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Jess DeBakey
Jess DeBakey is an East Coast raised, Chicago based podcaster, marketer, and sometimes-comedian. She co-hosts Not For Everyone, a comedy-meets-self-help podcast about the things we all feel but rarely say out loud, and hosts Peaking, where she interviews women entrepreneurs about the low moments that sparked their best ideas. Trained in standup at The DC Improv and Chicago’s Lincoln Lodge, Jess brings sharp humor and candid perspective to every story she tells.
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Ariel Van Cleave
Ariel Van Cleave is the Managing Director of Audio at Chicago Public Media. She also founded and runs her own non profit called HostCon. She has experience as a reporter, producer, host and editor. Ariel had her first brush with public radio while working at WCBU as a student at Bradley University. Since then she’s reported or edited stories on just about everything, including the Illinois statehouse, education issues, Alaska fisheries, tribes in western Washington and the history of soap operas.
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Ann Filmer
ANN FILMER joyfully moves through the worlds of theater, music, storytelling and visual art, though she has a degree in dance. She founded 16th Street, a nationally recognized playwrights' theater in Berwyn, IL and was its Artistic Director for 15 years. There she was lucky enough to direct and learn from great storytellers such as Arlene Malinowski, Tekki Lomnicki, Rohina Malik, Julie Ganey, and Tony Fitzpatrick, who trusted her with directing his Tetralogy at Steppenwolf: This Train, Stations Lost, Nickel History and The Midnight City, as well as The Secret Birds at Poetry Foundation. Married to drummer Barry Bennett, Filmer writes and performs with her band Mrs. Smith and the Present, is in the band Vinto Van Go and is a huuuuuuge fan of CHIRP. During daylight hours, Filmer is Executive Director of Riverside Arts Center.
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Hillary Stone
Hillary Stone is a musician living in Chicago. She is the co-creator of “Pet Cemetery with a C: the Musical!,” and plays in local bands Otter Petter, Shrimp Forks, and Rosemary's Baby Carrots. Find her on Instagram at @thrillarytcat.
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David Faris
David Faris is a professor of political science at Roosevelt University, a contributing writer at The Nation, Slate and Newsweek and the author of It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics (Melville House, 2018) and The Kids Are All Left: How Young Voters Will Unite America (Melville House, 2020). His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Salon and more. He's a frequent guest on the Ben Joravsky Show and has appeared on numerous podcasts including The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart, Deconstructed with Mehdi Hassan, The Battleground Podcast, Background Briefing and Chapo Trap House.
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Faiz Jiwani
Dr. Faiz Jiwani is a primary care doctor and spoken word poet who enjoys finding new ways to witness how our lives are changed by our bodies (medicine) and how our bodies help carry out life (poetry). Alongside his medical work and teaching, he is also a committed medical advocate, delivering health education talks and carrying forward the spirit of patients’ stories into legislative advocacy. He has performed Spoken Word poetry at venues in New York City, Houston, and Lisbon, Portugal, and also recently performed at Chicago City Hall during Mayor Johnson's Navroz Celebration.