Rich Roll

Rich Roll is a living testament to the power of personal transformation. At age 40, having overcome an addiction to alcohol that almost completely derailed his life, he found himself out of shape, overweight and in need of a major change in lifestyle. He switched to a 100% plant-based diet, lost 50 pounds and soon shocked the endurance world by achieving top finishes in grueling endurance races like the Ultraman World Championships, while garnering praise as one of the "25 Fittest Men in the World".

Roll now dedicates his life to exploring human potential with insight gleaned from top performers in worlds of ultra-endurance, wellness, business, culture and others. He shares these lessons of personal empowerment across his #1 best-selling memoir, a cookbook, speaking engagements and the wildly popular "Rich Roll Podcast".

Ruthie Lindsey

At seventeen years old, Ruthie Lindsey was hit by an ambulance. The accident broke her neck and she was given a 5% chance of survival and a 1% chance of walking again. She beat the odds and left the accident behind her but seven years later, something changed and she became riddled with debilitating chronic pain. This left her bedridden for seven years. At the precipice of total breakdown, she decided to give up narcotics and choose life.

Lindsey’s extraordinary story urges us to unlearn the limiting stories of brokenness that we tell ourselves and embrace the wholeness, joy, and healing that lives inside all of us.

Ruthie Lindsey is a Nashville based speaker, traveling the world sharing her story of hope and healing. She is co-host of The Unspoken Podcast and is currently writing her memoir There I Am, The Journey From Hopelessness To Healing which will be published by Simon and Schuster in spring 2020.

Fulton Washington

Mr. Wash is a talented painter who persevered through a wrongful conviction to pursue his burgeoning art career.

Yael Lavie

Yael Lavie is an Emmy-winning television producer and senior editor who worked for ABC News network for 14 years before returning to her home country of Israel to work for Sky News.

Joshua Seftel

Joshua Seftel is a filmmaker who has worked in documentary, and fiction and has contributed his essays to NPR, This American Life and CBS Sunday Morning. His new series, Secret Lives of Muslims is working to build bridges between Jews and Muslims in the U.S. and will be part of the Humanity Endures show at Original Thinkers.

Orlando von Einsiedel

Orlando von Einsiedel’s work takes him to some dark and difficult places but as he says, “I try to capture stories of hope from places that appear to be without any.” That’s work includes THE WHITE HELMETS, which follows the lives of a group of heroic Syrian civilian rescue workers that won an Oscar in 2016. Other films include the riveting conservation thriller, VIRUNGA and EVELYN, a deeply personal story about the loss of his brother to suicide. At Original Thinkers, he will be screening a series of shorts that he made with National Geographic, including the unforgettable Lost and Found, which will be a part of the Humanity Endures show.

Nadia Naviwala

Nadia Naviwala investigates and writes about foreign assistance, civil society, and has done a particular deep dive into the state of education in Pakistan, having visited more than one hundred classrooms across the country. As a part of Show 2, Humanity Endures, she will talk about the largest school system in the world and how to make public education work so it serves everyone, especially women.

Richard “Mac” McKinney

After 25 years as a Marine in the armed services, and several tours in the Middle East, Richard "Mac" McKinney came back to the U.S. filled with rage toward Muslims. In what he viewed as a final mission for his country, McKinney planned to blow up the mosque in his Indiana hometown. It was a fateful trip to that mosque -- where he was welcomed by the local Muslim community -- that changed the course of his life. In Turning Hate into Love, McKinney is going to tell us how he not only became a Muslim, but the leader of that very same mosque.

Aniya Wingate

Aniya Wingate is a teenager who was displaced from her grandmother’s home during Hurricane Harvey and processed that trauma through a riveting dance performance that captures both the pain and perseverance of the experience. She is also the subject of a feature-length documentary about this that is a work-in-progress called Raising Aniya and will contribute to the Mother of All Issues show.

Lauren Oakes

In 2010, scientist Lauren E. Oakes headed down a dark road to understand the mass die-off of yellow cedar trees on the outer coast of Southeast Alaska. Immersed in a deeper and broader story of adaptation of both people and the forest, she wrote a book In Search of the Canary Tree that captures this experience with insight, context and hope. She will speak in the Mother of All Issues show about what her scientific inquiry into the yellow cedar taught her about humanity.

Thimali Kodikara

Thimali Kodikara hails from London but has lived in Brooklyn, where she produces the Doc Society’s groundbreaking podcast, Mothers Of Invention, which explores feminist solutions to climate change from around the world. She has also worked at Getty Images and Christie’s but now really focuses on understanding how women around the world are grappling with the dramatically heating planet, having talked to so many who are on the front lines of the fast-moving climate crisis.

Tatiana Schlossberg 

Tatiana Schlossberg is a climate change and environmental journalist whose first book, "Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have," comes out in August. She previously reported on those subjects for the Science and Climate sections at the New York Times. As a part of our Climate Change show, Schlossberg will explain and explore the everyday environmental impacts of all of our stuff -- food, fashion, technology and transportation -- from how much energy it takes to stream videos to the way polyester shirts contribute to ocean pollution. “In the name of convenience or immediate gratification or profit, we’ve created a world where we use resources because we can, with little attention paid to our waste and the problems it creates.” There’s humor and hope in her writing, an attitude that will bring life to the OT stage with entertainingly brutal and factual honesty.

Sandra Winther

Sandra Winther is a New York-based film director from Copenhagen, Denmark. Much of her work tells the stories of underrepresented youth, mainly centering on subcultures across America. Her documentary Lowland Kids tackles the complex subject of climate change through the eyes of two American teenagers living on a sinking island in Louisiana.

Sarfraz Manzoor

Sarfraz Manzoor was born in Pakistan but grew up in Margaret Thatcher’s England, which provided a variety of challenges for a young, alienated teenager until he found the music of Bruce Springsteen. Manzoor will speak at Original Thinkers as part of our show, What Does Music Really Do to Us? about the impact of the Boss’s music on his once wayward life. He will draw from his memoir, Greetings from Bury Park, as well as a new feature film he wrote called Blinded by the Light, which was a sensation at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Bernadette González

Bernardette González Orta is a scientist who teaches psychology at the Iberoamerican University in Mexico City and is focusing on how to use music to improve the quality of life for the elderly. She works with the Alive Inside organization, which has done a lot of work on Alzheimers and music and will talk about this project in Show 4, What Does Music Really Do to Us?

Joshua x“Classic Roots” DePerry

Joshua “Classic Roots” DePerry is a DJ who is creating a new sound that mixes First Nations beats and music into his own electronic compositions. He is also the star of Turning Tables, which will screen in Show 4, What Does Music Really Do to Us?

Gwen Thompkins

Gwen Thompkins is a New Orleans native, NPR veteran and host of WWNO's Music Inside Out, where she brings to bear the knowledge and experience she amassed as senior editor of Weekend Edition, an East Africa correspondent, the holder of Nieman and Watson Fellowships, and as a longtime student of music from around the world.

Chrisann Hessing

A documentary filmmaker based in Toronto, Chrisann Hessing focuses her work on questions of identity, particularly looking for stories that upend cultural and societal expectations. She directed Turning Tables, which screens in Show 4, What Does Music Really Do to Us?

Brooke Axtell

Brooke Axtell is a human rights activist who works to help young women find their way to becoming leaders through her mission as the Founder and Director of She is Rising, a healing community for women and girls overcoming rape, abuse and sex-trafficking. She has spoken across the world including at the UN, the Grammy Awards and has been featured in the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Time Magazine as well.

Ellie Burrows

Ellie Burrows is the Chief Executive Officer of MNDFL as well as a Vedic Meditation teacher, certified personal development coach and writer. After graduating magna cum laude from Northwestern University, Ellie served as an executive in the film business for a number of years, focusing on the business side of film: producing, selling, financing and finding new talent. When her meetings began to evolve into coaching sessions around effective communication and interpersonal relationships, she chose to pursue mindfulness in a more meaningful way. Ellie decided to travel the world as a spiritual tourist ultimately returning to New York where she received her Certificate in Coaching from NYU. Shortly thereafter, in 2014, she hatched the idea for MNDFL with her co-founder and friend Lodro Rinzler. Along the way, Ellie was exposed to Vedic Meditation. What started as a daily practice turned into a full blown love affair, and beginning in 2017 Ellie completed her 2000-hour teacher training program under master teacher Théo Burkhardt.

Stanley Stellar

Stanley Stellar has seen history unfold through his camera lens, focusing on the story of gay men, mostly in New York, over more than four decades. In that time, there has been an enormous shift in culture as these communities have emerged from the shadows and proudly into the streets, something that has been captured by Stellar. He is also the subject of the short documentary, Stanley Stellar: Here for This Reason, which tells his unique story and will be part of Show 5, Unburying Shame.

Keme Nzerem

Washington - Moscow - Johannesburg - Rio - London - for the past two decades Keme Nzerem has reported around the globe for British network TV on issues from corruption, politics, and human rights - to sport. His focus is always on people, and how global events impact the lives of ordinary folk.

Dana Schubart 

Dana Marie Schubart hails from upstate New York and is a survivor of childhood trauma, domestic violence and family offense. She believes we cannot break these pernicious cycles and begin to heal without exposing the truths of our stories. Her life's work is focused on sharing her own story of resilience and perseverance, which she will contribute to the Unburying Shame show along with photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally who captured Schubart’s challenging and complicated life in her landmark book, Upstate Girls.

Brenda Ann Kenneally

Over the past thirty years, Pulitzer Prize Nominee Brenda Ann Kenneally’s immersive journalism has produced visceral portraits of poor and low-income children in America. As a part of Unburying Shame at OT, she will unpack the experience of her childhood in upstate New York and years spent reporting on the current generation of Upstate Girls, the title of her most recent book. She will speak to the power of art to create expanded family, recounting decades of living alongside her subjects. It was Kenneally’s need to share what she had learned that led her to form A Little Creative Class, Inc. The non-profit arts organization's mission is to address the social and economic obstacles that deter poor and low-income youth from participating in the emerging idea-based economy.

Eric Leven

Eric Leven is an activist and filmmaker living in New York City. His career covers the spectrum of documentaries, reality television, celebrity content and branded video. His documentary, Truvada Revolution, won the 2016 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Journalism on a Multimedia Platform. He is currently Senior Producer of Digital Video for VICE Media.

Smriti Mundhra

Smriti Mundhra is an award-winning filmmaker who was on DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 Filmmakers to Watch and her latest film is St. Louis Superman, which has been acquired by MTV and will be part of Show 6, Change is Hard.

Bruce Franks Jr.

Bruce Franks Jr has an unusual resume for a State Representative. Hailing from Missouri, he is a community activist and battle rapper, whose tireless work on crime, guns and encouraging minorities to become police officers is starting to result in success. Inspired to run for office by what happened in Ferguson, Franks is also the star of the evocative documentary St. Louis Superman and will participate in the show, Change is Hard.

Sami Khan

Sami has made several films, including the short documentary, St. Louis Superman, which has been acquired by MTV and will be part of Show 6, Change is Hard.

Bonnie Siegler

Bonnie Siegler is a hugely accomplished graphic designer whose book, Signs of Resistance, A Visual History of Protest in America, looks at more than two centuries of protest art and design. At Original Thinkers, in our Change is Hard show, she will be talking about the real impact of art and visual imagery. An expert on art catalyzed by times of strife, Siegler describes vacillating “back and forth between rage and hope” in her work, resulting in a unique outlook on the power of gathering with a common cause. Siegler’s multi-disciplinary design studio Eight and a Half (http://8point5.com) has worked with an array of esteemed clients, and she was voted one of the 50 most influential designers working today by Graphic Design USA. Check out some of her work on her insta page: @Bonnie8point5.

JC Redon

JC Redon is a chef from Mexico City who specializes in integrating a vital, high-protein, low carbon footprint source of food into our meals: bugs. Worms, ants, crickets, grasshoppers and other creepy crawlies are all part of his menu and his bold - and delicious - meals are certainly part of the future (if not, the present) of food on this planet. He will contribute both words - and snacks - to the program Change is Hard, explaining the challenges he faces trying to get people to eat something that we are naturally repelled by. Check out his gallery for more.

Aaron Belkin

Dr. Aaron Belkin is a scholar who, since 1999, has served as founding director of the LGBT advocacy organization, the Palm Center. His 2011 public education campaign was responsible for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell”. As the architect and implementer of a groundbreaking shift in American military policy, Belkin will share what he learned about advocacy in our show, Change is Hard. His transformative work can be found in his book, How We Won: Progressive Lessons from the Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Arianna Huffington called the book a “best practices guide for civil rights fights.”

Nic Aziz

Nic Brierre Aziz is an interdisciplinary artist and curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art, who performs his art live. He is one of our featured artists in Creating Culture, the show that will take place in the vast abandoned mine above Telluride. A wildly creative mind, Aziz uses his art to engage with community issues and traumas, most notably posing as Rodin’s The Thinker on top of confederate statues. He is an artist-activist changemaker that will show the OT audience how he utilizes our personal and collective histories to reimagine the future.

Rhea Combs 

Rhea Combs is a PhD who curates photography and film for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. She just programmed the inaugural Smithsonian African American Film Festival in 2018 and will contribute her expertise to Show 7, Unearthing Culture.

Taliesin Gilkes-Bower  

Taliesin is an interdisciplinary artist who works in video, photography, sculpture, and sound art bringing these elements together to explore how communities respond creatively to oppression. His artworks are challenging as he delves into the complicated intersection of African and Afro-Diasporic culture with state violence.

Ramy Essam

Ramy Essam is a rocker, an agitator, and a force of nature live on stage. With a guitar in hand, Essam has been one of the loudest voices for Egypt’s struggle for a progressive society. He will sing and speak about using his talent to lead a revolution in our Change is Hard show, including his most notable song, Irhal. He performed it at the height of the Egyptian Revolution, demanding for the resignation of then-ruler Hosni Mubarak. Time Out has it listed as the #3 Song that changed history. “My cause is humanity and freedom and human rights. It’s very simple”. Essam experienced brutal torture and arrests intended to silence his voice because of his participation in the movement. His songs were banned and he was forbidden to perform publicly in Egypt. Undeterred, he eventually found safe haven in Sweden, and continues to perform today.

Marion Stokes felt strongly that information was critical to understanding our society and believed that knowledge could not be taken away. As a result, this largely unknown visionary recorded every news broadcast she could, with VCRs rolling on all sorts of televised programming, resulting in a remarkable archive. The strikingly well-made documentary. Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, chronicles Stokes’ unusual life but also contextualizes what she was trying to do: use information and knowledge to give American citizens power by understanding what was happening in the world. Filled with big ideas, this documentary seems to speak to our current moment in history, offering real perspective, incisive commentary and a deeper understanding of why real news matters more than ever.

Deborah and James Fallows

For nearly four years, husband and wife journalists Deborah and James Fallows piloted their single-engine propeller plane to small and mid-size towns in America, reporting on innovation of all sorts, which resulted in a national best-selling 2018 book called Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America. As part of the Character of Our Country show, they will share what they learned along the way, ultimately drawing a conclusion that surprises much of the national news audience: “most parts of the United States that we visited have been doing better, in most ways, than most Americans realize.” They found that when you zoom in and spend time at the local level, Americans are actually adapting to life in the 21st century. As a widely published writer and linguist, and a longtime correspondent for the Atlantic Magazine, Deborah and James have decades of experience covering a myriad of topics from all over the world, including being on the ground for the formative years of China’s rise. Our Towns is currently being adapted into a documentary series by HBO.

Jason Hirschhorn

Jason Hirschhorn holds a unique place in Hollywood as a top executive with MTV, Myspace and his current company, the ReDEF Group but he is also a careful curator and big thinker on the role of entertainment in our culture. He will be speaking about this as part of Show 9, the Character of Our Country.

Amanda Blaurock

Amanda Blaurock has nearly two decades of experience as a lawyer and entrepreneur but is now primarily engaged as the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Village Exchange Center in Aurora, Colorado (VEC). VEC gathers together different immigrant and refugee groups, providing a space for them to celebrate traditions and keep their culture alive in Aurora, which has a population comprised of twenty percent immigrants.

Marcel Narucki 

Marcel Narucki has been a faith leader, focusing his work on social outreach ministries for more than three decades. A former Roman Catholic Monk who is currently ordained as a Lutheran pastor, Narucki’s church was St. Matthews in Aurora, Colorado, which he saw struggle to sustain a congregation. As a result, he decided to close down the church and start the Village Exchange Center, which brings together immigrants and refugees who have come from across the world to this beacon of diversity and inclusion. 

Brandon Victor Dixon

Brandon Victor Dixon graduated from Columbia University and stayed on in New York City becoming a major presence on Broadway as an actor. He has had several star turns including Motown, the Musical, The Color Purple and Hamilton, in which he played Aaron Burr, and gave the cast response to Vice-President Elect Mike Pence when he attended the show. At Original Thinkers, he will contribute to a couple of shows including What Does Music Really Do to Us as well as closing out the weekend with a talk at Show 10 about his new initiative WeAre, which is designed to engage people in democracy in a new and compelling way.