Max Stossel is an award-winning poet + filmmaker named by Forbes as one of the best storytellers of the year. His performances across five continents, from Lincoln Center in NY to the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, have been described as mind expanding, profound, emotive, and hilarious all at once. His one-man show “Words That Move” is coming off two sold-out runs at Cherry Lane, the oldest off-broadway theater in NYC and is beginning to tour at select locations.

Max is also the Head of Education for the Center for Humane Technology, an organization of former tech insiders and CEOs dedicated to realigning technology with humanity’s best interests. Before joining CHT, Max was a media strategist with an extensive background in social, spending more time learning the ins and outs of the facebook algorithm than any human should. He ran social for multinational brands, and later worked for a social media company where he designed some of the same notification structures to distract people that he now criticizes. He provides a unique perspective on the role of technology in our lives.

Kai Lawson

Kai Deveraux Lawson, uses her life long passion for culture, and 8 years of experience in advertising, to tell honest stories that shed light on the need for Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace, specifically in marketing and media.

As an integrated producer, she’s worked for several agencies, including Wunderman, space150, AKQA & Momentum Worldwide. There she motivated project teams to be efficient and productive, all while managing print, digital and social programs for notable brands like American Express, Maybelline, Verizon & Coca Cola.

Her agency experience eventually led Kai to launch the culturally focused platforms, Mixed Company Podcast and her blog, Mylifeofkai.com.  On these channels, she has been able to share her first hand experiences in life, travel and career from the perspective of a millennial woman of color.

Kai has been featured on The Drum’s Exceptional Women of the World podcast, David Sable’s Madison & Culture podcast, and was inducted into the Advertising Club’s Women’s Fellowship Program. This past October, she took stage at the annual Advertising Week New York conference, to discuss her thoughts about TimesUp Advertising, during a conversation entitled, The Road to Safe, Fair, and Dignified Work for Women of All Kinds.

Heidi’s work lives in the balance between provocation and practicality, helping build companies and brands that create impact in the world.

Heidi Hackemer is the Founder of So We Hunt, a brand collective that partners with senior leaders on their thorniest, most important brand, culture and engagement issues, both within company cultures and out in the world. SWH works solely on projects that have the most potential for partnership and impact and builds bespoke senior teams for each client challenge.

Heidi has founding in her bones: before So We Hunt, Heidi founded and built the influential brand-strategy company Wolf & Wilhelmine. W&W helped brave clients such as Nike, Bacardi and start-ups like Bonobos and Oscar set brand narratives and design action grounded in intense audience understanding. She also co-founded the Creative Alliance, an organization that matches powerful initiatives with powerful creators to make a positive change in the country by activating communities.

Heidi spent her early career working at top shops in the advertising and marketing world in both the US and Europe, working with clients such as Google to launch Chrome, Chromebook and Glass, serving as the brand lead for Google’s Advanced Technology & Projects group as well as collaborating with clients such as LEGO, the BBC, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Sony to create award-winning strategies and work. More recently, Heidi served as the VP of Engagement for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Heidi co-created Six Items or Less, a clothing consumption experiment that was featured in the New York Times, Good Morning America as well as press all over the world. She also spent two years traveling the country for her American Dream project, an exploration into understanding what makes America tick.  Heidi is a frequent speaker and teacher and has ridden her Harley cross country three times… so far

Julie Holland, MD is a psychiatrist specializing in psychopharmacology with a private practice in New York City. Her book “Weekends at Bellevue” chronicles her nine years running the psychiatric emergency room as an attending physician on the faculty of NYU School of Medicine. Frequently featured on the Today show and CNN’s  documentary series “Weed,” Holland is the editor of "The Pot Book" and "Ecstasy: The Complete Guide."  (Both books are non-profit projects that help to fund clinical therapeutic research.)

Dr. Holland is the medical monitor for several MAPS PTSD studies utilizing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy or testing strains of cannabis with varying CBD/THC ratios. She has worked for decades on US drug policy reform based on harm reduction principles. Her 2016 book, “MoodyBitches: The Truth About The Drugs You're Taking, the Sleep You're Missing, the Sex You're Not Having, and What's Really Making You Crazy” has been translated into eleven languages.

Nai Vasha is an adventurer and craftsman from Stockton, California. Skilled in a multitude of creative mediums from concept installation to video production, Vasha helps to shape and establish identifiable visual language for influential brands. As an avid long distance runner, she is blazing a trail that breaks the algorithm while building organic community.  Vasha is the co-founder of UNDO-ORDINARY, a global wellness platform changing the way people see healthy living. Stripping the tail off an ancient Chinese proverb, she lives by one simple quote,

“Never trouble trouble.”