Lola Elfman is the New Media Director at the New Organizing Institute (NOI), a national organization that develops the practice of engagement organizing and the leaders who are great at it through training, research and integrated campaigns. Lola has organized many of NOI's new media trainers, state blogger summit, and the popular "unconference", RootsCamp. Prior to her work with NOI, she served as the Internet Director for Phil Angelides' campaign for Governor in her home state of California. She also worked for M+R Strategic Services' eCampaigns team helping non-profit organizations plan and implement online advocacy and fundraising campaigns. Before entering into the political sphere, Lola was an art teacher and photographer with a passion for creative education and social change. She is a graduate of Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Affectionately known as "Dr. Goddess," Kimberly C. Ellis, Ph.D. is a scholar of American & Africana Studies and Executive Director of the Historic Hill Institute. A Creative Community Organizer, she received the 2009 Thomas Merton Center’s “New Person” Award & the 2008 YWCA Racial Justice Award for the “Raise Your Hand! No Casino on the Hill Campaign.” Also a poet, playwright and performing artist, "Dr. Goddess!: A One Woman Show" and its ensemble sequel, "Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail, a spoken word, musical comedy (unfortunately) based on a true story" is now on CD & DVD.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the Chief Executive Officer of Green For All. Under her leadership, Green For All has become one of the country's leading advocates for a clean-energy economy, and one of its most important voices on the intersection of economics and environment.

Phaedra has led Green For All to several groundbreaking policy victories at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, she led a successful effort to include two key provisions in the House's climate and energy bill: securing funding for job training, and guaranteeing broad access to clean-energy jobs. She is now leading the same effort in the Senate.

Under Phaedra, Green For All has helped states like Washington and New Mexico pioneer state-level green jobs and energy-efficiency programs. And the organization is helping cities like Portland and Seattle craft groundbreaking energy-efficiency home retrofit programs that use innovative financing mechanisms and community agreements about job standards to cut energy bills, create green jobs, reduce pollution, and expand business opportunities.

Green For All is redefining the face of environmentalism. Through partnerships with popular artists such as The Black Eyed Peas, Drake and Wyclef Jean, Green For All is reaching new audiences about the benefits and opportunities of going green.

Prior to joining Green For All, Phaedra was a leader in California's labor movement, heading both the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and Working Partnerships USA.

2009, Essence Magazine named Phaedra one of the 25 Most Influential African Americans, and Ebony included her in its Power 150 for 2009. In 2010, the World Economic Forum selected her as a Young Global Leader. She has been featured in various outlets, including: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and on ABC, BET, CNN, MSNBC, and NBC.

Maurice Emsellem is the National Employment Law Project’s (NELP) Co-Policy Director. NELP is a research and advocacy organization that delivers on the nation’s promise of economic opportunity. Mr. Emsellem specializes in government systems of support for unemployed workers and the employment rights of people with criminal records. He and his colleagues at NELP have co-authored several publications, including scholarly articles that appeared in the Stanford Law & Policy Review and the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. Mr. Emsellem was a Soros Justice Senior Fellow (2005), and a Visiting Public Interest Mentor at Stanford Law School (2003). He received his B.A. in 1982 from the University of Michigan and his J.D. in 1986 from Northeastern University School of Law.

Althea Erickson is the Associate Director of Advocacy and Policy at Freelancers Union, where she led its successful 2009 campaign to repeal the Unincorporated Business Tax, saving NYC freelancers up to $3400/year, launched its Political Action Committee, and recently introduced a bill in the NYS Legislature to protect freelancers from unpaid wages. Prior to Freelancers Union, Althea worked as a Research Associate at the Rockefeller Foundation, where she focused on strategies to build economic security within the U.S. workforce. Althea also has extensive organizing and campaign experience, including organizing women on welfare in the NYC suburbs, leading the NY arm of a successful corporate social responsibility campaign against JP Morgan Chase, and running a hip-hop youth center in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

A graduate from Florida State University, Maria was active on campus and within the Latino community though her work as a radio dj and as president of the Colombian Student Association. Maria also served as treasurer of the Progressive Student Assembly, which mobilized more than 3,000 students and community members around juvenile detention centers and to demand justice in Florida's "boot camps". For the past year, Maria has been working with the Student Labor Action Project, and has helped students nationwide develop social and economic justice campaigns on their campuses and has trained students in grassroots organizing as a GROW trainer for the U.S. Student Association. Her views have been shaped by her own experience of coming to the U.S. with her family in 2000 as political refugees from Colombia.

Lily Eskelsen, an elementary teacher from Utah, is vice president of the National Education Association. She is one of the highest-ranking labor leaders in the country and one of its most influential Hispanic educators.

After teaching for only nine years, she was named Utah Teacher of the Year in 1989, and she used that title as a platform to speak out against the dismal funding of Utah schools. In 1990, she was elected Utah Education Association President, her first elected position in the Association. She has since served in key leadership posts, including the NEA Executive Committee and NEA Secretary-Treasurer.

Lily has also served as president of the Utah State Retirement System; as president of the Children at Risk Foundation; as a member of the Utah LaRaza Education Committee; and as a member of the White House Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Education.

Lily authored a humor column on parenting that ran in 22 local newspapers. Her education advice for parents has been published in Time, Working Mother, and Woman’s World, and she’s been featured on Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes” and CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” She has been the invited keynote speaker for hundreds of education events in virtually every state and was highlighted by Education World in their “Best Conference Speakers” edition.

For 20 years, she worked with students from kindergarten to sixth grade in the middle-class suburbs of Salt Lake and in the county’s one-room shelter school. She has taught children labeled gifted and children labeled homeless. She remembers the year she had 39 fifth-graders and the year she had 12 special education students in a class of 35. She believes that no matter how students arrive, no matter their learning conditions, and no matter what political tests or labels or punishments they face, educators have the sacred duty to be professionals and to care for the whole child. And she believes that professionalism carries the responsibility to take action, individually and collectively, to fight to make the promise of public education—to prepare every student to succeed—a reality.

Kety Esquivel is Vice President Digital Influence for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Ogilvy PR). Kety was most recently the Executive Director for Latinos in Social Media. She has over 15 years of experience in the non-profit, private and political sectors. She directed Latino outreach for the Clark Presidential Campaign. Her work has taken her to China where she lived for nearly four years and to Ethiopia with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She spent three years coaching executives on human capital and diversity in the US, Canada and Latin America for Eastman Kodak Company. She has worked as the New Media Manager for the National Council of La Raza.

Kety is a published author and co-founder of several start-ups. She has served on several boards, including that of the Puerto Rican Youth Development and Resource Center and the New Leaders Council. She has been a speaker at Netroots Nation, SXSW, Personal Democracy Forum, BlogHer, the Center for New Words, Gov 2.5 and Gov 2.0 Camp LA. She has worked with O'Reilly Media, Women Action and the Media and Blogalicious. She has been a convener for Web of Change and She's Geeky and is a past editor of BlogHer. Her commentary has been featured and quoted in stories for the Wall Street Journal Online, HITN, PBS, XM Radio, Democracy Now, CNN, Televisa and Univision. She also blogs on the Huffington Post.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University where she served on the Board of Trustees.

You can follow her on Twitter http://twitter.com/KetyE. In her spare time, Kety loves to travel, explore new cultures, read, write, dance and hang out with her family and her small Pomeranian Max.

Jacob Faber graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006 with Master's degrees in Telecommunications Policy and Urban Studies and Planning and in 2004 with a Bachelor's degree in Management Science. Since 2003, Jacob's studies and research interests have included the digital divide, broadband availability in low-income neighborhoods, how Internet technologies encourage community involvement and political participation, and regional strategies for inner city economic growth.

Since joining CSI in 2006, Jacob has provided research support through data analysis and methodology development on a range of projects. Jacob is responsible for CSI's "opportunity mapping" – a powerful tool for understanding the geographic distribution of opportunities (jobs, housing, infrastructure, etc.). Jacob developed the Opportunity Index for the New York Region, which aggregates dozens of variables to measure wellbeing on the neighborhood level. As project lead for CSI’s Communications Testing, Jacob helps develop testing methodologies for reframing the public conversation on race to build public will for racial justice policies. Jacob has also produced several reports exploring how different communities are experiencing the current economic downturn.

Gloria Feldt is a leading activist and author who blogs about women’s lives, rights, and leadership from where the personal meets the political. Her newest book, No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power ~ Tools for Leading an Unlimited Life, will be published October, 2010. It reveals why women are stuck at 18% of top leadership roles and shows how we can redefine power and reach parity from the boardroom to the bedroom for good—our own and society’s.

Former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America whose journey to leadership began as a teen mom, Gloria was dubbed “the voice of experience” by People Magazine. She teaches “Women, Power, and Leadership” at Arizona State University. Previous books include New York Times best seller Send YOURSELF Roses co-written with actress Kathleen Turner, The War on Choice, and Behind Every Choice Is a Story. Her commentary has been featured in national publications such as the New York Times, the Daily Beast, and Salon; find her Heartfeldt blog at www.GloriaFeldt.com. Glamour honored her as Woman of the Year; Vanity Fair named her to its Top 200 Women Leaders, Legends, and Trailblazers; she is a Women’s e-News’ 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. She serves on the board of the Women’s Media Center. Connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter where she hangs out far too much.

Jenifer Fernandez Ancona is a strategist in the progressive movement, with a focus on multi-racial coalition building, fund raising and strategic communications. She is currently an advisor to Presente.org/Citizen Engagement Lab, National People's Action and Simple Revolutions. Jenifer was previously a senior advisor to Steve Phillips and Susan Sandler, where she was responsible for communications and messaging to a broad network of progressive donors. Jenifer has also served as a consultant for the Roosevelt Institute, a top legislative aide in the California State Assembly, and was a news reporter for the Los Angeles Times. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and fellow organizer Dan Ancona, their son Marco and their cat, Oscar.

Matthew Filipowicz is a comedian, cartoonist, and satirist whose work has been featured on CNN, NPR, PBS, HBO, BBC, Ain’t It Cool News, Salon, the online versions of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic and the London Times, as well as the Thom Hartman Show, the Young Turks, Ring Of Fire and great deal of sites in the liberal blogosphere including Crooks & Liars, DailyKos, Brave New Films, and many more. He has created cartoons for the Nation, VoteVets, the ACLU-SC, Mother Jones Magazine, Netroots Nation, MoveOn.org, the Center for Media and Democracy, and the National Conference for Media Reform. He is a regular correspondent and sometimes guest-host for Ring of Fire Radio, blogs at the Huffington Post, and is the chapter head of Chicago’s Drinking Liberally and Laughing Liberally chapters where he performs with his comedy group, the Accountants of Homeland Security. His work can be found at http://matthewf.net

A filmmaker with over fourteen years as a producer, director and screenwriter, Christopher has written and directed two feature films and has written projects for Disney, Paramount and other companies.

Christopher served as the mission leader of an international film industry mission to Beijing hosted by the Chinese government to explore prospects for co-productions. He is also a co-founder of Louisiana’s first and only Hollywood class studio, the twenty acre Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge.

A member of the Writers Guild of America for over a decade, Christopher served on the WGA’s Constitutional Committee, originating and co-drafting revisions of WGA Constitution to provide for fair and open participation in elections.

On the political side, Christopher wrote and directed the political ad, “If Parents Acted Like Bush” in 2004 for MoveOn.org’s “Bush in 30 Seconds” contest which won as “Funniest Ad”.

Active for years as a political blogger on other sites, in 2009 Christopher founded the Progressive political blog, PlanetPOV.

He also makes a mean cherry pie.

Laura Flanders is the host and founder of "GRITtv with Laura Flanders," a daily conversation with real people about real change. Formerly host of "RadioNation" and "The Laura Flanders Show" on Air America Radio (2004-2007,) Flanders launched GRITtv in 2008. GRITtv is now seen daily on more than 40 cable and public TV stations and on Free Speech TV (DishNetwork and DirectTV.) Flanders is also an MSNBC commentator and the author of BLUE GRIT: Real Democrats Take Back Politics from the Politicians (2007, The Penguin Press,) and BUSHWOMEN: Tales of a Cynical Species (2004, Verso.) Email: Laura@GRITtv.org. Follow: GRITLaura

Sara Flocks currently works on state policy and legislative issues for the California Labor Federation. Before that she was the co-founder of Young Workers United (YWU), a worker center based out of UNITE-HERE Local 2 in San Francisco. YWU organized young workers in the restaurant and retail sectors as well as at community colleges. Over the five years that Sara was there, YWU collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages for workers through direct action, won a 2 year campaign against the Cheesecake Factory restaurant, built a strong base of members and won numerous policy campaigns. The policy victories included raising San Francisco's minimum wage to over $9 an hour, indexed to inflation and winning the first paid sick days law for all workers in San Francisco. She has also published several articles and reports on young workers, including "I Know What It's Like to Struggle: The Working Lives of Young Students in an Urban Community College" She previously worked for the Berkeley Labor Center and the United Farm Workers.

Ryan worked as Urban Music Director for the university’s radio station along with DJing in local nightclubs. During the summers, Ryan interned at the Iowa Bystander, the oldest black newspaper west of the Mississippi and the 50,000 watt 1040 WHO talk radio.

Ryan then moved to Los Angeles to pursue his Master’s Degree in African-American Studies with a focus area in Ethnomusicology at UCLA. During his schooling, Ryan worked as a freelance journalist, compiling clips for publications like LA Weekly, Des Moines Register, XXL, KING and Vibe, as well as starting the web-zine, Contrabandit.com.

Ryan interviewed hundreds of artists, executives, politicians, activists and celebrities during his time with The Source including Shaquille O’Neal, Jermaine Dupri, Diddy, Russell Simmons, Outkast, Nelly and controversial label head Suge Knight. In addition, Ryan penned numerous cover features including stories on Eve, Irv Gotti, The Game, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube. Ryan has also appeared on the E! channel’s True Hollywood Story: Snoop Dogg and True Hollywood Story: Hip-Hop Wives.

Recently Ryan left The Source, to join the Cashmere Agency, one of the entertainment industry’s premier lifestyle marketing agencies, as Director of Creative Strategy. At Cashmere Agency, Ryan oversees creative and communication strategies to constantly identify and integrate the dynamic interaction between brands and young consumers.

Ryan continues to volunteer his time in the political world. In 2008, Ryan coordinated the Iowa Brown & Black Presidential forum that featured all of the democratic presidential candidates, including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barak Obama debating minority issues.

Ryan has also formed Rhyme Night, a recurring Hip-Hop talent showcase event in Los Angeles. He co-founded Rhyme Night with multi-platinum rapper, actor and host of MTV’s Pimp My Ride, Xzibit. Rhyme Night is currently being adapted for TV. Ryan also helms Bandit Strategies LLC, a marketing, promotions and consulting company that is currently working with a number of online entities.

Radhika K. Fox, Federal Policy Director, coordinates the organization’s federal legislative agenda. She works with Congress, the Administration, key federal agencies, and partner organizations to ensure the voices of low-income people and communities of color are central to policy debates in Washington, DC. Fox previously worked on promoting equitable affordable housing strategies and bringing shared prosperity to the nation’s older industrial cities. Fox also provides technical assistance, training, and policy development support to local and state equity coalitions. Fox has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and masters’ degree in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a HUD Community Development Fellow.

Senator Al Franken was born on May 21, 1951, and grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. He graduated from Harvard in 1973, where he met his wife Franni. They've been married for 33 years, and have two children: daughter Thomasin, 28, and son Joe, 24.

Al spent the last 37 years as a comedy writer, author, and radio talk show host and has taken part in seven USO tours, visiting our troops overseas in Germany, Bosnia, Kosovo and Uzbekistan - as well as visiting Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait four times.

In 2008, Al was elected to the Senate as a member of the DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) Party from Minnesota, and was sworn in July of 2009 following a statewide hand recount. He currently sits on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee; the Judiciary Committee; the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Special Committee on Aging. Al is a long-time advocate for affordable, accessible health care, an economy that works for our middle class, the protection of a secure retirement, the promise of a 21st century education for our kids, and the creation of a green economy that creates jobs and improves our environment.

Major Franklin, a 33-year law enforcement veteran, retired from the Maryland State Police in 1999 where he held the position of commander for the Education and Career Development Command and the Bureau of Drug and Criminal Enforcement. During this time, Major Franklin instituted and oversaw the very first Domestic Violence Investigative Units for the Maryland State Police. After 23 years of dedicated service to the Maryland State Police, he was recruited in 2000 by the Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department to reconstruct and command Baltimore’s Education and Training Section. After serving one year, he was promoted to Lt. Colonel and later promoted again to Chief of Human Resources.

After leaving the Baltimore Police Department in 2004, Major Franklin was appointed to serve as the commander of Special Operations for the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) Police Force, covering criminal, narcotics and internal affairs investigations in addition to an array of Homeland Security related initiatives. He was then appointed to design and implement the very first Office of Professional Standards encompassing EEO, loss prevention and fraud for the entire MTA. After the completion of this assignment, he assumed the position of Chief of Patrol. He currently holds the position of Executive Director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which is a non-profit international organization spanning 80 countries with a clear mission of educating people on the harmful effects of drug prohibition and why our drug policies must change. Major Franklin says, "It pains me to know that there is a solution for preventing tragedy and nothing is being done because of ignorance, stubbornness, unsubstantiated fear and greed."

Additionally, Major Franklin volunteers his time by serving on many boards that include, Children 1st (child advocate organization), Faith Based Community Council on Law Enforcement and Intelligence, the Place of Grace Church, Anne Arundel Community College Criminal Justice Advisory Board and past board president for TurnAround, Inc. (domestic violence, sexual assault victim advocate providing counseling and shelter services).

Brandon Friedman is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and author of the combat memoir The War I Always Wanted. He currently works as the Director of New Media for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Before joining VA, Brandon served as the Vice Chairman of VoteVets.org--an organization dedicated to getting Veterans elected to public office. While at VoteVets, he worked throughout the media to communicate defense, foreign policy, and veterans issues. Prior to his work in government and politics, Brandon served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army--during which time he was awarded two Bronze Stars for his service in Afghanistan and Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division.

Along with Daily Kos, Brandon has had pieces regularly featured throughout the blogosphere--from The Huffington Post to Military.com and the White House Blog. He has been interviewed and quoted by ABC News, the Associated Press, Fox News, the Washington Post, New York Daily News, Stars and Stripes, Roll Call, Politico, and many other media outlets. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and C-SPAN, as well as on dozens of radio programs across the country. Brandon holds an MPA from the University of Texas at Dallas and a BA from LSU in Shreveport.

Margot Friedman, J.D., is the principal of Dupont Circle Communications, a full-service communications firm that specializes in opinion editorial writing for progressive nonprofit organizations and Democratic PACs. In 2009, Margot ghostwrote op eds that appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek’s My Turn, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Huffington Post, and other publications. www.DupontCircleCommunications.com