2022 Affirmation International Conference

Roni Jo Draper, Ph.D. (Yurok|she.her) is a storyteller, educator, filmmaker, and activist. In her recent work she has turned to Indigenous storytelling and other art forms to share stories that center the lives of Indigenous peoples. She produced the film Scenes from the Glittering World, about the in- and out-of-school lives of three Navajo young people attending a remote high school on the Navajo Nation, which premiered at the 2021 Full Frame Film Festival and is currently streaming on PBS. Roni Jo is also a writer, producer, and director of the documentary Fire Tender, which centers the lives of Yurok fire practitioners as they use cultural fire to heal the world. She spoke at SXSW 2022 about the nature of Indigenous art and filmmaking and the need to decenter western approaches to artmaking and storytelling. Prior to her work as a filmmaker, Roni Jo was a professor of education and taught courses in multicultural education and global women’s studies at Brigham Young University. Additionally, Roni Jo works as an advocate for social justice in her community where she serves as the Chair of the Board of the ACLU of Utah, the Vice-President of PFLAG Provo/Utah County, and as a past member of the National Board of the ACLU.

Sue Robbins is a woman who is Transgender, Intersex, and Pansexual and uses the pronouns She, Her, and Hers. She is currently serving on Equality Utah’s Transgender Advisory Council working on bills, policy, and other statewide Transgender and Intersex efforts. She is a Past Board Chair of the Utah Pride Center and of Transgender Education Advocates (TEA) of Utah, along with being a founding member and the inaugural President of Phi Delta, Utah’s chapter of Tri-Ess. Sue also had lifted voices as a past Community Co-Host of Everyday People at KRCL RadioACTIve. Sue has been recognized with the 2018 Transgender Advocacy TEAM Award and the 2019 Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service award.

Sue is an Engineering Manager currently employed with a government contractor. She is a proud veteran with 20 years of service in the US Army working first as a Tank Crewmember and later in Satellite Communications. Sue lives in Woods Cross with her loving and amazing wife Theresa and has four children and ten grandchildren.

David Hayward is the NakedPastor. After 30 years as a pastor, he left the ministry and pursued his passion for art. His work challenges the status quo, deconstructs dogma, and promotes critical thinking. David lives with his wife Lisa near Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

You can find David online on all social media platforms, but homebase is www.nakedpastor.com!

Steinway & Sons has endorsed him as one of the world’s finest pianists. Dove Award-winning musician, composer, and producer, His music is frequently categorized as Classical, Christian and New Age. With 11 No. 1 Billboard albums, 30 million monthly listeners and 3 million subscribed fans on social media. Paul s music has been streamed on platforms worldwide 3 billion times, which makes him one of the most listened to artists of our time.

Paul was born with essentially half a heart and before his first day was finished, surgeons had cut into his infant body to save his life. He would spend virtually all of his life in and out of hospitals and recovering from surgeries. He received a heart transplant in 2009. Living with congenital heart disease has helped Paul understand the trauma imposed, particularly on a young person and their families. Paul has made it his life’s mission to create and share piano music that is healing both physically and emotionally.

Two of the many projects Paul’s involved with include partnering with the The Ryan Seacrest Foundation to donate keyboards to children’s hospitals nationwide. Paul and his wife, Kristina, who is from Cleveland, Ohio and a former Wall-street Analyst, established scholarships for students affected by medical bills associated with congenital heart disease because he believes in getting an education regardless of terminal diagnosis. Paul served as an executive board member of the Saving tiny Hearts Society, which seeds grass roots money for federal grant research in the field of congenital heart disease. In 2011, Utah State Board of Regents awarded Paul Cardall with an honorary doctorate.

Paul has collaborated with Grammy winning artists CeCe Winans and Rachel Yamagata. He released a soundtrack album with a handful of artists for the The Broken Miracle, the No. 1 best-selling Amazon novel by J.D. Netto inspired by Paul’s life living with only half a heart. Collaborations include songs and performances with David Archuleta, Tyler Glenn (Neon Trees), Ty Herndon, Thompson Square, Matt Hammitt and many others. 

In 1999, Paul founded Stone Angel Music, a record label, whose catalogue consists of Billboard charting albums by cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, guitarist Ryan Tilby, pianist Jason Lyle Black and David Tolk, Ryan Stewart, and various artist projects with a handful of former American Idol contests like Ashley Hess, Jordon Moyes, and Kenzie Hall. In 2018, Anthem Entertainment Group, one of today’s most powerful publishers, acquired Paul’s catalogue along with the albums he produced for Stone Angel Music, in one of the biggest instrumental acquisitions of the music industry’s history. Anthem also owns music made popular by Tim McGraw, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, the Canadian trio Rush, and countless others.