Outspoken Bean
Emanuelee Bean, also known as “Outspoken Bean,” is the founder and creative force of Woodson Black Fest in partnership with Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Born in New Jersey and raised in San Antonio, he currently serves as Houston’s 2021–23 Poet Laureate. In 2022, Bean received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. He was the first poet to perform on Houston Ballet’s main stage with their production, Play. He has been commissioned to write and perform a national campaign on diversity for Pabst Blue Ribbon and VICE while creating and producing his own festival, Plus Fest: The Everything Plus Poetry Festival.

Kareem Day | A Herd Of Bison
Kareem Day is the owner of A Herd Of Bison, an apparel company specializing in footwear, outerwear, and technical pieces. A Herd of Bison’s main purpose is to serve the community, whether it is through their designs or community events.

Danielle Fanfair | Confusion to Clarity
Danielle Fanfair is an Accredited Professional through the International Enneagram Association (IEA), writer, teacher, and director of integrated well-being and self-mastery with over sixteen years of teaching and training adult professionals. In her work, Danielle curates integrated well-being experiences for high-functioning, high-impact individuals. Her interest is in merging proven results of behavioral science study with understanding how personality and cultural background work with how our minds, hearts, and bodies connect.

Broderick Gilchrest | BG Designs
Broderick Gilchrest is the founder of BG Designs, a hat-making business specializing in custom fedoras. Created during the pandemic in January 2020, BG Designs aims to express confidence, sophistication, individuality, and uniqueness in each design. Since its launch, BG Designs has expanded to include more customizations such as wooden brims, painting, and sewing.

Marlon F. Hall | Folklore Films
Marlon F. Hall is an artist and anthropologist who works to unearth beauty from perceived brokenness. As an art-making storyteller, Hall was recently named a Fulbright Specialist by the U.S. Department of Educational and Cultural Affairs. He was also a 2021 Tulsa Artist Fellow, Visual Anthropologist and Social Media Archivist for the Greenwood Art Project, subject matter expert for CBS Gayle King’s Morning Show, and a producing storyteller for the Emmy Award-winning Migrant Kitchen. His digital photos and film curation is featured in Google Arts and Culture with a special spotlight of his exhibition. His latest project features one of his carefully curated Amnesia Therapy Salon Dinners in partnership with The British Council and The Kenya Pavilion at the 2022 The Venice Biennial. Hall integrates community engagement into the creation of narrative driven artifacts that cultivate healing in communities that have experienced political, cultural, or systemic trauma.

Deborah (D.E.E.P.) Mouton
Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an internationally known writer, director, performer, critic, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston. She is the author of the 2019 poetry collection, Newsworthy, and its German counterpart, Berichtenswert, which was a finalist for the The Writer’s League of Texas Book Award and Honorable Mention in the Summerlee Book Prize. Her poems have garnered her a pushcart nomination and been translated across multiple genres and languages. Honored by Houston Business Journal as a part of their 2021 40 Under 40 Class, she has been a contributing writer for Glamour, Texas Monthly, Muzzle, and ESPN’s The Undefeated.

As a playwright and a librettist, she has penned multiple stage works, including Marian’s Song with Houston Grand Opera (HGO) and The Forest of Secrets. Her directorial debut began with her work, The World’s Intermission, commissioned by Performing Arts Houston and performed at the historic Jones Hall. She serves as writer/director for Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson, a choreopoem premiered at Stages Theater in Houston.

Her forthcoming memoir, Black Chameleon (2023), examines womanhood through mythology. One of its stories has been adapted into a HGO’s storybook opera for young audiences, Lula, the Mighty Griot. Currently, she is a Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater, Rice University, and the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

Rocquelle Porch | Consider Me Lovely
A native Houstonian, Rocquelle Porch is an educator and a digital creative. She has been creating in the style and fashion space since 2010, when she launched her blog, Consider Me Lovely. An HBCU graduate of Texas Southern University, Rocquelle is passionate about sharing Black stories and supporting Black-owned businesses. In 2020, she launched Black Style Anecdotes, a podcast where Black women share their style stories In her free time, she runs her online shop, CML Goods, enjoys vintage thrift shopping, doing puzzles, and hanging out with her cats.

9th Sage
Through music and online success, 9th Sage has been featured on Saint Heron, Cozy Mag, First Ear Radio, SoulEtiquette Radio, Future SNDS, Einhundert, and more. His genuine relationships and talent even took him on his first tour in Asia in August 2017 with the Kuala Lumpur-based collective, Saturday Selects, and other major shows in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and more.