Kathleen A. Cahalan is professor of practical theology at Saint John’s Graduate School of Theology and Seminary where she teaches courses on pastoral ministry, pastoral care, and spirituality. She is also the director of the Collegeville Institute Seminars, a collaborative research project that has studied various aspects of vocation over the past eight years. She co-edited two volumes from the project: Calling All Years Good: Vocation throughout Life’s Seasons (2017) and Calling in Today’s World: Voices from Eight Faith Perspectives (2016). She has also authored books for church audiences, including Stories We Live: Finding God’s Calling All around Us (2017) and Living Your Discipleship: Seven Ways to Express Your Deepest Calling, co-authored with Laura Kelly Fanucci (2015).  She is currently the coordinator for the Lilly Endowment’s Called to Lives of Meaning and Purpose Initiative.

Nicole Howe is a writer, speaker, wife, and homeschooling mama to four kiddos. She serves as editor and regular contributor for the quarterly publication An Unexpected Journal and is a regular contributor for the online magazine Cultivating. She holds a Masters Degree in Cultural Apologetics from Houston Baptist University where she discovered the power of the imagination to restore awe and wonder to her floundering faith. When she's not devouring books, Nicole loves singing, pretending to be a chef, and performing Improv at her local theater.

Alicia lives in Madison with her husband and three young kids. She works part-time as a Registered Dietitian while also coordinating communications at Geneva Campus Church and managing a floral event business that she and a friend started in 2018. Despite busy days, she does her best to make time for yoga, biking, and eating good food with her family.

Emily P. Freeman is the Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Simply Tuesday and A Million Little Ways. Her newest book, The Next Right Thing, offers a simple, soulful practice for making life decisions. Emily is also the host of The Next Right Thing Podcast. She earned her MA in Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership at Friends University. In her writing and speaking, Emily always seeks to create space for the soul to breathe, offering fresh perspective on the sacredness of our inner life with God. Emily and her husband live in North Carolina with their three children. Connect with her online at emilypfreeman.com and on Instagram @emilypfreeman.

Janet Balajthy is currently serving InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as Senior Advisor and Consultant (including giving spiritual direction). Over her 44-year tenure with InterVarsity, she has held a variety of national senior leadership positions. She has served in short-term missions and has the experience of serving on several Boards. This summer she heads to Iona, Scotland on a spiritual pilgrimage. Janet and her husband Ernie, who is a college professor, live in Rochester, New York. They have two grown children, David and Sara.

Sheila Wise Rowe is a graduate of Tufts University and Cambridge College with a master's degree in counseling psychology. For over twenty-five years she has counseled abuse and trauma survivors in the United States. Sheila ministered to homeless and abused women and children in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she also taught counseling and trauma-related courses for a decade.

Sheila is the executive director of The Rehoboth House and the cofounder of The Cyrene Movement, an online community for people of color seeking healing for racial trauma. She is the author of The Well of Life: Heal Your Pain, Satisfy Your Thirst, Live Your Purpose along with The Wonder Years. She lives in the Boston area, where she is a writer, counselor, speaker, and spiritual director.

Felicia Song is Associate Professor and Chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Having trained in History, Communication Studies and Sociology from Yale, Northwestern, and University of Virginia, and taught at Louisiana State University’s Manship School for Mass Communication, her research is oriented around the rapidly evolving digital technology industry and how the adoption of social media and digital devices fundamentally alters the landscapes of family, community, and organizational life. In addition to her book, Virtual Communities: Bowling Alone, Online Together (Peter Lang 2009), she has conducted research on expectant women’s online information-seeking habits and the evolution of “mommy bloggers” as social media professionals. Currently, she is working on a book project that explores how our contemporary digital habits form us and our imaginations about personhood, time, and place. When she is not working, she enjoys children’s chapter books, searching local consignment shops, and watching The Great British Baking Show with her husband and two children. 

Sharon Hodde Miller leads Bright City Church in Durham, North Carolina with her husband, Ike. She is the author of Free of Me: Why Life is Better When It's Not about You, and Nice: Why We Love to Be Liked And How God Calls Us to More. She also has a PhD from Trinity Evangelical Seminary, where she researched women and calling. In addition to writing and speaking, she is a mom to three young, very loud, and very fun children. You can find out more about Sharon, her writing, or her church at SheWorships.com or on Instagram.

Donna Barber has worked as an urban youth developer, educator, and program director for more than 25 years. During that time, she has served as a worship leader and bible teacher and helped to found schools, churches, and non-profits in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Atlanta, Georgia, and Portland, Oregon.

Donna considers herself a lifelong student of the Bible but studied formally at the New Life Bible Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Barber holds a BA in Communications from Temple University and a Master of Science in Education from Georgia State University. She has worked as a leadership trainer and coach for the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative, Portland Leadership Foundation, FCS Urban Ministries and Mission Year and as a workshop leader for the CCDA National Conference. As a licensed minister, Donna is also a preacher and small group leader. She currently works as Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Voices Project alongside her husband, Leroy Barber. Donna and Leroy live in Portland, Oregon, and together they have six children, Jessica, Joshua, Joel, Aleathea, Asha, and Jonathan.

Bethany Williams is a teacher, encourager, advocate, writer, and consultant. After teaching high school English, she focused on her four young children at home while volunteering as a Court Appointed Family Mediator and Court Appointed Special Advocate and also finishing her Masters of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary with an emphasis in Children at Risk. She is happily a Methodist clergy spouse, adoptive and biological mom, and treasures a little knack for eliciting laughter in church small groups.