A former professor of Communication Studies, Dr. J Jackson-Beckham dedicated her academic career to the study of American beer. Today, she helps craft beverage organizations develop inclusive, equitable, and just practices that drive success, build communities, and empower individuals through her professional development platform, Crafted For All, LLC. She is also the founder and Executive Director of Craft x EDU (pronounced “craft by E-D-U”), a nonprofit whose mission is to champion equity, inclusion, and justice in the craft brewing community through education and professional development. She is an author, speaker, and vocal advocate for the craft beverage community. In 2018, Dr. J was named the Brewers Association’s first ever Diversity Ambassador. Today, Jackson-Beckham leads the Brewers Association’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) department as the association’s Equity & Inclusion Partner.

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Kaylyn Kirkpatrick is the Technical Brewing Projects Manager for the Brewers Association (BA). Before starting at the BA, Kaylyn managed the Cornell University Brewing Extension program which provides analytical lab services, educational content, and brewing resources to the craft beer community in New York state. Kaylyn earned her bachelors degree in biochemistry from Colorado State University and a masters degree in food science from Oregon State University, where she studied in the Brewing Science Lab. She has a brewing and distilling diploma from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London and previously worked as a beer chemist at New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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MacKenzie Staples is the educational content manager for the Brewers Association. In addition to managing the resources and articles on BrewersAssociation.org, she organizes the seminars for the Craft Brewers Conference® and Homebrew Con™, curates the webinars in the BA Collab Hour series, and serves as the staff liaison for the Taprooms Committee. She is originally from Texas where she fell in love with craft beer, and is proud to say that she has visited over 600 U.S. small and independent craft breweries.

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