Clint Smith is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University. He is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and was a speaker at the 2015 TED Conference. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Kinfolks, Still: The Journal, Winter Tangerine Review, the Harvard Educational Review, and elsewhere.

Elizabeth Acevedo holds a BA in performing arts from the George Washington University and currently she is an MFA candidate at the University of Maryland. She has been a featured poet at The Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, The Kodak Theatre, and Madison Square Garden.

Amin Dallal is a two-time member of the DC Beltway slam team, a Southern Fried poetry slam winner, a National touring poet and professional poetry facilitator, senior teaching artist for the organizations Split this Rock and the American Poetry Museum, and author of My Father the Giant and Fully Clothed and Always Leaving.

Terisa Siagatonu is a spoken word artist and arts educator from the Bay Area. Her emergence into the spoken word world as a queer Samoan poet has granted her opportunities to perform on stages ranging from San Francisco's Herbst Theatre to the White House.

Pages Matam is a multilingual creative writing and performance artist and educator from Cameroon, Africa. He is a Callaloo fellow and director of poetry events at Busboys and Poets. He is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion, NFHA Cultural Ambassador, and author of The Heart of a Comet.