Laura Carney is a writer and copy editor in New York. Her work as a copy editor has been primarily in magazines, for 20 years, such as Good Housekeeping, People, and GQ. Her best-selling book My Father’s List: How Living My Dad’s Dreams Set Me Free was published by Post Hill Press in June 2023. Laura has appeared on CBS News Sunday Morning, NPR, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, among other TV programs. She has been covered by the Washington Post, AARP, Woman’s Day, and Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, among other publications. My Father’s List was one of the Best Books of 2023 in Real Simple magazine. She cofounded and teaches the Pioneer Project with Do The Thing founder Stacey Lauren for Melissa Gilbert’s brand Modern Prairie. 
Website: www.bylauracarney.com

Melanie Brooks is the author of the memoir A Hard Silence: One Daughter Remaps Family, Grief, and Faith When HIV/AIDS Changes It All (Vine Leaves Press, 2023) and Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma (Beacon Press, 2017). She teaches creative nonfiction in the M.F.A. programs at Bay Path University and Western Connecticut State University and professional writing at Northeastern University. She holds an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Writing Program and a Certificate in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. She has had numerous interviews and essays on topics ranging from illness and grief to parenting and aging published in The Boston Globe, HuffPost, Yankee Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Psychology Today, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, Creative Nonfiction, and other notable publications. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, two children (when they are home from university), and chocolate Lab.
Website: www.melaniebrooks.com

Curtis Chin is a co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, and has served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for network and cable television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in twenty countries. He has written for CNN, Bon Appetit, the Detroit Free Press and the Emancipator/Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant was published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023.
Website: www.curtisfromdetroit.com

Heather Frese’s debut novel, The Baddest Girl on the Planet, won the Lee Smith Novel Prize. Her second novel, The Saddest Girl on the Beach, was released in 2024. Her work has been published widely, earning notable mention in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Essays. She received her master’s degree from Ohio University and her M.F.A. from West Virginia University. Coastal North Carolina is her longtime love and source of inspiration, her writing deeply influenced by the wild magic and history of the Outer Banks. She currently writes, edits, and teaches in Raleigh, NC.
Website: www.heatherfrese.com

Leigh Ann Henion is the New York Times bestselling author of Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark and Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World. Her writing has appeared in Smithsonian, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Backpacker, The American Scholar, Garden & Gun, and a variety of other publications. She is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow, and her work has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Henion lives in Boone, North Carolina.
Website: www.leighannhenion.com

James Tate Hill is the author of the memoir Blind Man’s Bluff (W. W. Norton), a New York Times Editors’ Choice and Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite Book of 2021. His fiction debut, Academy Gothic, won the Nilsen Literary Prize for a First Novel. His stories and essays have been published in Lit Hub, Shondaland, Salon, Prairie Schooner, and In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology, among others, and his work has been listed as Notable in three editions of The Best American Essays. Editor of AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle and Monkeybicycle, he was born in Charleston, WV, and currently lives in Greensboro, NC.
Website: www.jamestatehill.com

Dr. Love Jones, Ph.D., is the Human Rights Director for the City of Greensboro. Jones is the founder of Interwoven Consulting, an entrepreneurial endeavor focused on individual and organizational development.
Website: www.interwoven.solutions 

Mary Latham is a remarkable person who embarked on a mission across all 50 United States to collect stories of human kindness. Her journey took her over 43,000 miles in her mother’s Subaru where she stayed with 154 strangers and collected heartwarming stories of more good to share with the world. Mary used local media and radio to promote her journey and visited various community gatherings to spread her message of kindness. Her experiences and stories are being compiled into a book that she plans to donate to hospital waiting rooms. Mary is passionate about spreading positivity and inspiring others to live a fulfilling life. 
Website: www.moregood.today

Stacey Lauren is the creator of the Do The Thing™ movement and visionary behind the Do The Thing Challenge, a connection-driven experience that generates confidence, courage, and community through action. With her 25-plus years of experience growing companies and training leaders, Stacey helps nonprofits, corporations, and mission-driven groups spark engagement, strengthen culture, and unleash untapped voices. Her TEDx Talk, “The Power of a Community When It Has Goals,” has inspired more than a million viewers worldwide. Change makers use her Do The Thing Technology™ to create environments where people feel seen, heard, and ready to step up. She develops transformative experiences that bring people together and trains others to facilitate these experiences in their organizations. As a charity auctioneer, Stacey has also connected the dots between personal/professional growth and impact and uses these activations to help for-profit and nonprofit missions raise funds and awareness. Her current mission is to train 3,333 Challenge Hosts and match them with organizations around the globe—bringing life-changing Do The Thing™ experiences to those who need them most. 
Website: www.youtube.com/@dothethingformula 

Dr. Zelda Lockhart is a current Fulbright Specialist engaged in cross-cultural story projects for generational healing. She holds a Ph.D. in expressive art therapies, and an M.A. in literature. Her novels, keynotes, and workshops focus on the power of story and nature to connect us and heal our generations. She is the winner of the Lambda Literary Foundation 2024 Outstanding Mid-career Novelist Prize. Her novels include the HarperCollins 2023 release Trinity, translated and released by HarperCollins France 2024 as Entends ma voix; Fifth Born, a Barnes & Noble Discovery selection and a Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award finalist; Cold Running Creek, a Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Fiction award winner; and Fifth Born II: The Hundredth Turtle, a 2011 Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her methods are contained in her book The Soul of the Full-Length Manuscript: Turning Life’s Wounds into the Gift of Literary Fiction, Memoir, or Poetry.

Arthur Milnes is a journalist, public historian, and past speechwriter to the prime minister of Canada. His 15 books include studies of numerous Canadian leaders, along with volumes on studies examining Canadian-American relations and Presidents George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Franklin Roosevelt. President Carter, in fact, along with Mrs. Carter (and the Secret Service), stayed over at Arthur’s home in 2012, an experience Arthur will not soon forget. While serving as the memoirs’ assistant to the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th prime minister, Arthur spent two hours in private discussion with the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher herself, at the tearoom of the British Parliament. In 2013 he was part of Canada’s delegation to Nelson Mandela’s funeral in South Africa. His most recent book is 98 Reasons to Thank Jimmy Carter. Arthur and his wife, Alison, were guests of the Carter family at the late president’s State Funeral earlier this year. Over the years, seven Canadian prime ministers, joined by the Carters, have planted ceremonial trees in Arthur’s garden. 
Website: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/arthur-milnes-34487034

Abigail C. Seymour is the owner and lead attorney of Camino Law, which she founded in 2019. She was a professional photographer and writer for most of her life, making the decision not to pursue her dream of practicing law right out of college. She loved her creative work. At that time in her life, the law seemed like it might be too corporate a path for her. However, she never completely let go of that dream. After completing J.D. Elon University School of Law in 2017, passing the bar, and briefly working for another firm, Seymour founded Camino Law to create the law firm she had always envisioned: a family-friendly and client-centered environment. 
Website: www.camino-law.com/abigail-seymour

Danielle Spinola is the owner and T(ea)EO of Abeille Voyante Tea Co., also known as AVTeaCo, located in Pittsburgh. She has studied the healing properties of herbs for more than 30 years on her own. In 2023, she earned her certificate in medicinal plants from Cornell University as part of their Herbal Medicine Program. The inspiration for the business happened in 2002 when Danielle was traveling in China and had the best cuppa tea in her life. AVTeaCo specializes in custom blending and sourcing organic teas and products to sell to both consumers and businesses.
Website: www.facebook.com/avteaco

Laura Beth Vietor aka @LBtheLoverofBooks likes reading in her spare time and that includes lots of genres. She hosts live author chats on her BookTube channel (LB the Lover of Books). She has had the opportunity to virtually interview over one hundred debut to best-selling authors, including Ann Napolitano, Bonnie Garmus, Kate Quinn and William Kent Krueger. 
Website: www.youtube.com/@lbtheloverofbooks

Donna Washington is an internationally acclaimed master storyteller, artist‑educator, recording artist, and children's author whose career spans more than three decades. She performs at hundreds of festivals, schools and libraries across the U.S. and venues in countries like Canada, Peru, Argentina, and Hong Kong with her signature blend of vocal pyrotechnics, expressive characterizations, and flair. She is a regular performer at the International Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough Tn.

A prolific creator, she has produced numerous storytelling CDs—earning awards such as Parents’ Choice (Gold and Silver), Storytelling World, iParenting Media, Children’s Music Web, and others. As an author, her children’s books include titles like The Story of Kwanzaa, A Big Spooky House, A Pride of African Tales, Li’l Rabbit’s Kwanzaa, and Boo Stew, and she maintains a rich online presence through her popular blog Language, Literacy & Storytelling.

Beyond her creative work, Washington is deeply committed to the educational and communal power of storytelling. She co-founded the nonprofit Artists Standing Strong Together to support artists during challenging times. Additionally, she has served in leadership roles such as president of the North Carolina Storytelling Guild and served on the editorial board of the National Association of Black Storytellers. 

Anne Marie Wells is an award-winning poet, playwright, memoirist, and oral storyteller. She is the author of two poetry collections—Survived By (Curious Corvid Publishing) and Mother, (v) (Cinnamon Press)—as well as two children’s books—Mommy, Why Am I a Bird? (University of Coimbra Press) and Underwater Explorers & Rescuers (Ethical Seafood Research Publishing). Her book of writing prompts, Write Some Cool Sh!t, will debut in November 2025, and her travel memoir Happy Iceland is forthcoming in June 2026. She is the host and founder of the weekly Zoom show The Joy of Poeting and works as a freelance copy editor, writing coach, and creative writing instructor. 
Website: Anne Marie Wells