Anthony graduated from Pepperdine University in 2017 with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Ethnic Studies. At Pepperdine, Anthony worked with others in a grassroots collective action movement, challenging Pepperdine to strengthen its commitment to diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Anthony would continue his commitment to attaining social justice and equity by working in education for four years. He recently worked at the Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Academy II, where he taught 7th and 8th grade U.S. History. He is committed to advocating for underserved and unfairly treated individuals impacted by a broken education system. He has served and volunteered with numerous organizations, including the One Promise Mentorship Program and the Project Agency Inc. Additionally, he volunteered with Vice President Kamala Harris in both her senate and presidential races. Currently, Anthony serves as the Founder and Executive Director of Emancipated Minds. Emancipated Minds is a 501c3, tax-deductible non-profit geared towards educating, motivating, and inspiring today’s youth and adults by emphasizing the importance of history. They do this by implementing innovative and creative programming, serving overlooked communities, and providing them access to uneasily attainable resources. The organization plans to launch its first official program, the Black Culture Quests, in the coming month. Anthony recently graduated from Stanford University, where he studied education policy and organizational leadership at their graduate school of education. He currently serves as a Program Director for the Washington D.C. Public School District.

LaShekia is a second- year PhD student and teaching assistant in the Anthropology department of the University of Buffalo, where she is also a Schomburg Fellow and certificate candidate in Health Disparities within the School of Community Health. She holds a BA in Communication Studies from Canisius College and a BS in Medical Anthropology from The City University of New York. Her current ethnographic fieldwork on Black midwifery has contributed to her work in the development of culturally resonant clinical interventions. In addition, the writer, artist, educator, and former culinary professional currently serves on the advisory board of Innovation Charter School of East Harlem, and is a volunteer with SOAL-Saving Our Ancestor’s Legacy-the Lincoln Cemetery Restoration and Research Project where she is in the process of creating a novel summer field school experience for youth interested in pursuing academic experiences in anthropology and history. The future Dr. Chatman plans to expand her ethnomedical research in perinatal narratives of the African diaspora, as well as to continue working to tackle issues related to nutrition and disparities in chronic illness globally; while extending her ethnographic inquiry work to document the effects of inherited narratives on the Black body through visual and experimental ethnography.