Ellis is the CEO and founder of CultureCon and The Creative Collective, an organization dedicated to providing community and resources to more than 100,000 diverse creatives. The Creative Collective’s marquee event is CultureCon, a conference dedicated to creatives of color. Ellis served as a fashion writer for The Hustler and hosted “It’s Imani,” a show she produced at Vanderbilt Television. Before founding CultureCon, Ellis was vice president of communications at NBCUniversal, where she started as an NBC Page and went on to hold communications leadership positions for Bravo, E!, and Oxygen. Ellis was named a “Breakthrough Creative” by Ebony and a “Diversity Champion” by Adweek. She also has been recognized by Forbes as a “Visionary” and “One To Watch” by Black Enterprise.

Berger serves as the assistant secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations, and Environment, appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2021. In this role, she oversees Navy and Marine Corps energy, climate resilience, and environmental stewardship. She has held roles in both federal and state government and in the private sector. At Vanderbilt, Berger held multiple roles at The Hustler, including editor-in-chief, and co-hosted a radio show on WRVU. After earning her degree in American Studies and Spanish, she obtained a master’s in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and a law degree from Nova Southeastern University.

Justin Smith is senior vice president of production at All3Media. At Vanderbilt, Smith served as station manager at Vanderbilt Television and interned at Nashville Public Television. His television career includes many high-profile, award-winning projects, including United Shades of America (CNN) and Undercover Boss (CBS), both of which earned two Emmy wins under his leadership. Early in his career, Smith produced with Al Gore for his 2007 Live Earth climate change event. He remains engaged in youth and student development through Young Life, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Vandy-in-Hollywood and VSC.

Vigdor is an award-winning journalist who has covered politics throughout his career, interviewing, among others, Donald Trump, Michelle Obama, Mitt Romney, and Jesse Jackson, at publications including The New York Times, the Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Times, Hearst Connecticut Media Group and The Hartford Courant. At Vanderbilt, he contributed to The Vanderbilt Review literary and arts journal and worked as assistant sports editor, opinion editor, managing editor, and editor-in-chief at The Hustler. He was part of The Times’ Democracy Project, and his reporting focuses on voting, election laws, and disinformation. In his spare time, he is a yogi and an avid amateur photographer who captures stunning images from nature, urban life, and travel.

Goldate is an award-winning editor, producer and director of documentaries and series. Her work includes “Our Father” (Netflix), award-winning documentary “InHospitable,” acclaimed series for CNN (The Nineties, The 2000s, 1968), the Emmy-winning “Out of Iraq,” “Hillbilly” (Hulu), the GLAAD Media Award-winning and Peabody-nominated documentary “Disclosure” (Netflix), and award-winning Push Girls. Goldate ran a weekly newsmagazine program on WRVU and served as a music DJ. Goldate also was a guest columnist for The Hustler. Goldate is currently editing a documentary series for Paramount+ and Funmeter about Lollapalooza and is committed to mentoring, serving as a Karen Schmeer Fellowship Mentor.