Over the past decade, Biridiana has dedicated her career to addressing inequities in education through her work in school systems, non-profits, and leadership initiatives. She has led efforts such as increasing the recruitment of Black and Latinx teachers and implementing evidence-based interventions that drove meaningful academic gains. For Biridiana, education is activism—whether it’s helping students prepare for protests or mentoring peers through tough conversations. In 2024, Biridiana and her partner embarked on a cross-country road trip with their rescue pup, Suraya, eventually settling in Arizona. She now works with the College Knowing and Going team at Education Forward Arizona, supporting postsecondary attainment. A proud first-generation college graduate, Biridiana holds a BA in Sociology from Duke University and an MSEd in Education Policy from the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of work, she enjoys ballet, true crime podcasts, and exploring the outdoors.

Bukky is a product manager at HashiCorp, where she leads product management for Waypoint, an application release platform for developers. She is also a scout for Greylock, investing in developer tools. Previously, Bukky was a product manager at GitHub, building security products to help organizations maintain secure development processes. Her career includes product management roles at Microsoft, Hopper Travel, General Assembly, and Bedrock Analytics. Bukky also served as a tech policy advisor to Senator Tom Udall in the U.S. Senate. She is a graduate of Olin College of Engineering and is passionate about building data-informed, psychologically safe product engineering teams.

Erick Espinoza is a product manager, business strategist, and social activist from Austin, Texas.

Gess Pugh is a model and creative consultant dedicated to fostering meaningful, empowering conversations around diversity and inclusion in fashion and beauty. Through their work, Gess focuses on creating impactful media and raising awareness to drive change within the industry.

J. Henry creates music about love - for family, his partner, community, for writing intricate rhyme schemes, and life's journey towards self-acceptance. He is a multi-ethnic, queer indie Hip Hop artist hailing from Seattle who brings a fresh perspective to the art form paying homage to its core theme of empowerment in the face of adversity.

Toni Purvis is the owner of Paradigm One LLC, a consulting firm that partners with colleges, universities, non-profits, and companies to provide etiquette workshops, coaching, and career development consulting.  She is also the founder of The School of Disruptive Etiquette, which offers career development classes, coaching, conversations, and community to diverse rising leaders on how to shatter glass ceilings to unapologetically advance their career.