College & Theater Events

<p>Gaby Natale helps leaders and organizations see what others miss—and act on it before the rest of the world catches up. A triple Daytime Emmy® Award–winning journalist, bestselling author, and globally soughtafter keynote speaker, Gaby is known for translating vision into decisive leadership. Her work focuses on helping individuals and organizations spot hidden opportunities, break out of default thinking, and pioneer what’s next—before it becomes obvious. Gaby has built a career by consistently being ahead of the curve.

<p>Maria Ressa co-founded Rappler, the top digital-only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. </p><p>As Rappler's CEO, Maria has endured constant political harassment and arrests by the Duterte government, forced to post bail eleven times to stay free. Rappler's battle for truth and democracy is the subject of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary,<em> A Thousand Cuts. </em>For her courage and journalistic integrity, Maria has received numerous accolades.

<p>Sherrilyn Ifill is a civil rights lawyer and scholar. From 2013-2022, she served as the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. She recently served as a Ford Foundation Fellow and as the Klinsky Visiting Professor for Leadership & Progress at Howard Law School.

<p>Daryl Davis is committed to helping people ignite positive change—using conversation to build bridges.</p><p>His jaw-dropping experiences speak for themselves. For nearly 40 years, he’s engaged leaders of the KKK and White supremacist groups face to face to find the answer to a question: “How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?” </p><p>That question stemmed from his first encounter with racism at age ten when he was pelted with rocks, bottles, and soda cans by a handful of White spectators while marching in a parade.

<p>Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Peabody Award, and Edward R. Murrow Award, Caitlin Dickerson engages audiences on the power of journalism, telling stories of remarkable resilience and hope from around the world.</p><p>From Ukraine to Romania to Guatemala, Caitlin Dickerson has spent years covering refugees and other humanitarian crises for some of the nation’s foremost news outlets.

<p>Brendan Hunt is an actor and writer best known for co-creating the international smash hit TV comedy <i>Ted Lasso</i>, in which he also plays Coach Beard.</p><p>A Chicago native, he is a veteran of sketch and improv comedy, typified by his time with Amsterdam’s notorious Boom Chicago, where he performed with Jason Sudeikis, Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Amber Ruffin and other notables.

<p>As the grandson of both the legendary civil rights activist César Chávez and the Cuban revolutionary Max Lesnik, Eduardo Chavez is the scion of two revolutionary families.</p><p>Eduardo's political and activist background influenced his feature documentary, <i>Hailing Cesar,</i> released April 2018. </p><p>Since its debut, Eduardo has screened <i>Hailing Cesar</i> and spoken at 50+ universities in 3 different countries.

<p>NASA duo shares lessons learned and best practices from the launch of the current Mars 2020 mission to help leaders and teams “Sustain Awesome.”</p>

<p>The former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and bestselling author of the memoir <i>Lessons from the Edge </i>shares insights on the region and the current crisis as well as experiences from her 33-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service.</p><p>Marie Yovanovitch served three times as U.S. Ambassador, most recently in Kyiv as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. Previously, she served as U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008) and the Republic of Armenia (2008-2011).

<p>Johnny Crowder is a suicide/abuse survivor, TEDx speaker, touring musician, Certified Recovery Peer Specialist, and the Founder & CEO of Cope Notes®, a text-based mental health platform that provides daily support to users in more than 100 countries around the world.