He is a Special Fellow and Professor of Practice with the Urban Studies Institute, of Georgia State University, where he teaches urban and regional governance. He is also on the board of directors of Barge Design Solutions, a privately-held engineering and architecture firm. Hooker has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Georgia Tech, and an MBA Emory University.

Although it has never been his vocation, Doug has had a lifelong passion for music. In pursuit of his musical interests, he studies oboe (instructor, Barbara Cook), sings in a semi-professional community chorus (The Trey Clegg Singers, www.thetreycleggsingers.org), and composes music. Several of his compositions have been publicly performed, including his second symphony, Without Regard to Sex, race or Color (2022) and his first strong quartet, Pandemic Elegy (2023), and two of his choral works, Standin’ My Ground (2022) and Fear Not (2023). Doug and his wife, Patrise Perkins-Hooker, are supporters of The Atlanta Opera and its efforts to reach new audiences and present new works by artists of color.

Good Morning America recognized Ms. Pinkney in GMA’s prestigious “Who’s Making Black History Right Now?” influencer list, and she has been featured on the Today show with Al Roker, as well as Oprah and Friends Radio, for her work as an author.

She is a four-time NAACP Image Award nominee, and recipient of both the Regina Medal and the Arbuthnot Honor Award, for her singular body of work and distinguished contribution to the field of literature. Additionally, Ms. Pinkney has been inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. She and her work are the subject of the Emmy-nominated short film, Andrea Davis Pinkney: National Author Engagement.

As a producing partner, Ms. Pinkney has served as the creator of numerous theatrical and audio works, based on her bestselling books. Her book Sit-In, about the 1960 Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter protest, was adapted for Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre by acclaimed playwright Pearl Cleage. Ms. Pinkney’s Martin Rising: Requiem for a King, was staged in conjunction with Chicago’s Northlight Theatre.

Ms. Pinkney has served as the script writer for multiple celebrity livestream events and stage productions.  She is a regular and frequent contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered; Weekend Edition; and Here & Now, as well as a contributor to The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Essence, and Bustle. 

During the course of her career, Ms. Pinkney has launched and developed many high-profile entertainment, media, and publishing properties.  She has been the chief architect and strategic visionary for Disney Publishing Worldwide’s Jump at the Sun imprint, creator of The Cheetah Girls mega-series. She has served as the driving force for the successful rebranding and expansion of The Polar Express movie tie-in book program. Ms. Pinkney has also been the primary editor for books such as Toni Morrison’s Remember: The Journey to School Integration and Serving from the Hip by world-class tennis pros Venus and Serena Williams.

Ms. Pinkney is the on-air host for KidLit TV’s “The Big Picture LIVE.” She has been named among The Network Journal’s “25 Most Influential Black Women in Business,” and is included in the “50 Over 50 Extraordinary Women” and “Women Who Light up the Arts Scene” power lists in Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day magazines. She has served in executive and creative leadership roles at the Walt Disney Company, Essence magazine, the CBS Magazines Group, and Simon & Schuster. Ms. Pinkney is currently Vice President, Trade Publishing at Scholastic, where she has served since 2005.

She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, two-time Caldecott Honor recipient and New York Times bestselling author and illustrator, Brian Pinkney.

To learn more, visit: www.andreadavispinkney.net; Instagram – Andreapinkney1; LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andreadavispinkney; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andreadavispinkney

Simon is the current Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and frequently writes for the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. Simon also holds the position of inaugural Composer Chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the first in the institution’s 143-year history. The 2023/24 season sees premiere performances with San Diego Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, The Washington Chorus, and LA Master Chorale. These follow recent other commissions from Minnesota Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera (in collaboration with Mo Willems), Brooklyn Art Song Society, New York Philharmonic and Bravo! Vail, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Glimmerglass Festival, Sphinx Organization, Music Academy of the West, and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.

Simon’s work spans genres, taking great inspiration from liturgical texts and writers such as Terrance Hayes, Colson Whitehead, Lynn Nottage, Emma Lazarus, Isabel Wilkerson, Ruby Aiyo Gerber, and Courtney Lett, as well as the art of Romare Bearden.

In September 2023, Simon released two albums on Decca. Together is a compilation of solo and chamber compositions and arrangements featuring Simon and guests such as J’Nai Bridges, Randall Goosby, Seth Parker Woods and Will Liverman. The work draws on Carlos’ personal experience as an artist to highlight the importance of heritage and identity, and the power of collaborative music-making. Simon also released the live premiere recording of brea(d)th, a landmark work commissioned by Minnesota Orchestra and written in collaboration with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, conducted by Jonathan Taylor Rush. “Arguably the most important commission of Simon’s career so far” (New York Times), brea(d)th was written following George Floyd’s murder as a direct response to America’s unfulfilled promises and history of systemic oppression against Black Americans.

Simon was nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for his previous album, Requiem for the Enslaved. The requiem is a multi-genre musical tribute to commemorate the stories of the 272 enslaved men, women, and children sold in 1838 by Georgetown University, released by Decca in June 2022. This work sees Simon infuse his original compositions with African American spirituals and familiar Catholic liturgical melodies, performed by Hub New Music Ensemble, Marco Pavé, and MK Zulu.

Acting as music director and keyboardist for GRAMMY Award winner Jennifer Holliday, Simon has performed with Boston Pops Symphony, Jackson Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. He has also toured internationally with soul GRAMMY-nominated artist Angie Stone and performed throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. He has also received degrees from Georgia State University and Morehouse College. He is an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Music Sinfonia Fraternity and a member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Society of Composers International, and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. He has served as a member of the music faculty at Spelman College and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia and now serves as Associate Professor at Georgetown University. Simon was also a recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization to recognize extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians, and was named a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow for his work for film and moving image.

At Lincoln Center, his newly commissioned libretto for the world premiere of The March to Liberation, was part of the reopening ceremonies for the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall. His poem Ghostlight, about the closing of Broadway theaters during the pandemic, covered the entire page of The New York Times opinion page.

In 1985, he directed his first opera, Aaron Copland’s The Second Hurricane, chosen by Mr. Copland to rewrite the libretto for the occasion of the composer’s 85^th birthday celebration. This highly successful production marked the beginning of multiple theatrical offers and a flourishing career as a director and playwright with over 150 directing credits, including many premières in theaters and opera houses across the U.S. and worldwide: France, Africa, Spain, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada.

He holds the record for directing three operas, all in the same 2015-2016 season, in three different theaters at The Kennedy Center: Appomattox(Philip Glass), Lost in the Stars (Kurt Weill), and the American premiere staging of Cato in Utica (Vivaldi). He is the recipient of 9 Barrymore Awards; 5 NAACP Awards and 3 Carbonell Awards; an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award; an EMMY Award nomination for Best Director and Best Classical Production, 2001, for Live from Lincoln Center: Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.