Leading with Purpose: How AI and Leadership Can Transform Urban Education
Colin Kaepernick, Founder of Lumi, Legendary Quarterback, Philanthropist, and Entrepreneur
Colin Kaepernick is a legendary quarterback, philanthropist, and human rights activist. A leader on and off the field, Colin also is a prolific entrepreneur and education champion. Most recently, he founded Lumi, an AI-driven storytelling platform that democratizes content creation with tools to produce, publish, and merchandise stories independently, both digitally and physically. Lumi aims to give ALL people storytelling superpowers, turning ideas into finished products through an AI-enhanced creative process.
In 2016, he founded Know Your Rights Camp, empowering youth through education and elevating the next generation of change leaders. He is also the founder of Kaepernick Publishing and the author of several children’s books, including his recent release with Scholastic, We Are Free, You & Me, and the New York Times bestseller, I Color Myself Different. He’s won an Emmy Award as part of Nike’s “Dream Crazy” campaign, and his self-produced Netflix documentary series, “Colin in Black & White,” won two NAACP Image Awards.
As a quarterback, Colin spent six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, setting the all-time NFL record for most rushing yards (181) in a game by a quarterback. He also led the team to an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII — its first Super Bowl appearance in over a decade.
Colin continues to bridge sports, activism, and community impact as he fights for equal access to the future for ALL.
Lead with Courage
Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative
Bryan Stevenson is a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. He is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges, eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.
Stevenson has argued and won multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including a 2019 ruling protecting condemned prisoners who have dementia and a landmark 2012 ruling that banned mandatory life-imprisonment-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger. He and his staff have won reversals, relief, or release from prison for over 140 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row and won relief for hundreds of others wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced.
Stevenson has led the creation of EJI’s highly acclaimed Legacy Sites in Montgomery, including the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. These new national landmark institutions chronicle the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation, and the connection to mass incarceration and contemporary issues of racial bias.
Stevenson’s work has won him numerous awards, including the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” prize; the ABA Medal, the American Bar Association’s highest honor; and the Olaf Palme Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, for international human rights. In 2018, he received the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize from the King Center in Atlanta. In 2023, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Joe Biden.
Stevenson is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller Just Mercy. In 2019, the memoir was adapted into a major motion picture. Stevenson also is the subject of the Emmy Award-winning HBO documentary True Justice. He is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government.
From Experience to Impact: A Journey of Leading with Vision in Urban Education
Debra Duardo, M.S.W., Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles County
An unrelenting advocate for students and families, Dr. Debra Duardo serves as the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools. In this role, she leads the nation's largest regional education agency, the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), which oversees 80 K-12 school districts that serve 1.3 million students across the country's most populous and diverse county.
Since her appointment by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in 2016, Dr. Duardo has focused on ensuring educational equity and access for all students; supporting at-promise students and their families to break down barriers; and providing the leadership and support superintendents and administrators need to help our school communities learn, grow, and thrive.
In her 30-year career in education, Dr. Duardo leads with a fierce passion for supporting students at every crossroad in their educational journey. Rooted in her own life experience as a teen mom and high school dropout, she knows all too well the roadblocks students face and has dedicated her life's work to find alternative pathways to meet students where they are. Knowing the life-changing power of an education firsthand, Dr. Duardo works every day to ensure all students in L.A. County receive an education in a safe, caring environment for success in college and careers.
In 2023, Dr. Duardo was awarded the prestigious Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education for her groundbreaking work in PreK-12 classrooms and her achievements in making LACOE the premier hub of innovation in California's efforts to transform education through a whole-child, whole-family approach.
Dr. Duardo holds a master's degree in social work from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a doctorate from UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
Revolutionary School Leadership: 6 Principles to Unlock Your District’s Hidden Treasure
Principal Amen Rahh, Founder & CEO, Knowlej
Principal Rahh is a trailblazer in educational leadership, renowned for transforming school culture through innovative, student-centered practices. As the founding principal of University Pathways Public Service Academy ("The U") in South Central Los Angeles, he has implemented revolutionary approaches that have dramatically improved student achievement and built a restorative community recognized across California. An Amazon best-selling author, his book Revolutionary School Culture: The 6 Principles of Unlocking Your School's Hidden Treasure is a go-to guide for educators seeking to create impactful, equitable learning environments.
In addition to his work in schools, Principal Rahh is the founder of Knowlej, an Ed-Tech startup focused on reducing chronic absenteeism through "Attend to Win" and "Learn to Earn" challenges. This innovative program incentivizes consistent attendance with a restorative approach to chronic absenteeism, family and community engagement, and exciting rewards, helping to foster responsibility and commitment among students.