Anne Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Dusk, Night, Dawn; Almost Everything; Hallelujah Anyway; Small Victories; Stitches; Help, Thanks, Wow; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; and Traveling Mercies, as well as several novels. A past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame, Lamott’s latest book, Somehow: Thoughts on Love, was published on April 9th.

When you think of Sonia Manzano, you immediately think of children and television. Her most recent accomplishment was creating a children’s program, Alma’s Way, for PBS Kids. It has won two Imagen Awards for Best Youth Programing, a 2022 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Preschool Animated Program, and a 2023 NAACP nomination for an Image Award. But what Ms. Manzano is best known for is performing the role of “Maria” on Sesame Street for 44 seasons, where her work affected the lives of millions of parents and children and garnered her two Emmy Award nominations in addition to the National academy of Arts and Science’s Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy in 2016. As a writer for the show, she took home 15 Emmys. Also, Manzano recently received the 2022 Beacon Award from PBS. She is also a book author. Her most recent Scholastic novel, Coming Up Cuban, set in 1959, follows the lives of four children who represent different intersections of race and class during the Cuban Revolution.

Debbie Millman is host of the Webby award–winning podcast Design Matters, one of the first and longest-running podcasts in the world, Chair of the first-ever Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts, Co-owner and Editorial Director of PrintMag.com, and the author of seven books on design and branding. She has worked on the design and strategy on more than 200 of the world’s largest brands. Millman is the recipient of a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and a Lifetime Achievement award from AIGA, the Professional Association for Design.

Maggie Siff recently completed a seven season run as ‘Wendy’ on Showtime’s Billions, for which she has received three Satellite Award nominations. She is also known for the FX series Sons of Anarchy (two Critics’ Choice Award nominations,) and for playing “Rachel Menken” on the first season of AMC’s Mad Men (Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.) Recent films include The Short History of the Long Road, A Woman/A Part, The Sweet Life, The Fifth Wave, One Percent More Humid, and Concussion. Siff is also an established theater actress, starring most recently in TFANA’s production of Orpheus Descending, directed by Erica Schmidt. She also starred in Signature Theatre’s production of Curse of the Starving Class, as well as in A Lie of the Mind at the New Group (directed by Ethan Hawke) and in Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew at TFANA. She will next star in Alexis Scheer’s Breaking the Story at Second Stage, directed by Jo Bonney.