Dan is a father, brother, and friend who splits his time between New York City and the Hudson Valley. He's happiest cooking a new dish, traveling somewhere unfamiliar, or sitting in a real conversation about what actually matters. After 30 years in technology, he stepped back this year following his youngest child's college graduation. As his kids launch into the world, his advice to them is to chase their passion — and he realized he wasn't taking that advice himself. So he started asking a bigger question: what would he do if he could do anything? He's currently exploring opportunities to spend significant time abroad, where success is measured by whether one person's life is genuinely better because of the work he's doing.

Dr. Jen Self, LICSW (they/them), is the Queer JEDI; They are the Owner/Principle of Brick 13. They came into the world as a catalyst for change and credit their experience as a gender outlaw and the relationships they formed playing Pac-12 basketball for Cal as the impetus for their life’s dedication to intersectional racial and gender justice. Dr. Self is a visionary, a community builder, a connector of ideas and people, a parent, a spouse and partner, a survivor of emotional & physical traumas, a radical truth-teller, and even on a good day, they continually shake off the teachings of white supremacy. 

Dr. J served as the Founding Director of the University of Washington (UW) Q Center, an Assistant Clinical Professor at UW School of Social Work & Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies, a Leadership Tomorrow ‘24 participant, author, researcher, and more.

Fernell Miller (she/her) is a visionary leader, a strategic advocate, and educator for racial justice with over 40 years of experience dismantling systemic racism in public schools. She is the owner, CEO, Founder and Principal of The Root Of Us consultancy, which extends Fernell’s work as a passionate and skilled facilitator, circle keeper, keynote, coach, and mentor with policymakers, educational leaders, and community stakeholders to drive transformative change and champion equity at all levels. Fernell is a powerful connector and community builder committed to improving the lives of children and young adults furthest from educational and racial justice. 

Michael “Roddy” McDowell is a commercial airline pilot, former Navy pilot, and Bay Area local who’s most at home on his road bike, hiking a trail, or catching up with old friends. A stretch on a military honor guard, then years guiding veterans through VA hospital visits, convinced him the work wasn’t finished — so he left San Francisco for an MSW at NYU, training in trauma, CBT, somatic work, and EVRYMAN facilitation. Along the way, he realized the men he was helping — mission-focused, go-it-alone, mistaking performance for worth — included himself. Now he coaches and facilitates groups for men living that same culture, still doing his own work alongside them. Lately he’s taken up writing, dabbled in improv, and started circling Meisner technique, chasing the same honesty on stage that he asks of the men across from him.