Maisha T. Winn obtained her Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley. Prior to that, she was a public elementary and high school teacher in Sacramento, CA. Currently, she is the Susan J. Cellmer Chair of English Education in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has published research in a range of Journals ("Harvard Educational Review, ""Race, Ethnicity and Education, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Journal of African ""American History, "and" Research in the Teaching of English, Written Communication and ""English Education"). She published "Writing in Rhythm: Spoken Word Poetry in Urban ""Classrooms" (published under Maisha T. Fisher by Teachers College Press), "Girl Time: ""Literary, Justice and the School-to-prison pipeline" (Teachers College Press), "Writing instruction in the culturally relevant classroom "(co-authored with Latrise Johnson for NCTE), and Education "and Incarceration" (co-edited with Erica Meiners for Routledge).

Mia Ellis is a member of the Resident Acting Company at Trinity Repertory Company. Based in Providence and New York, she is also a teaching artist and writer. Some of her film and television credits include Elementary, Person of Interest, and Louder Than Words. Mia is a graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program.