Meet Our Panelists

Our panelists use storytelling in various ways throughout their professional and personal lives. Check out their information below and start thinking about what questions you might want to ask them on Friday afternoon!

Natasha Cohen-Carroll

Natasha Cohen-Carroll is a documentary filmmaker, photographer, and educator based in Philadelphia. Her work focuses on identity, storytelling, community organizing, and cultural transmission. She creates media that increases representation, amplifies underrepresented stories, and builds community. Currently, she works with Youth Arts Self-Empowerment Project (YASP) to create mitigation videos for youth facing incarceration.

Dwight Dunston

Dwight Dunston (FCS '06) is a West Philly-based hip-hop artist, musician, educator, facilitator, organizer, and Quaker (kind of like the Bayard Rustin of hip hop, or James Baldwin as an emcee) with roots in the Carolinas and deeper roots in West Africa. His passions/gifts include supporting folks to tap into their super powers and supporting communities to develop the tools, skills and techniques to stay connected across different identities. Among his many pursuits, Dwight currently serves as a facilitator and Relationship Lead at Lion's Story, an organization committed to an equitable and just world where people have a full understanding and authorship of their own racial stories

Jesse White

Jesse White is a narrative expressionist artist and writer. Pendle Hill (a Quaker retreat center) published her pamphlet "God's Invitation to Creative Play" in April 2021. Jesse's vocational background is in teaching and expressive arts therapy. She especially loves teaching altered book-making. She believes that authentic sharing of ourselves invites that of God in me to more easily know that of God in you. Jesse served as the Arts & Spirituality Coordinator for Pendle Hill from 2013-2020 and currently serves as the Director and Spiritual Arts Doula for Pigeon Arts, a cathartic art-making organization. She also currently serves as Clerk of Frankford Monthly Meeting (PA) and as Clerk of the Board of the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts.

Shahidah Kalam Id-Din

Shahidah Kalam Id-Din serves as a professional development facilitator for Penn Charter's Independent School Teaching Fellows Program of Greater Philadelphia and co-developer of the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) certificate program for high school students. In my previous roles, I have taught secondary upper-level English and Humanities courses for the last ten years and directed a high school bridge program, the Penn Charter's Summer Academic Enrichment Program for New Ninth Grader. Other duties include, but are not limited to, School Committee chair, faculty professional development workshops and mentorship, academic advisor, faculty advisor to student-led clubs, and lead teacher for independent study courses for upper-class students.