Ahyaudin is a fellow of NewGround, a program that engages Muslim and Jewish Angelenos in an innovative community-building process of intra- and inter-faith education and reflection, leadership training and civic engagement. She is also an alum from the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (AMCLI West II). Prior to joining CRCC, Ahyaudin worked in the fields of public diplomacy, educational exchanges and capacity building. She was the program assistant at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, where she managed the center’s event programming, professional training opportunities and office management. Her work experience also includes assistant registrar at the international office of Universiti Sains Malaysia, and assistant director with the Public Service Department of Malaysia. Her diverse work experience has cultivated her interests in the intersections of faith diplomacy with globalization and diaspora narratives and sentiments.

Dr. Karapetian sets the Institute’s vision and leads the research and scholarship initiatives, deepening integration with entities both on and off campus and expanding the scope of academic programming. She researches, teaches, and writes about the Armenian experience, particularly focusing on competing ideologies at the intersection of language and the construction of transnational identity. Dr. Karapetian received a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA in 2014, where she taught Armenian Studies courses for over ten years. Her dissertation, “‘How Do I Teach My Kids My Broken Armenian?’: A Study of Eastern Armenian Heritage Language Speakers in Los Angeles,” received the Society for Armenian Studies Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2015. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Russ Campbell Young Scholar Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship in heritage language research. She is the host of the podcast Language Therapy with Dr. K and the IG/YouTube Word of the Day series.

Radha joins UNICEF USA as a Community Engagement Associate based in Los Angeles. She studied Political Science at Rutgers University, where she was involved in Model United Nations and fieldwork on political campaigns. She has a background in youth civic engagement, volunteer management, and community engagement. In her previous role, she served as the Volunteer Services Coordinator at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center where she gained experience in building a brand-new volunteer program. Radha also has a passion for National Service projects, as she served as an Americorps VISTA member in Salinas, California, engaging in youth development and volunteer recruitment. She is deeply interested in issues focused on sustainable development, youth advocacy, and access to education.

Dr. Blaine teaches cultural and media literacy in the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, with a focus on feminist analytics. Her research examines representations of death in the media, including analysis of corpses in advertising. Besides thanatology, Blaine studies other representations of gender and the body, including abortion, yoga, and celebrity.

Kamy Akhavan, the former CEO of ProCon.org, the nation's leading source of nonpartisan research on controversial issues, now leads the Center for the Political Future (CPF) at the University of Southern California. As the Executive Director, Kamy oversees the operations of all Center components including the Unruh Institute of Politics, the Fellows Program, the USC Dornsife Poll, and community and global engagement.

Dr. Dengub's research interests lie in foreign language education, applied linguistics, and second language acquisition. He has taught Russian culture and methods of teaching foreign languages, including graduate and seminars, as well as Russian language courses from first- through fifth-year Russian. Dengub is the author or co-author of textbooks for the Russian language. For a number of years he has served as a director of the STARTALK Institute for teachers of Russian at Middlebury College Russian School, also served on the boards of directors of the American Council of Teachers of Russian.

Ernest J. Wilson III is the founder and director of the USC Center for Third Space Thinking, which is devoted to research, teaching and executive education on soft skills in the digital age. Through the Center for Third Space Thinking, Wilson’s most recent research focuses on critical workforce competencies and talent and skills development in the 21st Century.He is a faculty fellow at the Center on Public Diplomacy, a member of the board of the Pacific Council on International Policy and the National Academies Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  He was on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (2000–2010), the last year as chairman. He has served as a consultant to international agencies such as the World Bank and the United Nations, worked on the White House National Security Council, was director of the International Programs and Resources on the National Security Council at the White House (1993–94) and the Policy and Planning Unit, Office of the Director, U.S. Information Agency (1994). He has advised President Obama’s transition team on matters of communication technology and public diplomacy and has led research centers and academic departments at premier institutions of higher education. He is a member of the Carnegie-Knight Commission on the Future of Journalism Education and The National Academies Board on Research Data and Information. He was also deputy director of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (1994–1995).

As the pioneer scholar in public diplomacy, Nicholas J. Cull got his Ph.D. in History from the University of Leeds, also studied at Princeton as a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York. He taught at Birmingham University and the University of Leicester where, as one of the UK’s youngest full-time professors, he launched the Center on American Studies in 1997. Moving to USC in 2005, he was the founding director of the Master's program in Public Diplomacy and part of the team recognized by the Department of State with the Benjamin Franklin award. His many books include Public Diplomacy: Foundations for Global Engagement in the Digital Age (Polity, 2019).

Gene Hwang has been featured on NBC, China’s CCTV, and interviewed by The New York Times. He spent the first 25 years of his life in California, but in 2010 moved to China, where he became an education advisor to some of China’s most influential business and political leaders and brightest students. He has served as an employee, manager, regional director, and founder in the education space, and his work has brought him to 19 of China’s 31 provinces, in addition to Hong Kong and Macao. When COVID-19 disrupted Gene’s career in China, he and his wife Xue took a 9-month extended road trip across the US, fell in love with Austin, Texas, and made ATX their new home for both their personal life and their business. They are the co-founders of Kung Fu Cowgirl and Uncommon App, a premiere US university admissions consultancy. In his spare time, Gene is a rapper, kettlebell enthusiast, and keto chef. He watches UFC every Saturday it’s on, but still can’t perform a proper high kick.

Zach is a storyteller, entrepreneur, and community builder focused on projects which support a more unified, whole systems worldview. As CEO of MyPlace he leads company vision, community and a growing global sharing movement.

In 2010, Zach founded Return at the Esalen Institute, where he’s been hosting experimental and intellectual salons for leaders on topics that range from Religion of No Religion to Currency Creation and Post National Identity. His events have led to new companies, non-profits, award winning films, and inspired many talks.

Previously, Zach has held seed stage, executive roles at Remedy (now SGFY) and Habitas, and continues to advise global brands, communities, and counterculture movements.

Ideally Zach is home building MyPlace, writing, and surfing at his ranch in Baja California Sur, Mexico. His free time is spent writing his first book about the community you’ve always been part of, but could never find.

Zach is a storyteller, entrepreneur, and community builder focused on projects which support a more unified, whole systems worldview. As CEO of MyPlace he leads company vision, community and a growing global sharing movement.

In 2010, Zach founded Return at the Esalen Institute, where he’s been hosting experimental and intellectual salons for leaders on topics that range from Religion of No Religion to Currency Creation and Post National Identity. His events have led to new companies, non-profits, award winning films, and inspired many talks.

Previously, Zach has held seed stage, executive roles at Remedy (now SGFY) and Habitas, and continues to advise global brands, communities, and counterculture movements.

Ideally Zach is home building MyPlace, writing, and surfing at his ranch in Baja California Sur, Mexico. His free time is spent writing his first book about the community you’ve always been part of, but could never find.

Dr. Reataza is a strong advocate for health and healthcare system reform in the United States. She believes that behavioral health is an important piece of wellness and should be prioritized in public health policy and advocacy. Her experience as an immigrant from the Philippines and her background in education, medicine, research, health policy and law, and public health inform her interdisciplinary approach to advocacy for health and wellness. She is also passionate about dismantling the stigma communities face in addressing mental health. Dr. Reataza studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Irvine, Secondary Science Education at Cal State Dominguez Hills, Medicine at UC Irvine School of Medicine, and Health Policy and Law at UCSF-UC Hastings. In 2022, she was awarded the UCSF Early Career Achievement Award. In her free time, she practices yoga and Pilates regularly, loves to cook and garden, and enjoys making art of all kinds. Marielle has native fluency in Tagalog and speaks basic Spanish.