Richard Wallace, Founder of Equity and Transformation (EAT), whose mission is to build social and economic equity for Black chicagoans engaged in the informal economy. Recently EAT fought for, and won, what is being described as the most equity centric cannabis legalization policy in the in the nation. Wallace is a Chicago native and dually an organizer and artist in the fight to end economic violence & anti Black racism. As an artist he and his band BBU received independent album of the year in 2013 for their album Bell Hooks, which gained nation wide recognition by merging politics and party. Wallace went on to graduate from Roosevelt University, where he received their prestigious Matthew Freeman Social Justice Award and founded Roosevelt University’s student chapter of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. As an organizer, he has championed campaigns to end discrimination and exploitation in the temp labor sector and end police violence in Black communities. Wallace is an Atlantic Fellow, Voqal Fellow, Upswell Fellow and he was recently recognized by Open Societies Philanthropy and selected into the 2019 class of Soros Justice Fellows. His international work is centered in Benin West Africa, where he co-founded the Future of Benin Project, an initiative structured to provide sustainable aide to orphaned youth. As a formerly incarcerated person living in the US, Wallace has fought immense odds to be recognized as an innovator and thought leader in his fields.