Eric Waters has been a professional photographer for more than forty years. He studied under the tutelage of the late Marion Porter, a respected African-American photographer. Waters' iconic "Squirky Man" photo (1992) appeared as part of the opening photo montage for the HBO series Treme.

Karen Celestan is executive writer and editor in University Advancement and adjunct professor of English at Texas Southern University in Houston. She was formerly a senior program manager for Music Rising at Tulane in the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University.