Roberto Rivera 

President 
Good Life Organization 
Chicago, IL 

Roberto Rivera received his undergraduate degree at UW-Madison where he created his own major entitled "Social Change, Youth Culture and the Arts". He received his masters degree at UIC in Youth Development with a focus on Social Justice, Urban Education, and Hip-hop. He currently is the President and Lead Change Agent of the Good Life Org., an organization that publishes multi-media educational tools  and trains educators, youth workers, and parents in connecting positive youth development to community development. His experience in working in the field of community-based popular education over the last decade have won him awards from former president Bill Clinton, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, and others. Despite these accolades, Roberto sees his work as giving back, since being labeled "at-risk" and "disadvantaged" as a teen himself, his relationships with key educators and youth workers helped him to turn his life around. Roberto's presentations are unique in that they not only include scientific based research, but that they also include his own story of transforming from a dope dealer to a hope dealer, to incorporating stories from his work with communities around the nation. His unique ability to code-switch from sharing research and data to stories and poems leaves audiences standing with enlightened minds and moved hearts. 

Wokie Weah 

CEO and President 

Youthprise
Minneapolis, MN

Wokie Weah provides executive leadership and vision, works in partnership with the board of directors and brokers relationships for the betterment of the field. She comes to Youthprise with comprehensive experience in education and youth development. Wokie worked for 18 years at the National Youth Leadership Council; serving most recently as Senior Vice President. In that capacity, she helped shape the organization's strategic direction, cultivate partnerships, grow the funding base, and develop and manage NYLC's youth and schools programs, professional development, annual conference, and special events.

For part of that time she also worked for UNICEF as an Education Project Officer in Liberia, where she coordinated the Support to War-Affected Youth Project, the Juvenile Justice Initiative, African Girl Education Initiative, and Child Friendly Spaces for internally displaced children.

Wokie received her Master's degree in Education Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her Bachelor's degree from Adelphi University in New York. She is an author and widely traveled speaker; she has addressed audiences throughout the United States and Africa and written extensively on service-learning and diversity. She is a native of Liberia, is married and has five children.