Desirée Glapion Rogers (born June 16, 1959) is an American business executive who is the Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Publishing Company. In November 2008 she was selected by Barack Obama's office as the White House Social Secretary for the incoming administration, the first person of African American descent to serve in this function. On February 26, 2010, the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reported that she planned to step down. Rogers was replaced by Julianna Smoot, former chief of staff to the U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Smoot was the Obama presidential campaign chief fund-raiser. On August 10, 2010, Rogers was named CEO of Johnson Publishing Company.

Rogers was born on June 16, 1959 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the daughter of the late Roy Glapion and his wife Joyce. Her father was the former director of sports for the New Orleans Public Schools and a member of the New Orleans City Council. Her mother ran day-care centers. She has one brother, Roy A. Glapion, a businessman who is active in civic life in New Orleans. Rogers is a descendant of Voudou priestess Marie Laveau Glapion.

Harriette Cole (born March 14, 1961), is a life stylist, author, nationally syndicated advice columnist, motivational speaker, media trainer, magazine editor, lifestyle writer, wife and mother.

Cole was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the middle of three sisters. Her parents are Doris Freeland Cole, a retired kindergarten teacher who has devoted her life to her children, and the Honorable Harry A. Cole, the first Black judge on the Maryland Court of Appeals. Cole's sisters are Susan Hill, a vice president at Disney in Los Angeles, and Stephanie Hill, a vice president at Lockheed Martin in Maryland.

Harriette Cole went to public schools in Baltimore City including Dickey Hill Elementary School, Greenspring Junior High School and Western High School. She graduated from the all-girls' Western High School.

Cole spent her first year in college at Towson State University. She completed her college education at Howard University where she was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Cole worked for then freshmen member of Congress Barbara Boxer after she graduated from college. During that year she continued to freelance as a runway model. She became an assistant editor at Essence Magazine in the lifestyle section, then known as Contemporary Living.

Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American business magnate. He and Rick Rubin founded the pioneering hip-hop label Def Jam. He also created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and American Classics.

Russell Simmons is the third richest figure in hip hop, having a net-worth estimate of $340 million as of April 2011.

Simmons was raised in Queens, New York. He is the son of Daniel Simmons, Sr., a public school administrator, and Evelyn Simmons, a New York City park administrator. His older brother is abstract expressionist painter Daniel Simmons, Jr., and his younger brother is Rev. Joseph Simmons ("Run" of Run-DMC).

Def Jam became just one piece in Simmons' corporation, Rush Communications, Inc., which included a management company, a clothing company called Phat Farm, a movie production house, television shows such as Def Comedy Jam, a magazine and an advertising agency. His nephew Jamal "Redrum" Simmons and his group Flatlinerz released the highly controversial album U.S.A. in 1994 on Def Jam but was dropped from the label soon after. Rick Rubin sold his share of the record company for $100 million to Universal Music Group in 1996. Simmons produced Def Poetry, begun as a television series on HBO, which also branched into a Broadway live stage production in 2002. In 2000, he co-founded the Internet start-up 360 Hip Hop which he later sold to BET.