Elisha was born and raised in Denver, and was fortunate to be awarded the Daniels Fund Scholarship which allowed her to pursue both her passion for being in the sun away from snow, and getting a high quality college experience. Elisha has a bachelor's degree in Politics from Occidental College and a Masters of Education, Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College. She loves to travel and is passionate about issues of injustice locally, nationally and internationally. She is a firm believer that a high quality educational experience is critical to changing the status quo. She has spent time living and learning abroad in Botswana, Papua New Guinea, Japan, and other parts of S.E. Asian and Europe.

A Colorado native with a heart for education and the arts, Matt Murphy's journey began at Colorado State University, where he ignited a passion for empowering individuals through English Education and Theater Studies. This foundation led him to Harvard University's Master of Arts in Education Program, where he delved deeper into the transformative power of the arts across all aspects of human development.

Teaching and producing became Matt's calling. Through public school drama programs, national speech and debate championships, and an arts non-profit, he gleaned two invaluable lessons: fostering enduring artistic partnerships and creating magic with limited resources. These experiences solidified his commitment to making both the arts and interdisciplinary learning accessible to everyone, opening doors for students to discover their creativity and intellectual potential.

Thad grew up in Ouray, Colorado in the southwest San Juan Mountains and moved to the Denver metro area in 1992. After a brief stint in the Army serving in Germany, the Persian Gulf and Oklahoma, Thad attended the University of Colorado at Boulder under the GI Bill where he earned bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Biology and English. Upon graduation, Thad discovered a passion for higher education and its transformative power which lead to 22 years in higher education working to build access programs through financial aid and enrollment management. He currently works at the Colorado School of Mines and is general partner for his own tax preparation and consulting company- Directtax.

Emma Douglas is a dedicated civil rights attorney who has been advocating for under-resourced and marginalized communities for two decades, seven as an attorney. Prior to becoming an attorney, Emma worked as a case manager and program director serving unhoused individuals, the queer community, incarcerated individuals, and survivors of human trafficking and intimate partner violence. Emma earned her law degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law where she narrowed the focus of her advocacy on the criminal legal system. Since then, she has built a medical legal partnership for Indiana Legal Services, before transitioning back to working on a conditions of confinement case for disabled prisoners with Disability Rights Louisiana. Emma began working for the Southern Poverty Law Center in May of 2023. Her work focuses on class action litigation against prison systems, and individual cases against police departments.