Mississippi. Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald is Director of the Children's Defense Fund's Southern Regional Office (CDF-SRO), and also serves as the Regional Administrator for the Southern Rural Black Women's Initiative for Economic & Social Justice (SRBWI). SRBWI operates in 77 counties across the Black Belts of Alabama, Southwest Georgia and Delta Mississippi. Before joining the Children's Defense Fund, she was appointed White House Liaison and Executive Assistant to then Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy by President Bill Clinton in January 1993. Shortly thereafter, she was named the Department’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, where she worked with local, state and tribal governments. Media includes: Jackson Advocate, The Clarion Ledger, Nightline.

Mississippi. Elected at age 27, Heather McTeer Toney knows what it means to be a public servant. She was the first African-American, first female and the youngest to serve as Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi from 2004-2012. She is currently the National Field Director at Moms Clean Air Force, an organization of over 1 million moms and dads committed to fighting climate change and protecting children from the dangers of air pollution. Media includes: The Washington Post, Jet Magazine, Essence Magazine, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC.

Missouri. A resident of St. Joseph, Missouri, and Rutgers Ph.D. in political science, Melinda Kovacs is an expert on political discourse and political meanings. She is the author of Foreign Policy Discourses of the Obama Administration. It examines how discourse makes policy plausible and therefore possible. Her current book project is a collaboration with Linda Oakleaf and investigates politics, leisure and Trumpism, as elements of current American culture. Media includes: ABC, Fox.

Missouri. Joni Wickham is a seasoned leader in government and politics and has directed public policy initiatives, communications strategies, and political campaigns for several organizations and elected officials, including most recently Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Sly James, who was elected to a second term in 2015 with 88% percent of the vote. Media includes: The Kansas City Star, St. Louis Dispatch, Time Magazine, Forbes, CNN.

North Dakota. Susan Carlson is Chairperson and Facilitator of the World Farmers’ Organisation Women’s Committee. Carlson is an advocate for women’s role in agriculture, as well as collective action and organization of farmers. She is an expert on climate change adaptation and mitigation techniques as well as agricultural policy. A farmer from North Dakota, Carlson was a dairy farmer in Wisconsin until 2009. She is past president and first and only woman to serve as Wisconsin Farmers Union President (2003-2009), first woman on National Farmers Union Executive Board, past member of the National Farmers Union Foundation (2003-2012), past Vice President of IFAP (International Federation of Agriculture Producers) Women’s Committee (2004-2010). Media includes: Associated Press, Wisconsin Public Radio and Television.

Washington. Bev Harris is a resident of Washington State and has been referred to as "the godmother" of the election reform movement by Boston Globe. Time Magazine calls her book, Black Box Voting, "the bible" of electronic voting. She began writing on the subject of electronic voting in 2002 after she discovered that U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel had ownership in and had been CEO of the company that built the machines which counted his own votes. Harris has spent over 6,000 hours researching the election industry. Media includes: Te New York Times, The Washington Post, CBS, CNN, ABC.

Washington. Kristen Rowe-Finkbeiner, a resident of Washington State, is an award-winning author, frequent public speaker, the co-founder and the Executive Director/CEO of MomsRising.org, and board President of the MomsRising Education Fund. With MomsRising co-founder and board President, Joan Blades (who is also co-founder of MoveOn.org), Rowe-Finkbeiner co-authored The Motherhood Manifesto. Released on Mother’s Day 2006, The Motherhood Manifesto makes the case that it’s time for a broad change in America’s policies for mothers and families. Media includes: New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN.