Gravity Speakers Speakers' Bureau roster of art and design speakers are on the cutting-edge in their field. Comprising of UX / UI designers, creatives, photographers, art directors, film makers, music producers, or related industry executives, they are innovating the landscape of Art and Design.


D’Lo (he/they) is a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American actor/writer/comedian whose work range includes stand-up comedy, solo theater, plays, films and music production, poetry and spoken word. Rooted in social justice, D’Lo brings the fierce with the funny through his stories and stand-up comedy.

Violinist Diane Allen is an international speaker, thought leader, and best-selling author of Flow: Unlock Your Genius, Love What You Do. A 15-year Concertmaster (lead violinist), it was her groundbreaking Flow Strategy™ system that earned her a spot on the TEDxNaperville stage with features on TED, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX. With her Copper Dragon violin, Diane’s experiential programs blend live musical performance, scientific principles, storytelling, positive psychology, inspiration, and actionable takeaways that help leaders and teams activate their flow state so they can be at the top of their talent and create thriving cultures where purpose and passion drive peak performance.

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark. An advocate for equity inclusion in the entertainment industry (and the entire working world), Best regularly speaks at conferences and events about leveraging entertainment to build equity and sustainability for everyone, crowdfunding, and pitching, building equitable startups, and serves as an advisor and mentor to dozens of early-stage companies.

Jessica Brown is staff product designer at Faire. She previously led design and user research teams at Vice Media and Rent the Runway. Fascinated by the co-evolution of culture and technology, she loves leading teams to find simple design solutions to complex problems. Jessica speaks on executing redesigns at scale and common philosophies and practices guiding creative people of all disciplines. She has established design and research practices that brought users’ stories to the heart of the product.

Bobbi Brown is a world-renowned makeup artist, bestselling author, speaker, and entrepreneur. She founded Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, later acquired by Estée Lauder, where she served as Chief Creative Officer for over 20 years. In 2020, she returned to beauty with Jones Road, now one of the fastest-growing clean beauty brands. Beyond beauty, she co-created The George Hotel, founded Beauty Evolution, and launched 18Label and @justbobbibrown, reaching millions daily. Author of 10 books, including her upcoming memoir Still Bobbi, she has been honored by Time, Forbes, Fortune, and inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

What Tucker Bryant learned during a decade spent between Stanford and Google surprised him: even people on the cutting edge of innovation often struggle to take risks. The truth is that we all want to step out of our comfort zones, but we also have comforts so deep-seated that we aren’t aware they even exist. And our instinct to protect that unconscious comfort suffocates our creativity, disengages us from our work, and stunts our ability to lead.

Nik Dodani is an actor, writer, filmmaker, and comedian best known for his breakout role as Zahid on Netflix’s Atypical. Since making his late-night stand-up debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he has built a career across television, film, and Broadway, co-producing the Tony Award–winning Life of Pi and developing new work through his production company, Cosmic Pomegranate. He is also the co-founder of The Salon, a nonprofit supporting South Asian artists and executives in film and television.

Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti is an award-winning journalist, podcast professional, public speaker and independent scholar. Much of his work focuses on advocating for the use of Hip Hop music and culture as a tool to improve lives, livelihoods and communities throughout the nation and the world, in areas including education, science and technology, health and wellness, politics and social justice, business and entrepreneurialism, the fine arts, spirituality and self-help, and more.

Aaron Taylor is the Creative Director at Spaces Of. Formerly Executive Creative Director of Environments at Airbnb, Aaron has a single motivation in life and at work. To bring curious humans into a physical space that opens their minds and challenges their assumptions to create fiction-free environments for communication, innovation, and whatever the 21st century has in store for "work."

Denise Love Hewett is a celebrity DJ, speaker, and recovering startup founder known for living boldly at the intersection of activism, entrepreneurship, and entertainment. A former TV producer and founder of Scriptd, she is the host of the podcast Too Much, spotlighting outsiders and changemakers redefining success. Denise has worked with cultural icons and brands like Gucci, Vanity Fair, and Sony, using her platform to challenge exclusionary systems while celebrating the fullness of the human experience.

Jin-Ya Huang founded Break Bread, Break Borders, a social enterprise. She's a published writer, and TIME Magazine-featured Community Uniter focusing on equity, design, and social justice. A PLS Presidential Leadership Scholars fellow, Huang excels in bridge building, women's empowerment, and race relations for lasting social impact.

Yelitsa Jean-Charles founded Healthy Roots after recognizing a need for more diverse toys and representation in children’s publishing. She has been recognized as Essence’s 50 Founders to watch and frequently speaks about entrepreneurship, social justice, and cultural competency.

Jonas is a New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, and storyteller, and an award-winning writer & producer of books, documentaries, and branded entertainment at storytelling boutique Koffler Pictures. Jonas regularly presents at conferences, organizations, and events on topics spanning personal innovation and unconventional thinking, the future of work, creativity and learning, community building, wellness, and resilience.

Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, public speaker, photographer, and outdoor explorer who believes that being visible and sharing our stories can shift culture and enhance people's well-being. As a 2x TEDx speaker who has engaged Fortune 500 and international audiences from Colorado to Salzburg. He is the co-founder & CEO of IDEAS xLab, and was honored with the 2022 Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award from Louisville Business First.

Aimée Mullins has excelled in multiple fields, inspiring people around the world as an athlete, actor, model, and speaker. As the first double amputee in history to compete in Division 1 NCAA track and field and for Team USA in the 1996 Paralympic Games. Over the past decade, she has acted in film and television shows, including the Netflix mega-hit Stranger Things, and has multiple feature films in development as a producer.

James Norman is a serial entrepreneur who at the age of 16 built his first online company. While previously he may have been known as a visionary in automotive product planning, over the past 10 years in the media and entertainment industry, he has become a thought leader in over-the-top media and consumer video consumption behaviors.

Dona Sarkar is the Chief Troublemaker of Microsoft’s AI Extensibility Program, a BIPOC woman in tech leader, Multi-published author, and Owner of the ethical luxury fashion brand Prima Dona Studios. She was recently named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Productive People and Cosmopolitan magazine's Businessperson of the Year.

Erin Sarofsky is the Founder and Executive Creative Director of Sarofsky, her own design-driven production studio. Her work with a Who's Who list of top-level marketing and entertainment industry executives has her collaborating on main titles for the Marvel blockbusters, among others.

Aniyia Williams is a systempreneur, creator, inventor, tech changemaker, and investor. She is a principal on the Responsible Technology team at Omidyar Network, and works to help the tech world live up to its promise of changing lives for the better. She served as Executive Director of Black & Brown Founders, co-founder of Zebras Unite, and founded and led the fashion tech company, Tinsel.