Hometown: Boulder, CO

Occupation: Entrepreneur, interdisciplinary researcher, illustrator, international speaker and incoming PhD student at Yale University

My Motto: Show Your Unique ®, which is a slogan I’ve created. I use ‘unique’  as a noun, defined as “all of the positive and interesting outer and inner qualities that make you - you.”

My Hero: Alexander Borodin, who was a prominent 19th-century composer as well as a chemist, doctor, and advocate for women’s education.

Hometown: Washington, DC

Occupation: CEO @ Bright Beginnings Inc (Non-Profit Organization)

Importance of Talk: every child deserves a real opportunity to thrive and our country should accept nothing less.

Hardest Thing: Recovered from a stroke.

Motto: Love is an action word.

Advice: You are not as good or as bad as you think you are.

Hometown: Fairfax, VA

Occupation: Founder and Principal Consultant, PoP Health

Hardest Thing I  Have Ever Done: Parenting! From the anxiety of trying to make sure we are raising kind and generous humans to the constant juggling act of balancing kids/home/work/ourselves to the day-to-day trials of tantrums and tears as well as tempers lost - parenting is by far the hardest thing I have done. And also by far the most joyful, surprising and rewarding.

Remembered For: Advancing systemic kindness - the kind of kindness that gets embedded into policies and laws and environments, so that all people have the access and opportunities they need to be safe, respected, healthy, and fulfilled.

Hometown: Alexandria, VA

Occupation: CEO, iLead Strategies

Importance of Talk: The world is changing faster, uncertainty is the new normal. How we lead ourselves and those we work with through turbulence determines whether we ride the waves or drown.

Surprising Fact: Was a nationally ranked synchronized swimmer.

Best Advice: Trust yourself.

Hometown: Arlington, VA

Field of Expertise: Advocacy

Importance of Talk: I want to inspire others to move past conversations and truly think critically about how we can achieve equality - it is possible, and we will do it.

Motto: Progress, not perfection.

Advice: Live a life of no regrets.

Hero: Shirley Chisholm

Hometown: Camas, Washington

Field of Expertise: Hospitality

Motto: Do De Do. I do believe it just may be the one thing that people from every part of my life have experienced - me singing do de do as we carry on with whatever work we were doing at the time. It’s all about “doing the do” with a lightness of heart and a sense of play. Whistle while you work, or in my case it’s been Dance with the duties.

Remembered For: Being the sliver of light in someone’s darkness.

For helping to create a new model of work, economy and hospitality.

For making people happy.

For dancing in the rain.

Hometown: Alexandria, VA

Occupation: Co-Artistic Directors of the Local Motion Project

Hardest Thing: Try to explain contemporary modern dance.

Hero: Ann Hutchinson Guest (look her up!)

Advice: Find movement you love, and do it for a long time.

Hometown: Ashburn, VA

Occupation: Executive Coach

Importance of Talk: Interdependence is the killer app for surviving and thriving

Hero: Viktor Frankl

Advice: Think deeply

Hometown: Orlando, FL

Occupation: Founder, Counterintelligence Institute, LLC

Importance of Talk: Every year millions of ordinary people become victims to human hacking.

Hardest Thing: As a CIA officer, breaching the security of target organizations in pursuit of intelligence.

Surprised to Learn: Prior to becoming a spy, I studied to be a priest.

Hero: "The Shadow" (protagonist of old-time radio show who always knows the truth about people).

Hometown: Alexandria, VA

Occupation: Undergraduate Student @ Johns Hopkins University

Motto: Don't let your wonder turn into closure (Ben Platt)

Hero: Naomi Osaka!

Remembered For: Helping to create a world where accessibility is universal and where having a disability is celebrated through both a STEM and public policy lens. But mostly, I want to be remembered for making people smile, my off-tune karaoke skills, and my love of cream puffs.