Dr. Dwandalyn R. Reece is the Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History Culture and is responsible for the acquisition, research, and interpretation of the museum’s music and performing arts collection. She received the Secretary’s Research Prize in 2017 for her work curating the museum’s Musical Crossroads exhibition.

Marcus K. Dowling is a journalist, broadcaster, and entrepreneur. Marcus has written for VICE, Pitchfork, and Complex, and he is among the top 1% most-read writers on Medium. Marcus also plays a role in concept development for Decades, a retro-themed four-story nightclub in downtown D.C.

Shellée M. Haynesworth is an award-winning multimedia maker, storyteller, and culture-keeper. Throughout her more than twenty-year career, she has produced documentaries and multicultural and digital media projects for clients such as USAID, the U.S. Department of Education, the Smithsonian Institution, the Gates Foundation, PBS, NBC, Black Entertainment Television, and HBO/Time Warner.

Nico "The GoGo-Ologist" Hobson is the president of GoGoRadio Live and the co-host of The GoWin Radio Show. He has worked professionally in the go-go industry since returning from the military in 1991. Before finding his way to internet radio, he became famous for bringing his own unique style and salesmanship to selling PA tapes on 12th & F Streets NW in D.C.

Kip Lornell has been researching and writing about American vernacular music since 1970. Among his fourteen books is The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C., co-authored with Charles Stephenson. He won a GRAMMY Award in 1997 as an Album Notes Writer and serves on the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Committee. He's been teaching at The George Washington University since 1992, and he founded the D.C Vernacular Music Archive in 2014.