David-James Gonzales was born, raised, and educated in Southern California by Mexican American parents that instilled in him a love for education and a commitment to family and community. He is a professor of history at BYU where he teaches and researches race, migration, and civil rights in US History. He has published in several academic journals and anthologies including the Journal of American Ethnic History, American Studies (AMSJ), 50 Events That Shaped Latino History, and The U.S.-Mexico Border: A Reference Handbook. He is the receptor of multiple scholarly fellowships and awards including the Career Enhancement Fellowship by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars and the Butler Young Scholar Award by the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies. His current book project is tentatively titled Breaking Down the Walls of Segregation: Mexican Americans and Civil Rights in Orange County, California. He is also a producer and co-host of the podcast New Books in Latino Studies, part of the New Books Network.

Cristi Brazao is an assistant professor at Daytona State College in Florida, where she teaches courses on writing and research, English composition, and African American literature. She and her husband have been married for 20 years and they have four children.

Image retrieved from Mormon.org

David C. Dollahite is Professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University where he teaches classes and conducts research on the links between religion and family life. He is Co-Director (with Dr. Loren Marks) of the American Families of Faith Project. He received the Eliza R. Snow Fellowship for his research on religion and family relationships and was an Associate Director of the School of Family Life.

Rachel Cope received a BA and MA in history from Brigham Young University and a PhD in American history, with an emphasis in women’s history and religious history, from Syracuse University. Rachel is a scholar of women’s spirituality and conversion in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and works as an associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU. Rachel is deeply committed to raising awareness of and funding for obstetric fistula victims throughout the global south.

Janiece Johnson is a transplanted Bay Area, California, native who loves history, design, art, good food, and traveling in non-pandemic times. She has master's degrees in American History and Theology from Brigham Young University and Vanderbilt’s Divinity School, and a PhD from the University of Leicester in England. She co-authored The Witness of Women (Deseret Book, 2016) and was the general editor of the Mountain Meadows Massacre Complete Legal Papers (Oklahoma, 2017). Her book manuscript—American Punishment: Mormon Transgressions and the Mountain Meadows Massacre is under contract with UNC Press as she continues work on a book project on early Book of Mormon reception.

Throughout history, the arts have been greatly benefited by women—including Latter-day Saint women. While there are many women whom we could recognize, here are eight who have stood firm in their beliefs as they followed their passions.

Brent M. Rogers, Ph.D., is a managing historian for the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He worked for thirteen years on the Joseph Smith Papers and, for three of those years, served as the project’s managing historian. Brent is the award-winning author of numerous books and articles. His first book, Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory (University of Nebraska Press, 2017), received The Charles Redd Center-Phi Alpha Theta Book Award for the Best Book on the American West, the Mormon History Association’s Best First Book Award, and the Utah State Historical Society’s Francis Armstrong Madsen Best History Book Award. Brent is also the author of Buffalo Bill and the Mormons (Bison Books, 2024) and several articles including “A ‘distinction between Mormons and Americans’: Mormon Indian Missionaries, Federal Indian Policy, and the Utah War,” Utah Historical Quarterly (Fall 2014), which won the Western History Association’s Arrington-Prucha Prize for Best Article on the History of Religion in the West. When he is not researching and writing history, Brent enjoys reading about history, watching movies, walking his dog, and trying to keep up with his family’s busy schedule of school, sports, and music.

Joe Wilson was born in American Samoa, Alao and currently lives in Laie, Hawaii. He married Melissa Meyers in the Laie, Temple and has 5 wonderful children, Miyamoto, Teylon, Cedar, Liam, Leyton, and one grandson Iosefa. After receiving a Master's in MFT Joe worked in the Mental Health field for a few years and decided to get a Life and Health Broker Insurance license. Currently he is the first American Samoa Surf Team Coach and has an incredible team ready to compete in the upcoming Olympic Games. On Sunday Joe is teaching Sunday School and any other time he loves surfing and other water sports. He is the President of the Board Directors with Koolauloa Wellness Center and really enjoys serving the community and giving back.

Matthew J. Grow is Managing Director of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In that capacity, he leads a team of history professionals who collect documents and artifacts, preserve them, and promote understanding of the Church’s past through a publishing program, a research library, a museum, and many historic sites. Grow also serves as a general editor of the Joseph Smith Papers and Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days. He has published widely on Latter-day Saint history and American religious history. Grow received his PhD in American history from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife Alyssa live with their four children in Sandy, Utah.