Megan Dowd Lambert is a former educator at The Carle, where she developed the Whole Book Approach storytime model. She went on to teach in the Simmons University graduate programs in children’s literature for over a decade before becoming co-owner and president of Modern Memoirs, Inc. The winner of an Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Honor for her first picture book, A Crow of His Own, illustrated by David Hyde Costello, Megan continues to work in the field of children’s literature as an author, reviewer, and consultant.

Elissa Gershowitz is editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc. She holds an MA from the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons University and a BA from Oberlin College.

Melissa Giraud (she/her) is co-founder and co-director of EmbraceRace, where she leads efforts to support parents, educators and other caregivers to raise children who are thoughtful, informed and brave about race. She has spent a lifetime trying to center the voices, experiences and concerns of children and families, with a particular interest in immigrant kids of color and first-generation children

Andrew Grant-Thomas (he/him) is co-founder and co-director of EmbraceRace, a national nonprofit that supports adults to raise children who are thoughtful, informed and brave about race. Andrew champions efforts he believes can make a meaningful difference for real people and communities – not 100 years from now, but in his lifetime and the lifetimes of his two tween children.