Samuel Christian, Jr., Esq. currently serves as an Assistant Chief Counsel (“ACC”) for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. Before becoming an ACC, he spent over a decade defending the indigent and criminally accused as an Assistant Public Defender for the Law Offices of the Shelby County Public Defender (Memphis, TN). While there, he joined the Major Cases Team, which specializes in handling First Degree Murder cases. Outside of court, he taught for nearly a decade as an Adjunct Professor for Strayer University, where he taught many undergraduate and graduate students in the area of criminal law and criminal procedure. One of his favorite quotes is from Bryan Stevenson:

"Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done"

Dr. LaKeisha Cook is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor concentration in Religious Studies and a Master of Divinity. She also earned a Master’s in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University.

In the fall of 2012, she completed her studies at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where she earned her Doctorate of Ministry degree as a Gardner C. Taylor fellow. Dr. Cook has over 20 years of experience working in non-profits, education, and the African American church. She served as the Criminal Justice Reform Organizer for Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy in Richmond, Virginia, where they successfully led a campaign that abolished the death penalty in Virginia. She is currently working as the Director of Corporate, Nonprofit and Government Partnerships for Courageous Conversation®. She has one son, Jonathan and one daughter, Amaya Charece.

Reverend Darryl G. Gray is a 40 plus year veteran of the United States and Canadian Civil and Human Rights Movement. Reverend Gray began his advocacy/activism journey working with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, in the mid 1970s, after being recruited by the late Reverend Doctor Ralph David Abernathy, Jr. (long-time companion of the late Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and 2nd National President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference).

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He currently serves as Senior Pastor of the Greater Fairfax Missionary Baptist Church; Director General for Social Justice, Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (PNBC); 2nd Vice President of the Midwest Regional, PNBC; Chairperson, St. Louis Detention Facilities Oversight Board; former State Secretary of the Missouri Democratic Party (MDP); former Chairperson, Progressive Caucus (MDP); 3rd Vice President, Baptist Minister’s Union of St. Louis and Vicinity; and Political Advisor, St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition.

In Reverend Gray’s own words: “I am not a Pastor because I’m an Activist; I’m an Activist because I am a Pastor. God has call all of us to live for the sake of others, and that mean serving in the valley, more than celebrating on the mountaintop.”

Patrick Hendricks is a lawyer with over fifteen years of experience building and managing high-impact partnerships across the public, private, and social sector. Currently, Hendricks is the Director of Development at West Side United,
a six-hospital collaborative based in Chicago charged with reducing the 14-year life expectancy gap between Black and white residents by 2030. In this role, he is responsible for garnering public and private commitments to advance
the organization’s ambitious mission.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Hendricks has secured funding to implement hospital-based initiatives designed to improve health outcomes at four health systems: New York Presbyterian Hospital, Regional One Health Foundation, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Rush University Medical Center. Previously, he worked at the Obama Foundation’s Washington DC office, where he raised private sector capital to advance the Obamas’ equity initiatives, such as My Brother’s Keeper and Girls Opportunity Alliance, as well as the Obama Presidential Center. As a native of Memphis, TN and worked as a Special Assistant to former Memphis Mayor AC Wharton, managing a $5 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies focused on increasing neighborhood-based economic development and reducing youth gun violence through public-private partnerships.

Tiffanie “Lanelle” Mackey is a Womanist theologian, advocate, creative, and social entrepreneur with over 10 years of advocacy and consulting experience. She’s passionate about the growth and development of Black and brown women, and disenfranchised communities. Tiffanie is currently working on her Doctor of Ministry, developing curriculum and programs to teach community members and organizations about the intersectionality of politics and policy, faith, and civic engagement. When not doing project work, Tiffanie consults with nonprofits and communities, doing policy and advocacy work, operational support, and strategy consulting.

Rev. Bianca J. Richardson is an ordained Baptist minister and prophetic community changemaker on issues of injustice and oppression. She is a native of the lower ninth ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, and resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she works bi-vocationally as a pastor and project manager. Bianca has a B.S. in Architectural Drafting & Design, an M.S. in Construction Management, and an M.A. in Christian Education. She is also completing her M.DIV from Duke Divinity School.

Bianca's combination of social, educational, pastoral, and professional locations has required her to confront a variety of racial and socioeconomic disparities. Her unique perspective on the ethical foundation and societal reconstruction required for true reconciliation to a just society led her to examine what change looks like in the community and America.