L. L. McKinney is an advocate for equality and inclusion in publishing, and the creator of the hashtag #WhatWoCWritersHear. Elle's also a gamer, Blerd, and adamant Hei Hei stan, living in Kansas. Her works include the Nightmare-Verse books, starting with the A Blade So Black trilogy, the upcoming Black Widow: Bad Blood as presented by Serialbox; Splintered Magic of the Mirror novels from Disney; and the Jane Eyre reimagining Escaping Mr. Rochester.

Robyn Smith is a Jamaican cartoonist, currently based in New York City. She has an MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies and has worked on comics for the Seven Days newspaper, CollegeHumor, and the Nib. She's best known for her minicomic The Saddest Angriest Black Girl in Town and for illustrating Jamila Rowser's comic Wash Day. Besides comics she spends most her time watching American sitcoms and holding on to dreams of returning home, to the ocean.