Malala Yousafzai began her activism at age 11 when she anonymously blogged about life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, particularly the ban on girls’ education. She soon began advocating publicly and at age 15, she was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out. After many months of surgery and rehabilitation in the United Kingdom, she founded the Malala Fund with her father Ziauddin. A year later, Malala received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work for education and equality.

Lena Khan is a writer and director. Her recent work has included shows like Never Have I Ever and the Disney film, Flora and Ulysses, which was the second-most streamed film worldwide for multiple weeks. She is now producing a show and attached for a feature she’s thrilled about.

Joshua Seftel is an Academy Award®–nominated director. For the past 8 years, he has been using filmmaking to combat Islamophobia with his Emmy and Peabody-nominated series of short documentaries SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS (SXSW). STRANGER AT THE GATE is the latest documentary short in his efforts. Seftel, who faced anti-Semitism as a child, has been deeply connected and committed to this subject matter.

His previous films include TAKING ON THE KENNEDYS (POV), WAR INC (Tribeca), THE HOME TEAM (SXSW), and THE MANY SAD FATES OF MR. TOLEDANO (NYT Op-Docs, IDA Award Winner).

Suzanne Hillinger is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been featured on FX, Hulu, Discovery, PBS, Viceland, CNN and MSNBC. Most recently, Suzanne was one of the directors of the feature documentary, TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL. She directed episodes of the New York Times documentary series, The Weekly, for FX and Hulu. Her episode investigating the New York City taxi medallion bubble won a 2020 News and Documentary Emmy, and was part of the series that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting. Suzanne also produced the Emmy-nominated feature documentary NORMAN LEAR: JUST ANOTHER VERSION OF YOU, which opened the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Meredith Ezinma Ramsay, professionally known as Ezinma [Eh-zeen-mah], is a violinist, film composer, and educator. Ezinma has worked with renowned artists including Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar, Joshua Bell, Yo Yo Ma and Clean Bandit to name a few. As a composer, Ezinma has scored national advertisements, documentaries, short films, and was even part of the "Black Panther" (2018) soundtrack. In addition, Ezinma is an advocate for music education. In 2020, she launched her nonprofit foundation, HeartStrings, a music-based youth development program in NYC for children K-5 of diverse backgrounds.

Mr. Malas' short film THE PRESENT was nominated for an Academy Award in 2020. He recently established the non-profit M Film Lab to help hone the skills of American minority scriptwriters.

Mr. Malas is the cofounder of IRA Capital a successful real estate investment firm and serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of California Irvine (UCI) and the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA (CGU). He is a founding board member of the UCI Beal Applied Innovation which provides an ecosystem for tech startups.

Reverend Dr. Conrad Fischer, MD is Professor of Medicine at Touro College of Medicine in New York. Dr. Fischer is Vice-Chairman of Medicine, Residency Program Director in Internal Medicine at Brookdale University Medical Center in Brooklyn. He is ordained as Reader and Sub-Deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church and is the President of the Institute for the Studies of Eastern Christianity. He is also on the board of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. He is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary. His area of interest is religious violence. He is the author of several textbooks of medicine.

Jody is a producer and creator of award-winning television and radio shows. At Smartypants, she focuses on creative and new business development with health, higher education, and not-for-profit organizations. Her passion is using media for social impact and change.

Conall Jones is a non-fiction producer and editor based in Northern California. He’s produced for Netflix, Vice, CNN, NBC, A&E, and many other companies, but he's best known for his work with Wim Wenders, Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore.

Anna's short documentary Stand Up, Fight Back, which follows a Boston-based non-profit as they help underprivileged locals fight eviction due to illegal foreclosures, premiered at the Short Film Corner at the Festival de Cannes in 2010. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Tufts University, and is a self-proclaimed google spreadsheet enthusiast.

Eric Nichols is an Executive Producer and Director of Creative Development at Smartypants in New York, where he oversees documentary and narrative projects in development. Eric holds an MFA from AFI Conservatory.

Mr Kiser is Chairman of the William and Mary Greve Foundation. His business career working with the USSR as an intellectual property hunter on behalf of US Industry evolved into countering the dangerous ignorance and demonization of Islam in the West. He is the author of the Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love and Terror in Algeria and Commander of the Faithful, A story of True Jihad.

Jeremy Mack is an accomplished producer and filmmaker with over 20 years of experience working across multiple platforms, including advertising, television, and features. A proud multi-disciplinarian, he has expertise in producing, directing, editing, and specializing in making audiences laugh and/or cry.

Jeremy Medoff is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and editor. His work as an editor can be seen in dozens of broadcast commercials and series for clients such as Mastercard, BMW, Mercedes Benz USA, Food Network and MTV. Medoff has also directed, shot, and edited personal projects, including “The Fisherman,” a pilot about a Japanese man who travels the world looking for the perfect catch. He received his BA in Filmmaking from Hampshire College.

Karl Schroder is a New York City based cinematographer whose career spans over two decades. Schroder's collaborations on feature documentaries include well renowned and widely distributed "Darkon" winner of the 2006 Audience Award at SXSW, and Motorhead Rock Doc, "Lemmy", which went gold in the US, UK and Germany.

Mona Damluji is a Peabody and Emmy Award-nominated producer of the short documentary series The SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS. She writes, studies and teaches about oil culture, cinema history and the Middle East as assistant professor of Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara. She also loves writing for children and the adults who read to them.

Nationally recognized for his commitment to improving the public understanding of Islam and policies impacting American Muslims, Salam is president and co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. He has spoken at the White House, Capitol Hill and represented the U.S. at international human rights and religious freedom conferences.

As the director of the Hollywood Bureau at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Sue engages decision makers to improve the quality and number of authentic presentations of Islam, so that audiences can see Muslims as vital contributors to creating social and cultural change. She also enriches the pool of Muslim talent in Hollywood by connecting them to those who can assist with their careers.

Nadia is a tri-sector leader with experience in finance, international development and foreign policy. She has 25 years of experience in these varied spheres and brings a deep passion for engaging diverse stakeholders to multiply and leverage expertise and resources towards a collective goal. She has worked alongside bankers, social entrepreneurs, policy makers, business leaders, philanthropists and world leaders to effectuate change. Nadia has traveled to over 48 countries and brings a spectrum of perspective and nuance to every aspect of her work and believes the pathway to a peaceful and prosperous world is through dialogue.