Annie is the founder and executive director of Generation WE. Born and raised in San Diego, Annie began her career in corporate retail working as a director of merchandising for the Gap corporation and the Disney Stores. In 2009 she founded her own retail company, Bloume Baby in Manhattan Beach. In 2018, she and her family moved from CA to Charlotte, NC. Annie founded Generation WE in 2023. She has three children, her oldest child lives with Cerebral Palsy and is an inspiration for Generation WE and it’s mission to create a more inclusive future. Annie believes that ALL children have a story to tell, and that the beauty in humanity lies in our differences. Her hope is to see her children grow up in a world where all children are heard, seen and belong.

Theopoet, performance artist, and comic book scholar, Rev. Dr. de'Angelo DIA serves as the Dir. of Admissions at Union Presbyterian Seminary and the Community Relations Manager for Goodyear Arts. He earned a BS in Communication and Sociology with a minor in Photography from Appalachian State University, a Master of Arts in Literature from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a Master of Divinity and Doctorate of Ministry from Union Presbyterian Seminary. His artistic influences include ethno-gothic literature, comic books, graphic novels, and neo-Appalachian art. DIA’s poetry collections include dichotomy and bifurcation (Theurgical Studies Press, 2023). His forthcoming chapbook, Cocktails with Jesus, is a Black nerd's poetic reimagining of the last seven words of Jesus of Nazareth. DIA's poems have appeared in BLACK BOY Journal, The Skinny Journal, Artist Writing on Liberation, and Cru Arts & Culture.

Julie Cordua is CEO of Thorn, a nonprofit tech organization and a 2019 TED Audacious grant winner with a goal to eliminate child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from the open web. Under Julie’s leadership, Thorn has created products and programs that are deployed globally and have helped identify thousands of child victims of abuse. The company has forged key partnerships across the technology industry, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and law enforcement to turn data into insights that inform Thorn’s solutions in the fight against child abuse.

The company’s first commercial product, Safer, is the result of continuous collaboration across the child protection ecosystem to detect, remove, and report child sexual abuse imagery at scale. Safer has already enabled the removal of over one million images of child sexual abuse.

Technology and social change are Julie’s passions. For nearly a decade, she has driven Thorn’s unique model as an innovation-fueled nonprofit that brings collaborative, technology-led responses and systems-level approaches to combating online child sexual exploitation. Previously, she served as VP of Marketing/Communications at (RED) and helped establish the brand as one of the most successful cause marketing initiatives in history, working with a team to deliver more than $160 million to fight AIDS in Africa. Prior to joining (RED), she spent nearly a decade in the wireless industry. Julie holds a B.A. in Communications from UCLA and an M.B.A. from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Ayeola is the Director of Diversity, Equity & Belonging at Trinity Episcopal School in Charlotte, NC. She has nearly 15 years of experience in independent schools, and was most recently the Assistant Director of Admission at Charlotte Country Day School. She has also taught Spanish and has served as theDirector of Diversity at Charlotte Latin School. Part of a multicultural family with connections to New Jersey, Jamaica and Germany, Ayeola and her husband Frank are the grateful parents of two children, Kelton and Anaya.

Lauren Thurmond is a community volunteer that grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lauren is a graduate of West Charlotte High School, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of South Carolina School of Law. Lauren was in private legal practice for 15 years before retiring to spend more time with her family in 2020. In private practice, Lauren was a member of the Women in Legal Leadership (WILL) organization, serving as the Editorial Committee Co-Chair from 2017-2019. In this role Lauren edited articles, authored articles, and created a new column in the publication featuring extraordinary women in the law. The articles published during her tenure provided readers with valuable information about authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, improving women’s role in the workplace, the importance of diversity and inclusion policies and initiatives, mentorship, women’s risk tolerance, and stress management. Lauren was a Lawyer Mentor for 8th grade students as part of the Mecklenburg County Bar’s Lunch with a Lawyer Program and served as the Treasurer of the Sharon Elementary School PTA. Lauren is a member of Leadership Charlotte Class 42, and is a member of the Women’s Impact Fund. Lauren is honored to be a member of Generation WE’s Board of Directors.

Dr. Denise Necoechea has been working in the fields of disability studies and special education for over 29 years, and currently serves as a faculty member at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU). Prior to her work at PLNU, Dr. Necoechea was a faculty member at San Diego State University in the Department of Special Education and a special education teacher in K-12 public schools. In addition to teaching courses about inclusion, disability awareness, and special education programming, Dr. Necoechea is the Coordinator of the College Peer Mentor Program, a program designed to support the success of college students with disabilities. Outside of higher education, Dr. Necoechea works closely with the San Diego County Office of Education to provide consulting in inclusive school practices for K-12 public/private school educators and administrators. Finally, over the past 15 years, Dr. Necoechea has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations in the areas of disability employment, social inclusion for young adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities, and international inclusive programming in developing nations.