ABENI BLOODWORTH is a writer and artist-activist. Co-Founder of Dry Powder Works (DPW). DPW is a multimedia production and distribution ecosystem designed to name and disrupt the master narrative through good storytelling. Powered by 3000 Black creatives throughout the Diaspora, the company is premised on the belief that “We are the stories we tell ourselves.” DPW’s theory of change utilizes story to socialize indigenous wisdom and inspire a re-imagination of power across social, economic, political, cultural, and ecological fault lines. She has over 25 years of experience supporting organizations through periods of growth, change, and transition-disrupting systems by linking philanthropy to narrative change and leadership to transformative impact. To date, she has raised over 150M+ dollars to support transformative change.

She has lived and worked on four continents (West Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America, and North America - including the Big Island, Hawaii); served as an executive director, program officer in philanthropy, development officer, a board member, and launched two successful ventures. Architect of the Activist Playbook for Transformative Media, she is currently producing a docuseries on the intersection between housing and segregation and co-producing with Level Forward an adaptation of the Paula Giddings biography Sword Among Lions: The Ida B. Wells Story and the episodic series, Blackball, the story of the Negro Baseball League told through the rivalry of two teams. Abeni is a long-time board member and former Board Chair of the Institute for Media & Education and currently serves on the Boards of the Predistribution Initiative, Imperative 21, and the Vindicate Society Venture Capital Fund. She received her B.A. in English and Political Science from Spelman College, an M.S. in Managerial Sciences from Georgia State University, and holds a Certificate of Fundraising Management from the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. For fun, pre-pandemic, she enjoyed exploring our country’s National Parks, listening to Gregory Porter, and cooking elaborate Sunday meals for friends. Now, she finds herself dreaming of New Zealand and re-reading James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Malidoma Some, and Rumi.

ANGELA HARMON is an Emmy-nominated producer, storyteller, and creative with over two decades working in unscripted and scripted development for production companies and labs. From casting to TV/film development, Harmon has developed close to 40 TV shows for several major networks including Netflix, NBC, A&E, and HGTV. Her expertise as a chromatic creative has garnered her a catalog of production house credits curating films and finding projects for blackfilm.com, Academy Award winners, Jonathan Demme and Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule.

Co-Founder of CHROMATIC BLACK PRODUCTIONS, Angela seeks to disrupt the master narrative through good storytelling. An advocate for intersectional parity and accurate representation in media, she is currently at work on two episodic series: Blackball, a story of the Negro Leagues, and the adaptation of Paula Giddings, Ida B. Wells: Sword Among Lions biography. A graduate of the Maysles Documentary Center, Harmon is certified in story development, fundraising, documentary, and film through the Filmmakers Collaborative program.

When she’s not building a media ecosystem, she enjoys watching Prince videos with her free daughter and dancing.

EMIL PINNOCK
Co-Founder of IBWF
Emil Pinnock is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor from Harlem, New York, whom has been active in the film industry over 20 years. Having acted since a youth his on screen credits started with a recurring role on the PBS national program Reading Rainbow and extended to acting roles in major motion pictures Sixth Man and Beloved. Other credits include Gridiron Gang Starring The Rock and NBC' s series E-Ring. As a writer -director Pinnock has led over 10 projects including his breakout project, Up North (an original series), having premiered at SeriesFest and breaking records winning best actor, director, drama and the most coveted audience award. He along with his production company, Unleashing Giants Studios, now have production deals at Blumhouse Productions, Entertainment Studios, Radar Pictures, Atmosphere Entertainment, and have been tapped to write the original stories for The Negro Baseball League, FUBU founder Daymond John, and the origin story of legendary lyricist Biggie Smalls, which are all currently in development.

With wide-ranging experience in both the public and private sectors, Jewell Jackson McCabe is a business woman who serves as a director on a variety of boards, is a Presidential, Gubernatorial and Mayoral appointee, a consultant to major corporations, cultural and civic institutions and is organizer founder of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women; and an adjunct professor at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

As a former corporate director of Reliance Group Holdings, a publicly held fortune 500 holding company; with 10 years as the first Black to serve as a Trustee on the Board of The Wharton School of Business; and as an advisor for board development for RRE an Information Technology Venture Capital firm with $1.3 Billion under management recognized and respected for building industry-leading companies; her, depth of experience and range of contacts have been key elements in her effectiveness.

Ms. McCabe currently serves on or has been a director on the boards of: Reliance Group Holding; the New York City Investment Fund, L.I.C. (1996-2001); The Wharton School of Business; Bard College; The Deloitte & Touche Diversity Advisory Board; The New York City Partnership (founding member 1981-2001); Research America; New York City Commission on the Status of Women (1982-2002); and The Economic Club of New York. She is currently board president of The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) ifp.org.

As President of Jewell Jackson McCabe Associates – a bi-lingual (English-Spanish) management consulting firm specializing in strategic communications, executive coaching and competitiveness training -- including Diversity and Inclusion – she has advised a wide range of corporations in the private and public sector.

Ms. McCabe is the recipient of two honorary doctorates and numerous awards. She distinguished herself in 1993 as a candidate on the “short list” for the presidency of the NAACP becoming the first woman in 84 years to be considered for chief executive officer of America’s venerable civil rights organization.

Ms. McCabe has been a featured guest on news and general interest programs including Charlie Rose and the Today Show, notably interviewed by Katie Couric, with New York Times columnist and senior writer for The New York Times Magazine, Frank Rich and former Republican National Committee Chair, Haley Barbour, analyzing, President [43rd] Bush’s State of the Union Address.
Jewell Jackson McCabe is the founder and chair of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, which has a membership of 7,000 women in 35 states and the District of Columbia. It was established in 1981 to engage professional black women in a network to meet their career needs and facilitate their access to mainstream America; her overriding objective, as noted in an article in Fortune Magazine, “Is to establish common ground for women-of-color between the public and private sectors.”

PAULA J. GIDDINGS is a writer and an African-American historian. She is the author of When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America, In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement and Ida: A Sword Among Lions. She is currently[when?] the Elizabeth A. Woodson 1922 Professor Emerita of Africana Studies at Smith College, subsequent to her 2017 retirement. Prior to joining the faculty at Smith, she was on the faculty at Spelman College, where she was recognized as a United Negro College Fund Distinguished Scholar. She also was a faculty member of the Douglass College at Rutgers University where she held the Laurie Chair in Women's Studies. Giddings has also taught at Princeton University, North Carolina Central University and Duke University. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. During her career, she made contributions to American history, Women's Studies, and African American Studies that center African American women in order to offer greater inclusion and representation. These works have been foundational in the study of African American women's feminism, history, and activism, as the number of accolades Giddings has received and the books and journal articles citing her body of work show.

Portrait by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Nicole Dixon was born in Oakland, CA and in 2002, received a BA in Studio Art at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. In addition to exhibiting paintings for over two decades, she has produced numerous commissioned works and murals. She has served as the altar-artist for gatherings, conferences, and activist organizations. She is also a Montessori preschool teacher, and firmly believes education and creative expression should go hand-in-hand. She has taught art to youth and adults alike, which has taken her as far as the Kalahari as guest art instructor. Nicole uses art as an interactive medium, and vehicle for self-transformation, community bridge-building, and positive social change.