Dr. Renata M. Leitão is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Centered Design at Cornell University, where she leads the Pluriversal Futures Design Lab. Dr. Leitão is a graphic designer and social justice-focused design researcher with several years of experience in intercultural and collaborative projects with indigenous and marginalized communities. She founded, as co-chair, the Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group (PluriSIG) of the Design Research Society, an international research network that aims to highlight multiple perspectives in design, especially from those commonly oppressed by and excluded from mainstream design narratives. Dr. Leitão is also a co-founder of the virtual conferences PIVOT, which focuses on decoloniality and pluriversality in design. 

Dr. Marizilda Menezes, is a professor at UNESP Graduate Program in Design, a program that she coordinated for from 2004 to 2007, and from 2011 to 2013, having served as a vice-coordinator from 2007 to 2010. She is the Editor-in-chief of the journal Educação Gráfica, the Coordinator of the Design Means and Objects Study Laboratory - LEMOD, and a leader of the Languages of Space and Form Research Group. She holds a PhD in Architecture and Urbanism, and a Master degree in Engineering from the University of São Paulo (USP), a specialization diploma in building design from Ecole des Beaux Arts et Arts Appliqués de Nancy (France), and a BA in Fine Arts from Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo. Her research interests are Fashion Design, Surface Design, Graphic Expression, African and Afro-Brazilian Design.