Darrick Hamilton, PhD, is a university professor, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and founding director of the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School, a private college in New York City.

Well-regarded as a top scholar, economist, and intellectual, Hamilton has been profiled in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Wall Street Journal. He was named a Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and the Group Health Foundation, a distinction that recognizes an academic for their research and work in actively advancing racial and economic justice through movement organizing.

Hamilton has been involved in crafting policy proposals that have garnered news media attention and inspired legislative proposals at the federal, state, and local levels, including on issues such as baby bonds, guaranteed income, and a federal job guarantee. He has testified before several U.S. Senate and House of Representatives committees, including the Joint Economic and Senate Banking committees.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hamilton received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in Ohio and a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with both degrees in economics.

Lady Brion, MFA, is an international spoken-word artist, activist, organizer, and educator who serves as executive director of the Black Arts District, an organization she founded in 2019. In 2024, she was appointed by Gov. Wes Moore as the poet laureate of Maryland, making her the youngest poet laureate in Maryland history and the first spoken-word artist to hold this position.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and culture from Howard University and her Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing and publishing design from the University of Baltimore.

She won the National Poetry Slam in 2016 and 2021, the Southern Fried Regional Slam in 2017 and 2019, and the Rustbelt Regional Slam in 2019. In 2021, she became the Women of the World Poetry Slam champion, making her the No. 1-ranked woman slam poet in the world.

A trumpet player and music educator born and raised in East Baltimore, Makai Guest has studied the art of music for more than a decade. He is a versatile musician who doesn’t play only one genre. He has experience in jazz, salsa, classical/orchestral, brass band, New Orleans jazz, indie pop, and even rock and roll. Music has taken him across the country and overseas through his involvement in programs such as the Peabody Preparatory and the Berklee Five-Week Summer Program. He gets his musical influences from prominent figures in jazz like Marquis Hill, Roy Hargrove, Joel Ross, and Giveton Gelin with the way they all create beautiful and melodic melodies within their compositions and improvisations.