2013 Speaker Lineup
Reinvent
Jennifer Baker
An Associate Professor of Philosophy at the College of Charleston with an interest in applying ancient ethical standards to modern day life.
William Baldwin
A lifelong resident of the Carolina Low Country and an award-winning novelist, poet, biographer and historian.
Eve Blossom
A trained architect and designer, founded Lulan and WE’VE as a unique for-profit social venture, a collaboration between designers and gifted artisans to create contemporary products and produce stable jobs and economic options.
Caleb Borick
A 10-year-old homeschooler who studies piano with Charleston Academy Music Director Eunjoo Yun and the internationally acclaimed pianist Enrique Graf.
Teresa Bruce
A one-time Olympic hopeful turned writer, broadcast journalist and former Ogilvy PR executive who now lives in Beaufort, South Carolina.
Mindy Burgin
A nurse and a musician from Georgetown, SC, is also the founder and executive director of Kirabo Foundation, a non-profit empowering orphans in Uganda through education
Dave Dawson
The president and founder of The Urban Electric Company, which embraces the return of the craftsman-style approach to lighting design in America.
Ricky Hacker
Chef and co-owner of Extra Virgin Oven (EVO) Pizzeria and Craft Bakery located in the North Charleston neighborhood of Park Circle and supports using sustainable ingredients from the surrounding land, sea and air.
Benjamin Halford
A third-grader at the University School of the Lowcountry who has studied violin since he was four years old at the Charleston Academy of Music.
Winslow Hastie
A 13th-generation Charlestonian, is the Chief Preservation Officer at Historic Charleston Foundation, managing all of its preservation programs and two historic museum houses.
Brendan James
A contemporary American singer and songwriter with a critically-acclaimed, piano-based style, is on tour with his third album “Hope In Transition,” which includes a special ode to his new hometown, Charleston.
Rutledge Leland
A musician who plays an assortment of acoustic string instruments as he pursues his passionate interest in the Appalachian and Americana musical traditions.
Micah McLaurin
An 18-year-old piano soloist who plays with symphonies worldwide and at festivals including Charleston’s own, Piccolo Spoleto. Now a scholarship student of Enrique Graf at the School of the Arts, College of Charleston
Michael Messner
Michael co-manages Seminole Capital Partners, LP, an equity investment fund founded in 1995, and is a trustee (along with his wife, Jenny) of The Speedwell Foundation, which supports urban parks and education.
Justin Forest Nathanson
A filmmaker with his own company, which specializes in video and photo advertising, marketing and production.
Tiffany Russell, Ph.D.
An educator at Georgia State University with expertise in multiculturalism, African American studies and womanism.
Michael Schmidt
Professor and Vice Chairman of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina with a focus on translating the microbiological results from the lab into practical solutions.
Simran Singh
The publisher of 11:11 Magazine and the host of the syndicated 11:11 Talk Radio and On the Lighter Side Radio, specializes in metaphysics, spirituality and motivation.
Rev. Bill Stanfield
A founder and CEO of the Metanoia Community Development Corporation, a grassroots movement of people focused on the holistic redevelopment of some of our region’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
Lua Martin Wells
Lua works at the Mount Pleasant Regional Branch of the public library and has a passion for the interest-driven, child-led, organic learning style known as ‘Unschooling’.