Social Activism (U)

<p>Two-time World Cup Champion and co-captain of the US Women’s National Soccer Team, Megan Rapinoe is a fan favorite and one of the team’s most technical players.</p><p>A vocal leader on and off the pitch, Megan helped lead the USWNT to the 2019 Women’s World Cup Championship scoring some of the biggest goals of the tournament. Megan took home the tournament’s two top honors – the Golden Boot for top scorer, and the Golden Ball for the best player in the tournament.

<p>Justin Hansford is a Howard University School of Law Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. </p><p>Professor Hansford was previously a Democracy Project Fellow at Harvard University, a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and an Associate Professor of Law at Saint Louis University. He has a B.A. from Howard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a founder of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives.

<p>Ijeoma Oluo is a writer, speaker, and internet yeller. She is the author of the #1 <i>New York Times</i> Best Seller <i>So You Want to Talk About Race</i>, and most recently, <i>Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America</i>. </p><p>Her work on race has been featured in <i>The Guardian, The New York Times,</i> and <i>The Washington Post</i>, among many other publications. She was named to the 2021 <i>TIME </i>100 Next list and has twice been named to the <i>Root </i>100.

<p>Justin Baldoni is an actor, director, producer, entrepreneur, and changemaker whose efforts are focused on creating impactful media and entertainment. His most notable role is Rafael on The CW’s award-winning phenomenon,<em> Jane the Virgin</em>.</p><p>Justin Baldoni is an author, filmmaker and changemaker whose efforts are focused on impactful media and entertainment.

<p>In today’s ever-changing political landscape, Yamiche Alcindor has become a go-to voice in analyzing the most critical issues of our time for Democrats and Republicans alike.</p><p>Since early 2022, she has been the Washington correspondent for NBC News covering the Biden administration, the impact of federal policies on communities and issues at the intersection of race, culture and politics.

<p>American film actor, director, voice artist and producer, Sean Astin is best known for his film roles as Samwise Gamgee in the <em>Lord of the Rings</em> trilogy, Mikey Walsh in <em>The Goonies</em>, the title character of Rudy, and Bob Newby in Netflix’s hit series,<em> Stranger Things 2</em>.

<p>Robert Bilott is the tenacious environmental lawyer who became “DuPont’s worst nightmare,” according to <i>The New York Times</i>. The story in his book, <i>Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle Against Dupont</i>, inspired the major motion picture, <i>Dark Waters</i> (November 2019), featuring Academy-Award nominee Mark Ruffalo as Rob Bilott.  </p><p>Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years until he took on an environmental suit that upended his entire career—and exposed a braze

<p>Nadya Okamoto is the Founder and Executive Director of PERIOD (period.org), an organization she founded at the age of 16. PERIOD is now the largest youth-run NGO in women’s health, and one of the fastest growing ones here in the United States.</p><p>Since 2014, PERIOD has addressed over 900,000 periods and registered over 600 campus chapters in all 50 states and 30 other countries. In 2017, Nadya ran for office in Cambridge, MA. While she did not win, her campaign team made historic waves in mobilizing young people on the ground and at polls.

<p>Mike Africa, Jr. is a member of The MOVE Organization. He is a conscious hip hop artist and a motivational resilience speaker. He pushes his revolutionary message with his dynamic stage performances mixing music with speeches.</p><p>Mike is the son of 2 political prisoners who were sentenced to 100 years in prison. Mike was secretly born in a Philadelphia prison following a police raid on his family’s home. As an infant, he was taken from his mother and placed in an orphanage where he was physically and mentally abused.

<p>Lual Mayen is the founder of Junub Games. He has a rich story from growing up as a refugee to becoming a game developer. </p><p>For 22 of his 24 years of life, Mayen lived in a refugee camp in northern Uganda. A few years back, Mayen saw a laptop computer at a registration station for the refugee camp. He told his mother he wanted one. She saved money for three years to get the $300 to buy it for him. He discovered Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and the joy of playing at an internet cafe.