His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. This Nobel Prize-winning peace activist is known for his unswerving commitment to love, compassion and non-violence, and has moved the world with his spiritual teachings on "the universal religion of kindness." Since 1967, His Holiness has traveled and met with adherents, leaders, and scholars in over forty-five countries and has authored or co-authored more than sixty books.

Karen Armstrong, OBE FRSL

Karen Armstrong, OBE FRSL is the author of numerous books on religion, including A History of God, which became an international bestseller. Her other works include The Battle for God, A History of Fundamentalism; Islam; Buddha; The Great Transformation; The Case for God; Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence; as well as a memoir, The Spiral Staircase. Her most recent work, published in 2019, is The Lost Art of Scripture; Rescuing the Sacred Texts. Her books have been translated into 45 languages. She is currently working on another book entitled Sacred Nature – The Recovery of Integrity.

Swami Sarvapriyananda

Swami Sarvapriyananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order of India, serving currently as the Minister in charge of the Vedanta Society of New York.

Though a relatively young monk of Ramakrishna Order, he has a significant presence in the world of Hinduism, mainly through the popularity of his talks on Vedanta. The Swami’s talks regularly attract hundreds of thousands of views online. His talk “Who am I?” at IIT Kanpur, a prestigious engineering college in India, alone has over 3 million views.

Grandmother Flordemayo

Flordemayo is a Curandera Espiritu, or a healer of divine spirit. As a seer, she has the ability to see other realms of color, light, and sound. In addition, she has the ability to see the effects of existing imbalances on the physical, emotional and spiritual realms within a person's energy system. She was born and raised in the highlands of Central America by her mother, a midwife, and in a family of Mayan healers . She travels the globe to share her healings and to foster a more spiritual understanding among humanity.

Rabbi David Rosen KSG, CBE

Rabbi David Rosen KSG, CBE, is the Jerusalem based International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee (the oldest American Jewish advocacy organization with more than 25 offices across the US and a dozen offices and representatives around the world.) The third son of the late renowned Rabbi Kopul Rosen, founder of Carmel College, David was educated in England and at yeshivot Mir and Har Etzyon in Israel.

Marianne Williamson

Marianne Williamson is a bestselling author, non-profit and political activist, and spiritual thought leader.

For over three decades Marianne has been a leader in spiritual and religiously progressive circles. She is the author of 14 books, four of which have been #1 New York Times best sellers. A quote from the mega best seller A Return to Love, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…” is considered an anthem for a contemporary generation of seekers.

Bishop William E. Swing

William E. Swing, 7th Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California (1980-2006), was born in Huntington, West Virginia. He graduated from Kenyon College and Virginia Theological Seminary, and holds six honorary degrees. Bishop Swing served as a priest in Wheeling, Weirton, and Chester, West Virginia. He also started a church at Waterford Park Race Track in Chester, pioneered homeless work in San Francisco, and played a critical role in saving St. Luke’s Hospital.

Bishop Swing is the Founder and President of the United Religions Initiative. He is married to Mary Taylor Swing and has two children and three grandchildren.

Zerbanoo Gifford

Author, human rights campaigner and founder of the ASHA Centre, a charity with an outstanding international track record in delivering transformative education in the fields of ethical leadership, social innovation, intercultural and interfaith understanding, sustainable development, and the performing arts. Zerbanoo Gifford holds the International Woman of the Year Award 2006 for her humanitarian work, which spans fifty years of grassroots and global activism.

Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam

The Rev. Dr. Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam is the Coordinator of the Sector of “Ecology and Creation” at the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He is also Chair of Philosophy of Science and Director of the Institute of Social and Political Sciences at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome. He was a Research Scholar at the University of Oxford where he is an Academic Visitor from 2011. His most recent books include Creation in Crisis: Science, Ethics and Theology (Orbis Books, 2014), The Philosophical Roots of the Ecological Crisis (Cambridge Scholars, 2017), and The Ten Green Commandments of Laudato Si’ (Liturgical Press, 2018).

Eboo Patel

Dr. Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a non-profit organization working to make interfaith cooperation a social norm in America. He is a respected leader on national issues of religious diversity, civic engagement, and the intersection of racial equity and interfaith cooperation. He is the author of four books and dozens of articles, and is a frequent keynote speaker at colleges and universities, philanthropic convenings, and civic gatherings, both in person and virtually. He served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council.

Mallika Kaur

Mallika Kaur is a lawyer, author, and organizer who focuses on international human rights with particular attention to gender and minority issues in the United States and South Asia. Kaur has worked with victim-survivors of gender-based violence for two decades, including as an emergency room crisis counselor, attorney, researcher, and expert witness. She has also worked on issues of post-9/11 violence against minoritized populations; policing practices; and racial discrimination.

Baba Wande Abimbola

Professor Wande Abimbola, Awise Agbaye, is the Spokesperson for Ifa in the world, founder of Ifa Heritage Institute in Nigeria, former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, and former Special Adviser to the President of Nigeria on Cultural Affairs and Traditional Matters who is known worldwide for his knowledge of Indigenous Yoruba religion and Ifa sacred literature. Wande Abimbola received his first degree in History from the University College, Ibadan in 1963, when that was a college of London University.

Prof. Azza Karam

Prof. Dr. Azza Karam serves as the Secretary General of Religions for Peace – the largest multi religious leadership platform with 92 national and 6 regional Interreligious Councils. She also holds a  Professorship of Religion and Development at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, in The  Netherlands – of which she is a citizen.  

She served as a Senior Advisor on Culture, at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and  as Coordinator/Chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and  Development (UN IATF-R&D); and founder of the Multi Faith Advisory Council of the UN IATF R&D.

Steve Sarowitz

Steve Sarowitz is a film producer, business leader, humanitarian, and changemaker whose efforts in entertainment are focused on creating impactful, purpose driven content. In a continuation of this personal mission, Sarowitz co-founded Wayfarer Studios—alongside multihyphenate Justin Baldoni—as an independent financial and production engine to pioneer multi-platform film and television productions that elevate and speak to the human spirit on a global scale.

Shirin Ebadi

Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi was the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Dr. Ebadi was the first woman to become a presiding Judge in Iran. In addition to being an internationally-recognized advocate of human rights, she has also established many non-governmental organizations in Iran. And in 2006, along with sister Laureate Jody Williams, Dr. Ebadi took the lead in establishing the Nobel Women’s Initiative.

James Lawson

Reverend James M. Lawson Jr. is widely recognized as the pioneer of nonviolence in the American Civil Liberties Movement. He is an activist, minister, and a scholar of the Bible, as well as a living icon embodying the power of nonviolence in securing justice and peace. Dr. Lawson’s major strategic work involved college students who were called to organize and defend the civil rights and defy the inhumane laws of segregation for securing human dignity and equity.

Her Excellency Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés

Her Excellency Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés is an academic, politician and diplomat with 30+ years of experience, including leadership positions within the Government of Ecuador (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Heritage) and at the most senior level of the United Nations. Most recently, she was appointment to serve as the President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (2018/2019), becoming the fourth woman in history and the first from Latin America and the Caribbean to preside over this body since its foundation in 1945.

Andrew Harvey

Andrew Harvey is a poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar, and spiritual teacher who has taught at universities and spiritual centers around the world. He has written and edited more than 30 books, including the bestselling titles The Hope and The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Harvey is the Founder & Director of the Institute for Sacred Activism, an international organization focused on inviting concerned people to take up the challenge of our contemporary global crises by becoming inspired, effective, and practical agents of institutional and systemic change, in order to create peace and sustainability.