“There were a lot of people in the Civil Rights movement who did things that were so important to move the country forward who were not in the South.” – Lisa Braxton Lisa Braxton is an Emmy-nominated former television journalist, a former newspaper reporter, an essayist, short story writer and author of THE TALKING DRUM.

“Hope is not this delicate wishy-washy thing. Hope is ferocious. Hope can eclipse the darkest things that we experience.” – Rocky Callen Rocky Callen, the daughter of an Ecuadorian immigrant, has long lived a life of service ever since she was a 13-year-old when she started to advocate for social rights at congress. She continued

“Just because a state has an abortion restriction law that isn’t as strict as another state doesn’t mean that it’s not as damaging.” – Nicole Maggi Nicole Maggi began writing poems about unicorns and rainbows at a very early age. She detoured into acting, earned a BFA from Emerson College, and moved to NYC where

“The novel will be imbued with a new sense of thought after people watch the show and then they’ll come to the book with a new perspective.” – Abbe Wright Abbe Wright is the host of The Adaptables and the Read It Forward podcasts, and is Senior Editor of Read it Forward, an online book

  “There tends to be a feeling of who belongs in small towns and if you’re an outlier in any way, the town will try to get you to conform.” – Jeni McFarland Jeni McFarland holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Houston, where she was a fiction editor at Gulf Coast Magazine.

“For women, we spend a lot of time observing how other women are being received and we pay a lot of attention to how we are being received, in a way that men just don’t have to think about.” – Andrea Bartz Andrea Bartz is a Brooklyn-based journalist and author of the forthcoming thriller THE

“There are all these studies that show women lose their confidence at age 13 or 14. All this weird shit is happening and it changes your worldview.” – Candace Bushnell Candace Bushnell is the critically acclaimed, international best-selling author of ten books, including Is There Still Sex in the City, Sex and the City, Summer

“For too long our stories haven’t been written and these women, who have accomplished so many things that we’ll never know, were relegated to the shadows.” – Samira Ahmed Samira Ahmed is the New York Times bestselling author of Love, Hate & Other Filters, Internment and Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know. She was born in

“I’m so in awe of women who go out everyday in quite a volatile climate since 9/11 and are still showing up and not surrendering or relinquishing their hijab.” – Sahar Mustafah Sahar Mustafah is a daughter of Palestinian immigrants, a complex inheritance she explores in her work. Her prize-winning short story collection Code of