Natalie Moore Natalie is WBEZ's South Side Reporter.  Prior to joining the WBEZ staff in May 2007, Natalie was a city hall reporter for the Detroit News. She has also been an education reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and a reporter for the Associated Press in Jerusalem. Natalie’s work has been published in Essence, Black Enterprise, the Chicago Reporter, Bitch, In These Times, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. Natalie is the author of TheSouth Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation (March 2016, St. Martin’s Press) She is co-author of the book Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation. (Cleis Press, 2006). She is also co-author of The Almighty Black P Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of an American Gang. (Feb. 2011, Lawrence Hill Press). Natalie has an M.S.J. in Newspaper Management from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a B.A. in Journalism from Howard University. Natalie is a 2009 fellow at Columbia College’s Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media, which allowed her to take a reporting trip to Libya. She's also a 2010 recipient of the Studs Terkel Community Media Award. She has won several journalism awards, including a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. She is a member of the Windy City Chapter of The Links, Inc.

Rodney Falls is an architect and real estate development executive with over 20 years of experience in community development, and President of Chiliad Partners Ltd.  As an owner, Rodney has developed residential and commercial properties including a new construction, 62,000 square feet medical office condominium building in Hazel Crest, Illinois- at the time South Suburban Physicians Center was the largest new construction, for sale medical office condominium building in the Chicago region.  As an independent development consultant, Rodney has managed various projects ranging from a high-end resort housing to affordable housing projects using affordable housing tax credits, including mixed use sites in Chicago’s Oakwood Shores neighborhood. Prior to founding Chiliad, Rodney was a purchasing manager with Pulte Homes, the nation’s largest homebuilder and active adult housing developer.  Rodney’s experience with Pulte included new home sales, construction management and the procured of over $100 million in annual construction contracts including value engineering, budgeting, vendor development, bid package analysis and house cost management for an annual production of 650 homes (Illinois region).  Further, Rodney is a seasoned entrepreneur with prior experience as a restaurateur and community organizer. Rodney earned a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York City; a Master of Science in Public Administration from Baruch College in New York City; and a Bachelors of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  Rodney is a Licensed Real Estate Managing Broker in the State of Illinois, and the 1991 recipient of the National Organization of Minority Architects Community Development Award.

Lydia Ross believes in the radical power of art and artists to shape our world. As Manager of School and Teacher Programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, she works with artists, teachers, and museum peers to develop and implement education programs for youth empowerment. Currently she is piloting an innovative program, the School Partnership for Art and Civic Engagement (SPACE), which places an artist physically in residence in a Chicago public high school to develop interdisciplinary curriculum on contemporary art and civic engagement, while building deep relationships with students, faculty, administration, and community members. Lydia holds an M.Ed. in Arts in Education from Harvard University, and a BA in American Studies from Columbia University. Previously, Lydia worked in programming, production, and development at Creative Time, New York City's vanguard public art organization, and in public engagement and advocacy at the Center for Arts Education.

About Face Theatre creates exceptional, innovative, and adventurous plays to advance the dialogue on gender and sexual identity. The Education Outreach Ensemble at About Face Theatre provides touring plays and workshops to schools as an entertaining, compelling and necessary approach to starting dialogue about bullying, diversity, and intersecting identities. Education Outreach Ensemble members will perform for the first time in a domestic setting an original devised play, looking out//looking in. Hilarious, relevant and poignant, looking out // looking in is a collection of stories that connects issues around race, class, sexuality, age, gender, and self-esteem. The play features the true stories of the performers and the audience is encouraged to ask the actors about their stories and share experiences.  This play speaks specifically to transgender identity and allyship. http://aboutfacetheatre.com/education/youth-theatre/

Maggie Kubley is a multimedia performance artist, music video maker, and songwriter who has lived and worked in Chicago for the last 10 years. She has enjoyed performing her works at various music venues, (Lincoln Hall, Metro, Subterranean, Schubas, Constellation, Donald E Stevens Convention Center), listening rooms, storytelling events, performance salons, (Salonathon, Chicago Home Theatre Festival, CHIRP Radio’s First Taste, Chicago Cultural Center) and theatre/music events (The Fly Honey Show, Taste of Chicago, Ike Holter’s “The Midnight Society” series). Maggie’s work has been featured in various publications (The Chicago Tribune, The Redeye, Gapers Block, Consequence of Sound) and on several radio stations (CHIRP radio, Vocalo, WGN). In 2016, The Chicago Reader dubbed Maggie’s feminist pop duo, Celine Neon, with “Best Band Name” in their 2016 “Best Of” poll. For all things Maggie Kubley, please visit www.patreon.com/MaggieKubley.

Frankiem Mitchell is a writer from Chicago who is currently coordinating an arts program in four CPS high schools on the South and West sides. Frankiem writes poetry, rap, song, scripts for film and stage theater, and also writes modern philosophy.

Luis Sahagun was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 1982. His grandfather came to the United States in the 1940s under the Bracero Program, working in Chicago Height’s steel industry. Sahagun’s father found field work in the late 1970s, and Luis was brought to this country in 1985, living undocumented until he was naturalized in 1995 under Ronald Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Sahagun, a 2001 graduate of Chicago Height’s Bloom High School, earned his BFA from Southern Illinois University in 2006 and his MFA in painting from Northern Illinois University in 2015. He has participated in multiple solo, juried, invitational, and national exhibits in the U.S and Mexico. In addition to being featured in New American Paintings (Issue #111), Luis' work has also been showcased at the International Exposition of Contemporary Art (expo) Chicago, The Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art (Roswell, NM), Chicago Cultural Center, and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. He is currently a Bolt resident at Chicago Artist Coalition (west loop), an Artist Guide at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Chicago and an Art Educator for The Art Institute of Chicago. www.luissahagun.com

Chicago native Sadie Woods received her BA in Music from Columbia College and her MFA in Sound from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. With a focus in arts and culture, she has held DJ residencies throughout Chicago for more than a decade and performed for art institutions and tastemakers alike. Her practice includes sound art and design, deejay performance, exhibition making, and collaborations within communities of difference. She has been a participant in Ecole du Magain’s International Curatorial Program and an editor of the “Harald Seemann Individual Methodology” project; resident artist of the Hyde Park Art Center’s Center Program; Resident Artist at ACRE; Artist-In-Residence at Nichols Tower Homan Square; Sponsored Artist at High Concept Labs; Resident Curator of Chicago Artists Coalition's HATCH Projects; and Collaborator of Independent Curators International Dakar Intensive. Sadie is the recipient of the Bemis Center for the Arts Artist Residency; sound designer for Brujos Web Series; Curator-In-Residence at Art + Public Life Arts Incubator with La Keisha Leek; Resident Curator for Terrain-HATCH Projects; resident DJ at Boleo at The Kimpton Gray Hotel; and Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. www.sadiewoods.com