LINEUP

The best man for one of the worst jobs in the world, Fauci as truth-teller is a stellar addition to the OZY Fest lineup. Is there a doctor in the house? Damn right there is.

@CondoleezzaRice

Can we call the former secretary of state and current director of the Hoover Institution Condi? We can, and we will.

@mcuban

The first time we remember seeing Mark Cuban, he was on court screaming at a referee. The last time we saw him? He was a billionaire who some were teasing as a possible future president.

@sevyn

Sevyn Streeter got her first record deal at age 9 as part of girl band TG4 and later she performed with RichGirl. Well, she’s back and freer than ever in her new album, Drunken Wordz x Sober Thoughtz, and this time, the whole world is listening.

@Gladwell

A man in a Porsche once yelled out to writer, journalist and podcaster extraordinaire Malcolm Gladwell, “I love you, bro,” and we couldn’t agree more with the man with the Porsche.

@marcrebillet

“Rare” is a tame way to describe the eccentric and minimally clothed electronic musician Marc Rebillet. Operating under the alias Loop Daddy, Rebillet is famous for his bizarre yet enthralling livestream performances he shares with his 1.3 million YouTube subscribers.

@TigNotaro

Tig Notaro went from high school dropout to comedy legend, all the while battling breast cancer. Next up? A “flawless” performance in the upcoming Army of the Dead, where Tig helps battle a zombie outbreak.

@MazJobrani

Who doesn’t need a good laugh these days? We welcome Maz Jobrani, Iranian American stand-up comic, podcast host and star of CBS’s Superior Donuts, whose jokes bust boundaries while audiences bust a gut.

@jimcramer

If there’s anyone better at making us want to throw stuff and rant about stocks and bonds than Cramer, host of Mad Money and co-founder of The Street, we have no idea who that is.

@bigfreedia

God save the Queen Diva! Bringing New Orleans-based bounce music to hip-hop lovers everywhere, rapper Big Freedia “came to slay” and is here to stay.

@DeepakChopra

Pioneer in alternative medicine and a leading influencer on mind-body health and well-being, mega-bestselling author Deepak Chopra is your guide to tapping your fullest potential and achieving lasting health.

@FunnyAida

From the start of her stand-up career, when she lived in her car with her children, to starring in Netflix’s Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready, Latina comic Aida Rodriguez has traveled far and sure knows how to pack a punch.

@mattjames919

So he didn’t find true love at “the Mansion,” but the first Black bachelor, Matt James, found his voice, and he’s using his new platform as a TV personality, entrepreneur and activist to reach new audiences.

@CarmenYulinCruz

Former San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz showed the world what leadership looks like when Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, declaring, “We don’t just rebuild, we transform.”

@AdamMGrant

If you feel like your work-life balance is all kinds of wrong, you’ll want to tune in to what organizational psychologist Adam Grant has to say. Corporate brainwashing beware!

@ElsaAngel19

Eighteen-year old Kenyan comedian, fashionista and influencer extraordinaire Elsa Majimbo is famous for her quarantine videos featuring a pair of ’90s-era sunglasses and, often, a bag of potato chips. Is she evidence that authenticity is more marketable than polish?

@katcunningmusic

Don’t even think about putting Kat Cunning in a box; from a sold-out U.S.-tour to roles on The Deuce and Trinkets, the non-binary powerhouse is skyrocketing to fame and looking damn good while doing so.

@stephenasmith

Never has one man talked so loud, for so long and been so wrong about so many things in just the right way as sports commentator and host of ESPN’s First Take Stephen A. Smith.

@sophchang

Can you spell street cred without Sophia Chang? The self-proclaimed “baddest bitch in the room,” who brought the Wu-Tang Clan to the world, thinks not.

@MarcusScribner

Starring in the groundbreaking ABC’s hit sitcom Black-ish and Hulu’s Farewell Amor, 21-year-old Marcus Scribner is part of a talented generation of actors using their platforms to be agents of change.

@TheRevAl

A firebrand? Yeah, they’ve called the minister and civil rights activist that. Talk-show host and politician? That too. He even ran for president in 2004. Fearless? As befits a New York native, hell yeah.

@KattyKay_

This BBC presenter has covered it all — from wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq to political battles and sex scandals in Washington, D.C. Her favorite gig in our opinion? Co-hosting When Katty Met Carlos with OZY’s CEO (and news junkie) Carlos Watson.

@DrMichaelLomax

This former literature professor at Spelman and Morehouse has been running the United Negro College Fund since 2004, raising billions to help African American students attend college and launch careers.

@deray

If you see a striking man in a puffy blue vest, and he’s organizing and protesting against racial injustice, odds are it’s BLM activist DeRay Mckesson. If you happen to be so lucky, you’d better listen to what he has to say.

@RepMaxineWaters

A politician, specifically a U.S. representative for California’s 43rd congressional district since the early ’90s, Waters still strikes fear in the faint of heart. Which just goes to show: You can’t keep a good woman down.

@tomcolicchio

Celebrity culinary artist and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio can sure as hell handle the heat. What else has he been cooking up? Ways to battle American food insecurity while working to save and diversify a struggling restaurant industry.

@sunny

“What’s the deal with all of these lawyers becoming TV hosts?” Yeah, that’s what you want to ask. But you take a gander at any of Hostin’s hard-hitting on-screen work, including her true crime series, the Truth About Murder, and it all makes some sort of crazy sense. She’s that good.

@esglaude

Bestselling author and chair of Princeton’s African American studies department, Glaude is a social critic in the tradition of James Baldwin. A scholar of history, religion, politics and philosophy, he asks that we not “posit the greatness of America, but to establish the ground upon which to imagine the country anew.”

CNN political commentator and “practical conservative,” Cupp is also a nationally syndicated columnist and co-author of Why You’re Wrong About the Right.

@FareedZakaria

Wondering what the heck you are going to do in a post-pandemic world? Well, host of Fareed Zakaria GPS, columnist for the Washington Post, editor at The Atlantic and bestselling author Fareed Zakaria has got you covered.

@ValerieJarrett

Sitting at the right hand of The Man, President Barack Obama, as a senior adviser for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, Valerie Jarrett knows all, sees all and dishes not at all. Until now.

@mingtsai

Pro squash player turned celebrity chef Ming Tsai thrives under pressure. But on Simply Ming, his Emmy-nominated cooking show, he makes home cooking look fun and easy. Panko-crusted oysters, anyone?

@carloswatson

Kindergarten wasn’t his thing (he got expelled), but today he’s an Emmy Award-winning TV host and journalist — and co-founder and CEO of OZY Media. Whether interviewing guests from Bill Gates to Ta-Nehisi Coates and Saweetie for The Carlos Watson Show or debating urgent issues of the day with the BBC’s Katty Kay, Watson is incisive, inclusive and irrepressible, which may’ve been more than his kindergarten teachers bargained for.

At one time just the province of shut-ins and kids without a lot of friends, magic, as practiced by magicians now, is taking the tried and true and making, well, magic out of it. Which is precisely where Stessel, Vegas headliner and participant in Wizard Wars, comes in. What deviltry is this? It’s Stessel’s magical stock in trade. Don’t blink!

@DrDanielleMoss

Meet the educator working to rectify the achievement gap: Dr. Danielle Moss, CEO of Oliver Scholars in New York City, and fierce advocate for finding just how far your courage goes.

Named to Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list, Liu took a struggling mining crypto startup called 21, transformed it into Earn.com and sold it three years later to Coinbase for over $100 million. What else? This self-described “good Chinese American girl” moved back to China after a stint at McKinsey and KKR and built a hospital.

God save the Queen Diva! Bringing New Orleans-based bounce music to hip-hop lovers everywhere, rapper Big Freedia “came to slay” and is here to stay.

Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis is the 14th president of Benedict College — and the first female to hold the post in its 147-year history. Which is about damn time if you ask us.

Being a Harvard Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government would have been enough for most/many but so would have being “just” a journalist or Mike Huckabee’s communications director. All part of Alice Stewart’s plan, and not-so-far of a stretch to where she sits now as a political commentator for CNN.

Astrophysicist, educator, humanitarian and media personality Hakeem Oluseyi didn’t let doubt or circumstance get in the way of his passion for physics. He was one of OZY’s first ‘Rising Star’ profiles back in 2014; now they’re making a movie about his life.

Gerald Johnson knows General Motors. He started more than 40 years ago at a GM plant in Euclid, Ohio. Today he’s executive vice president, global manufacturing, responsible for roughly 103,000 employees in 16 countries. A mentor to young professionals throughout his decades-long career, he’s also a founding member of the company’s Inclusion Advisory Board.

Social justice may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of insurance, but look no further than Nyra Jordan. The social impact director of the American Family Institute for Corporate and Social Impact is flexing her finance skills for good by helping open economic opportunities for overlooked communities.

If you haven’t read A Particular Type of Black Man, by Tope Folarin, then you are missing out. The Nigerian American author and Morehouse College alumnus has a way with words that will leave you breathless.

From hosting scientists to TikTokkers, tackling topics from mental health to political activism, Sammy Jaye is the youngest person to host her own podcast on iHeartRadio, fostering important conversations at the young age of 18.

Hey media and marketing, meet the woman who’s changing the very face of your world: Lauren Wesley Wilson. She’s the founder and CEO of ColorComm, Inc. and a Spelman alum.

Houston Community College’s president, Dr. Monique Umphrey, is a powerhouse. With bona fides that stretch from corporate to higher education, her work got her into the Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence and in like Flynn to judge OZY’s Genius Awards. Because, yeah, it takes one to know one.

Just when you think you know OZY’s editor-at-large — journalist, MMA fighter, punk rock musician, sex columnist, podcaster — he flashes another layer. Which means exactly nothing is predictable about Eugene S. Robinson. He likes to say where others zig, OZY zags. To which we say Eugene is the biggest, baddest zagger of them all.

You look in the dictionary under “world beater” and guess whose pic comes up? If your definition of beating the world includes being a five-time CEO, a school superintendent and one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people, you’ll be looking at OZY’s co-COO. Ladies and gentlemen: Ms. Cami Anderson is IT.