Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston, SC in 1970. He received his B.F.A. at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. While at R.I.S.D. he created the Andre the Giant has a Posse sticker that transformed into the OBEY GIANT art campaign with imagery that has changed the way people see art and the urban landscape. His work has evolved into an acclaimed body of art, which includes the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama which can be found in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait gallery.

Since the beginning of his career in 1989 he has exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, indoor and outdoor. His works are in the permanent collections of the MOMA, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Boston ICA and many others. For more information, visit obeygiant.com.

Andy Baio is a writer and coder who loves making things. His latest projects include XOXO, a four-day conference and festival in Portland, and Playfic, a community for writing and sharing interactive fiction games. He's an advisor and the former CTO of Kickstarter, the largest crowdfunding site in the world, produced Kind of Bloop, the first and only chiptune jazz album, and created Upcoming, the collaborative events calendar acquired by Yahoo in 2005. He writes a weekly column for Wired.com, and original reporting on his blog Waxy.org has been featured in the New York Times, Wired, NPR, Newsweek, and MSNBC.

Kate Darling is an IP Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab and a Ph.D. candidate in Intellectual Property and Law & Economics. After surviving law school, she went on to pursue her passion for innovation policy at the intersection of law and technology. Her work focuses on economic issues in copyright and patent systems. She also writes and lectures about robot ethics.

Caroline Woolard moves between art, design, and activism. After installing guerrilla public seating around New York City and producing a swing for the subway system, she co-founded a global network of schools that run on barter (TradeSchool.coop) and an alternative economy for creative people (OurGoods.org). In the past year, Caroline has presented this work at the Whitney Museum, the Queens Museum, the Museum of Art and Design, California College of the Arts, Sotheby's Institute, and MIT's Center for Civic Media. Caroline also co-organizes a space for 30 artists in Brooklyn, teaches at the New School, is currently a Fellow at Eyebeam, and will be doing a project at MoMA in 2013.

Michael Lopp is a Silicon Valley-based engineering leader who builds both people and software at companies such as Borland, Netscape, Apple, and Palantir. While he's not worrying about staying relevant, he writes about pens, bridges, people, poker, and werewolves at the popular weblog, Rands in Repose.

Michael has written two books. "Being Geek" is a career handbook for geeks and nerds alike. His first book "Managing Humans, 2nd Edition" is a popular guide to the art of engineering leadership and clearly explains that while you might be rewarded for what you build, you will only be successful because of your people.

Michael surfs, plays hockey, and drinks red wine in the redwoods of Northern California whenever he can because staying sane is more important than staying busy.

Zoetica Ebb is a Moscow-born, LA-raised artist, writer and photographer. She is dedicated to proving that life is as beautiful as we make it. On her blog, Biorequiem.com, Zoetica offers unorthodox fashion advice, lifestyle tips, cultural commentary, and answers readers' questions about everything from ways to wear short skirts to quitting art school to learning to love the world.

Zoetica's current projects include The Secret Guide to Alternative Beijing - a video travel guide series giving insight into the alternative art, fashion, music, and nightlife culture in Beijing, and Alien Botany - a painstaking and time-consuming art series dedicated to beastly flora and antique botanical illustration.

Last year, Zoetica launched GHST RDR in collaboration with Adriana Fulop of Toronto label, Plastik Wrap. GHST RDR is a jacket-and-skirt combo, inspired by Victorian riding fashion and anime robots. She also used Kickstarter to raise $8,400 for D4RT - a support project for a developing village in the Peruvian Amazon jungle, where Zoetica hand-delivered art supplies, taught a kids' introductory art workshop, and painted a mural with village locals. She'd like to do this again sometime.

In recent years, Zoetica worked as a culture writer and photographer for RedBull's Chinashop Magazine, specializing in urban exploration and art coverage. From 2007 to 2012 Zoetica was part of Coilhouse - a magazine and blog she co-founded, billed as "a love letter to alternative culture".

Before there were frames, there was a moth attack. Or at least a moth infestation one morning in the Los Angeles kitchen of Megan Dean. It was one of those situations where one could either get annoyed or motivated, and Megan choose the latter. Launching Moth Attack after perfecting her skills with master frame builder Koichi Yamaguchi, she now applies this knowledge to lugged and fillet brazed steel frame sets. Each one custom made with purpose, fit and love in mind.

When not fabricating frames, Megan is often track racing, road riding, or working part time at the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition. Being immersed in bicycles all day in multiple ways translates into an omniscient approach to building that is reflected in every detail of her finished work. Megan’s break from the cycling world is spent with her big dogs that share her love of the artisian life and a good walk.

From his origins in Silicon Valley, Peter Young has worn the hat of activist, punk rocker, fugitive, hobo, speaker, author, entrepreneur, eco-terrorist, publisher, prisoner, and purveyor of unpopular opinions. He is a contributor, founder, and guilty party behind many projects guided by principles of freedom for the self and all life, many of which are anonymous and none of which will be listed here. Above (almost) all of them, he is most proud of heeding, almost without deviation, the advice once given to him personally by Bill Nye: “Peter, don't ever work for another man”.