Mahogany L. Browne is a California-born, Brooklyn-based writer, educator, activist, mentor, and curator. She has published several books of poetry, and she is an Urban Word NYC Artistic Director (as seen on HBO's Brave New Voices), founder of Women Writers of Color Reading Room, and Director of BLM@Pratt Programming, and facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country. Theodore Taylor III is an artist, designer, and photographer. He is the winner of the John Steptoe Award for New Talent for his work in When the Beat Was Born. He lives in Richmond, Virginia, with his wife and their very own woke baby.