Yolanda Hadid is best known as a former top fashion model, television star, author, and mother of three, including iconic supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid. But most importantly, she is both a trailblazer and honest leader in the fight to bring education, awareness, and compassion to the study of Lyme Disease.

As detailed in her book Believe Me, Yolanda was diagnosed with chronic neurological Lyme Disease in 2012. For six relentless years, the invisible disability unraveled her personal and professional life, threw her to profound depths of doubt and despair, and sent her on a worldwide journey to search for a cure, to what may be the greatest unknown pandemic of our time.

In her journey, she explored every potential treatment for Lyme, including western and eastern modalities, shamanic approaches like ayahuasca and frog venom, homeopathic medicines, and more. Her extensive journey makes her uniquely positioned to understand the overwhelmingly challenging landscape of proper diagnostics and treatment affordable for all.

With the support of her loving children, close friends and her own indomitable spirit, Yolanda fought her way back to remission. Still Lyme continues to leave its mark, as two of her children, Bella and Anwar, continue to suffer from the disease. She’s answered the call to continue her fight, using her public platform to bring awareness, create resources, and inspire hope and determination in all those who struggle with this invisible, yet powerfully debilitating disease. Her sincere wish is that all sufferers of Lyme Disease will be acknowledged while fighting for a Lyme free world.

Winston Cheng is President of International at JD.com responsible for global strategic and business initiatives as well as international investments and M&A. Winston is a member of the Group Investment Committee and is on the board of Go Jek (Indonesia), Tiki (Vietnam) and JD Central (Thailand).

Prior to joining JD.com, Winston was SVP and Head of Global Corporate Finance & Development and Vice Chairman of Investment Committee responsible for the financing, investments and M&A for LeEco Global Group and served on the board of Hong Kong listed TCL Multimedia. Before joining the technology industry, Winston was the Head of Asia Technology, Media and Telecom investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch in September 2013, Winston was Managing Director and Head of Asia Ex-Japan Technology Group and was also Head of Asia ex-Japan Consumer Retail Group in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Winston worked at Goldman Sachs for 7 years. Prior to that, Winston worked for over 10 years at Citi. Winston began his investment banking career with Salomon Brothers in 1996. He has worked in New York, Palo Alto and Hong Kong during his 20 years in investment banking.

Winston earned a BA in Economics and Chinese Language from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1995.

Challenging himself creatively and testing musical boundaries are characteristics that have defined Usher’s career since he was first discovered twenty years ago on Star Search.  Usher has been ranked by the Recording Industry Assn. of America as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold over 65 million albums worldwide. He has won numerous awards including 8 Grammy Awards and was named the #1 Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade. Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade, with his career-propelling 2004 album “Confessions” being ranked as the top solo album of the 2000s decade. Usher has attained nine Hot 100 #1 hits (all as a lead artist) and 18 Hot 100 top-10 singles.

This year Usher continues his acting career in the film Burden. Burden debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and won the “Audience Award for Best Film”.  The nationwide release date will be announced later this year.

The past couple of years ended up being a busy for Usher not only in Music but also in Film and his philanthropic endeavors.   Musically, Usher released his much anticipated 8th^th studio album entitled “Hard II Love” which spawned his 15^th N #1 single with the song “No Limit”. In Film, Usher garnered critical acclaim for his role as boxer Sugar Ray Leonard in “Hands of Stone,”. The film is  a biopic of boxer Roberto Duran in which he co-starred opposite Robert DeNiro and Edgar Ramirez.

Recently Usher finished his world tour entitled “The UR Experience”.  Usher also completed 2 seasons as a coach on NBC’s Emmy award winning hit TV show “The Voice” where he proved his top-notch coaching capability by becoming the champion of season 6.

Realizing that with success comes responsibility. Usher has also proven to be a major philanthropic force. Founded in 1999, his New Look Foundation empowers youth from impoverished communities to become leaders. In recognition of his accomplishments, Usher has been honored by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the Trumpet Foundation, Do Something, the NAACP, and as the 2010 Ford Freedom Award Scholar.  Usher’s business ventures include a best-selling line of fragrances, and a business venture with RBMG (Raymond Braun Media Group).

Troy Carter is the founder and CEO of Atom Factory and co-founder and Managing Partner of Cross Culture Ventures. He serves at Spotify as its Global Head of Creator Services, overseeing the company’s relationships with artists, producers, songwriters and record companies. In 2017, Troy was also named Entertainment Advisor to the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson.

Troy rose to prominence In the music industry, nurturing the career of hip-hip sensation Eve before transforming Lady Gaga into a global pop phenomenon through the nascent innovation of social media. Since then he’s managed the careers of John Legend, Lindsey Stirling, Meghan Trainor and Charlie Puth. His foray into the tech world resulted in the formation of Atom Factory’s angel fund and VC fund Cross Culture Ventures. Early-stage investments include Uber, Lyft, Dropbox, Spotify, Warby Parker, theSkimm, MOAT, Gimlet Media, Thrive Market, and ATTN.

Troy also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Aspen Institute and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as a board member for organizations including The Grammy Foundation, United Nations Global Entrepreneurs Council and the James Madison Council at The Library of Congress. Carter spent time as a guest shark for Season 7 of ABC’s hit primetime show Shark Tank, and has been globally recognized on industry lists for Fast Company’s Most Creative People, Billboard’s Power 100, as well as The Hollywood Reporter’s Silicon Beach Power List.

Tom Freston is a Principal of Firefly3, an investment and consultancy firm focusing on the media and entertainment industries. He is both a former Chef Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Viacom Inc. One of the founding team at MTV in 1980, he became Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks in 1986 where he oversaw MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, and other television and digital businesses. He held that position for 17 years. Earlier in his career he ran a textile import business in Afghanistan and India as well as working in advertising in New York City.

Mr. Freston is Board Chair of the ONE Campaign, an advocacy organization that fights extreme poverty. He is an advisor to Vice Media, the Raine Group, a merchant bank firm, and Moby Media, which operates television networks in Afghanistan and Africa. He serves on several boards including Imagine Entertainment, Moby Media, Vice Media, and the think tank New America. He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2005 Mr. Freston was cited in the Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” issue. He has received many industry honors and awards. Mr. Freston also writes a travel column “On the Road” for Vanity Fair.

Steve Stoute founded Translation in 2004, and is a premier innovator in contemporary brand marketing working with State Farm, Jeep, Apple Music, NBA, NFL, Kaiser Permanente. Before founding Translation, Stoute spent ten years as senior executive at several leading music labels – first at Sony Music Entertainment and later as Executive Vice President of Interscope Geffen A&M Records.  Stoute recently launched UnitedMasters, a new data-driven music distribution service that will give new opportunities to both artists and brand-sponsorship. UnitedMasters was created with funding from leading investors and venture capitalists Alphabet, Andreessen-Horowitz, and 21st Century Fox.

She led Accel’s investments in Avito (acquired by Naspers), Lyst, Spotify, Wallapop, KupiVIP, Calastone, Catawiki, JobToday, Shift Technology, SilverRail (acquired by Expedia)​, Kry and Soldo. Prior to Accel, Sonali was with Atlas Ventures.

Sonali grew up in Mumbai and graduated from Bryn Mawr College and Harvard Business School.

Shane Smith is the founder and executive chairman of VICE, the global youth media brand. One of the industry’s most respected visionaries, Smith is also a critically acclaimed journalist, and the host and executive producer for the Emmy winning news series, VICE, on HBO.

Under Smith’s guidance, VICE, which initially launched in 1994 as a punk magazine, has expanded and diversified to become the world’s leading youth media company, operating an international network of digital, linear and mobile channels, a world-class production studio, an award-winning creative services agency, and a feature film division.

VICE’s award-winning video programming covers news, culture, music, technology, sports, fashion and more from a unique perspective tailored toward a young international audience often ignored by mainstream media. To syndicate VICE’s content globally, Smith established a network of distribution partnerships with leading platforms, including A+E Networks, Snapchat, HBO, 20th Century Fox, Times of India, Sky and others. VICE’s reach has since exploded, with its multiplatform content reaching hundreds of millions of viewers every month.

Smith has reported from the world’s most isolated and difficult places, including North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Liberia and Greenland.

Smith has been awarded numerous media and journalism awards, including the Cannes Lions 2016 ‘Media Person of the Year’, the 2014 Knight Innovation Award, two Environmental Media Awards, the Frank Stanton Award for Excellence, and more. VICE has also won scores of awards for its groundbreaking content, including three Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, the PEN Center Award of Honor, and the Television Academy Honors for socially conscious programming, among dozens of others.

In 2016, Smith was presented with an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London.

Susanne Najafi and Sara Wimmercranz founded Venture Capital firm BackingMinds, and invests outside of the homogenous networks of traditional venture capital. The investor duo identifies undervalued companies and maximizes returns while also creating new role models, owners, and a diversified society. BackingMinds recently received the Spotlight Award by the heavy jury of the Diversity Impact Awards.