Nicole Homer, author of Pecking Order, is Editor and regular contributor at BlackNerdProblems, serves as faculty at the Pink Door Writing Retreat for Women and GNC Writers of Color, and is a fellow of The Watering Hole and Callaloo. She teaches at Mercer County Community College. @realnicolehomer

Candace Wiley is cofounder/director of The Watering Hole, a Fine Arts Work Center Fellow, Callaloo Fellow, and former Fulbright Fellow who teaches at Clemson University. Her afrofuturist work has appeared in Best American Poetry 2015, Prairie Schooner, pluck!, Jasper, Yemassee, and Illuminations, among other publications.

Monifa Lemons recognized as SelahthePoet, is Cofounder/Director of The Watering Hole Poetry Organization, which provides continuing education to southern poets of color. Monifa is a staple in the Spoken Word poetry community in the southeast region since 1998. 

Rachel McKibbens is the author of three full-length books of poetry: blud, Into the Dark & Emptying Field, and Pink Elephant, as well as the chapbook Mammoth. She is a two-time New York Foundation for the Arts poetry fellow and founder of the Pink Door Writing Retreat.