President and Principal

Legal arguments around President Trump's travel ban continue following Judge James Robart suspension of the ban. To discuss, we FEATURE Sayu Bhojwani, Ph.D. Sayu is the President and Founder of The New American Leaders Project (NALP), which is working to build an inclusive democracy. For that work, she has been recognized by the Case Foundation as a Fearless Changemaker, honored by Citizens Union New York, and awarded the BMW Foundation’s Young Leaders Award in 2013. From 2002 to 2004, she was New York City’s first Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs, under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Sayu is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post, CNN In America, and other online publications and currently serves on the board of the National Immigration Forum. Media includes: ABC News, WNYC/NYC, The Chicago Tribune, El Diario, The New Yorker.

Founder & Chief Visionary Officer

With hundreds of tech companies-- including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google-- openly opposing Donald Trump's travel ban, we FEATURE Natalie Madeira Cofield. Natalie currently serves as the Founder & Chief Visionary Officer of Urban Co-Lab. Previously, she was the President & CEO of the Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce where she is also the founding President of the Austin Black Technology Council. Domestically, she has worked to establish Austin as a ‘mecca’ for minorities in technology through aggressive national outreach campaigns and the cultivation of strong relationships within the Austin technology eco-system. An honors Information Systems graduate from the Howard University School of Business, Cofield has spoken for global technology companies including IBM, Dell, Applied Materials, Google, and Facebook among others. Media includes: Forbes, C-Span, Black Enterprise, KVUE (NBC Austin), Forbes, BusinessInsider.

Leadership in Government Fellow

President Trump's new head of the FCC-- Ajit Pai-- has stopped nine companies from providing reduced cost high speed internet access to low income individuals as part of his targeting of net neutrality rules set by the previous administration. To discuss his changes, we FEATURE Gigi Sohn. Gigi is the Leadership in Government Fellow at Open Society Foundations, having recently left her position of Special Counsel for External Affairs at the Federal Communications Commisssion. Previously, she was President and Co-Founder of Public Knowledge, a nonprofit organization that addresses the public's stake in the convergence of communications policy and intellectual property law. Gigi helped found Public Knowledge in order to ensure that the three layers of our communications system -- the physical infrastructure, the systems and the content layer -- promote fundamental democratic principles and cultural values including openness, access, and the capacity to create and compete. Media includes: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC, CBS, CNN.

Former Executive Director

With Israel legalizing settler outposts on Palestinian owned land in the West Bank, we FEATURE Rebecca Vilkomerson. Rebecca is the Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace (www.jvp.org), a leading national organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just peace for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 125,000 supporters around the country, over 35 chapters, an active Rabbinical Cabinet and a growing youth wing. In 2010, she was named as one of the Forward 50, the Forward’s list of 50 most influential Jewish Americans. Rebecca has a master’s degree in Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University. Rebecca lived in Israel with her family from 2006-2009. Media includes: The Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, The Nation, The Hill, Huffington Post, Tikkun and Zeek.

Director of Campaigns

February is Black History Month and to commemorate, we FEATURE Celeste Faison. Celeste is the Black Organizer Cordinator at National Domestic Workers Alliance and co-founder of the Blackout Collective. She is a community organizer and direct action trainer. Cutting her teeth as a youth organizer, she was the lead organizer at Youth together and the co-director of Project Fame, an in-school, and after school program that taught Black history, literature, algebra, organizing and the arts, in Alabama public schools. She also worked at the League of Young Voters where she developed trainings and curricula. Media includes: KPFS, NBC News, AlterNet, USA Today, San Francisco Bay View, Tides Blog, Metroactive Music.