Linda Thai LMSW (she, her) is a trauma therapist who specializes in cutting edge brain- and body-based modalities for the healing of complex developmental trauma. 

As an educator and consultant, she is gifted with the capacity to contextualize, synthesize and communicate complex and nuanced issues pertaining to trauma, attachment and the nervous system, including the impact of oppressive systems upon identity, mental health and wellbeing. 

Linda is passionate about breaking the cycle of historical and intergenerational trauma at the individual and community levels, and deeply believes in the healing power of coming together in community to grieve.

Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, and now living in Alaska, Linda is a former child refugee who is not only redefining what it means to be Vietnamese, to be Australian, and to be a United States-ian....she is redefining what it means to be wounded and whole and a healer.

Sarah is the co-director of Coaching for Healing Justice and Liberation, a coach trainer, organizer, and artist. She came to coaching through organizing because she wanted a way to better manage what was happening inside of her as she was doing social justice work. As an empath-introvert, Sarah realized in that journey that she could better support herself and others through coaching because it gave her the language to see others and herself as already whole. There was no management needed. It also felt deeply spiritual to Sarah which felt right as someone who desires to connect to the Creator as a muslim and as a mother. To that end, Sarah wants to be a part of creating a world where storytelling, healing, and transformation are pathways to freedom where we are in pursuit of elevating our highest spiritual selves.

Lama Rod Owens is a Black Buddhist Southern Queen. An international influencer with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School. Author of The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors and Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger, and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, his teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care.
A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist teachers with over 11 years of experience, Lama Rod activates the intersections of his identity to create a platform that’s very natural, engaging, and inclusive. Applauded for his mastery in balancing weighty topics with a sense of lightness, the Queen has been featured by various national and international news outlets.
Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is showing you how to heal and free yourself. Wanna keep tabs on what Lama Rod is doing next? Be sure to sign up for his email list here. Stay tuned to his website here for upcoming offerings and click here for bookings and other requests.

Malkia Devich Cyril is a transformative grief facilitator and movement strategist, published writer, public speaker and award winning activist on issues of collective grief, Black liberation, cultural change and narrative power. As the founding and former director of the Youth Media Council and Media Justice, Malkia spearheaded national grassroots efforts for abolition and access in a digital age, and galvanized communities of color for an open Internet and media accountability. After two decades of media justice leadership, and in an era of devastating mass loss, Devich-Cyril launched the Radical Loss Project in 2022.

Radical Loss is a Black-led change lab transforming how modern freedom movements face loss and build collective power through collective grief, and writing a book on the purpose and power of Black grief in the 21st century. Black, Indigenous and Arab changemakers, as well as other communities on the frontlines of bereavement are the central practitioners in this lab. Devich-Cyril is a 2022-2024 Leading Edge Fellow, Founder-in-Residence at MediaJustice, and Strategist in Residence at Narrative Initiative currently writing a book on the radical possibilities of Black grief.

Samantha Rise (they/them) is a black, gender-expansive performer, teaching artist, activist and human-amplifier based in Lenapehoking, known widely as Philadelphia. Samantha’s passion for music and community building are the heart of their work, feeding spaces that are inquiry-driven, participant led, and abundant in joy!

Rise’s artistry and songwriting is a trans-genre practice, drawing on a wide root system of traditional Black American music–jazz, folk, country and avant-garde, and the music of social justice movements in America…Reminding audiences that “Music is our Birthright,” Rise leverages their own creative practice to encourage listeners to engage with their own creative capacities and resources themselves in moments of challenge and conflict.

In addition to their work as a songwriter, arranger and performer, Rise aspires to facilitate creative direct action with community organizers and leaders shaping change from the socio-political margins.  They are dedicated to social justice interventions that address the lethal lack of imagination we face, embracing the challenge and the opportunity of reimagining our world.

Duncan Ryuken Williams is the Alton Brooks Professor of Religion and Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California. Previously, he held the Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at UC Berkeley and served as the Director of Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies. He has also been ordained since 1993 as a Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition, served as the Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University where he received his Ph.D., and received Dharma transmission in 2024 at Kotakuji Temple in Nagano, Japan. Williams’ books include  American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War (Harvard), The Other Side of Zen (Princeton) and editor of seven volumes including Issei Buddhism in the Americas (Illinois), American Buddhism (Routledge), and Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard). He serves on the boards of the Yonex Corporation, a Japanese sports equipment company, as well as the Irei Project, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Asian Pacific American Religion Research Initiative.