Akilah Hughes (pronounced UH-KEE-LUH) is a true multi-hyphenate. An award-winning podcast host of Crooked Media’s “What a Day” daily news podcast, a WGA Award nominated writer of a climate-conscious web series for Steven Soderbergh, and the author of “Obviously: Stories from my Timeline” for Penguin Randomhouse, this Sundance Episodic Story Lab Fellow and USC MacArthur Foundation Civic Media Fellow does just about everything in her own unique, comedic style. Akilah has created hundreds of videos garnering more than 100 million views across the internet for companies like HBO, Comedy Central, ABC, and her own YouTube channel since 2013. Her current big project, “Rebel Spirit,” is a podcast in which she returns to her hometown of Florence, KY to try to convince her high school to change their dated, racist mascot, “The Rebels” into something “everyone in the south loves,” “The Biscuits.” It debuted with iHeartRadio in September 2024. Her background as a southerner turned coastal elite (her words) has given her a broader perspective about how we can build a better future even if we don’t all agree.

In over a decade of experience, Elizabeth Baquet has produced dozens of television series, podcasts, digital videos, and live events. Her work as a producer on the series “Billy on the Street” with Billy Eichner earned her three Emmy nominations. Currently, she is an Executive Producer for Ninth Planet Audio, where she oversees many types of podcast projects including the recent podcasts Rebel Spirit with Akilah Hughes, a comedic documentary project, and Does This Murder Make Me Look Gay?!, a scripted murder mystery series featuring performances by Kate McKinnon, Michael Urie and Frankie Grande.

Dan Sinker is a journalist, podcaster, and maker with a career defined by innovation and a passion for impactful narratives. At 19 years old he founded the influential underground magazine Punk Planet magazine, which he ran for 13 years. In 2011, he gained widespread recognition as the creator of the satirical @MayorEmanuel Twitter account, later adapted into a book. As a freelance writer, Dan has contributed to publications like The Atlantic, Esquire, and the New York Times, where he has written about everything from covid to professional wrestling. He is the co-creator of the long-running current events podcast Says Who, which he hosts with YA author Maureen Johnson, spent 2023 and 2024 building the fictional town Question Mark, Ohio, with the novelist Joe Meno, and is a producer on Rebel Spirit.