John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.

Nick Laparra is a storyteller, educator, and activist. He is the founder of Let’s Give A Damn, a multifaceted organization that helps people live absurdly intentional and ethical lives.

The son of a Guatemalan immigrant, Nick was born in Upstate NY but moved to Guatemala with his parents and 11 siblings when he was a young boy. Since his time in Guatemala, Nick has visited over 30 countries engaging in various kinds of social impact work. At his core, Nick is a passionate storyteller who doesn’t mince words or suggest band-aid fixes for life or death issues.

He lives in New York City with his partner, Rebecca, and their three children, Solace, Belle, and Roman.

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Oleksandra Matviichuk is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and civil society leader.

Paul Caruana Galizia became a journalist after his mother was assassinated and has won a British Journalism Award and multiple other honours for his reporting. He is currently a finalist for the Orwell Prize. With his brothers, he has received a Magnitsky Human Rights Award and an Anderson-Norman-Lucas Award for campaigning to achieve justice for Daphne.

Peter Pomerantsev is a widely published author and one of the most important global thinkers when it comes to the war in Ukraine and its global implications. Peter is currently a Research Fellow at the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, but you will have seen his name on pages of the Financial Times, Time magazine, and the Atlantic to name just a few.

Earlier this year, he won the European Press Prize for his extraordinary essay on the importance of new, connected global narratives. Peter is an influential voice among Western policymakers. He has testified on the challenges of information war to the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the UK Parliament Defense Select Committee. His book on Russian propaganda, Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, won the 2016 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, was nominated for the Samuel Johnson, Guardian First Book, Pushkin House, and Gordon Burns Prizes. It is translated into over a dozen languages. His latest book is This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality.

Platon is one of the world's most renowned portrait photographers, having photographed more world leaders than anyone else in history, including six American presidents. He has photographed over 30 covers for TIME Magazine, including their 2008 Vladimir Putin Person of The Year cover which was awarded 1st prize at the World Press Photo Contest, and most recently, their 2024 Donald Trump Person of The Year.

In 2008, Platon signed on as staff photographer to the New Yorker, winning a Peabody Award and two National Magazine Awards for his photo essays. He has published four books with subjects ranging from the power of world leaders to the dignity of those who serve in the US Military. In 2013, Platon founded The People’s Portfolio, a non-profit foundation dedicated to celebrating emerging leaders of human rights and civil rights around the world. The People’s Portfolio creates a visual language that breaks barriers, uplifts dignity, fights discrimination, and enlists the public to support human rights around the world.

Platon is currently on the board for Arts and Culture at the World Economic Forum. Platon’s life’s work is the subject of a Netflix documentary, Abstract: The Art of Design. His first film, My Body Is Not A Weapon, features survivors of wartime sexual violence and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege. Platon’s archive of prominent African American civil rights leaders and cultural leaders was acquired by the Smithsonian in 2020.

Platon headlined at TED Vancouver in 2022, promoting curiosity over judgment. Platon’s second film, Portrait of a Stranger, was made in partnership with the United Nations, honoring the voices of refugees from around the world. Platon’s new book, The Defenders, was made in collaboration with The People’s Portfolio and celebrates human rights activists from around the world, published May 2024.

A Glasgow-native turned global storyteller, Quentin Sommerville has built a career reporting on the world's most dangerous hotspots. His early days as a Shanghai and Beijing correspondent honed his skills for navigating across cultures, while his three-year stint as the BBC’s Afghanistan correspondent brought him face-to-face with the human cost of conflict. Now based in Beirut, Sommerville covers the Middle East, from the ongoing conflicts in Libya and Syria to further afield in Eastern Ukraine. Through his insightful reporting, he gives a voice to those living in the midst of turmoil, offering viewers a glimpse into the dark reality of war.

Rachel Corp is Chief Executive Officer of ITN, overseeing one of the largest independent television production companies in the UK. Prior to becoming CEO, Rachel was Editor of ITV News where she led the team winning a string of journalism awards for coverage in the UK and globally. Other roles during her ITN career include Editor of 5 News as well as ITV News London.  Rachel began her ITN career as a trainee, spending time at 5 News as part of its launch team before taking up a series of roles covering major stories in the UK and abroad for ITV News. Rachel also spent time in Russia as the BBC’s senior Moscow producer. Rachel leads on D&I and is passionate about change on and off screen, and also undertakes regular speaking appearances advocating for high-quality, independent, trusted news and the importance of Public Service Broadcasting. She is currently the chair of Women in Journalism as well as a UK Board Trustee at Women for Women International. Rachel is also an alumnus of LBS’s Senior Executive Programme (SEP).

Rena Effendi is a filmmaker, writer, an award-winning documentary photographer and author of two monographs “Pipe Dreams: A Chronicle of Lives along the Pipeline” and “Liquid Land”. Her photography has been described as having a deep sense of empathy with a quiet celebration of the strength of the human spirit. She is the laureate of the Prince Claus Fund award and has been shortlisted for the prestigious Prix Pictet award in Photography and Sustainability.

She spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos twice and is a member of its Cultural Leadership network. Effendi’s work has been exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Saatchi Gallery, İstanbul Modern, Venice Biennial and NYC MOMA. Rena Effendi is a National Geographic Explorer and a frequent contributor to the National Geographic Magazine.

Ryan Broderick is a tech journalist and the author of the award-winning Garbage Day newsletter. He also writes for publications such as Fast Company, The Verge, and Rest Of World. His work has taken to over 22 countries and he's also met a lot of internet famous animals.

Sara M. Lomax is the co-founder and President of URL Media, a network of Black and Brown owned and led media organizations that share content, distribution and revenues to increase their long-term sustainability. In addition to her work with URL, Sara is CEO, President and Owner of WURD Radio, LLC, Pennsylvania’s only African-American owned talk radio station. Sara’s entire career has been focused on starting, growing and building Black media organizations to give voice and agency to communities that have been historically marginalized, overlooked and underserved. She is credited with transforming WURD Radio from a legacy talk radio station to a profitable multimedia communications company providing cutting edge, original programming on air, online and through community events. Over the past 3 years, the URL network has grown from an initial 8 members to 32 BIPOC media partners, reaching a total audience of over 25 million. Sara is the mother of three sons. She maintains a sense of equilibrium through a dedicated daily yoga and meditation practice.

Shelley Thakral is the DRC spokesperson for the World Food Programme. She has also worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, Facebook/Meta, World Health Organisation, UNICEF and was previously the WFP spokesperson in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Southern Africa and Yemen. She was a BBC journalist for 17 years and her postings have included; North America, the Middle East and South Asia.

Susan Morrison is the articles editor of The New Yorker and the author of the New York Times-bestselling biography "Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live."  She is the former editor in chief of the New York Observer and an original editor of SPY magazine. She lives in New York City.

Dr. Volodymyr Yermolenko is a Ukrainian philosopher, journalist, writer, public lecturer and the president of PEN Ukraine. He is a doctor of political studies (France) and has a PhD in philosophy (candidate of science, Ukraine). He is also the analytics director at Internews Ukraine, one of the biggest and oldest Ukrainian media NGOs, chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, a multimedia project in English about Ukrainian, and associate professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. For his non-fiction and fiction books he has won the Myroslav Popovych Prize (2021), Petro Mohyla Prize (2021), Yurii Sheveliov Prize (2018), and Book of the Year prize in Ukraine (2018, 2015) among others. He is head of the board of the International Renaissance Foundation (OSI Network). He is an expert in information analysis and media literacy; architect and trainer at several media literacy projects within the activity of Internews Ukraine and UkraineWorld. He has co-founder and authored the podcasts Kult:Podcast (in Ukrainian) and Explaining Ukraine (in English). He is also the anchorman of TV programmes Ukraina Rozumna and Hromadske.Svit at Hromadske.ua (2016-2020). His articles and commentary have appeared in The Economist, Le Monde, Financial Times, New York Times, Newsweek, and he often gives comments to the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and France 24 among others.

Yaroslav Trofimov is the author of three books of narrative non-fiction and one novel. He has worked around the world as a foreign correspondent of The Wall Street Journal since 1999, and has served as the newspaper’s chief foreign-affairs correspondent since 2018. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting in 2023 for his work on Ukraine, and in 2022, for his work on Afghanistan. His honors include an Overseas Press Club award for coverage of India as well as the Washington Institute gold medal for the best book on the Middle East. Yaroslav holds an MA from New York University. He is represented by Elias Altman at Massie & McQuilkin literary agency in New York.

Yoeri Albrecht joined De Balie as General & Artistic director in 2010. After having studied History, Philosophy, and International Law at Leiden University, he moved to Oxford to continue his studies in European Politics. In Oxford, he learned from the likes of Isaiah Berlin, George Steiner, and Peter Pulzer. Quickly, Yoeri became junior dean at Queen’s College, teaching both history and philosophy. It was already during his studies that Yoeri started writing pieces for Vrij Nederland, where he would continue to make contributions for 15 years to come, his writing ranging from interviews, columns, essays, and pieces of investigative journalism. Over the years, Yoeri has found a legion of ways to bring stories to light: through film, documentaries, theatre, books, radio, and television. Since 2010, he has watched De Balie grow from an Amsterdam-oriented debate center into a permanent and daily international art festival. De Balie has become an art producing cultural institute, still home to intellectuals, dissidents, and aspiring artists alike. Beyond being director of De Balie, Yoeri is founder and board member of the European Press Prize, chair of media investment company Veronica and he has chaired organizations such as Wordt Vervolgd Magazine, Amnesty International The Netherlands and Open Society Initiative for Europe. As a member of the board of Bellingcat he was responsible for bringing the British organization to Amsterdam.