Patina Miller

Patina Miller stars as Raquel Thomas in the STARZ original series Power Book III: Raising Kanan, which has already renewed for Season 4. In 2022, Patina made her highly anticipated Broadway return in the critically acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1987 musical, Into The Woods. Patina received rave reviews starring as the Witch, a role she played during a Hollywood Bowl production of the musical in 2019. This marked the first time in 8 years that she graced the Broadway stage since she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical in 2013. This year, Miller won a Grammy Award (Best Musical Theater Album) for her work on the cast recording of Into the Woods and was nominated for The Drama League’s Distinguished Performance Award.

She previously starred as press coordinator Daisy Grant in the CBS hit drama series Madam Secretary, starring Tea Leoni, Bebe Neuwirth and Tim Daly. She also starred as Charlotte Jenkins on the PBS Civil War-era drama Mercy Street, alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Josh Radnor. The show marked PBS' first original drama in more than a decade. Additionally, Miller served as the narrator in Jim Henson’s animated children’s series Word Party.

In 2021, Miller starred in The Many Saints of Newark, the feature film prequel to David Chase’s award-winning series The Sopranos. She made her feature film debut as Commander Paylor in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The first part of the famous trilogy’s finale was released in November 2014. Miller then reprised her role in the final installment of the series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, which was released in November 2015.

Miller starred as the Leading Player in the Broadway revival of Stephen Schwartz’s famous 1972 musical Pippin, directed by Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus and co-starring Matthew James Thomas, Andrea Martin and Terrance Mann. Pippin received the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical at the 67th Annual Tony Awards. Miller successfully put a contemporary twist on a role originated by award-winning actor Ben Vereen, and mastered the Fosse movements that the show relies so heavily on.

Miller earned a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, as well as a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award. She was also a Drama League Award honoree and Fred and Adele Astaire Award nominee. She previously performed the role of Leading Player in the American Repertory Theater production of Pippin from December 2012 to January 2013.

Miller made her Broadway debut in the 2011 Broadway season as the gutsy nightclub-singer-turned-nun Deloris Van Cartier in the stage adaptation of Sister Act, which earned her first Tony nomination as well as a Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for her performance. She was also a Theatre World Award winner.

Additionally, Miller starred in multiple Off-Broadway productions, including Ragtime at Avery Fisher Hall, New York City Center City Center Encores! production of Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s Lost in the Stars, and the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Romantic Poetry. Miller also appeared in the Public Theater’s pre-Broadway revival of Hair during its 2008 run at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, also under the direction of Diane Paulus. Her regional theatre credits include First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb at the Kennedy Center, Sister Act at the Alliance Theatre and Pasadena Playhouse, and the Philadelphia Theatre Company production of Being Alive. She has participated in workshops for Book of Mormon, Nightingale, and American Idiot. Prior to her numerous theater credits, Miller appeared in the renowned daytime soap opera All My Children.

Miller performed her first solo concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during its 2013-2014 theatrical season. She then made her New York City debut in February 2014 as part of Lincoln Center Theater’s American Songbook series, which subsequently aired on PBS.

Miller received a degree in musical theater from Carnegie Mellon University. She currently resides in New York City.

Hon. Marcia L. Fudge

Marcia Fudge was the 18th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Throughout her career, she has worked to help low-income families, seniors, and communities across the country.

She served as U.S. Representative for the 11th Congressional District of Ohio from 2008 to 2021. She was a member of several Congressional Caucuses and past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. As a Member of Congress, Secretary Fudge earned a reputation of tackling the unique challenges of her district by working with her Congressional delegation and across political ideologies.

In 1999, Fudge was elected the first female and first African American mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, a position she held for two terms. As mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, she adopted one of the first vacant and abandoned property ordinances in the state. She worked with local officials to develop a taskforce to protect against predatory lending and she secured the inclusion of property maintenance grants in the Warrensville Revitalization Action Plan. Additionally, she brought new residential development to the city and addressed the city’s growing foreclosure crisis through the formation of a local partnership that helped residents maintain the financial security needed to buy or keep a home.

Her career in public service began in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, rising to the rank of Director of Budget and Finance. She earned her bachelor’s degree in business from The Ohio State University and law degree from the Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall School of Law. She is a Past National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and a member of its Greater Cleveland Alumnae Chapter.

Symone Sanders-Townsend

Symone Sanders-Townsend is an author, seasoned democratic strategist and co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend.

Symone rose to prominence in 2016 as the national press secretary for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’s then-presidential campaign. At 25, she became the youngest presidential press secretary on record and was named to Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 16 young Americans shaping the 2016 election. At 29, she published her first book, No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America and served as a senior advisor for President Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. At 31, Symone was appointed as a senior member of the Biden-Harris administration serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris. With her White House appointment, Symone became the first Black woman to serve as a spokesperson to a Vice President. In 2022, she joined MSNBC to host “SYMONE” providing essential context on the most pressing issues facing Americans today.

Now, Symone brings the depth of her experience to The Weekend where she and her co-hosts serve as the go-to source for viewers on headlines of the day.

A communicator with a passion for problem solving and social justice, Symone served as the national chair of the Coalition of Juvenile Justice Emerging Leaders Committee and a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice before joining Senator Sanders’s campaign. There, she worked to raise the profile of young voices in the fight for juvenile justice reform and brought millennial perspectives to policy conversations. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Symone owned her own consulting firm where she helped clients find sound solutions to tough political and social problems.

She is a former political commentator for CNN and resident fellow of both Harvard's Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School and the University of Southern California's Center for the Political Future. Symone holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from American University. In 2024, she received Black Enterprise’s Luminary Award at the Women of Power Summit.

She is a proud member of the Links Incorporated and a native of North Omaha, Nebraska. Symone currently resides in Washington D.C. with her husband, Shawn Townsend.

Nicholas Goad

Nicholas Goad is Managing Director and Partner in the Washington, DC office of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he has been a management consultant for over sixteen years. Nicholas has also worked abroad in the London office and the Sydney office where he was the 2007 ambassador.

In recent years, Nicholas has focused his client practice at BCG on the Retail, Lodging, and Consumer industries including pricing, growth strategy, digital, go-to-market, consumer insights, and cost reduction topics. He has particular expertise leading pricing and assortment transformation efforts in multiple retail channels and is the Global Product Leader for Category Advantage and member of the Retail leadership team.

As an active member of the global leadership team for the firm’s Pride@BCG, he heads the People Development Initiative. This initiative received The Human Rights Campaign’s 2011 Award for Workplace Equality Innovation for BCG’s “holistic approach to career development and affiliation.”

In the community, Nicholas has served as a volunteer teacher at Byte Back, an organization that provides computer literacy training to improve employment readiness in underserved communities.

Nicholas holds a B.S. magna cum laude in Finance and Public Policy & Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with minors in Mathematics and French. He also studied at École de Management and Université de Lyon II in Lyon, France.

Nicholas’s interest in theater was piqued when he was ten years old and cast in the title role of Oliver in his local Vermont community theater production. He continued through high school with theater as his year-round “sport” acting, producing, and culminated as Steering Committee Chair for the 1997 Vermont State Drama Festival. He built life skills through theater as a young adult that contribute to his success in the business world today.

Alethia Jackson

Alethia Jackson has been a leading health care lobbyist in Washington, D.C. for over 10 years.  She is currently Senior Vice President ESG and Chief DEI Officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance.  During her tenure, Alethia has helped the company increase and maximize its advocacy presence in the Nation’s capital.  She oversees outreach initiatives to Members of Congress and stakeholders.  In this position, Alethia develops strategies and programs to advance the Company’s policy priorities.  In addition to managing the lobbying team, she oversees third party partnerships and corporate giving on the federal level.

Prior to joining Walgreens, Alethia was Vice President of Federal Affairs at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).  In that capacity, she provided substantive, strategic and political counsel to health insurance executives of Fortune 500 and not-for-profit companies and advocated on their behalf before Congress.  Alethia helped provide substantive expertise on various provisions of the health care reform law. Prior to joining AHIP, Alethia served as Assistant Counsel for Health Policy with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), where she served as liaison for state insurance regulators with Members of Congress, federal agencies, and consumer advocacy groups.  During her tenure at the NAIC, Alethia was responsible for monitoring and responding to federal legislative and regulatory proposals, as well as developing policy recommendations to address issues in state insurance markets.

A respected health care expert, Alethia is a frequently asked to speak at government relations and health care conferences.  Her speaking engagements have included: Climbing the Hill: How to Accelerate Your Federal Government Relations Strategy, Public Affairs Council (June 2013) and Improving Health Care Quality, 6th Annual National Leadership Summit on Health Disparities, National Minority Quality Forum and the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust.

Alethia sits on the Corporate Advisory Council for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.  She is also a member of Calibr Global Leadership Network, a leadership and professional development group for mid-to-senior level corporate executives.  Additionally, she sits on the Board of Directors of Running Start.  Alethia also serves on the Board of Directors of the Women Under Forty Political Action Committee.

Alethia’s community involvement includes her work with the 12 Days of Christmas, Inc.  Her involvement in the 12 Days of Christmas, Inc., includes helping the organization raise over $40,000 annually to assist local families in need with the purchase of back to school supplies, children’s clothes and Christmas gifts.

Alethia holds a B.A. in English from the University at Albany and a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law.  She has studied comparative health law and policy abroad in England, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.  Alethia is a member of the New York State and Washington, D.C. bar associations.