Commentator

In 1981, Rosen earned a degree in international business from George Washington University. She started working in politics for New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne and for U.S. Senator Bill Bradley.

In 1987, Rosen joined the staff of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). From 1998 to 2003, she served as RIAA’s chairman and CEO. Under her leadership, RIAA became the most influential voice of the music industry in Washington and advanced a successful campaign to limit digital file swapping of copyrighted music. 

In 1999, Rosen and her then-partner, Elizabeth Birch, adopted twins—a boy and a girl. 

Rosen began working as a commentator for CNBC and MSNBC. She signed with CNN in 2008. She was a founder of “Rock the Vote,” which promotes youth involvement in politics.

Entertainment Weekly named Rosen one of the 101 most influential people in entertainment. The New York Post ranked Rosen among the 10 ladies who launch entertainment trends. Out Magazine named her one of the 50 most powerful gay and lesbian Americans. 

Financial Expert

Suze Orman is a financial expert, author, motivational speaker and television host. She is the most celebrated personal finance advisor in America and has written six consecutive books on the New York Times best-seller list.

Born and raised in Chicago, Orman had a speech impediment as a child. She was belittled in school and suffered from low self-esteem.

To her surprise, she was accepted to the University of Illinois. She majored in social work after a counselor advised her that it was the easiest course of study. After college, Orman bought a van. Ultimately, she ended up in Berkeley, California.

Orman waited tables for six years before a customer loaned her $50,000 to open her own restaurant. She invested the money with Merrill Lynch. Less than six months later, she was broke, having been scammed by a stockbroker.

Orman enrolled in a Merrill Lynch account executive training program to earn back her money. After learning that what her broker did was illegal, she sued Merrill Lynch. She won back her money with interest, and repaid the restaurant customer who made her the loan. Soon after, another company hired Orman as vice president of investments. 

In 1987, Orman started her own firm, the Suze Orman Financial Group. In 1997, she left to pursue a career as a writer.

The author of seven books, Orman contributes to major publications and has created top-selling computer programs for personal finance and money management. She hosts CNBC’s “The Suze Orman Show” and QVC’s “Suze Orman’s Financial Freedom.”  

Orman has won two Daytime Emmy Awards and a record five Gracie Awards for outstanding women in radio and television. Time magazine ranked her among the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2008 and 2009. In 2009, she received GLAAD’s Vito Russo Media Award.  

Orman lives with her partner, Kathy Travis.  

Commentator  

Rachel Maddow is a television host, radio personality and political commentator. She is the first out lesbian to anchor a prime-time show. 

Maddow grew up in Castro Valley, California, a San Francisco suburb. She describes herself in high school as “a cross between the jock and the antisocial girl.”

She earned a degree in public policy from Stanford University. The first openly gay American to receive a Rhodes Scholarship, Maddow attended the University of Oxford, where she earned a doctorate in political science. 

Maddow landed her first radio hosting job after winning a contest for a new on-air personality. In 2004, after hosting her second radio show, Maddow joined the newly established Air America as a co-host of  “Unfiltered.” 

In 2005, Air America offered Maddow her own show. “The Rachel Maddow Show” is broadcast on Air America and XM Satellite Radio. 

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Maddow became a popular political commentator on CNN and MSNBC. In 2008, after substitute hosting on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” Maddow was offered her own one-hour prime-time program, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” on MSNBC. 

In 2008, Maddow was named one of Out magazine’s Out 100. In 2009, she received a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television. 

Maddow lives with her partner, artist Susan Mikula. 

Attorney

Kate Kendell is a civil rights attorney and executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). 

Kendell was raised a Mormon in Utah. She learned about the intersection of faith and politics at an early age. 

In 1988, Kendell graduated from the University of Utah College of Law. She worked as a corporate attorney, until she pursued her passion: civil rights advocacy. 

In 1992, Kendell became the first staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, where she litigated high-profile cases. Kendell focused on LGBT, reproductive, and prisoners’ rights, and the separation of church and state. 

In 1994, Kendell was hired as NCLR’s legal director. She was promoted to executive director in 1996. Under Kendell’s leadership, NCLR’s impact has grown exponentially. 

Each year, through litigation, public policy advocacy and public education, NCLR helps more than 5,000 LGBT people and their families nationwide. NCLR was one of the organizations that argued before the California Supreme Court for the overturn of Proposition 8.  

On May 26, 2009, when the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, Kendell responded, “Today, the California Supreme Court diminished its legacy as a champion of equality. No minority group should have to defend its right to equality at the ballot, and the Court should not have permitted such a travesty of justice to stand.”

Kendell is a frequent national spokeswoman for LGBT rights. Her commentaries have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Advocate, and on NPR and CNN, among other media outlets.  

Kendell lives with her partner, Sandy Holmes, and their two children. 

Commentator

b. August 28, 1965

“I'm not on a show with a pink triangle or rainbow flag—which means that being gay is just a part of who I am.”

Keith Boykin is a political commentator, a New York Times best-selling author and a veteran of two presidential campaigns. He is the former editor of The Daily Voice and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC and BET.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Boykin became politically focused working on local campaigns while in high school. At Dartmouth he was the editor of the daily newspaper and graduated with a B.A. in government.

After college, Boykin worked on the Dukakis presidential campaign. Thereafter, he attended Harvard Law School and continued working on campaigns, including the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Boykin worked as special assistant to the president and served as President Clinton’s liaison to the LGBT community.

In 1994, Boykin became the executive director of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and completed his first book, “One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America.” In 1997, he served with Coretta Scott King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson on the U.S. presidential trade delegation to Zimbabwe.

Boykin wrote two other books, “Respecting the Soul” (1999) and “Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America” (2005). His work shed light on AIDS, internalized homophobia and black men on the “down low.”

Boykin is a commentator on major political talk shows. In 2004, he starred on Showtime’s “American Candidate” and hosted BET’s “My Two Cents.”

Keith Boykin complete his fourth book, “For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Still Not Enough.” (2012) He lives in New York City.