Faith Leader, Social Engineer, Entrepreneur, Idea Maker, Communicator, and Friend are just some of the words that describe Charles Jenkins. He is a multi-award winning gospel artist and producer. Jenkins is the pastor emeritus of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, IL.

From bringing characters to life on screen, performing on Broadway, producing, landing the title of national bestselling author with her literary debut, and her deep rooted philanthropic endeavors which touch lives across the world, Tony Award nominee, NAACP Image Award nominee and Independent Spirit Award winner Sheryl Lee Ralph has become a staple in the entertainment industry, with an acclaimed career spanning over three decades.

While working in front of the camera keeps Sheryl busy, she is also a passionate health advocate and honored AIDS activist. Sheryl is the founding director of the DIVA (Divinely Inspired Victoriously Anointed) Foundation 501©3 which she created in memory of the many friend she lost to HIV/AIDS. She also created the critically acclaimed Divas Simply Singing!, an evening of song and entertainment that is the longest consecutive running musical AIDS benefit in the country. Sheryl was awarded the first Red Ribbon Award at the UN for her unique use of the arts in HIV/AIDS activism, and was recently appointed as an AIDS Ambassador for Jamaica’s Ministry of Health.

Sheryl is a mother of two with a blended family of four, and lover every moment of motherhood and marriage. She is happily married to State Senator Vincent Hughes of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Pernessa C. Seele, Founder and CEO of The Balm In Gilead, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, is a phenomenal trailblazer. Dr. Seele is celebrating over 30 years of providing vision and leadership in areas of technical support to strengthen the capacity of faith institutions in the United States and Africa to eradicate health disparities by promoting health education and services within their local communities.

Born in the heart of the south, this Lincolnville native always share a special love for South Carolina. Dr. Seele received her Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Science from Clark Atlanta University in 1976 & 1979, respectively, later receiving her Doctor of Humane Letters from the College of New Rochelle, NY, in 2007.

As a pioneer and community activist, Dr. Seele is known for her work in forging public health & faith-based partnerships for engaging individuals in health promotion and disease prevention interventions. Time Magazine 100 named Dr. Seele One of the Most Influential Persons in the World in 2006; Essence Magazine, in its 35 Anniversary issue, named Dr. P one of the 35 Most Beautiful and Remarkable Women In The World. Clark Atlanta University honored Dr. Seele with the 2008 Pathway of Excellence Award, citing her as one of its most outstanding graduates of all time. In May 2010, Dr. Seele was selected as 21 Leaders of the 21st Century of Women E-News in New York City.

October 2017, His Eminence, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, bestowed the Pierre Toussaint Medallion upon Dr. Seele.

Publishing her first book Stand Up to Stigma! How to Reject Fear & Shame in 2017. Dr. Seele is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Bishop Horace E. Smith is a man gifted with a passion for God's Word coupled with a love for God's people. He has a contagious spirit of generosity that overflows in every facet of his life. As pastor of the Apostolic Faith Church and an attending physician specializing in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (formerly Children’s Memorial Hospital), Dr. Horace E. Smith has treated bodies and souls for three decades.  Bishop Horace E. Smith M.D. was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. Bishop Smith graduated as an honor student from Lindblom High School and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree (with honors) Chicago State University, and M.D. from University of Illinois Medical Center.

Dr. Thema Bryant is the president-elect of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology with more than 120,000 members (apa.org).

Dr. Thema Bryant completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Duke University and her post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical Center’s Victims of Violence Program. Upon graduating, she became the Coordinator of the Princeton University SHARE Program, which provides intervention and prevention programming to combat sexual assault, sexual harassment, and harassment based on sexual orientation. She is currently a tenured professor of psychology in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University, where she directs the Culture and Trauma Research Laboratory. Her clinical and research interests center on interpersonal trauma and the societal trauma of oppression. She is a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women and a past APA representative to the United Nations. Currently she serves as the elected Vice President and Racial Equity Officer for her neighborhood council in Los Angeles. Dr. Thema also served on the APA Committee on International Relations in Psychology and the Committee on Women in Psychology. She is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and author of the bestselling book Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole Authentic Self as well as co-author of The Antiracism Handbook. 

With conversation rising about the number of teens committing suicide, the heightened conversations around mental health awareness and suicide prevention, and the masses protesting around societal issues such a racial justice and police brutality, this is the perfect time for LECRAE’s ninth album and documentary both titled Restoration to be released by Reach Records. The album features artists across all genres including John Legend, Kirk Franklin, YK Osiris, Jossy, Dani Leigh, Marc E. Bassy, Chicago Kid and more. This year, he’ll also release his second book, I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion, But Found My Faith, a follow-up to his New York Times best-seller, Unashamed.

A Multi Grammy Award-winning platinum selling artist, Lecrae has evolved into a New York Times best-selling author, entrepreneur, speaker, thought leader, philanthropist, and Co-Owner/President of Reach Records. To date, he has sold more than 3 million copies and been nominated for 5 Grammy Awards including a win for Best Gospel Album, 15 Dove Awards, one Billboard Music Award, and received both a Soul Train Music Award and BET Hip-Hop Nomination. From his 2017 album, All Things Work Together, his single “I’ll Find You” ft. Tori Kelly, is now certified platinum by the RIAA (sold over 1 million copies) and “Blessings” ft Ty Dolla $ign is now Gold (sold over 500k).

A catalyst for restoration in faith, music, and popular culture, Lecrae is part of the new wave of thought leaders who are engaging the culture and taking Jesus out of the pulpits into the wider world in hopes of restoring faith. “We can change the narrative, empower the disenfranchised, and close wealth gaps and can restore the dignity stripped from us, but we can’t do that by separating ourselves. We need to connect with each other and lean on God to restore our sense of purpose and worth,” shares Lecrae. “There is so much on the horizon. I’m literally just getting started.”

Dr. Nunez-Smith is the C.N.H Long Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management; Inaugural Associate Dean for Health Equity Research; Founding Director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC); Director of the Center for Research Engagement (CRE); Associate Cancer Center Director for Community Outreach and Engagement at Yale Cancer Center; Chief Health Equity Officer at Smilow Cancer Hospital; Deputy Director for Health Equity Research and Workforce Development at the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation; Core Faculty in the National Clinician Scholars Program; Research Faculty in the Global Health Leadership Initiative; Director of the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership; and Co-Director of the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship.

Dr. Nunez-Smith’s research focuses on promoting health and healthcare equity for structurally marginalized populations with an emphasis on centering community engagement, supporting healthcare workforce diversity and development, developing patient reported measurements of healthcare quality, and identifying regional strategies to reduce the global burden of non-communicable diseases. Dr. Nunez-Smith has extensive expertise in examining the effects of social and structural determinants of health, systemic influences contributing to health disparities, health equity improvement, and community-academic partnered scholarship. In addition to this extensive experience in primary data collection, management, and analysis, ERIC has institutional expertise in qualitative and mixed methods, population health, and medical informatics.

Most recently, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shed national attention on the health and healthcare disparities of marginalized populations, she was called upon to serve on the Governor’s ReOpen CT Advisory Group and to chair its Community Committee. She served as an Advisor to the Biden-Harris campaign, and subsequently named co-chair of the Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board and will serve as chair of the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force in the administration. She also received NIH funding to leverage ECHORN to improve the COVID-19 testing cascade in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Dr. Nunez-Smith has mentored dozens of trainees since completing fellowship and has received numerous awards for teaching and mentoring. She is board certified in internal medicine, having completed residency training at Harvard University’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and fellowship at the Yale Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, where she also received a Masters in Health Sciences. Originally from the US Virgin Islands, she attended Jefferson Medical College, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, and she earned a BA in Biological Anthropology and Psychology at Swarthmore College.

The Reverend Dr. Marcus D. Cosby serves as the Senior Pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. A proud native of Chicago, Illinois and a product of Emmanuel Baptist Church where Dr. L.K. Curry served as pastor, Cosby received the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion and English from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, the Master of Divinity Degree in Homiletics and Christian Education from the Morehouse School of Religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia and the Doctor of Ministry Degree in Homiletics from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois.

Dr. Cosby is married to his high school sweetheart, Mrs. Audrey Marie Cosby, and they have been blessed with three beautiful daughters, Adrienne Marie, Ashley Marie and Aliyah Marie and two sons, Marcus D., II and Matthew D. Cosby.

As the successor to the Founding Pastor of Wheeler Avenue, Dr. William A. Lawson, Pastor Cosby has been blessed to continue the ministry of this intentionally intergenerational congregation in the inner city of Houston, Texas since 2004, having served as Associate Pastor since 1998. With four Sunday worship services and a membership of more than 15,000, he has led the congregation to ensure its impact both on and far beyond the church campus with the inception of the Wheeler Avenue Christian Academy, serving children from 6 weeks old through the second grade; by opening a transitional housing facility for homeless single mothers in the Third Ward community of Houston; through cultivating a missional outreach in multiple villages in South Africa; and maintaining a passion for creatively impacting the lives of the forsaken and forgotten wherever they may be found.

As a consequence of his passion for qualitative preaching, Dr. Cosby has committed himself to equipping preachers for the work of the ministry. In addition to training the more than 100 ministers who comprise the Clergy Team of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, he serves as Adjunct Professor of Homiletics at Houston Graduate School of Theology and has taught the same at the Houston extension program of the ITC. In 2008, he was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. And in 2013 he became the Founder and CEO of Preaching with Power and Authority Ministries, a corporation committed to the pedagogy and promotion of relevant biblical preaching for the 21st Century.

Finally, Dr. Cosby seeks to encourage and empower all humanity through the timeless and transformative truths found in the Word of God.