Brene Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.

Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. She has spent the past ten years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame.

She is also the author of The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.

Sherry Turkle is a Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Having obtained her undergraduate degree of BA of Social Studies and later her Ph.D. in Sociology and Personality Psychology at Harvard University, she now focuses her research on psychoanalysis and human-technology interaction.

Leymah Roberta Gbowee is the executive director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa, based in Accra, Ghana.

She is a founding member and former coordinator of the Women in Peacebuilding Program/West African Network for Peacebuilding (WIPNET/WANEP).

Gbowee is one of a trio of women to have jointly been awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.