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2027 FEATURED SPEAKERS
We are pleased to announce these exciting and distinguished featured speakers,
with more speakers and presenters to come!
with more speakers and presenters to come!
Dr. Joshua Bennett
Author, The People Can Fly: American Promise, Black Prodigies, and the Greatest Miracle of All Time
Dr. Joshua Bennett is Distinguished Chair of the Humanities and Professor of Literature at MIT. He is the author of seven books of poetry, criticism, and narrative nonfiction, including The Sobbing School (Penguin, 2016) winner of the National Poetry series and a finalist for the NAACP Image Award, Being Property Once Myself (Harvard University Press, 2020), winner of the MLA ’s William Sanders Scarborough Prize, The Study of Human Life (Penguin, 2022), which was adapted for television in partnership with Warner Brothers Studios, and Spoken Word: A Cultural History (Knopf, 2023), which was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2023 and a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker.
Dr. Bennett earned his Ph.D. in English from Princeton University, and an M.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Warwick, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He has recited his original works at the Sundance Film Festival, the NAACP Image Awards, and President Obama’s Evening of Poetry and Music at the White House. For his creative writing and scholarship, he has received fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Society of Fellows at Harvard University.
Alongside his work as an author and academic, Joshua is the founder and principal of Solon: a design studio specializing in the art of adaptation. Bennett is also founding editor of The Duke Poetry Series: A Duke University Press imprint devoted to the conversation between poetry and literary criticism. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.
Author, The People Can Fly: American Promise, Black Prodigies, and the Greatest Miracle of All Time
Dr. Joshua Bennett is Distinguished Chair of the Humanities and Professor of Literature at MIT. He is the author of seven books of poetry, criticism, and narrative nonfiction, including The Sobbing School (Penguin, 2016) winner of the National Poetry series and a finalist for the NAACP Image Award, Being Property Once Myself (Harvard University Press, 2020), winner of the MLA ’s William Sanders Scarborough Prize, The Study of Human Life (Penguin, 2022), which was adapted for television in partnership with Warner Brothers Studios, and Spoken Word: A Cultural History (Knopf, 2023), which was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2023 and a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker.
Dr. Bennett earned his Ph.D. in English from Princeton University, and an M.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Warwick, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He has recited his original works at the Sundance Film Festival, the NAACP Image Awards, and President Obama’s Evening of Poetry and Music at the White House. For his creative writing and scholarship, he has received fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Society of Fellows at Harvard University.
Alongside his work as an author and academic, Joshua is the founder and principal of Solon: a design studio specializing in the art of adaptation. Bennett is also founding editor of The Duke Poetry Series: A Duke University Press imprint devoted to the conversation between poetry and literary criticism. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.
Raquel Willis
Author, The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation
Raquel Willis is an award-winning activist, writer, and media strategist dedicated to collective liberation. She is the co-founder and strategic director of the Gender Liberation Movement, host of the podcasts Afterlives and Queer Chronicles, and author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. A former national organizer for the Transgender Law Center, Raquel made history as the first openly Black transgender woman in a senior editorial role at a major U.S. magazine (Out). A TIME Woman of the Year (2025), TIME100 honoree, and Forbes 30 under 30, she continues to shape culture through storytelling, strategy, and advocacy for Black trans freedom.Willis has held senior leadership roles across media, philanthropy, and movement organizations. She made history as the first openly transgender person in an executive editorial role at a major national publication (Out), and later served as Director of Communications at the Ms. Foundation for Women. She is a founding executive producer of iHeartMedia’s first-ever LGBTQ+ podcast network, Outspoken, and has hosted multiple podcast series, including Afterlives and Queer Chronicles.
In 2022, Willis published the GLAAD Media Award-winning Trans Obituaries Project, a landmark journalistic initiative examining violence against transgender women of color. She also executive-produced and hosted The Trans Youth Town Hall with Logo, which received a GLAAD Award nomination and won Gold distinction at the Shorty Awards.
Born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Willis holds a B.A. in Magazine Journalism with a minor in Gender Studies from the University of Georgia. She began her career as a newspaper reporter before moving into digital media, cultural criticism, and narrative strategy. Across her work, she remains committed to storytelling as a tool for truth-telling, accountability, and collective imagination.
Author, The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation
Raquel Willis is an award-winning activist, writer, and media strategist dedicated to collective liberation. She is the co-founder and strategic director of the Gender Liberation Movement, host of the podcasts Afterlives and Queer Chronicles, and author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. A former national organizer for the Transgender Law Center, Raquel made history as the first openly Black transgender woman in a senior editorial role at a major U.S. magazine (Out). A TIME Woman of the Year (2025), TIME100 honoree, and Forbes 30 under 30, she continues to shape culture through storytelling, strategy, and advocacy for Black trans freedom.Willis has held senior leadership roles across media, philanthropy, and movement organizations. She made history as the first openly transgender person in an executive editorial role at a major national publication (Out), and later served as Director of Communications at the Ms. Foundation for Women. She is a founding executive producer of iHeartMedia’s first-ever LGBTQ+ podcast network, Outspoken, and has hosted multiple podcast series, including Afterlives and Queer Chronicles.
In 2022, Willis published the GLAAD Media Award-winning Trans Obituaries Project, a landmark journalistic initiative examining violence against transgender women of color. She also executive-produced and hosted The Trans Youth Town Hall with Logo, which received a GLAAD Award nomination and won Gold distinction at the Shorty Awards.
Born and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Willis holds a B.A. in Magazine Journalism with a minor in Gender Studies from the University of Georgia. She began her career as a newspaper reporter before moving into digital media, cultural criticism, and narrative strategy. Across her work, she remains committed to storytelling as a tool for truth-telling, accountability, and collective imagination.
Kalina Silverman
Author, Big Talk: How to Skip the Small Talk, Make Meaningful Connections, and Enrich Your Life
Kalina Silverman is the founder of Big Talk, author of Big Talk, creator of @makebigtalk, and a U.S. Fulbright Ambassador. A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, Kalina received a Fulbright Scholarship to Singapore, where she researched ways to foster cross-cultural empathy. She is passionate about fighting loneliness, bridging divides, and cultivating curiosity and compassion through storytelling.
What began more than a decade ago as a simple idea encouraging strangers to skip small talk and have meaningful conversations has grown into a global movement. Today, Big Talk is used by communities around the world, from prisons and schools to Fortune 500 companies, government bodies, and entertainment platforms. Kalina's content has reached more than 500,000 followers and 100 million views across platforms, and her storytelling during the Los Angeles fires and Texas floods earned a Shorty Impact Award for Emergency Relief Storytelling. Her work has been featured by Anderson Cooper, Maria Shriver, Time, People, Good Morning America, PBS NewsHour, and more.
When she's not making Big Talk, Kalina enjoys art and music, practices Taekwondo, and surfs the Southern California coast she calls home.
Author, Big Talk: How to Skip the Small Talk, Make Meaningful Connections, and Enrich Your Life
Kalina Silverman is the founder of Big Talk, author of Big Talk, creator of @makebigtalk, and a U.S. Fulbright Ambassador. A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, Kalina received a Fulbright Scholarship to Singapore, where she researched ways to foster cross-cultural empathy. She is passionate about fighting loneliness, bridging divides, and cultivating curiosity and compassion through storytelling.
What began more than a decade ago as a simple idea encouraging strangers to skip small talk and have meaningful conversations has grown into a global movement. Today, Big Talk is used by communities around the world, from prisons and schools to Fortune 500 companies, government bodies, and entertainment platforms. Kalina's content has reached more than 500,000 followers and 100 million views across platforms, and her storytelling during the Los Angeles fires and Texas floods earned a Shorty Impact Award for Emergency Relief Storytelling. Her work has been featured by Anderson Cooper, Maria Shriver, Time, People, Good Morning America, PBS NewsHour, and more.
When she's not making Big Talk, Kalina enjoys art and music, practices Taekwondo, and surfs the Southern California coast she calls home.
Roots to Routes: A Call Forward is a groundbreaking national conference designed for independent school K-12 educators and administrators, and high school students to engage in bold learning, transformative dialogue, deep reflection on self, school, and society, and skill-building for strategic change. Rooted in the principles of equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging, this intergenerational gathering offers powerful programming and unique experiences that center the voices and well-being of those most often marginalized. Guided by committees of dynamic practitioners from independent schools across the country, Roots to Routes creates space to reimagine education—and move ourselves and our schools forward.
2026 FEATURED SPEAKERS
A'Lelia Bundles
Founder, Madam Walker Family Archives |
Dr. Clarence Lusane
Professor, Howard University |
Jasmine Marie
CEO, black girls breathing |
Dr. Monica Ruiz
Founder & Principal Consultant, Elevare Group |
Dr. Erin Corbett
CEO, Second Chance Educational Alliance, Inc. |
A'Lelia Bundles
Founder, Madam Walker Family Archives
Author: On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of five books including Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, a biography of her great-grandmother whose parties, arts patronage and convenings helped shape the social and cultural scene of that era. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, a New York Times Notable Book about her entrepreneurial great-great-grandmother is the fact-based biography that was the inspiration for Self Made, a fictional four-part Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer.
Ms. Bundles is a board member of the March On! Festival, the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, BIO (Biographers International) and Columbia Global Reports. She founded the Madam Walker Family Archives, the largest private collection of Walker ephemera, photographs and correspondence.
Ms. Bundles was a network television producer for thirty years at NBC News and then at ABC News, where she was Washington, DC deputy bureau chief and director of talent development. She is a former vice chair of Columbia University’s Board of Trustees and a former chair of the board of the National Archives Foundation. Her articles and essays have been published in the New York Times Book Review, Town & Country, LitHub, TheUndefeated.com, Variety, Ms., O Magazine, Essence and several encyclopedias and books. A recipient of an Emmy and a du Pont Gold Baton for her television news work, she has participated in writing residencies at Yaddo and MacDowell. In 2021 she was named to the Forbes Women 50 Over 50 Impact List.
Dr. Clarence Lusane
Professor, Howard University
Author: The Black History of the White House
Dr. Clarence Lusane is a full Professor, former Chair of Howard University’s Department of Political Science, and current Director of its International Affairs program. He is an author, activist, scholar, lecturer, and journalist. For more than 40 years, he has written about and been active in national and international human rights, anti-racism politics, Diaspora engagements, U.S. foreign policy, democracy building, and social justice issues such as education, criminal justice, and voting rights.
As a scholar, researcher, policy advocate, and activist, he has traveled to over 75 nations. He has conducted field research on human rights and race relations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, China, Cuba, , Guyana, Guadeloupe, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam among others. He was selected by the U.S. State Department and the Council of Europe to be the U.S. “Independent Expert” to the Council’s European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance, a position he held from 2022-2025.
He has taught and been on the faculty at Medgar Evers College, Columbia University and American University, and been a visiting professor and lecturer in Brazil, China, France, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, the UK, and Ukraine. His work has been widely published in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, The Nation, and many other newspapers and journals. He frequently is interviewed and asked to provide commentary on both national radio and TV programs such as MSNBC, CSPAN, Democracy Now!, the Tom Joyner Show, and other popular shows.
His most recent book is Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy. His other books include The Black History of the White House, which was presented on two occasions at the White House; Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice: Foreign Policy, Race, and the New American Century; Hitler’s Black Victims: The Experiences of Afro-Germans, Africans, Afro-Europeans and African Americans During the Nazi Era; Race in the Global Era: African Americans at the Millennium; and Pipe Dream Blues: Racism and the War on Drugs among others.
Jasmine Marie
CEO & Founder: black girls breathing
Author: Black Girls Breathing: Heal From Trauma, Combat Chronic Stress and Find Your Freedom
Jasmine Marie is an author, speaker, breathwork practitioner, and CEO & Founder of black girls breathing®. Her debut book Black Girls Breathing: Heal From Trauma, Combat Chronic Stress and Find Your Freedom, published by Balance, an imprint of Hachette Book Group was released on December 17th, 2024. Her work is innovating the wellness, healthcare and research industry by making mental health and stress management services accessible to Black women while filling in the gaps of data and research available on this underserved and underrepresented demographic.
Marie plans to impact 1 Million Black women and girls with her work, with a current impact of over 66,000 Black women to date. She is a serial founder with a past life in global haircare brand management at Unilever and an alum of NYU Stern. The impact and range of her work to date is expansive—ranging from underserved minority communities to stressed-out college students and executives. She’s brought her expertise to elite colleges such as Harvard Business School, Columbia University, Cornell University and her client list includes corporations such as Estée Lauder Companies, Under Armour, Capital One, Ford Motor Company, Facebook, and Twitter. Marie has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Good Morning America, VOGUE, Forbes, Harper’s Baazar, Marie Claire, Essence, Nylon Magazine, Wall Street Journal and Black Enterprise to name a few.
Dr. Monica Ruiz
Founder & Principal Consultant, Elevare Group
Dr. Mónica Ruiz is a seasoned professional with 29 years of experience as an educator and administrator, serving students and faculty from preschool through the post-graduate level. An innovative educator, distinguished speaker, facilitator, and trainer in the areas of language acquisition, leadership, and cultural studies, Mónica has delivered keynote presentations, workshops, and consulting services to a wide range of educational institutions. She is also a published author in several journals and magazines, including Latinoture, DIVERSITY in Ed, and Chasqui Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana.
After nearly three decades leading and learning in independent schools—where she held positions as Class Dean, Assistant Head, and ultimately Head of School—Mónica chose to take all those experiences and learnings into a new direction. A proud Latina changemaker, bridge-builder, and executive coach, she brings over two decades of expertise in guiding mission-driven organizations and coaching values-based leaders toward transformational growth.
In 2025, she founded Elevare Group LLC out of a deep belief that women and leaders of color deserve space to lead boldly, embody their genius, and shape the future on their own terms. Her signature coaching model, From Inheritor to Icon™, supports leaders through the profound personal work of evolving from inherited roles, identities, and systems into becoming iconic architects of their own leadership legacies. Rooted in cultural humility, radical clarity, and joyful accountability, her approach blends strategic consulting, executive coaching, and soul-aligned leadership development.
Mónica is the proud mother of three bilingual and bicultural daughters: Mia, a master’s student at the University of Salamanca; Marianna, a first-year at Haverford College; and Emma, a seventh grader. Passionate about music, she loves singing and Latin dance, and she also enjoys traveling, reading, and writing as tools for growth and visualization. Her professional work reflects the creative energy that emerges from her many passions and talents. After 27 years working in the mainland U.S., she returned to Puerto Rico in 2023 and now lives in San Juan with her husband and daughters.
Dr. Erin Corbett
CEO, Second Chance Educational Alliance, Inc.
Editor: The Bloomsbury Handbook of Prison Education
Erin S. Corbett, Ed.D., MBA is a visionary executive leader with over 20 years of experience in higher education, nonprofit management, and prison education reform. As the CEO of Second Chance Educational Alliance, Inc., she has spearheaded strategic initiatives to expand educational opportunities for incarcerated individuals. Her expertise in program management, stakeholder engagement, and policy development has been instrumental in shaping the national conversation on higher education in prison.
Before engaging the field of higher education, Dr. Corbett's professional experiences include working at various independent schools like Westminster School (where she is an alum), Graland Country Day School, Springside Academy (now Springside Chestnut Hill School), The Ethel Walker School, and the Loomis Chaffee School. In addition to her time spent in these schools, she also worked closely with longstanding, familiar enrichment programs, such as The Wight Foundation, Oliver Scholars, and others.
A recognized thought leader, Dr. Corbett has contributed extensively to publications and speaking engagements on social justice, racial equity, and education policy. She holds a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in Leadership from Post University. Passionate about transformative education, she continues to champion access and equity for historically and systemically underserved and under-resourced people and communities.