Soulful, passionate, stirring ... these are the words most often used to describe Kirk’s music. Forged from his Memphis, TN, gospel roots and his 1980s initiation into the thriving Houston, TX, nightclub scene, Kirk’s big, rich tenor sound is unmistakably his.

The award-winning Barbara McCraw is a Master Quilter known for her specialty in telling stories and making statements with fabric art. Along with teaching, she has lectured and exhibited her work in shows, galleries, universities, and museums throughout the U.S., Europe and Africa.

Chong Kim has appeared on the BBC, HuffpostLive, CNN and CNBC. Chong is also a writer and a Film/TV Producer. Currently, Ms. Kim is in works to launch a scripted TV series about Human Trafficking called, ‘Every40Seconds’ which is about a female survivor of Human Trafficking who works alongside the FBI to teach them how to think like a trafficker in order to rescue the victims in time. While Ms. Kim continues to educate the public about the harms of exploitation and child trafficking, she does enjoy her time writing poetry, singing and traveling.

Leslie Fields-Cruz is executive director at Black Public Media and executive producer at AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange. Drustrated with the lack of content that spoke to the diversity of experiences of the African diaspora, Leslie curated the first season of BPM’s award winning series AfroPoP: The Ultimately Cultural Exchange.

Assistant Professor, Department of Media Arts at the University of North Texas: Jennifer specializes in Media Industry Studies and teaches classes on topics including Media Law and Regulation and Digital Distribution.

Christie Herring is an award-winning editor, producer, and director who has worked in documentary filmmaking for over 20 years. She recently edited and produced Code: Debugging the Gender Gap and edited (with Jean Kawahara) NOVA’s Point of No Return.

Michael Sorenson is the Senior Director of Business Affairs and VOD Release Specialist at Distribber, an alternative film distribution company that aggregates content to Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, Amazon Prime and other major platforms while allowing filmmakers to retain 100% of their royalties.

Tyrone Dangerfield is a writer, producer and author who spent years working as a ghost producer in the music industry while penning his first book. After his book was published, Dangerfield shifted into film, appearing with Grey’s Anatomy’s Jesse Williams and Empire’s Malik Yoba in Question Bridge: Black Males, which is in the Smithsonian Museums National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Founder and CEO of Verb Kulture Entertainment, Verb is the producer of some of the biggest shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Nationally, Verb has performed with Grammy winning artists and was featured on TV One’s ``Verses and Flow.``

Mlé Chester’s stage credits include Joe Turner's Come & Gone,The Women, Roost, and Anaïs Nin Goes To Hell. She received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in Chokehold as part of the 2015 Planet Connections Festival as well as a 2018 Best Actress nomination for BRUCE!!! in the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema. She has also appeared on Blue Bloods, Vinyl, Madam Secretary & Instinct. Mlé is a graduate of the conservatory program at the Maggie Flanigan Studio.

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gerald Piper is a decorated Navy veteran who always respected the art of comedy. However, after sharing the stage with comic legend Bernie Mac, he realized making people laugh was his calling. Mac, who later became a personal friend, helped Piper hone his innate skills.

Justina Walford is a Japanese-American filmmaker and artistic director of Women Texas Film Festival. Critically acclaimed writer, producer, and performer of stage and screen, Walford was formerly the A.D. of Split.Id Stage Performances in Hollywood. During that time, she produced a dozen full-length productions and countless one-night shows, many of which were her original work.

Hot Topic’s quick wit, non-stop energy and highly intellectual approach, along with a conversational down-to-earth delivery is rapidly catching hold in the comedy world.

Taylor Barnes, from Dallas Texas, is an MFA candidate in Fibers at the University of North Texas. Barnes works with concepts of race, identity, and isolation. Her practice is informed by personal experiences and the ways in which she maneuvers through life, which are further analyzed through critical and historical rhetoric. Her recent work consists of large-scale charcoal works on cloth, screen-print and sculpture.

Kisha Imani Cameron is the Chief Talent Development Officer of Ghetto Film School, an award winning nonprofit. Kisha created the Focus Features Africa First Short Film Program and has an extensive background in development having worked at New Line Cinema and Walden Media. Her producing credits include BAMBOOZLED and SOMETIMES IN APRIL.

Speech is an award winning artist, consistently pushing the artistic and social envelope. He, is the leader of the 2x Grammy winning hip-hop collective, Arrested Development. He and the group have been a ground-breaking force in Hip-hop culture.

Frances Jaye, an eclectic, music loving deejay and a self-pro-fessed music connoisseur who really knows how to deliver the “IT” to her audience. Her ability to give music lovers “the music that gets your head right” has garnered her the status as a local celebrity in Dallas, Texas and throughout the country.

With over 10 years in the digital media and distribution industry, Neil has built relationships with all digital and cable platforms including Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and Amazon. He has successfully distributed and aggregated over 1000 titles to TVOD, SVOD and AVOD platforms. Based on the revenue data received directly from these platforms, Neil has a wealth of knowledge of what certain platforms are looking for and what type of content performs best.

Freda Frimpong is a multi-talented media professional with a background in acting, writing and producing. KUUMBA Media, a video-on-demand platform to catch up on the latest African cinema, is founded by Freda and is operated by her and a small Afro-centric team in Brooklyn, New York.

Amy Adrion is a director and writer whose work has screened at the Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca and Los Angeles Film Festivals, been broadcast on PBS and MTV, and won numerous awards including a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Student Film Award and the Impact Award at the Sarasota Film Festival/Through Women’s Eyes Film Festival.

Evan Stone is an Entertainment Lawyer in the DFW area with a focus on intellectual property infringement litigation. Stone has litigated copyright/trademark cases in every federal district of Texas, as well as the District of Colorado and the Northern District of Illinois. Most of this litigation stems from his role as part-time ``Piracy Counsel`` for FUNimation Entertainment, which is now a part of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Born on the island of Guam, William Uschold is a visionary screenwriter. After being galvanized by narratives of human trafficking, Uschold partnered with his longtime collaborator Tyrone Dangerfield launching The Oakland Film Company.

Phil Claybrooke is the co-founder and CEO of Metrics2Results, Inc. M2R is a corporation committed to creating a better understanding of the affect that unconscious (implicit) bias can have on an individual’s and organization’s success.

Eugene Martin is a filmmaker whose work looks intimately at issues of youth, social justice, and human rights. He has directed ten feature films, with his newest, Marisol, in release on Amazon. Marisol is part of a trilogy of films about immigration in Texas.

Connie Davis Nichols is professor of law at Baylor Law School where she teaches intellectual property courses and is the Director of the Baylor Law School Intellectual Property Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic. Professor Nichols earned her J.D. cum laude from Maurer School of Law at Indiana University-Bloomington in 2000. After graduation, she entered private practice with the Chicago law firm of Winston & Strawn, LLP where she practiced for 4 years in the firm’s Intellectual Property group, representing fortune 500 companies and major advertising agencies.