Crystal Tennille Irby a powerful, transformative, creative being.  Her energy can be experienced as a spoken word poetry grand slam champion, published writer, director and as a #BlackMamaCreative, an artist creating work across multiple artistic disciplines centering Black mothering, absent of the white gaze.  She also works as a doula and is one of the current co-host and executive producer of Dem Black Mamas Podcast, a podcast that delves into the unique experience of 3 Black Mama Creatives raising free children while catching their creative dreams.  Crystal is a TEDxGreenville presenter,  a Watering Hole Poetry Fellow and the founder and Director of Writers Well Youth Fellowship, a program for Black girls ages 14-19 focused on writing and performance. Her recent credits include, Untitled Reconstruction Project, which she directed and co-produced and Untamed Womb: Reclaiming Wonder Through Healing, Liberation & Creativity, a Project Row Houses installation which she co-curated.  She was also a contributing writer for For Harriet.  In addition to her creative endeavors, Crystal has presented at numerous conferences including Black Maternal Health Conference & Training Institute; Let’s Talk About Sex, & HIV Prevention & Education Summit.  Crystal has over 15 years of experience working to dismantle systemic and institutional racism.  She works as a community doula helping Black birth persons stay connected to their body and as a facilitator for Speaking Down Barriers pushing communities forward by helping Black people heal from race and gender trauma.  She also served on the board of Hub City Writers Project, a place based non-profit press committed to publishing southern writers. 

Crystal is the mother of 4 children and shares her life with an Omega man. 

Nekisha Killings MPH IBCLC is an equity strategist and maternal and child health advocate who speaks, teaches, and facilitates on topics related to equity and dismantling bias across various sectors. She acts as a Director of Equity, Inclusion and Belonging and consults organizations on creating and implementing strategies to better support marginalized communities. Nekisha penned the chapter titled Cultural Humility in the latest Core Curriculum for Interdisciplinary Lactation Care. Coined the Aha! Moment Maven, Nekisha works to wow audiences with new realizations that will impact their approach to business and life positively. Nekisha is on a mission to normalize brown breasts in health provider education, thereby better equipping providers to accurately diagnose and treat people of color. Accordingly, she founded The Melanated Mammary Atlas® in 2021. Nekisha‘s work is rooted in a compassion and candor that could only have been cultivated in years of supporting new parents through their journeys during the first days of parenthood. To eager audiences, she extends her own brand of wisdom, wit, and eureka moments to shift the way they approach life and work.

Monyeé’s unapologetic work stems from her unwavering commitment to healing and her belief that true healing can only occur in a liberated and non-oppressive society. Monyeé is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has contributed to online publications such as For Harriet, UpSpoken, and Black Girl in Om online publications; co-host of Dem Black Mamas podcast- Kinship Partner of Black Mamas Matter Alliance and art contributor to Project Row Houses 50th Round on Race, Health, & Motherhood; solo host of Shaping The Shift Podcast; and Director of Decolonization for the multimedia platform Black Girl Mixtape and co-creator of The Free Joy Experience; co-creator of EverWell, and intervention and education program to promote wellness for artists and their teams; as well as curator of The Blacker The Brain Decolonizing Mental Health Cohort, Campaign, and Conversation. Monyeé has partnered with corporations such as SnapChat, Spectrum, presented at the first annual CantuXCurlboxMasterclass, and is currently featured as a GoDaddy Maker to discuss mental health in marginalized communities and accessing joy & pleasure. She is the founder of MarleyAyo, a creative wellness consultation company focused on creating and nurturing a multi-dimensional eco-system that prioritizes the reintegration of spirit and liberation through education, media, consulting, and land stewardship.  Her most recent work Blood & Bajareque is available now through theamonyee.com/shop. She is a signed fiction writer with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret with upcoming projects as well.

She currently serves as a contributor on a policy working group supporting the objectives of the 2021 U.S. COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.