Alex Kwon Colby is a Colorado-raised Korean adoptee who was diagnosed with ADHD in his mid-30s. From falling asleep in class every day in middle school and getting suspended in college, to finding filmmaking and now running multiple successful content production businesses (working with the likes of Paris Hilton and The Rock), Alex shares about how getting treated for ADHD is teaching him to slow down and be kinder to himself. 

Anand Varma is a National Geographic Explorer and award-winning photographer based in Berkeley, California. He has devoted years of his life to developing innovative techniques—even building some of his own equipment—to create intimate, dramatic and surprising images of nature. He holds a degree in integrative biology from University of California, Berkeley and uses photography to share the story behind the science on topics from honeybee health to hummingbird biomechanics. Varma has photographed numerous stories for National Geographic magazine, including the 2014 cover story, “Mindsuckers.” His accolades include TED speaker, World Press Photo Award, and Rita Allen Civic Science Fellow. Varma's ultimate goal is to spark a sense of wonder about our world. He sees the camera not just as a tool to capture what is visible, but as a way to illuminate the layers of beauty and complexity that are otherwise hidden from the naked eye.

César HARADA is a French-Japanese designer, environmentalist, educator, and entrepreneur specializing in ocean technology and impact innovation, based between Paris and Saint-Malo, France. Previously serving as Associate Professor of Design at Singapore Institute of Technology, he is the founder of MakerBay, a prominent Hong Kong makerspace, and Scoutbots, an ocean robotics startup, while sitting on the boards of trustees for HBKU (Qatar) and the Wyng Foundation (Hong Kong). His work has earned prestigious recognition including the Ars Electronica Golden Nica (2009, Austria), with exhibitions at renowned institutions such as the V&A Museum (London) and ArtScience Museum (Singapore), and pieces in permanent collections at CNAP (France) and the Mind Museum (Philippines). César holds master’s degrees from the Royal College of Arts (London) and ENSAD (Paris), and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Design and Ocean Innovation at CNAM (Paris).

Dominic Bracco II is a photographer, journalist, author, educator, writer, and social practice artist based in Baja California Sur, México. 

Bracco places his work in installations that include sculpture, video, and performance to create narratives about about human connection and the cycles of life and death. His work points to geography, history, the natural world and how we interact with it. His process is informed by journalistic research and an animistic world view. Bracco's work often captures the everyday struggles and triumphs of ordinary people, as well as scenes of nature that are often overlooked.

His reporting has been published in National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, the BBC. 

Bracco resides in Mexico since 2010 with his wife, Meghan Dhaliwal, who is also an artist and journalist. Both are National Geographic Explorers.

Eniola Mafe-Abaga is Global Advocacy and Partnerships Director at Fika (formerly known as Bridges to Prosperity), where she leads global advocacy, systems-change partnerships and government engagement to position rural transport access as a development priority. 

Working with national governments and partners, Fika has supported the construction of more than 650 bridges across 21 countries, connecting over 4.5 million people to schools, markets and healthcare.

Previously, Eniola led advocacy coalitions at the World Economic Forum to advance the use of emerging technologies in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Eniola is a co-founder of #TheNewNigerian, an online community of over 50,000 members focused on amplifying citizen voice and reimagining Nigeria’s future, and was named among OkayAfrica’s 100 Women in Africa. She holds an M.A. from Georgetown University and a B.A. from Spelman College.

Felipe Fagundes is a surfer, actor, surf instructor, and acting teacher based in Recreio dos Banderiantes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Fer is a Brazilian cinematographer and documentary filmmaker, who works as a freelance photographer and director on socio-environmental research, journalism, visual arts, and activism projects. 

They create documentaries for national and international organizations such as Greenpeace, Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), WWF, Global Witness, Rainforest Foundation, Repórter Brasil, World Animal Protection, Oxfam, UN Women, International Red Cross, and BBC. 

They are a member of the DAFB Collective, where they teach free photography and drone courses.

Isa Luz is a social activist and graphic designer from Santos, Brazil. 

Lindsay Jang, a Canadian-born entrepreneur based in Hong Kong since 2009, has forged an extraordinary career spanning hospitality, media, and wellness. Her professional journey ignited in New York City, where she worked as a floor captain at Nobu Fifty Seven, cultivating her passion for experiential hospitality, before relocating to Hong Kong with partner Matt Abergel, where they launched the Michelin-starred yakitori restaurant Yardbird in 2011, followed by the intimate izakaya RONIN in 2012 and the convenience-store-inspired Sunday’s Grocery in 2014.

A serial entrepreneur with strategic acumen for anticipating cultural shifts and expanding into adjacent markets, Jang co-founded MISSBISH in 2014—a female-driven media platform and e-commerce site that evolved into a clothing line. Her pivot to wellness materialized through FAMILY FORM, an infrared-heated sculpting method she co-developed and launched exclusively at Hong Kong’s The Upper House in 2021. 

Mary H.K. Choi is the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record and Yolk. 

Her fourth novel, Pool House, is available for pre-order now. 

Permanent Record is currently being adapted for a feature film; and Yolk, for a TV series, with Choi serving as executive producer and writer for both. 

Svet Jacqueline earned a Bachelor of Science in Photography from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. For several years she did commercial work, freelancing for Sony Records and managing studios in Los Angeles, California. During the global pandemic, she began documenting the Black Lives Matter movement and published her first book, 100 Days of Protest. In 2021, she split her time between Los Angeles, Mexico, and Texas documenting migration at the U.S. border and the cycle of poverty on Skid Row. Her work won first place in the International Photography Awards and NPPA Best of Photojournalism. When Russia invaded Ukraine, she began focusing on visual stories around childhood trauma in conflict zones. She is a photo essayist in the book, Relentless Courage: Ukraine And The World At War and Ukraine: A War Crime by FotoEvidence.