College & Campus
First-Year Read
Business Leader & Child Advocate
Stephen Pemberton is the Divisional VP and Chief Diversity Officer of Walgreens and is an expert at diversifying workforces. He is a leading keynote speaker on matters of diversity and inclusion and its importance to... |
Best-Selling Author & Youth Advocate
A youth advocate and decorated war veteran, Wes Moore is the author of the acclaimed The Other Wes Moore. He imparts the importance of personal and social responsibility in shaping one's future. |
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author & Journalist
Sonia Nazario, a former projects reporter for The Los Angeles Times, has spent more than two decades reporting and writing about social issues, earning her dozens of national awards, including the Pulitzer... |
Pulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Columnist
A Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, Kristof is an extraordinary thinker, human rights advocate, and astute chronicler of humanity. As a seasoned journalist who has traveled China, Africa... |
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist
Journalist and best-selling author of Half the Sky Sheryl WuDunn offers a compelling perspective on current economic, political and social issues such as women's rights. |
New York Times Best-Selling Author & Musician
An award-winning jazz musician, McBride is the author of The New York Times bestseller, The Color of Water, a memoir that has become a modern classic. Spike Lee directed the film adaptation of McBride's... |
Award-Winning Author
The best-selling author of Super Sad True Love Story, speaker Gary Shteyngart offers insights into the absurdity of life, balancing humor with tragedy. |
Best-Selling Author
Author of the incendiary New York Times bestselling memoir All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, and the companion bestseller Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion, MacDonald shares... |
Playwright & Novelist
Speaker Pearl Cleage probes issues of race, sex, and love in her literary works. She authored popular books such as 2011's Just Want to Testify. |
New York Times Best-Selling Author
A New York Times bestselling author, Burroughs is known for his thoughtful, honest, and often hilarious memoirs. In his popular Dry, which has become a contemporary staple of recovery literature, he... |
Award-Winning Journalist & Author of The Shock Doctrine
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist & author of the international bestseller The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, which explores the flaws of neoliberal... |
Inner-City Youth & Education Advocate
Profiled on 60 Minutes & featured in the documentary Waiting for Superman, Geoffrey Canada is President & CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, an agency that works to better the future of inner-city... |
Global Policy Expert
Patel challenges preconceptions about the global economy through his work as a policy analyst and activist. His most recent book, The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy,... |
Best-Selling Author & "Human Guinea Pig"
Renowned as "the human guinea pig," A.J. Jacobs has outsourced his life to India, read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in a quest to become the smartest person in the world, lived modern life as the ultimate... |
Aggression Expert & Educator
Speaker Rachel Simmons authored the New York Times bestseller Odd Girl Out, the first book to explore cruelty in young girls' lives. |
Best-Selling Author
The best-selling author of the extraordinary Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See crafts highly praised works resplendent with fluid language and rich universal themes. |
Public Intellectual & Best-Selling Author
Named by Essence magazine as one of the 50 most inspiring African Americans, Dyson is one of the nation's most renowned public intellectuals, revitalizing the role with the fervor of an ordained Baptist... |
Substance Abuse Advocate
Speaker Koren Zailckas authored Smashed, a riveting account of her alcohol abuse as a teen. She probes the national culture of addiction and recovery in her keynotes. |
Award-Winning Journalist
An Emmy-winning columnist and editorial writer for The Washington Post, speaker Juan Williams is an analyst for Fox News. He wrote Enough and Muzzled. |
Social Entrepreneur & Veteran
The founder of an NGO and a former Marine, Rye Barcott has the distinction of being both a warrior and a peacemaker, a juxtaposition he explores in the memoir It Happened on the... |
