Dr. Nicole Dezrea Bao is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Howard University. A qualitative researcher and trained ethnographer, her scholarship centers the lived experiences and narratives of Black women across U.S. institutions. Her forthcoming book with Princeton University Press draws on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in a West African braiding salon in the western United States. The work amplifies Black women's voices, illuminating how race, gender, and nationality converge in intimate, textured, and deeply personal ways. Dr. Bao's research on natural hair extends this inquiry to a global scale, documenting the experiences of Black women around the world who wear their natural hair and broadening scholarly conversations around natural hair discrimination.

Dr. Christella-Mariza Kwizera is a sociologist and lecturer at the University of Burundi, in the Socio-Anthropology Department. She obtained her Ph.D. at Rennes 2 University (in France). Her thesis in Sociology named " Natural Hair Movement, a Natural Hair Rehabilitation Movement in Globalized Contexts is a comparative study based on social and economic effects, such as health and ecology in three countries: France, Kenya, and Senegal. The study analyzed the power and negotiation stakes between four forces presented in the  Natural Hair Movement:  African raw materials producers, Black diasporic beauty industry influencers, and entrepreneurs, not to forget the consumers in the globalized cosmetic industry. She is currently working on the publication of her thesis. Her participation in the research project Global- CROWNs study aligns with her research themes from African perspectives and its diasporas: gender, globalization, ecology, beauty, etc.

Dimitra Laurence Larochelle is an Associate Professor at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, France. She holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, as well as three master's degrees in Sociology from Université Paris Descartes, Communication from Université Panthéon-Assas, and Anthropology from Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis. She is the co-author of the book Video Mapping: Heritage in Lights and currently leads the research project titled Online Fatphobia: Representations, Discourses, and Practices—The Case of Instagram, which is funded by the Gender Institute and MSH Paris Nord. In addition, she serves as the secretary of the Research Committee 14 (Sociology of Communication, Knowledge, and Culture) of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and is a member of the board of RC 37 (Sociology of Arts) of the ISA.

Dr. Gamze Ar is a Lecturer in the Department of Foreign Languages at Bartin University, Türkiye. She holds a Ph.D. in American Culture and Literature from Ege University and was a visiting scholar at New York University. Her research focuses on African American children’s literature, with particular emphasis on Black identity formation, cultural representation, and visual-textual narratives. Her recent work explores Black hair, girlhood, and self-representation in contemporary picture books, particularly those by Jacqueline Woodson. She has presented and published on topics including ecocriticism, ethnic autobiography, and the intersection of literature and visual culture. Her contribution to the Global CROWN Research Project reflects her interest in the cultural and literary dimensions of Black hair and identity, extending these discussions within children’s literature and across transnational contexts.