The Conversation Creators & Guests

Cenk Uygur is a lawyer, businessman, columnist, journalist, activist, political commentator, and main host and creator of The Young Turks (TYT).

Mark Leibovich is a journalist and author. He is the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine and known for his profiles on political and media figures.

Jessica Malaty Rivera is a microbiologist and science communication strategist.

Wendell Potter is former health insurance industry communications director who is now a health insurance reform advocate. He is president of the Center for Health and Democracy.Prior to 2009, Potter was vice president of corporate communications for CIGNA. Before that, he worked for Humana in Kentucky, where he witnessed the difficulty that the rural poor had in accessing healthcare under the private healthcare system.Potter's first book, "Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans," was published in 2010. He is a regular guest on MSNBC and has appeared extensively in the media.

Richard David Wolff is an American Marxian economist, host of the video show & podcast Economic Update, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York.

Elie Mystal is a Justice Correspondent at The Nation.

Rosalind Wiseman is a parenting educator and author. She is known for her book "Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence," which was the basis of the 2004 film Mean Girls.Wiseman is also the creator of the Owning Up Curriculum, a program that teaches students and educators to take responsibility as bystanders, perpetrators, and victims of unethical behavior.Wiseman studied karate while in college, and she taught martial arts to young women after graduating. Her teaching experiences caused her to become interested in youth empowerment and leadership-building. This led to her first book, "Queen Bees & Wannabes."Wiseman was raised in Washington DC. She received her B.A. in political science from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Ann Warren is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013.

Meredith Cash is a sports reporter. She covers all games played on a field, court, rink, diamond, or gridiron with a specific focus on women's sports. Currently, she reports for Business Insider.Cash received her B.A. in Political Science and Government from Duke University.

James Dennis Scholten is a freelance paralegal and politician. Currently, he is a member of the Iowa House of Representatives for District 1.Scholten was the Democratic nominee for Iowa's 4th congressional district in the 2018 and 2020 elections.Scholten received his B.A. in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he played on the school's baseball team. After graduating, he played professionally for the Sioux City Explorers.

Alex Lawson is the Executive Director of Social Security Works

Frederick Joseph is an author.

Allison Kilkenny is an American journalist and co-host of the political podcast Citizen Radio. Kilkenny is a social critic and blogger for The Nation.

Justin Spitzer is a television & film writer, producer, and creator.

Abdul El-Sayed is a politician, former public health professor, medical doctor, and civil servant. El-Sayed was raised just outside of Detroit. He attended the University of Michigan, the University of Michigan Medical School, and then Oriel College, Oxford, where he completed a PhD in public health in 2011. He returned home to complete his MD at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.El-Sayed has written extensively on public health policy, social epidemiology, and health disparities. His work has appeared in The New York Times, CNN, The Hill, The Huffington Post, The Detroit News, and the Detroit Free Press.El-Sayed was assistant professor in epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. At the same time, he was Health Officer and Executive Director of the Detroit Health Department.In 2018, El-Sayed resigned as health director to run to be the Democratic nominee for the governor of Michigan, which he did not win.

Meehan Crist is a science journalist. Currently, she is the writer in residence in Biological Sciences at Columbia University. She is the host of the live show and podcast "Convergence: A Show About the Future."Crist's work has appeared in the New York Times, the London Review of Books, The Atlantic, The Nation, Scientific American, and Science, and has been collected in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2021. She co-edited the collection "What Future," which was published in 2018. Her nonfiction book about the climate crisis, "Is It OK to Have a Child?," is forthcoming.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian and cultural critic. She is a scholar on fascism and authoritarian leaders.

Brianna Wu is an American video game developer and computer programmer. She was co-host of the weekly Isometric podcast on Relay FM. The podcast was launched in May 2014 and covers the video game industry and on April 18, 2016, the Isometric podcast was ended.

Naomi Peña is a community and education activist. Currently, she serves on the Community Education Council for New York's school district 1.Peña became involved in educational advocacy work after she had to learn the special education bureaucracy for her own child. She learned special education law and became a support for other parents in her community whose children need special education.