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Dr. Amara Enyia
Dr. Amara Enyia is a Public Policy expert on city and state policy as well as international affairs/foreign policy with expertise in Central Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. She writes extensively on issues of education, economic development, fiscal policy, equity in policy, and systems thinking.
Dr. Enyia has worked in various policy areas including economic development, public finance, housing,
education, food security, and community development. She holds a Masters degree in education, a law degree, and a PhD in Education Policy.She is the Founder and Director of the Institute for Cooperative Economics and Economic Innovation (ICEEI), an entity that seeks to diversify the economic ecosystem through educating, advocating and developing policy for cooperative economic models and financing tools that support cooperative enterprises.
She serves the Executive Director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and serves as Policy Consultant for several education organizations.
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Meghan McDonough
Meghan has been a proud CHIRP Radio DJ and volunteer since 2012. She wrote “Trust Falls,” for Second City in 2017 and is currently working on being funnier in real life. During the day, Meghan is a Digital Content Producer for ABC7 Chicago. She also writes and web produces for Tom’s Guide and LaptopMag.com which indulges her nerdy love of technology. When she’s not writing, working or sleeping, she’s usually watching reruns of “The Golden Girls” or tending to the needs of her tennis ball-obsessed dog, Duke of Squirrel. Fun fact: One of Meghan’s defining traits is taking truly horrible photos when she meets someone famous.
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Noah Maria
Noah is part of the band Neckbeard Deathcamp. Activist/Anarchist/Antifascist.
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Danette Chavez
Danette Chavez is a Chicago-based TV critic and editor. While more of a dog person, she knows the value of a chonky cat.
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Joey Garfield
Joey Garfield is an award winning filmmaker, photographer, and artist. He grew up in Evanston and after landing a small speaking role in the film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” knew he wanted to work in and around film so he moved to New York as a young adult to cut his teeth in that world.
While there Joey was entrenched in the Lower East Side art and comedy scene respectively. His sketch group The Bert Fershners helped to usher in the era of "Alternative Comedy"- a phrase that he still doesn't quite understand.
Also while in New York he was a PA on a ton of music videos like House Of Pain, Wu Tang Clan, and Cypress Hill. It was production hell, but Hip Hop heaven. During this time he got to be friendly with his idols, The Beastie Boys, and worked for their magazine Grand Royal. They offered him the role of Octopus Monster in their music video Intergalactic.
Since then he has focused on directing his own stuff and has been fortunate enough to create work with folks he admires like Hannibal Buress, Run The Jewels, Kevin Hart, Reggie Watts, and Heidi Klum. You can see more at www.joeyjoeygarfield.com
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Allyssa Bujdoso
Allyssa Bujdoso is a stand up comedian and writer. She is an alumni of Columbia College Chicago and Second City. She works by day at Guerrero Media, and can be seen performing all over the city. When not on stage, you can usually find her in one of her favorite dive bars doing drunk yoga, or writing the occasional Medium post fueled by a whiskey-soaked feminist rage.