Antione Downey is a filmmaker, storyteller, and dreamer passionate about creating meaningful content that resonates with audiences.

Ayah Abbassi is a Palestinian and Egyptian high school junior. She has a passion for speaking, creating art, and writing, especially poetry. Her accolades include first place in the spoken word and short film categories at MIST NJ, second place in NJ Teen Media, and first place in the An-Noor Academy art competition, and her work has been published by Islamic Horizons Magazine. She has spoken at a Muslims 4 Peace event with an interfaith audience, including elected officials. She is an aspiring lawyer and in her spare time, enjoys soccer and playing the piano.

Fatimah El Zahraa Zeni is a filmmaker whose work focuses on the importance of the truth and finding beauty through the daily struggles of life. Her most recent work was a short fiction film about a father and daughter in Syria; it portrayed the sacrifices parents worldwide must make to ensure their child's happiness and well-being. Fatimah hopes for her work to provide accurate coverage; she wants to move away from the misinformation that is so prevalent in the media and finds that in order to make large-scale changes, you must know how to make small changes around you first.

Felicia is an author, poet, workshop leader, and writing and publishing consultant. Felicia is a child advocate by trade, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montclair State University in New Jersey, which laid the groundwork for a career in child welfare. However, becoming a published author had been a childhood aspiration, even before she studied Creative Writing at an arts high school.
Committed to community, Felicia serves as the Communications Director for Arts Reforming Communities in New Jersey, which focuses on uplifting communities through the arts. She is Vice-President of the Board of Directors for Word Seed, Inc., a literary arts not-for-profit organization that produces the annual Paterson Poetry Festival. Felicia is a freelance journalist for NJ Urban News and onducts anti bullying workshops, creative writing workshops, and professional development workshops. She also runs Felicia IN Print, LLC literary agency.

Ishani Bakshi is a rising junior at Edison High School with an interest in public health and public policy. She is an active board member of Model UN and Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper. She has also worked at the Tufts Leveraging Environmental Epidemiology For Equity Lab, co-writing a proposal on the correlation between extreme temperature and stroke effects, and overseeing the preliminary steps of a literature review on pulmonary health/climate. This summer, she is working on an environmental engineering research team at NJIT, focused on developing a biogas digester, while keeping food policy in mind. She is also a volunteer at the New Jersey Food Democratives Collaborative, helping condense resources related to SNAP benefits at Farmers’ Markets. In her free time, she is working on a book on South Asian women’s teen reproductive health, and running the Women’s Alliance in STEM and Humanities, a successful community organization focused on educational workshops, and fundraising opportunities.

Natalia Torres is a junior at West Caldwell Tech, where she plays varsity volleyball and serves as vice president of the DECA, LatinX, and National Honor Society organizations. She is passionate about community service and serves as treasurer of the student-created nonprofit Strength for Seniors, which works to help senior citizens maintain health and stay active. She also coaches youth volleyball and participates in beach clean-ups, food distribution, and fundraising for nonprofits. She recently became a 2024 US Youth Ambassador for Chile through the HSF Youth Leadership Institute.

Sam Rhodes is a writer, poet, and organizer based in Newark, New Jersey. A graduate of Essex County College and Rutgers University, Rhodes has published articles for Five Wards Media and the revolutionary newspaper, CHALLENGE. Some of the issues Rhodes’ writing addresses include housing struggles, police brutality, and pop culture. Rhodes enjoys vaporwave music, reading, and cooking.

Victor "Inuk" Gavilanes is a community organizer born & raised in Newark, NJ. Formerly a Housing Justice Organizer with Ironbound Community Corporation, he has continued servicing the community, assisting Newark residents who are facing difficulties in housing & are facing economic disadvantages. For over a decade, his passion has been to educate, empower, & uplift people in his community. As an Indigenous Taino representative & member of the Lost Tribes Foundation, he continues to work as a mentor for youth and as a practicing Shaman sharing spiritual guidance & methods to help heal from past trauma.

As an incoming freshman at Brandeis University, studying under a Humanities Fellowship and as an International Business Scholar, Zoe Van Gelder is fulfilling her passions for understanding news through journalism, political activism, and a study of the law and history. She has written for NJ.com, worked with Public Square Amplified as a Community Journalist, and spoken at multiple rallies and demonstrations for women’s rights. When not immersed in these activities, she enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.