Emil Wilbekin is an award-winning American journalist, media executive, curator, and professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. He's also the founder of NATIVE SON, “a movement, community, and platform of Black gay/queer men who inspire, empower, and celebrate each other.” Emil is the former editor-in-chief of Vibe and Giant and editor-at-large at Essence. While at Vibe, he helped to elevate the careers of music artists like Mary J. Blige, Maxwell, and Aaliyah.

Diana Bamimeke is an Ireland-based Nigerian independent curator, art writer, and transdisciplinary artist based in Dublin. Their socially engaged practice spans text, exhibition-making, performance, pedagogy and other artistic interventions. Guided by critical and political frameworks—including Black feminist & queer thought, anti-colonialism, and anti-imperialism—Diana strives to understand themselves and their world. Their writing has been published by VISUAL Carlow, Visual Artists Ireland News Sheet, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Paper Visual Art, and Frieze.