Akunna Cook is an accomplished diplomat, strategist, and visionary creator and executive producer. In 2022, Akunna founded Next Narrative Africa, a media production company telling African stories for global impact. And in 2024, she launched the Next Narrative Africa Fund to finance the production of narrative shifting audio-visual content in Africa.

Akunna served in the Biden-Harris Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. In that role, she oversaw the U.S. bilateral relationships with the countries of Southern Africa. Additionally, she led a global State Department team responsible for economic, multilateral engagement, and democracy and governance policy for sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier in her career, Akunna was the founding executive director of the Black Economic Alliance, a non-partisan organization focused on driving economic progress in the black community through policy development, advocacy, and supporting candidates for office. Akunna also practiced law at Covington & Burling LLP, where she advised a variety of clients on public policy and corporate governance.

Before practicing law, Ms. Cook served for almost ten years as a career diplomat with the State Department. Akunna is a graduate of the Yale Law School, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Howard University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration. Akunna is first and foremost a mom of two adult children. She is proud of her Abia State, Nigerian heritage and her Somerset, New Jersey roots.

Tiffany Bender-Abdallah is a multidisciplinary producer and creative strategist with hits across tv, digital, and live events. She is the co-founder of Harlem To The Homeland (H2H), a multi-vertical ecosystem built on storytelling, commerce, and kinship. Tiffany currently serves as Head of Special Projects at AfroFuture – Africa’s biggest cultural festival.

She has worked as a strategist at Spotify, Amazon, and the award-winning beauty brand Ami Colé. She also served as Supervising Producer at Condé Nast Entertainment, where she helped pioneer blockbuster digital formats and produced content that garnered millions of views for brands like Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Bon Appétit. In addition, she hosted Teen Vogue Take, the magazine’s first digital talk show.

Tiffany holds a Bachelor of Science from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, where she studied Communication and Rhetoric with a focus on Global Enterprising Technology. She also earned a Master’s in Television, Radio, and Film from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. A passionate community advocate, Tiffany co-founded Y.U.N.G. Harlem, a youth initiative focused on gun violence prevention, and was honored by Black Girls Rock! for her leadership.

Chika Uwazie is a globally recognized writer, speaker, and cultural commentator helping a generation navigate identity shifts, emotional reinvention, and the quiet grief of becoming someone new. Her work lives at the intersection of emotional clarity, soft power, and soulful storytelling, offering language for the feelings so many high-achievers were never taught to name.

She is best known for giving voice to timeline grief—a phrase she introduced to capture the silent mourning that happens when life doesn’t go as planned. Through her reflections on grief, growth, and self-trust, she has become a guide for those learning how to begin again, especially in the midst of transition.

Chika has built a digital platform of over 500,000+ deeply engaged readers, listeners, and followers, with her essays, interviews, and podcast clips reaching millions across the diaspora. She is the co-host and creative force behind The Afropolitan Podcast, one of Africa’s top-ranked shows exploring identity, legacy, and reinvention with iconic voices from across the globe.

Her voice has been featured in Forbes, ESSENCE, HelloBeautiful, WIRED, TechCrunch, and BBC. As a sought-after speaker, she’s shared the stage at Cannes Lions, SXSW, SALT, and World Economic Forum, offering emotionally intelligent insight on reinvention, cultural fluency, and the power of reflection. Whether through her words, or her voice, Chika invites us to stop performing and start remembering you’re not broken, you’re becoming.

With 25+ years of media & entertainment experience, Jeff is a seasoned, multi-dimensional marketing professional who is laser-focused on accomplishing key business objectives through strategic planning, innovative thinking, collaboration, and effective communication from ideation through tactical execution and implementation. He is currently the EVP, Head of Branded Entertainment & Integrated Marketing at Urban One — leading the branded entertainment, integrated marketing, strategic partnerships and public relations award-winning division within the only black-owned and operated fully integrated multimedia company in the country (Urban One). Under Jeff’s leadership, he has propelled the One Solution team to an unprecedented 63 awards/accolades, inclusive of Best Branded Content Studio two-years in a row (2018-2019), across top industry organizations inclusive of The Telly’s, AdColor, NAMIC Vision Awards, REGGIE Awards, Webby’s, Digiday and more.

Lena Waithe is an Emmy-winning writer, producer, actor, and founder of Hillman Grad. Known for Master of None, The Chi, and Queen & Slim, Waithe’s recent producorial credits include the Emmy-nominated documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore, the 2023 Sundance Films A Thousand and One and Kokomo City, as well the Tony-nominated play, Ain’t No Mo’. In November 2024, Waithe launched her podcast series, Legacy Talk.

Hi, I’m Khari, a marketing strategist currently working as a vice president at CMI Media Group. At CMI, I work collaboratively with a talented team of planners and partners to build go to market strategies for Fortune 500 pharmaceutical and biotech companies, having worked in the oncology, diabetes & obesity disease states. I am an active member of the agency’s Inclusive Media Center of Excellence, and work along side the agency’s new AI Center of Excellence to advise clients on addressing health equity challenges across diverse groups and the implications new and emerging technologies at the intersection of healthcare and marketing. Previously, I worked at Direct Agents, where I founded the agency’s inclusive marketing practice to advise brands on how and where to make authentic connections with an increasingly diverse market. 

My work has been recognized in the industry, with the privilege of speaking at conferences such as Advertising Week, SXSW, and POSSIBLE. At these conferences, I’ve advocated for increased dialogue and investment on inclusive brand and media strategies, health equity, and for organizations to embrace responsible approaches to AI/ML. This recognition has extended into accolades from Digiday, who named me a Future Leader, and Fast Company, who honored me in their ‘Innovative Ideas’ list. Most recently, I was named in MM+M’s 40 Under 40 list, a testament to my leadership in the medical marketing business.

My journey into marketing began after completing my business school education and obtaining a B.S. in Business Administration. However, it was my second bachelor’s degree in theatre that sparked my interest in a career that would blend business strategy with creativity. Marketing, with its dynamic and strategic nature, seemed like the perfect fit for me. 

Outside of work, I am a big fan of the arts and global culture. Being a member of local clubs and groups in NYC highlights that. I am always down to grab a quick coffee in the city or virtually! 

Michelle L. Rice was named President of TV One and CLEO TV in October 2020. Previously, Rice served as General Manager since 2017. She continues to have oversight of all business, operational and creative aspects for both networks.

Rice shepherded the development and launch of TV One’s new sister network, CLEO TV, an aspirational lifestyle and entertainment TV network serving Millennial and Gen X women of color that launched in January 2019. Since its launch, Rice has successfully leveraged relationships to expand distribution of CLEO TV on AT&T, Charter, Comcast, and Verizon’s platforms. Under her leadership, TV One solidified its first vMVPD distribution deal with Philo TV and has continued to grow its distribution footprint.  She continues to play a pivotal role in working with strategic partners to create linear and digital content campaigns in response to a myriad of political and social issues that profoundly impact communities of color.

Rice was previously Executive Vice President of Content Distribution and Marketing for TV One. In that role, she developed distribution strategies and handled national accounts negotiations with major multichannel video programming distributors (MPVDs) to increase and maximize TV One’s content distribution opportunities on mobile, linear and non-linear distribution platforms.  She also handled domestic and international program sales and distribution for the network.

Before joining TV One, Rice had stints at iNDemand, NBC Cable Network and Black Entertainment Television (BET), where she started her career through the Walter Kaitz Fellowship program in 1993.

A graduate of Temple University and the University of Southern California, Rice was honored by her alma mater with the Lew Klein Alumni in Media Award. Additionally, Temple University’s Lew Klein College of Media and Communication appointed her to its board in 2021. A recipient of numerous awards, Rice has been named to CableFAX’s Top 100 in Cable, Top Minorities in Cable and Top Women in Cable. She’s also been recognized as a NAMIC Emerging Leader, Broadcasting & Cable’s “Next Wave of Leaders,” Class of 2022 Cable TV Pioneers, “40 under 40” by Multichannel News, and one of Multichannel News’ Wonder Women. Rice was also a finalist in CableFAX’s Sales Executive of the Year Awards in 2012 and led the team, which was awarded CableFAX’s Sales Team of the Year for mid-sized cable networks. Rice has been featured in publications such as “Black Enterprise,” “Variety,” “Deadline,” “TV Week” and “The Root.” She was highlighted as a trailblazer in “CableFAX’s” Black History Month Special Report and in 2020, Rice was recognized by the Washington Business Journal’s with the Minority Business Leadership Award. Most recently, Rice was appointed as the Board Chair of the Global Board of Directors for The WICT Network (Women in Cable Telecommunications).

Rice is actively involved on the Boards of several local civic, community and charitable organizations, including Easterseals, Calvary Women’s Services and United Way of the Nation’s Capital. Additionally, she is a member and staunch supporter of both the Washington Area Women Foundation and International Women’s Forum. She currently resides in Maryland with her family.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon.

Cori Murray is an award-winning editor and currently the EVP of Editorial Content at EBONY Media. A respected journalist, Murray has covered entertainment, women’s lifestyle and travel for many outlets including PopSugar, The Hollywood Reporter, Marie Claire, InStyle and emmy. As an editor, she’s worked with T Brand Studios, The New York Times Advertising Company, Detour and ESSENCE. Murray been featured as a cultural critic for Good Morning America 3, where she spoke about Beyonce’s Texas influence on Cowboy Carter, and serves as a judge for the Society of Features Journalism and an advisory chair for the HBCU First Look Film Festival.