After more than a two-decade career at Apple in a series of executive roles, including the company’s first Black chief of human resources and first VP of inclusion and diversity, Denise Young then served for three years as executive-in-residence at Cornell Tech in New York City. Denise has been named a “Most Powerful Woman” by Black Enterprise, an Ebony “Power 100,” and one of the “100 Most Influential in Silicon Valley” by Business Insider, and she has been featured in Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” issue. She currently advises organizations on culture, leadership, and inclusive environments. A practicing performing and recording artist, Denise is an advocate for artists, for living a creative life, and for the unleashing of all that can happen when we see and are seen.

Dr. Indira Etwaroo, award-winning producer, director, scholar, and arts executive, creates artistic incubators of the future for multiplatform global stories. Etwaroo is the newly-appointed CEO & Artistic Director of Harlem Stage, the internationally influential NY institution that ignites the artistic freedom of artists of the Global Majority. She previously served as the Inaugural Director of the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple in California, driving the venue’s strategy for global launches, events at Apple Park, and original multiplatform content rooted in Apple’s values. Etwaroo led the Off-Broadway Billie Holiday Theatre, as its Executive Artistic Director, awarded the Presidential Medal of the Arts during her leadership tenure. Etwaroo was Founding Executive Producer of The Greene Space in NYC and NPR Presents, the first-of-its kind initiatives in the nation to bring live, on-air, and online content to audiences globally. Of note, she Executive Produced the American Broadcast Premiere of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and the first-ever recordings and broadcasts of August Wilson’s entire American Century Cycle. Etwaroo led the efforts for the first-ever national strategy for Black theaters, The Black Seed, raising $10.5 million and served as the Executive Advisor to the Chadwick Boseman Foundation. As a Fulbright Scholar, Indira has been a professor at Temple University and NYU.

Divinity Roxx is a multi-hyphenate Grammy-nominated musician, recording artist, author, and composer celebrated for her empowering lyrics and infectious bass grooves.
Her career as a bass player skyrocketed after touring with 5-time Grammy award-winning bass virtuoso, Victor Wooten. She has toured and performed with Beyoncé as her bassist and Musical Director. She was a featured soloist on the ‘Beyoncé Experience’ tour and DVD and composed original music for the ‘I…AM Sasha Fierce’ tour. She has appeared on countless television shows, including The Grammy’s, SNL, Good Morning America, and more, with personal highlights including a special performance at The White House with President Barack Obama. MORE

Hollis King was born and raised on the island of Trinidad and Tobago, King grew up crafting carnival masks, designing spinning tops and creating his own kites. An artist, art director and photographer, Hollis King is the former vice president and creative director of the Verve Music Group. He was responsible for the giant jazz publisher’s art design direction. King has received numerous achievement awards and citations including four Grammy Nominations.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, New York, Arden Altino is a Grammy Platinum Awarded Musician and Producer. Arden’s immense talent lies in his combined years of training as a pianist. His understanding of music and its emotional connection allows him to infect his audience with a raw, yet polished listening experience that is true to the R & B, Soul, Hip-Hop, Roots, Classical, Jazz, Latin, Kompa and Zouk genres.Known in the industry as “Keyz” and on his Roland keyboards, Altino produced a slew of records for a wide range of artists such as “Hold On” for Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blow Fish, and “Raindrops” for Juelz Santana’s debut album in 2003.  During the same year, Altino’s talent received much attention overseas; traveling between Europe and the United States, he collaborated with Parisian top artists such as Passi and Jocelyne Labylle on several records while adding to his roster of artists, Kelly Rowland, Natasha Beddingfield, Estelle, and MORE.

Born and raised in Philly, James “Biscuit” Rouse came by his love of music naturally. 

That distinctive Philly sound invaded his mind, spirit and soul at an early age – 5 years old to be exact. It was then that he first started singing… and first picked up a pair of drumsticks. From church to home to even his choice of high school: Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), Rouse was immersed in music. “Growing up in Philly was great; there was always something different to listen to,” Rouse remembers. He credits his time at CAPA as a point that his mind really became open to different genres of music. And from there, he flourished. That open mind has, so far, led him down a potentially never-ending path of working with artists from all genres of music – from house to jazz, funk to rock, hip-hop to r&b/ soul. He is a highly sought-after drummer with a remarkable track record including as the musical director for renowned artists such as Miss Lauryn Hill, Vivian Green, and Syleena Johnson. MORE

Maimouna Youssef also known as Mumu Fresh is GRAMMY-Nominated, Indigenous Music award-winning, 3 X Washington Area Music award (WAMMIE) winning, Urban World Music Video award-winning, Musical and Cultural Ambassador for the US State Department, former elected governor of the DC chapter of The Recording Academy, co-creator of the Recording Academy’s “Best Song for Social Change” award, IMAN central roster artist and an Ambassador of The Black Music Collective. MORE

Carl Hancock Rux is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, actor, theater director, radio journalist, as well as a frequent collaborator in the fields of film, modern dance, and contemporary art. He is the author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prize-winning collection of poetry, Pagan Operetta, the novel, Asphalt, and the Obie Award-winning play, Talk. His music has been released internationally on several labels including Sony/550, Thirsty Ear, and Giant Step. Mr. Rux is also co-Artistic Director of Mabou Mines and Associate Artistic Director/Curator In Residence at Harlem Stage. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Award for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Prize, the Bessie Award and the Alpert Award in the Arts, and a 2019 Global Change Maker award by WeMakeChange.Org. Mr. Rux’s archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution as well as the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts. MORE

Justina Taylor Miles is a Deaflympics athlete and American Sign Language (ASL) performer. In 2023 she became the first Deaf woman to perform American Sign Language at the Super Bowl pre-game and halftime shows.