Get ready for our most ambitious conference to date. We're bringing speakers from across the country and from our own Cornell community in a one-of-a-kind event featuring talks and performances that will entertain, inspire, inform, and move you. Hope to see you there!

Alice Statler Auditorium
7 East Avenue
Ithaca, New York, 14853
United States

Cat Hoke

Over 17 years, Cat's efforts have led 7,000 executives, entrepreneurs, and investors to volunteer as mentors and employers for 8,500 formerly incarcerated program graduates. Her programs reduce violence and have produced leading recidivism rates of under 8%. As the only girl on the high school wrestling team and as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter, Cat mastered the art of “breakfall”: how to prevent injury when you get taken down. Breakfall proved to be a transferable skill in her career as a three-time entrepreneur, disrupting the American prison industry. Cat works with gang leaders in the most notorious prisons, leading gang intervention programs. She has survived career-ending threats and devastating takedowns. Seth Godin published her best-selling book, A Second Chance: For You, For Me, and for the Rest of Us. Fast Company named Cat one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business, Forbes named her on 40 Women to Watch Over 40, and she has received the MDC Partners Humanitarian Award.

Daniel James II

Born in Marion, South Carolina, a rural working class town, Daniel James II gained his place as a junior at Cornell University, carrying with him to the Ivy League a desire to better the lives of people. As the creator and host of Black Voices on the Hill, a podcast & radio show, he aims to amplify the voices of black students, alumni, and city leaders. Inspired by the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, he has been able to reach thousands in upstate New York, talking weekly about racism, sexism, and activism, with guests ranging from TikTok sensations, investment fund creators, to the city mayor himself. As a mentor at a local carceral facility and president of the Labor School student body, Daniel has skillfully used his voice over the airwaves to serve the public and reach the masses. This spring, he is an Emerging Leader intern for the Congressional Black Caucus.

Ishan Sharma

Ishan Sharma is a recent grad from Cornell University who enjoys imagining how emerging technologies will shape the world we live in. Like everyone else, Ishan was concerned with how uncanny targeted advertisements can be. But he decided to look a little bit further, following the data-trail to something far more powerful. After researching the globalization of artificially intelligent surveillance systems, Ishan realized the immense potential of the technology to disrupt so much of what we take for granted – our democracy, freedom, and privacy. Since then, his research has been accepted by the Cornell International Affairs Review Spring 2020 edition, and he was one of two to receive Cornell’s nomination for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Security Fellowship.

John Jackson

At 17, John was introduced to a life of crime by the person who promised to protect him. He spent his next 18 years in prison, heavily entrenched in gang culture. Prison officials labeled him as “the worst of the worst” and locked him in a notorious supermax prison, Pelican Bay. John transformed his life and now works with gang leaders to stop the generational cycle of gang violence nationally. Together, they’ve authored the first-ever retirement plan for gang members, called Squaring Up. With Hustle 2.0, John has co-authored 10 books that provide rehabilitation and healing for people in jails and prisons nationally.

Larry Williams Jr.

Larry Williams Jr is President Emeritus of Progressive Workers Union (PWU), a Washington, D.C. and founder of UnionBase.org. UnionBase is the first secure social networking and education platform for unions and union workers. UnionBase is regarded by Forbes and Fast Company as the leading digital platform for a new generation of union and non union workers. PWU is a powerful national for non-profit employees that recently signed a transformative landmark five year contract with the Sierra Club, America's largest environmental organization.

Marcela Ot’alora G

Marcela was born and raised in Colombia and currently lives in Boulder, Colorado. She is an artist and a psychotherapist. In her private practice, she works in partnership with clients to nourish awareness and connection to innate essence. For over 30 years, her interest and focus on trauma have led her to understand the healing process as an intimate re-connection to self, others, and the world, through compassion, acceptance, and honoring of each other’s human spirit. In addition to working with trauma and PTSD, she has dedicated her professional life to teaching and research. With clients, she uses art as a vehicle for deepening and processing experiences through non-verbal autobiographical storytelling. For the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Marcela has worked as a therapist and Principal Investigator for various studies weaving psychotherapy and MDMA for the treatment of PTSD. Additionally, she is a trainer and supervisor for MAPS’ MDMA-assisted psychotherapy training program.