Copyright Alliance Relaunches Creators Advisory Board (CAB) with the Appointment of New CAB Members 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Eileen Bramlet ebramlet@copyrightalliance.org

CAB members include Yanique DaCosta, Jayda Imanlihen, Lana Love, Blake Morgan, Jeff Sedlik, T.J. Stiles, Taura Stinson, and Maimouna Youssef (aka MuMu Fresh)

Washington, DC—The Copyright Alliance, which represents the copyright interests of over two million individual creators and more than 15,000 organizations across the spectrum of copyright disciplines, announced the relaunch of its Creators Advisory Board (CAB) with the appointment of new board members.

CAB is a key Copyright Alliance board, consisting of creators who are leaders in the creative community with a demonstrated track record of advocating for strong copyright protections.

According to Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid, “We are thrilled to be relaunching CAB as we breathe new life into this group by appointing additional stellar members, all of whom work diligently at their craft while simultaneously advocating for the rights of others across the copyright and creative community.” 

Kupferschmid further stated that “CAB members are entrusted to assist the Copyright Alliance in achieving our mission of advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright and the rights of creators and innovators. They do so by helping spread the word about policies and initiatives that support the copyright community—during speaking opportunities, on social media, via key policy events and initiatives, and much more. We believe that the ‘relaunched’ lineup of CAB members will do an exemplary job, and I’m very excited to be working with them.”

The Creators Advisory Board is comprised of the following members: 

Yanique DaCosta is a Jamaican-born graphic designer, fine artist, and entrepreneur with a passion for advocating for diversity and inclusivity in the design industry. As the founder and owner of YKMD, Yanique has more than 13 years of design experience and has been recognized as an expert in brand development and graphic design by the U.S. Department of Labor. Yanique served on the Executive Board of the Graphic Artists Guild as National Treasurer before being elected as the first Black President of the organization. She is also Vice President of the International Council of Design, where she advocates for the design community worldwide. Her dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion in the design industry has earned her a reputation as a trailblazer and champion for underrepresented voices. 

Jayda Imanlihen began her professional film career in Harlem, New York, and currently lives and works in the Los Angeles area. Jayda is the founder of Black Girl Film School, a non-profit education foundation with the goal of increasing the number of Black women working in the industry above and below the line. Drawing upon her 10+ years of experience designing graduate online programs from the ground up for elite private universities across the country, Jayda currently also serves as the Director of Multimedia Design and Production for the University of Southern California’s Bovard College. Black Girl Film School has been hosted by Smashcut since the fall 2020. The course introduces students to elements of film production and the work of award-winning Black female filmmakers and connects them with experts in the industry. Students have joined the course from everywhere—from New Jersey and Alabama to Lagos, Nigeria.

Lana Love is a contemporary pop artist based in New York by way of Atlanta. She is a classically trained singer-songwriter, pianist, dancer, and actress. Her first EP, “Lana Love,” was released in 2021, garnering support across Shazam and Apple music playlists (top 40). As a live performer, Lana got her start as a Disney princess and has toured internationally in over 40 countries. Lana is recognized for her genre-bending of opera, musical theater, jazz, pop, and rock. She has been featured in People, Broadway World, NBC Insider, and Billboard, among other outlets. In 2022, she joined the board of the U.S. Intellectual Property Alliance (usipa.org), working to educate and empower artists to own their copyrights. Lana made her biggest debut yet, as a member of John Legend’s team of artists, on NBC’s “The Voice.”  

Blake Morgan is an artist, producer, multi-instrumentalist, label owner, and creator-rights activist based in New York City. Morgan has recorded and produced music’s brightest luminaries, from Lenny Kravitz to Lesley Gore. On his most recent album, “Violent Delights,” Morgan sings and performs nearly all the instruments and produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered the album at Valiant Recording NYC, the Greenwich Village recording studio he’s owned and operated since 2002.  Morgan is also the founder and President of independent global-music company ECR Music Group. His ideas, opinions, and editorials on music have been published regularly by the New York Times, Billboard, CNN, Newsweek, Variety, The Hill, NME, Huffington Post, and The Guardian. His music advocacy has taken him to Capitol Hill numerous times where, as the founder of the #IRespectMusic movement, he continues to fight for music makers’ rights in the digital age. 

Jeff Sedlik is a photographer, director, educator, publisher, forensic analyst, and intellectual property consultant. He is the President and CEO of the PLUS Coalition, the nonprofit global standards body for the image licensing industries. A director of both the Linked Content Coalition and the American Society for Collective Rights Licensing, Sedlik previously served as national president for the Advertising Photographers of America and has been a professor at ArtCenter for 20 years. Accolades include the 2005 IPC Photography Industry Leadership Award, 2006 PhotoMedia Photography Person of the Year, and 2007 APA Industry Advocate of the Year. 

T.J. Stiles is a biographer, essayist, and critic. He has received two Pulitzer Prizes, a National Book Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar grant, and a Gilder Lehrman Fellowship in American History at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. His first book, Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, won the Ambassador Book Award. His second, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, was given the National Book Award for Nonfiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. His most recent book, Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America, won the Pulitzer Prize for History, among other awards. His essays and reviews have been published by the New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Sewanee Review, Zyzzyva, and others. He is currently working on a biography of Theodore Roosevelt. He also serves on the Authors Guild council and the executive board of the Society of American Historians, advocating for his fellow writers and other creators. 

Taura Stinson is an Academy/Golden Globe Award-nominated songwriter. Her ability to conclusively tell stories in a wide range of artistic mediums is a trait that she attributes to her roots in both Birmingham, Alabama, and Oakland, California. Now based in Los Angeles, Taura is continuing to write heart-forward songs for TV and film scripts, and books that are centered on social injustice, climate change, the power of love, and the magic of manifestation. Her personal mantra “Believe-Become” has been shared by millions of people around the globe, as has her music, which includes songs recorded by Destiny’s Child, Kelis, Solange Knowles, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Earth Wind & Fire, Brandy Norwood, Usher, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Hudson, Nas, and many more. Her most recent works include Don’t Look Up and Carmen, with frequent collaborator Nicholas Britell; and Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur with longtime collaborator, Raphael Saadiq. 

Maimouna Youssef (aka MuMu Fresh) is a Grammy-nominated, Hitmaker Award-winning, Musical Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, elected governor of the DC Chapter of the Recording Academy, and an Ambassador of the Black Music Collective. Maimouna has toured internationally as a critically acclaimed Afro-Indigenous singer, emcee, songwriter, activist, workshop facilitator, and audio engineer. She is committed to “Art Activism” and has performed within the U.S. prison system, Congressional Black Caucus, I.M.A.N. Central in Chicago, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and more, bringing awareness to important social issues. She has donated much of her time and platform to increased awareness and education around race and gender inequity, environmental justice, and independence for artists. 

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ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE

The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest and educational organization representing the copyright interests of 2 million individual creators and 15,000 organizations in the United States, across the spectrum of copyright disciplines. The Copyright Alliance is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright, and to protecting the rights of creators and innovators. For more information, please visit our website.