Thought Leaders

Writer and lecturer who explores the intersection between race and womanhood.

Former NFL player and creator of the video series Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.

Highly-Recommended Viewing: CLICK HERE

An anti-racism educator and host of the Shine Brighter Together podcast, Monique, founded the Shine Brighter Together, which is dedicated to creating healthy relationships & diverse unity.

Host of OMKalen. YouTube Personality and regular guest on ELLEN.

Founder of the Black Youth Project 100.

The artist behind portraits of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and many others.

The co-founder of Campaign Zero, a policy platform to end police violence, and a host of Pod Save The People.

Darnell L. Moore is Editor-at-Large at CASSIUS (an iOne digital platform) and formerly a senior editor and correspondent at Mic.  He is co-managing editor at The Feminist Wire and an editor of The Feminist Wire Books (a series of University of Arizona Press).

The author of New York Times Best-Seller Me and White Supremacy, Layla is an esteemed anti-racism educator and international speaker. She also offers master classes in anti-racism and allyship through Good Ancestor Academy, as well as hosting the Good Ancestor podcast that features interviews with culture-shapers.

Educator, author, civil rights activist and one of the leading voices in the Black Lives Matter movement.

The co-host of the America Did What?! podcast and the author of Modern Herstory and Making Our Way Home, Blair is an outspoken queer Muslim activist whose TEDxBoulder talk, "Queer & Muslim: Nothing to Reconcile," went viral in 2019.

Broadway Playwright (Slave Play)

A vegan chef and the founder of the Sweet Potato Soul food blog and YouTube channel, Jenné offers easy, affordable and delicious vegan meals with Southern flavors, and she released her cookbook, Sweet Potato Soul, in 2018.

Author of How To Be An Antiracist and Director of the Antiracism Center.

For vegan recipes served with one of the best smiles on the Internet, turn to Tabitha. Warm, inviting and fun, there's a reason Essence called her "America's mom."

Billy Porter won the 2013 Best Actor in a Musical for his role as "Lola" in Kinky Boots and he currently stars in the television series Pose for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first openly gay black man to be nominated and win in any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmys.

A former backup dancer for Beyonce (NBD!), Deja is the host of PopSugar's Dance FitSugar and her workouts combine dancing and shadowboxing (she created #DanceOuttheBox), all set to great music and with great motivation.

Baratunde Rafiq Thurston is an American writer, comedian, and commentator. Thurston co-founded the black political blog Jack and Jill Politics, whose coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention was archived in the Library Of Congress, and was director of digital for The Onion.

Yoga is for Every Body: that is Jessamyn's philosophy, with the popular yoga instructor creating The Underbelly, an at-home yoga app, writing Every Body Yoga and hosting the Dear Jessamyn advice podcast. 

If you are craving an at-home workout that will have you sweating all over your living room, check out the Standford student's feed for a wide variety of circuits that target different body parts and live workouts.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a brighter and more colorful Instagram feed than Courtney's, with the Color Queen committing to a new color each month and committing to it through fashion, photoshoots and more.

Through her Balanced Black Girl podcast, Les highlights and discusses the wellness industry from a Black woman's perspective, welcoming other Black women to talk about their experiences and expertise.