Spotlight

Gina can be seen playing the title role on the CW series Jane the Virgin, for which she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2015. Her voice can be heard as Carmen Sandiego in the Netflix animated series. Other film credits include Paramount’s Annihilation, Twentieth Century Fox’s animated film Ferdinand, Sony’s animated film The Star, and Lionsgate’s Deepwater Horizon, Warner Brothers animated film Smallfoot, and Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss Bala, a remake of the Mexican entry for Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2011. Next, she will be seen in the Netflix film Someone Great, which she starred in and served as a producer. In addition to acting, Rodriguez is a leader in supporting inclusion and the empowerment of women. This passion led her to create her production company, I Can and I Will Productions, with a mission to create art that tells stories from the traditionally unseen and unheard. She also established the We Will Foundation with her family, which is designed to focus on arts education and scholarship funding for the less fortunate, with the aim of championing and lifting up young women and men. Born and raised in Chicago, Gina currently lives in Los Angeles and is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Elle King’s 2015 gold-certified debut album, Love Stuff, featuring the breakthrough single “Ex’s & Oh’s,” earned her two Grammy nominations and a rising star lifestyle that shook her to the core. She attributes the making of her second album, Shake The Spirit, to saving her life. “This music is truly me…I’m ready to bare my spirit and soul and heart and hardships to the world and say, ‘You know what? I got through it. And this is how I did it.’”

Heather B. Armstrong is widely acknowledged as the most popular “mommy blogger” in the world. Her website, dooce®, has twice been listed as one of the 25 best blogs in the world by Time Magazine. Forbes listed dooce® as a top 100 website for women and named Heather one of the 30 most influential women in media. She is a New York Times Best Selling Author with 1.5 million Twitter followers. Heather is also a writer, speaker, consultant, and mental health advocate.

Judy Collins has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism. The award-winning singer-songwriter is esteemed for her imaginative interpretations of traditional and contemporary folk standards and her own poetically poignant original compositions. Her stunning rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” from her landmark 1967 album, Wildflowers, has been entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Judy’s dreamy and sweetly intimate version of “Send in the Clowns,” a ballad written by Stephen Sondheim for the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, won “Song of the Year” at the 1975 Grammy Awards. She’s garnered several top-ten hits, gold- and platinum-selling albums. Recently, contemporary and classic artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Shawn Colvin, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen honored her legacy with the album Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins. Judy Collins, now 80, is as creatively vigorous as ever, writing, touring worldwide, and nurturing fresh talent. She is a modern-day Renaissance woman who is also an accomplished painter, filmmaker, record label head, musical mentor, and an in-demand keynote speaker for mental health and suicide prevention. She continues to create music of hope and healing that lights up the world and speaks to the heart..

NBC senior national correspondent Kate Snow, radio host Chris Bro, and Chicago’s Hiplet Ballerinas will also take the stage during this special convening.