Dr. Charmeka Newton is a fully licensed psychologist and professor. She has over 20 years of experience in clinical, academic, and community settings, including teaching experience at both undergraduate and graduate levels of higher education. Her areas of expertise include implementation of culturally responsive treatment approaches, broaching, mitigating implicit bias in the counseling process, and clinical supervision of master ’s-level counseling practitioners and students. In addition to her clinical and teaching expertise, Dr. Newton is also President-Elect for Divsion 45 of the American Psychological Association and a member of the Michigan Board of Psychology, appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She is also co-author of the book,Black Lives Are Beautiful: 50 Tools to Heal from Trauma and Promote Positive Racial Identity, published through Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC., as well as first author of peer-reviewed articles on the the Broaching Readiness Framework (2025) and the the Cross Racial Training Approach (2024).

Dr. Janeé Steele is a licensed professional counselor, counselor educator, and owner of Kalamazoo Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy, PLLC, where she provides therapy, supervision, and training in CBT. Her insights have been featured in several peer-reviewed journals, as well as media outlets such as Vogue, Psychiatric Times, Psychology Today, and Counseling Today. She is also author of the book Racism and African American Mental Health: Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Empower Healing, with a foreword by Judith Beck, and co-author of Black Lives Are Beautiful: 50 Tools to Heal from Trauma and Promote Positive Racial Identity. Beyond her own scholarly pursuits, Dr. Steele currently serves the profession in her roles as Associate Editor of the Journal for Multicultural Counseling and Development, Secretary for the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, and Member-at-Large for the National Social Anxiety Center.