Makhalath Fahiym

Warby Parker: An Optical Revolution

It isn’t every day that four guys give a 140-billion-dollar industry a run for their money, but, in 2010, that’s exactly what the creators of the New York City-based online eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker did. The brand is ubiquitous with cosmopolitan hipsters, and it's boutique frames with names like “Wilkie,” and “Darby,” evoke the feeling of walking down halls of an Ivy League University.

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Nan Goldin: Visual Diarist

If you want to understand American photographer Nan Goldin, you need to be comfortable with embracing both darkness and light. You have to be ready to descend into the underworld and to rise like a phoenix from ashes. There is the pain of abuse in her work, like her self-portrait titled: Nan one month after being battered,1984, which shows her bruised and battered aftermath of a toxic relationship. And there is also the carefree “let them eat cake” joy in her snapshot Picnic on the Esplanade, Boston, 1973.

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Coach K: Hip-Hop Godfather

The Culture Creators’ 2019 “Innovators and Leaders” award recipient Kevin Lee or “Coach K,” is redefining the current era of rap and hip-hop music. Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of the Atlanta-based and black-owned indie record label Quality Control Music, Coach K has a dream to make not only the record label but Atlanta into a force to be reckoned with.

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Grace Carter: Therapy Sessions

You might call 22-year-old singer-songwriter Grace Carter a musical alchemist. Like turning lead into gold or water into wine, Grace transmutes her emotions into gorgeous, heartfelt songs. Turning her pain into passion, Grace’s soaring, soulful vocals and deeply personal, meaningful lyrics resonate with listeners in a way that is reminiscent of heavy hitters like Adele and Nina Simone. Whether it’s her latest single “Amnesia,” or an older track like “Saving Grace,” you can feel the intensity of each song in your bones.

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Dream Hampton: Delivered and Unafraid

Dream Hampton is many things: a writer, a cultural critic, a social activist, a community organizer, and an award-winning filmmaker. There’s something about Dream and her work that makes you pay attention. It might be her fearlessness and fighting spirit, almost as if she was born to speak out and stand up. After all, she’s named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Although she spells her name in lowercase out of humility (and in homage to feminist Bell Hooks and poet E.E. Cummings), her legacy is larger-than-life. 

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