Brené Brown

Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. She also holds the position of visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.

Brené has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is the author of six #1 New York Times best sellers and is the host of two award-winning podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead.

Brené’s books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and her titles include Atlas of the Heart, Dare to Lead, Braving the Wilderness, Rising Strong, Daring Greatly, and The Gifts of Imperfection. With Tarana Burke, she co-edited the best-selling anthology You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience.

Brené’s TED talk on the Power of Vulnerability is one of the top five most-viewed TED talks in the world, with over 60 million views. Brené is the first researcher to have a filmed lecture on Netflix, and in March 2022, she launched a new show on HBO Max that focuses on her latest book, Atlas of the Heart.

Brené spends most of her time working in organizations around the world, helping develop braver leaders and more-courageous cultures.

She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Steve. They have two children, Ellen and Charlie, and a weird Bichon named Lucy.

Gina Chavez

Gina Chavez (she/they) is a Latin Grammy nominee, internationally acclaimed recording artist, wife and philanthropist. Born in Austin, they are a 13-time Austin Music Award winner and proud Vice President of the Texas Chapter of the Recording Academy. Gina's first all-Spanish language album, La Que Manda, was nominated for a 2020 Latin Grammy in Best Pop/Rock, making them the third Latine born in the continental U.S. to ever be nominated in history of the category (and the first queer Texan).

Their NPR Tiny Desk concert has more than 1.3 million views and they are featured on Brené Brown's hit podcast, Unlocking Us, for which they co-wrote the theme music. Gina tours internationally as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department and runs Niñas Arriba, a college fund Gina and their wife founded for young women in gang-dominated El Salvador. Gina’s new song, "Woman in the Arena" and their official TED Talk are out now.

Carrie Rodriguez

Carrie Rodriguez, a composer, violinist, and singer from Austin, Texas, finds beauty in the cross-pollination of diverse traditions. As a singer-songwriter she has released 5 solo studio albums, 3 duet albums with legendary Chip Taylor (author of “Wild Thing and “Angel of the Morning”), and 2 live albums. Her last full-length solo recording, the bilingual Lola, was heralded as “the perfect bicultural album,” and was included in NPR’s best albums of 2016 as well Rolling Stone’s Best Country albums of the year. Carrie has performed on stages across North America and Europe, as well as on programs such as PBS’ Austin City Limits, The Tonight Show, and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.  In 2017, Carrie founded a highly acclaimed ongoing concert series which resides at the historic Stateside at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas called Laboratorio that both celebrates and explores Latinx culture and its contribution to the American experiment. Her most recent work has been as a composer/lyricist for an original musical, ¡Americano!, chronicling the true story of an inspiring DREAMer named Tony Valdovinos, which enjoyed a successful 6 week run off-broadway at New York City’s New World Stages in June of ’22, and also earned Rodriguez a nomination for a ’22 Drama Desk award for Outstanding Music.

John Spong

John Spong is a senior editor at Texas Monthly who writes primarily about pop culture. He’s also the host of the magazine’s popular podcast on Willie Nelson history, One by Willie. He has been nominated for three National Magazine Awards, most recently in 2021 as co-editor and lead writer on two large Willie projects: Willie: Now, More than Ever, a finalist for best single-topic issue; and “All 151 Willie Nelson Albums, Reviewed and Ranked,” which was nominated for best digital storytelling. He is also the author of “A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove,” and his stories have been collected in The Best American Food Writing and The Best American Sports Writing, among others. He lives in Austin with his wife, Julie Blakeslee, and their two boys, Willie Mo and Leon.

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