Nicole àBeckett is the co-founder of SameSide, a platform making grassroots political action more accessible to more people.
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Yohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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Angélica was born to migrant farm workers who eventually settled in NC. From a young age, she witnessed injustices in the farm worker community that instilled in her a high sense of commitment to the struggle for social justice.
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Mandolin Orange’s music radiates a mysterious warmth—their songs feel like whispered secrets, one hand cupped to your ear. The North Carolina duo have built a steady and growing fanbase with this kind of intimacy, and on Tides of A Teardrop, it is more potent than ever.
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Stevie Phillips began her career traveling with Judy Garland and became head of the theater and motion picture departments of CMA (now International Creative Management) in New York.
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Lisa Zahiya is a life and small business coach who guides female entrepreneurs to build the business and lives of their dreams. She travels nationally and internationally coaching and speaking.
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Steeped in story, Shana’s ChamberSoul is rich, deep music that wraps its arm around your shoulder and invites you to sit down for a spell.
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I am a Black Southerner and my experience, though it defies the white hillbilly stereotype, is assuredly Appalachian.
Being a Black person from Appalachia can be summed up in that old Facebook relationship status: It’s complicated.
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Founder / Executive Director
She is the co-founder of Asheville Music Professionals, a non-profit organization committed to providing education, advocacy, connection and collaboration in the music community.
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Festival Producer/Creative Director
In 2011, Crissa Requate founded Mason Jar Media, a boutique marketing agency specializing in publicity and radio promotion campaigns for festivals, musicians, and brands.
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Senior Programmer
With a background in writing, filmmaking and the arts, Iz Web’s diverse career has included information architecture, multimedia activist art, theatrical/festival/event production, community organization, and circus arts.
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Film Partner / Head of Programming
Producer Zak Kilberg is the founder of Social Construct Films, which handles the creative development, financing, production and worldwide sales for a slate of feature films and television series.
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From acting and producing, to dancing her way into the hearts of television audiences, Emmy Award-winning television host Ricki Lake is a pop culture icon who has built a career on her graciously candid sensibility and her authentic, relatable nature.
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From acting and producing, to dancing her way into the hearts of television audiences, Emmy Award-winning television host Ricki Lake is a pop culture icon who has built a career on her graciously candid sensibility and her authentic, relatable nature.
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Joseph Hudak is a senior editor at Rolling Stone, overseeing the magazine's Nashville office and the Rolling Stone Country website, which covers the country and Americana genres.
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Realizing the lack of platforms for Asheville’s up-and-coming filmmakers, they built one from scratch in the form of Cat Fly Film Festival.
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Rising Appalachia brings to the stage a collection of sounds, stories, and songs steeped in tradition and a devotion to world culture. Intertwining a deep reverence for folk music and a passion for justice, they have made it their life’s work to sing songs that speak to something ancient yet surging with relevance.
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Dayna Reggero is the award-winning director of the Climate Listening Project. Dayna works creatively to cultivate and share hopeful conversations on climate and community through video, film, connections, and collaborations.
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Dr. Jack S. Monell is an Associate Professor & Program Coordinator of Justice Studies at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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Dr. Jack S. Monell is an Associate Professor & Program Coordinator of Justice Studies at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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