Rev. Zachary Mills is a poet, author, journalist, and first-generation Baptist minister. A native of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Mills earned his B.A. from Western Kentucky University in Print Journalism, and his Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt, where he received the Saint James Academy Award for excellence in preaching. He has had sermons published in two national journals, The African American Pulpit and the Journal of Religion and Abuse.

Rev. Mills has also worked as a journalist at The Tennessean and The Gallatin News Examiner newspapers, and has authored two books: The Wellspring of Life, a book about the power of the voice; and Ghetto of Eden: the Poetic Battle between Humanity and Hip Hop, a book of poetry critiquing the effects of popular music on society.