Dr. Artika Tyner is committed to creating a world of inclusive leaders who will meet the pressing needs of today and work towards a better future where racial justice and economic justice reign supreme.  As a motivational speaker, author and educator, Dr. Tyner helps people of all ages connect with their gifts and develop tangible tools for bringing forth sustainable, durable change in the family, workplace, community or school.  By building and leveraging the tools in The Inclusive Leader she has inspired thousands of people to lead with their own gifts and plant a seed of social change. She is the author of numerous books, including more recently, R is for Rondo, Curious About Juneteenth, Curious About Kwanzaa, Curious About Veterans Day. She lives in Saint Paul, and is the founder of the Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute.

Lesley Younge has been a progressive educator in independent schools for twenty years. She earned her graduate degree from Bank Street College of Education and is currently a middle school English teacher at Maret School in Washington, DC. Lesley’s poetry and short stories have appeared in Poetry, Callaloo, Mid Atlantic Review, Bay to Shore, Little Patuxent Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, West Trade Review, Midnight & Indigo, The Plentitudes, Full Bleed, and others. She is a fellow of Storyknife, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hurston/Wright Foundation, and Anaphora Literary Arts.