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Negin Farsad is an American comedian, actor, writer, and filmmaker of Iranian descent, based in New York City. Like most comedians, she has a master's degree in African-American studies. She was named one of the 53 Funniest Women by the \_Huffington Post\_ and one of 10 Feminist Comedians to Watch by \_Paper\_ magazine, and was selected as a TEDFellow for her work in social justice comedy. Farsad has written for and appeared on Comedy Central, MTV, PBS, IFC, Nickelodeon, and others. She is director and producer of the feature films \_Nerdcore Rising\_ (2008), starring Weird Al Yankovic, and \_The Muslims Are Coming!\_ (2013), starring Jon Stewart, David Cross, and Lewis Black (both available on Netflix).

Dana Charles McCoy is an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her work focuses on understanding the ways that poverty-related risk factors in children's home, school, and neighborhood environments affect the development of their cognitive and socioemotional skills in early childhood. She is also interested in the development, refinement, and evaluation of early intervention programs designed to promote positive development and resilience in young children, particularly in terms of their self-regulation and executive function.

**Malcolm K. Sparrow** is Professor of the Practice of Public Management at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and is Faculty Chair of the school’s executive program “Strategic Management of Regulatory and Enforcement Agencies.” He served 10 years with the British Police Service, rising to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector. He is also a patent-holding inventor in the area of computerized fingerprint analysis and is dead serious at tennis. He holds an MA in mathematics from Cambridge University, an MPA from the Kennedy School, and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Kent University at Canterbury.

Rosalind M. "Roz" Rolland, DVM, is Director of Ocean Health and Senior Scientist at the New England Aquarium. She is also a member of the Research Faculty at UMass Boston's College of Science and Mathematics, and her areas of expertise include the impact of urbanization on whale ecology and conservation, anthropogenic contamination and its impact on whales, and fishery-whale population interactions. Dr. Rolland has conducted extensive research on whale health, and she co-edited the book \_The Urban Whale: North Atlantic Right Whales at the Crossroads\_ (2007).

Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she held a Dean's Graduate Research Fellowship. Her short stories have appeared in \_African American Review\_ and \_Callaloo\_, and she is the author of \_Homegoing\_ (2016).

Brent D. Glass is Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. A national leader in the preservation, interpretation, and promotion of history, he is a public historian who has pioneered influential oral history and material culture studies, an author, a television presence, and an international speaker on public memory and museum management.

Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of six nonfiction books - most notably \_Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs\_ (2003) and \_I Wear the Black Hat\_ (2013) - and two novels, \_Downtown Owl\_ (2008) and \_The Visible Man\_ (2011). He has written for \_The New York Times\_, \_The Washington Post\_, \_GQ\_, \_Esquire\_, \_Spin\_, \_The Guardian\_, \_The Believer\_, \_Billboard\_, \_The A.V. Club\_, and ESPN. Klosterman served as "The Ethicist" for \_The New York Times Magazine\_ for three years; appeared as himself in the LCD Soundsystem documentary \_Shut Up and Play the Hits\_ (2012); and co-created \_Grantland\_ with Bill Simmons. He is a native of North Dakota and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife, \_Entertainment Weekly\_ TV critic Melissa Maerz.

Mary Truong is the Executive Director for Massachusetts Office of Refugees. For the Office of Refugees she also serves as Commissioner and State Refugees Coordinator. Additionally, she is the Patient Relations and Outreach Director at Dorchester House Multi Service Center.

Jeff Thielman is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Institute of New England, an organization that serves more than 2,000 immigrants and refugees each year. Previously he was the President of Cristo Rey Boston High School and the Vice President of the Cristo Rey Network, which serves students with families with limited financial resources.

Marjean Perhot is the Director of Refugee and Immigrant Services for Catholic Charities of Boston. Catholic Charities is an organization dedicated to building a just and compassionate society.

\_Castle of our Skins\_ celebrates Black artistry through music. From classrooms to concert halls, \_Castle of our Skins\_ invites exploration into Black heritage and culture, spotlighting both unsung and celebrated figures of past and present while seeking to empower organizations as social change agents through the power of dialogue and culturally diverse programming.

Marvin Gilmore is a distinguished veteran, civil rights activist, and entrepreneur. He is a grandson of slaves who rose from poverty to achieve the American dream: he is a musician-turned-businessman and a decorated U.S. war hero who earned France's Legion of Honor. He has waged a lifelong battle against racism and for the creation of jobs, and he has played a key role in helping Boston outgrow its racial divisions. Gilmore is the subject of [\_Marvin Gilmore: Crusader for Freedom - A Legacy of Battling Discrimination & Building Jobs\_](https://books.google.com/books/about/Marvin\_Gilmore.html?id=6KfUoQEACAAJ "Marvin Gilmore google books") (2014), by Paul Katzeff.