Dr. Angela Denise Mensah, nee Prater, Ph.D. is a communication professor, a published author, and has spoken at national and international conferences. She is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas as a joint faculty member of Communication and African and African American Studies. She is developing a service-learning project where the University of Arkansas students work with a community partner to teach body liberation to youth participants. This program has been recognized by the national communication association with a social justice and pedagogy award.

Philly FatCon was founded by Adrienne Ray, Donnelle Jageman and Kenyetta Harris.

Adrienne Ray, a Temple University graduate, spent a decade in advertising as a copywriter before launching Curve Conscious in 2016. Her mission is to offer the plus-size community unique shopping experiences, providing a safe and stylish space at reasonable prices. Recognized by Philly.com, Philly Mag, and 6ABC, her boutique is hailed as one of the best places to shop in the region.

Donnelle Jageman, holding degrees in Environmental Studies, German, Psychology, and a Masters in Healthcare Administration, is dedicated to sustainable living, secondhand clothing, and community building. In 2021, she founded The Philly Plus Swap, the largest plus size clothing swap in Greater Philadelphia. Beyond this, she hosts shopping parties and collaborative swaps, advocating for sustainability and reducing textile waste. Donnelle also works as a healthcare strategist, advising leading healthcare systems.

Kenyetta Harris, a Pennsylvania native, is the CEO of Curvy and Seductive, a plus size lingerie brand established in 2020. With a background in promoting wellness and confidence for plus size women, she also teaches a pole dance course designed for plus size athletes. Beyond pole dance skills, her classes instill self-acceptance, body confidence, and personal sovereignty. As a board-certified Physician Assistant specializing in Psychiatry, Kenyetta leads patients towards stability and wholeness. She is also a board member of The Nava Center, a non-profit providing low-cost therapy to trauma survivors.

Together, this trio co-founded Philly FatCon in 2022, initiating plans for Philadelphia's inaugural fat-focused convention.

Dr. Wendy Oliver-Pyatt is a world-leading expert on treating eating disorders. With more than 25 years of clinical experience, she has developed five distinctive treatment programs, all grounded on a strong bio-psycho-social foundation, and incorporating intensive psychotherapy, with behavioral foundations, and high medical standards. Wendy has developed a unique treatment approach that delves into the underlying issues that place a person at risk for mental health conditions and eating disorders and lead to healing, health and inner peace

Wendy received her specialty training at New York University-Bellevue Hospital in New York City, she has also held faculty positions at New York University, Albert Einstein School of Medicine and University of Nevada School of Medicine. Wendy is Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and in both Adult and Addiction Psychiatry. She is the author of two books, most recently Questions and Answers on Binge Eating Disorder, A Guide for Clinicians. She is a Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders and the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals. She has received Senatorial Recognition for her commitment to the mental health treatment community.

With over 20 years of experience, Chevese Turner is an internationally recognized activist and advocate, speaker, policy influencer and movement-builder who dedicates her ability to make significant social change on issues concerning eating disorders, weight stigma and discrimination, and intersectional social justice. Turner founded the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA) in 2008 and successfully merged it with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) in 2018, after 10 years that significantly changed the eating disorders community in both scope and focus.

Prior to BEDA and Turner’s work advocating for the inclusion of Binge Eating Disorder (BED) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s 5th Edition (DSM-5), published in 2013, those struggling with the most common and under diagnosed eating disorder had little hope of being recognized much less accessing treatment and insurance coverage. She continues to grow as a healthcare activist and believes integrating what is currently known and future research about social determinants of health is an important way forward for those at the intersection of oppressions and repeated denial of healthcare based on their body size, color, ethnicity, age, gender, socio-economic status, etc.

Turner is also the co-author of Binge Eating Disorder: The Journey to Recovery & Beyond and contributes regularly to podcasts and the media. Turner attended Temple University in Philadelphia where she received a BA in Political Science. Her professional expertise includes public policy and government relations, non-profit management, strategy, programming and communications, and making change through social healthcare movements.

She is a past board member of the Academy of Eating Disorders and the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), and is currently an Advisor for Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment for Eating Disorders (F.E.A.S.T.).

Tigress Osborn (she/her) is the Executive Director of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) and a co-founder of the Campaign for Size Freedom. Founded in 1969 in the United States, NAAFA is the world’s oldest documented fat rights advocacy organization. Prior to becoming ED, Tigress served as Board Chair and Community Outreach Director for NAAFA. She recruited the most diverse board in the organization’s history and continues to champion inclusion and intersectionality as the organization expands capacity and reach. In 2023, Tigress led NAAFA in co-founding the Campaign for Size Freedom with FLARE Project (Fat Legal Advocacy, Rights, and Education) and Dove. The Campaign shines a light on the need for legislation to outlaw size discrimination, and works to support the passage of such legislation, including a recent win in NYC.

Patrilie Hernandez (they/she) has experience working in the health and nutrition sector as an educator, advocate, and policy analyst for over 15 years, which has shaped their understanding of how the pursuit of "health" seamlessly intersects with the built environment, equity, and social justice. It wasn’t until they were diagnosed with an eating disorder in December 2017 that they realized how much of their own disordered behaviors and thoughts around food, health, and bodies infiltrated all aspects of their personal life and career.

Dawn Serra is co-founder and co-owner of Tend and Cultivate Counselling where she offers counselling and coaching that is trauma-informed, weight-neutral, and focused on those in larger and marginalized bodies. Dawn is a white, cisgender, queer, disabled, superfat woman navigating perimenopause and chronic pain. She specializes in couple/relationship counselling, therapy for therapists, sex and pleasure, body trust, and trauma.

Laura created Radical Body Love Yoga to help folks learn about embodiment, honoring themselves, and living a full life. She spent years figuring out how to genuinely respect and honor herself while creating a strong self-care practice that could see her through the ups and downs of life.

Angel (she/her) is the Black, infinifat, and disabled founder of Sacred Space for Fat Bodies. She is dedicated to the creation of and increased access to self-care experiences for superfat and infinifat people, especially those who are Black, disabled, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, indigenous, Latine, Asian, or members of other groups who exist at myriad intersections and who are also substantially marginalized. She also fights to make their voices heard and for their overall well-being as they are often excluded from participation and representation in society and even within the framework of fat liberation. Her lived experiences give her a unique and relevant perspective. Her goal us to build solid community.

Caleb Luna is an artist, public scholar and theorist of the body. Texas born and raised, they have lived as a visitor to Huichin, Ohlone land (Bay Area, CA) since 2016, where they earned their Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. They are an award-winning educator and scholar, the bestselling author of REVENGE BODY (Nomadic Press, 20222) and co-host of the podcast Unsolicited: Fatties Talk Back. Publishing, performing and curating across genre and medium, Caleb's cultural work reads, responds to and challenges tropes and discourses regarding race, size, sexuality and disability in media and culture. Ultimately, they are interested in engaging embodied difference as a generative resource toward fatter understandings of collective freedom. Dr. Luna is currently a University of California President's and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara.