Zack Hudson is the co-founder of Golden Fandom LLC and one of the organizers behind Golden-Con: Thank You For Being a Fan, the world's first fan convention dedicated entirely to The Golden Girls. A Chicago-based social services professional and self-described hardcore fan, Hudson transformed a pandemic-era bar trivia idea into a sold-out multi-day convention at Navy Pier in 2022 that drew over 3,100 attendees from around the globe. The event grew from a single social media announcement that, in his words, 'just kind of escalated from there.'
Shane Dawson (born Shane Lee Yaw) is one of YouTube's original superstar creators, a Long Beach kid who turned a camera and a knack for characters into 4.8 billion combined channel views. Over nearly two decades he pivoted from sketch comedy to celebrity documentary deep-dives, co-authored two New York Times bestselling memoirs, won multiple Streamy Awards, and launched a record-setting makeup collaboration with Jeffree Star. After a high-profile controversy and YouTube demonetization in 2020, he returned in 2021, relocated to a Colorado farm with his husband Ryland Adams, and in 2023 welcomed twin sons. By 2025 he was back with another Jeffree Star docuseries, rebuilding quietly but unmistakably.
Maria Salamanca is a General Partner at Ulu Ventures, the largest Latina-led venture capital firm in the United States with over $400M AUM. Born in Bogotá, Colombia and raised in Orlando, Florida, she became the first Latina named to Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital in 2018. She co-founded SomosVC to increase Latinx representation in VC and was elected as the youngest and first LGBTQ+ school board member of Orange County Public Schools (Florida's 8th-largest district) in 2022. Her investing approach is rooted in data-driven decision-making, and she champions diverse founder teams at the seed stage.
Yinon Costica is a co-founder and VP of Product at Wiz, the cloud security company acquired by Google for $32 billion in 2025 - the largest cybersecurity acquisition in history. A veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces' elite Talpiot program and Unit 8200, Costica previously co-founded Adallom (sold to Microsoft for $320M) and scaled Microsoft's Cloud Security Group to $1.5B in annual revenue before helping build Wiz into the fastest-growing software company ever, now serving over 50% of the Fortune 100.
Keith Rabois is a PayPal Mafia veteran, co-founder of Opendoor, and Managing Director at Khosla Ventures whose career spans law clerk, corporate attorney, political adviser, and now one of Silicon Valley's most prolific — and outspoken — investors. He is the first institutional backer of DoorDash, Affirm, and Faire, made early bets on Stripe, YouTube, and Airbnb, and brought the iBuyer model to residential real estate before moving to Miami and catalyzing one of the biggest tech migration waves in recent memory.
Dorie Clark is a strategy consultant, executive education professor, and bestselling author recognized four times by Thinkers50 as one of the top 50 business thinkers in the world. Named the #1 Communication Coach in the World by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards, she teaches at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and has written four books published by Harvard Business Review Press and Portfolio/Penguin. A former political campaign press secretary, documentary filmmaker, and Grammy-winning jazz album producer, Clark is also an active Broadway investor and musical theatre lyricist-in-training - living proof that the 'long game' she preaches is one she plays herself.
Laela Sturdy is the Managing Partner and CEO of CapitalG, Alphabet's $7 billion independent growth equity fund. A first-generation American born in Jamaica and raised in South Florida, she played Division I basketball at Harvard, earned an MBA from Stanford, and built a track record at CapitalG where every one of her early investments became a unicorn — including Stripe, Duolingo, UiPath, and Webflow. She became sole leader of CapitalG in March 2023, making her one of a tiny handful of women running an established multibillion-dollar venture firm.
Kehlani Ashley Parrish is an Oakland-born R&B and neo-soul singer-songwriter who turned a childhood of hardship into one of the most compelling careers in contemporary music. After finishing fourth on America's Got Talent as a teen, surviving homelessness, and years of near-misses with mainstream recognition, she finally broke through with 'Folded' - a Grammy-winning hit that charted in the top 10 for 33 weeks in 2026 and led to her landmark self-titled album. Known for radical emotional honesty, political outspokenness, and a voice that channels Brandy and Erykah Badu simultaneously, Kehlani has become both a commercial force and a genuine cultural touchstone for queer communities and R&B lovers worldwide.
Lil Nas X (born Montero Lamar Hill) is an Atlanta-raised rapper, singer, and cultural provocateur who turned a 99-cent beat, a TikTok meme, and sheer internet genius into a record-breaking 19-week #1 hit before he had a major label deal. Since 'Old Town Road,' he has released three #1 Billboard Hot 100 singles, two Grammy wins, a debut album with universal acclaim, a Satan Shoes controversy that sued Nike, and a documentary on Max - all while being one of the most openly gay, openly himself artists in pop music history. Now in his Dreamboy era with a second studio album on deck, Lil Nas X remains the internet's favorite provocateur.
Lola Young is a Grammy-winning British singer-songwriter from South London whose raw, confessional dark soul-pop has taken her from South London open mic nights to Coachella and a Grammy podium. Her 2024 single 'Messy' - a candid anthem about being imperfect and unapologetic - exploded globally after going viral on TikTok in November 2024, racking up a UK #1 and US Billboard Hot 100 #14. Her second album 'This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway' cemented her as one of the most arresting voices of her generation, blending confessional lyricism with muscular soul-pop production. She has collaborated with Tyler, the Creator, performed at Coachella, won the Ivor Novello Rising Star Award, and taken home a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance in February 2026.
Reneé Rapp is a 26-year-old actress and singer-songwriter from North Carolina who rocketed from high school theater champion to Broadway's Regina George to pop music headliner - all before most people her age have a LinkedIn. She won the Jimmy Awards at 18, debuted on Broadway in Mean Girls a year later, built a cult following as Leighton Murray on HBO Max's The Sex Lives of College Girls, reprised Regina George in the 2024 film musical that grossed $101M worldwide, and has since released two critically acclaimed albums (Snow Angel and BITE ME) while selling out arenas on the Bite Me Tour. Known for radical candor, zero media training, and a goose-like live performance ad-lib that became a fan religion.
Snow Wife (Emily Leann Snow) is a queer hyperpop and maximalist dance-pop artist based in Los Angeles who broke out in 2023 with the viral single 'American Horror Show' (55M+ Spotify streams) and her debut EP QUEEN DEGENERATE (146M+ total streams). A trained dancer of 10+ years turned bedroom songwriter, she launched her celebrated 'Bodyology era' in 2025 with the EP BODYOLOGY — her most ambitious project, blending club music, dance choreography, and queer pop maximalism. With nearly 900K monthly Spotify listeners, a Governors Ball 2025 performance, a Gold House Future Music Accelerator selection, and major press coverage from Rolling Stone, SPIN, The FADER, and Nylon, Snow Wife has become one of indie pop's most exciting rising voices.
Wesley Morris is the only writer in history to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism twice - once in 2012 at The Boston Globe and again in 2021 at The New York Times, where he serves as Critic at Large. A Yale-educated Philadelphia native, Morris writes about film, music, race, and American identity with a voice that is simultaneously playful and incisive. He co-hosted the NYT podcast Still Processing for six years, launched Cannonball in June 2025, and runs a Substack newsletter. His work stands at the intersection of entertainment and cultural politics, making him one of the most respected voices in American criticism.
Yashar Ali is an Iranian-American journalist, newsletter publisher, and social media powerhouse who built one of the most influential independent media presences in the US almost entirely through Twitter/X. Known for breaking stories that bigger outlets fear to touch - from Fox News sexual misconduct to Scientology cover-ups - Ali runs The Reset newsletter on Substack with over 61,000 subscribers. Time magazine named him one of the most influential people on the internet in 2019. His career is anything but linear: TV production assistant, personal cook for Kathy Griffin, political operative for Hillary Clinton and Gavin Newsom, and now independent journalist with a devoted following.
Rex Woodbury is the founder and managing partner of Daybreak Ventures, an early-stage VC firm, and the creator of Digital Native, a weekly newsletter with 72,000+ subscribers exploring the intersection of technology and culture. A Dartmouth and Stanford Knight-Hennessy Scholar, former Goldman Sachs analyst, TPG and Index Ventures partner, Guinness World Record holder, LGBTQ+ advocate, and competitive runner, Woodbury is one of the most distinctive voices in venture capital — blending anthropological observation with market analysis to decode how Gen Z and emerging technology are reshaping commerce, communication, and culture.
Roxane Gay is a New York Times bestselling author, professor, cultural critic, and publisher whose work sits at the intersection of feminism, race, and identity. Best known for 'Bad Feminist' and 'Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body', she holds the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair at Rutgers University, writes opinion for the New York Times, runs the Substack newsletter 'The Audacity', and publishes underrepresented voices through her imprint Roxane Gay Books at Grove Atlantic. In 2025 she received the National Book Foundation's Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.