Cole Arthur Riley
Keynote
Cole Arthur Riley is a writer and poet. She is the author of the NYT bestsellers, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us and Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, and The Washington Post. Cole is also the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body.
Deepa Iyer
Workshop Leader
Over the course of two decades supporting social movements, Deepa Iyer has played many roles: weaver, frontline responder, storyteller, and guide. Currently, she is the Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at Building Movement Project where she builds projects, resources, and narratives around transformative solidarity practices. Deepa’s primary areas of expertise include post September 11th policies, civil rights, and Asian American/South Asian histories of community building. Deepa served as executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) for a decade after 9/11, and has also held positions at Race Forward, the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, and the Asian American Justice Center.
She is the author of two books, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (The New Press 2015) about post 9/11 America, and Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection (The Thick Press, 2022) about the social change ecosystem framework that she developed. She also hosts a podcast called Solidarity Is This featuring storytellers, disrupters, and builders around the world who are experimenting with solidarity during a time of polarization.
Deepa has received fellowships from Open Society Foundations and the Social Change Initiative, and in 2019, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Emergent Fund, which resources grassroots organizing and power building in communities of color.
An immigrant who moved to Kentucky from India when she was twelve, Iyer graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and Vanderbilt University. More information about Deepa’s work is at www.socialchangemap.com and www.buildingmovement.org.
She is the author of two books, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (The New Press 2015) about post 9/11 America, and Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection (The Thick Press, 2022) about the social change ecosystem framework that she developed. She also hosts a podcast called Solidarity Is This featuring storytellers, disrupters, and builders around the world who are experimenting with solidarity during a time of polarization.
Deepa has received fellowships from Open Society Foundations and the Social Change Initiative, and in 2019, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Emergent Fund, which resources grassroots organizing and power building in communities of color.
An immigrant who moved to Kentucky from India when she was twelve, Iyer graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and Vanderbilt University. More information about Deepa’s work is at www.socialchangemap.com and www.buildingmovement.org.
Joe Davis
Workshop Leader
Joe Davis is an award-winning spoken word artist and bestselling author who uses poetry to power possibility. He is the founder and director of Finding Your Freedom Practice, teaching holistic health and wellness practices through spoken word, writing, music, theater, and dance. Joe holds a Master of Arts degree in Theology of the Arts and also heads a multimedia production company, a soul funk band, and a racial justice education program. His work has been featured on BET, CNN, and VH1. Based in Minneapolis, he tours internationally to join schools, faith spaces, nonprofits, and businesses to practice envisioning and embodying a world of collective liberation and human flourishing.