PAUL ORTIZ, longtime labor and social justice activist, author, and director of the award-winning Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and professor of history at the University of Florida, will offer a snapshot from the perspective of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in California, the U.S., and the world as it relates to movement building and change making. His most recent book, An African American and Latinx History of the United States (2018), is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history, arguing that the “Global South” was crucial to the development of America as we know it and why placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms US history into one of the working class organizing against imperialism. Dr. Ortiz will also draw from his personal experiences helping to organize powerful movements in California and elsewhere to show how all social progress stems from the hard work and dedication of everyday people. Paul is currently writing the book,"Settler Colonialism and the 'War on Terror': 1492 to the Present", which will be published by Beacon Press. 

WILSON LIÉVANO, a journalist, editor, and animator born in Bogotá Colombia who is Managing Editor at The GroundTruth Project, will share his story and answer questions during the "What makes a compelling, memorable, and impactful story?" segment of our April 17th training. Previously he ran Animated Press, his motion graphics studio, where he focused on the intersection between visual technologies and journalism creating animations to explain complex topics including the Syrian Conflict, the plight of migrants across Mexico, and the Greek Crisis. Before that, he coordinated the online editorial operations of Spanish-language edition of The Wall Street Journal. Wilson was a chosen speaker at the UN Alliance of Civilizations 2015 Hate Speech Symposium and has collaborated with Migrahack, an initiative that organizes hackathons focused on immigration for students, activists and journalists. He has a degree in communications from Universidad Externado de Colombia, a graduate degree in print journalism from Boston University and was selected as a John S. Knight Fellow in 2012.

IRENE TSOUPRAKE has graciously offered to share her skills as a writer, speaker coach, and corporate event producer—working one-on-one with each of our emerging BIPOC Environmental Justice speakers to help craft compelling, memorable, and impactful stories. Irene believes that in a world full of noise, narrative storytellers are essential to making the case for the urgency needed to confront the climate crisis and the injustices that have fueled it. She has been the licensee and curator for TEDXSantaCruz for nearly a decade and, in 2015, spent a month in Thimphu, Bhutan (birthplace of the Gross National Happiness Index) curating and coaching speakers for TEDxYouth@Thimphu and TEDxThimphu. After working with a number of climate scientists, Irene found they could use help creating more compelling narratives to articulate their work and inspire people to begin working together to cultivate and curate a just and joyful future. As a mother and grandmother, Irene is willing to do 'whatever it takes' to save all we can, deepen our sense of global community, and catalyze transformational change.