Lopön Karla Jackson-Brewer, M.S. is a senior teacher at Tara Mandala where she has been practicing Chöd for over 30 years. Lopön Karla has assisted Lama Tsultrim Allione on many Chöd retreats and has co-taught Chöd since 2013. She leads the Tara Mandala NYC Sangha as well as a monthly BBAIPOC ((Black, Brown, Asian and Indigenous People of Color) meditation practice. Karla is an adjunct professor in the Women’s & Gender Studies Department and the Africana Studies Department at Rutgers, as well as a founder of Sine Qua Non: Allies in Healing, an Integrative Therapy Practice in New York City.  Karla is also an initiated priest in the West African system of Ifa.

Bob Holman is a pioneer of spoken word poetry, performance, and media. He has written, directed, and hosted poetry events, shows, and films since the 1970s, and founded the Nuyorican Poets Café, Bowery Poetry Club, Mouth Almighty Records, and Bowery Arts and Science.

The author of 16 poetry collections, most recently Sing This One Back to Me (Coffee House Press), Bob Holman has taught at Columbia, NYU, Bard, and The New School. As the original Slam Master and a director at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, creator of the world's first spoken word poetry record label, Mouth Almighty /Mercury, and the proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club, Holman has played a central role in the spoken word and slam poetry movements of the last several decades.

Lucy Wainwright Roche is an NYC singer-songwriter who has been featured in NPR, The New York Times and Billboard magazine. Born into a musical family—her father, Loudon Wainwright III, and her half-siblings, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, are all renowned musicians, Lucy Wainwright Roche is known for distinctive style, emotive voice and poignant lyrics.

Lucy’s debut solo album, Lucy, released in 2007, introduced her thoughtful songwriting and warm vocals to a broader audience. Her 2011 follow-up, There’s a Last Time for Everything, further solidified her place in the singer-songwriter scene. Her most recent album, Little Beast, was released in 2018.