Colleges & Universities

APB is excited to announce the exclusive signing of Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist and women’s rights activist who gained worldwide attention when she removed her veil, or hijab, and posted a photo on her Facebook page standing proudly with her hair blowing in the wind. From that, My Stealthy Freedom was born, her viral social media campaign against compulsory hijab that became the biggest civil disobedience movement in the history of the Islamic Republic. Today, she is one of the most prominent and vocal opposition figures challenging the Islamic Republic of Iran.

APB is excited to announce exclusive representation of Nontombi Naomi Tutu. The daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi carries on the family legacy to heal the wounds of racism. The challenges of growing up black and female in apartheid South Africa have been the foundation of Naomi’s life as an activist for human rights. Those experiences taught her that our whole human family loses when we accept situations of oppression, and how teaching and preaching hate and division injure us all. After years spent as a development consultant, educator and race and gender activist, she accepted her call to ordained ministry.

Is democracy in the U.S. in grave risk of failing? According to Eric Liu, APB speaker, CEO of Citizen University, bestselling author and former White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, absolutely not. In a recent interview with CNN, Liu says he is deeply optimistic about America’s future.  

Longtime University President and APB Speaker Dr. Freeman Hrabowski was recently honored for his three decades of work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) with a feature story in The New York Times. 

Olga Custodio, America’s First Latina Fighter Pilot, STEM Advocate and APB Speaker, will receive the 2022 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) during the 35th Annual Hispanic Heritage Awards on Sept. 30.  The historic program, which was created by the White House to commemorate the establishment of Hispanic Heritage Month in America, is among the highest honors by Latinos for Latinos and supported by 40 national Hispanic-serving institutions.  

One of APB’s most important speakers and a true friend to all of us has passed away. Mikhail Gorbachev, Nobel Laureate and Former President of the Soviet Union, died in Moscow at the age of 91. 

Emmy Award winner and bestselling author Sonia Manzano examines the impact of the 1959 Cuban Revolution on four children from very different walks of life in her latest book—Coming Up Cuban: Rising Past Castro’s Shadow, which was released this week. This is the eighth book for Manzano, who is also an APB exclusive speaker and is best known as “Maria” from Sesame Street. It is published by Scholastic Press. 

Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced that APB speakers Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will become permanent hosts for the syndicated quiz show Jeopardy! The pair have been filling in temporarily since the death of longtime host Alex Trebek in November 2020 and will continue splitting their hosting duties.  

After nearly 50 years of living in the Castro in San Francisco, Author and LGBTQ Activist Cleve Jones is moving from his beloved neighborhood. And that, according to a recent article in The New York Times, is happening across the country as “Gayborhoods” are losing LGBTQ residents. Jones was prominently featured in the article, which focused on why so many are choosing to move from their “gayborhoods.” Many are looking for less expensive areas as neighborhoods become gentrified, while others are finding greener pastures with more amenities in communities that are more accepting than in the past. 

Joanne “Coach P” McCallie, former NCAA Division I women’s basketball head coach for 28 years, has taken on her greatest role yet. She is forging a path to destigmatizing mental health and is coaching those afflicted to paths for full and productive lives. She knows what worked for her as an elite coach under national scrutiny while protecting her secret—a mental health diagnosis hidden across years of her career so as not to impede her success or impact her family’s livelihood. In her high-energy speeches and leadership seminars, Coach P engages, educates and inspires with discussions on mental health, sports, faith and leadership.