Influencers & Disruptors
This series of conversations is your gateway to the stories that shape our times, spotlighting resilience, innovation, and social justice. It connects us to healthcare heroes, visionary activists, and groundbreaking innovators, offering a personal and powerful lens on our collective challenges and triumphs.
Join the conversation that inspires reflection, unity, and action, driving us toward a future built on compassion, equity, and community. Remember: Ideas. Change. Everything.
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Featured Episodes
Now, let's delve into the 'Featured Episodes' that are bound to challenge, inspire, and invite us into a deeper exploration of navigating the complexities of our time.
Making Waves Conversations
The Complete Set
David R. Shostak, PMP – Human Versatility, Unlocking the Power to Drive Innovation
David Shostak will explore how versatility helps individuals step beyond job titles, tackle challenges, and drive efficiency across industries.
Michellene Davis, Esq. – Why Health Care Leadership Needs All Voices: The Best Path to Health Equity
Persistent and global health crises require a medical workforce that mirrors the populations it serves. Diverse perspectives are statistically shown to achieve better patient outcomes, innovation, and more equitable care.
Josh Lowman – Creator CEO – The Rise of Social Media-Savvy Leadership
Join our next TEDx Santa Barbara Salon as we explore how social media is transforming business growth. CEOs who master social platforms are becoming vital for success, outpacing traditional engineers and MBAs. This shift marks...
Scott Mann, Lt Col. (Ret) – Navigating Election Chaos: Leadership Beyond Politics
As the U.S. elections approach, fear and division are rampant. This timely conversation explores how media manipulation and political tactics drive division and what leaders can do to bridge these gaps. With insights from a...
Amy Bray – Empowering Young Changemakers: Community-Driven Climate Solutions
Join us for a TEDx Salon with Amy Bray, a 21-year-old marine biologist and CEO of Another Way. Founded at 16, Amy’s charity tackles climate change through grassroots efforts. She’ll share her journey of planting...
Anjum Malik – Transforming Lives with Global Equity
Explore the transformative idea of global equity through this TEDx Salon conversation focused on empowering marginalized communities. Discover how strategic educational, professional development and mentorship interventions can bridge gaps impacting vulnerable populations. Learn about the...
Brian Reisinger – Disappearing Farms, Disappearing Food: How to Save America’s Food Supply
Over four decades ago, America made an unconscious choice: We let our technological innovation leave many of our family farms behind. Today the disappearance of the American farmer endangers our food supply, but there’s a...
Delida Costin – Defying Imposter Syndrome
In today’s fast-paced corporate world, ‘imposter syndrome’ often shadows even the most competent leaders, framing their doubts as personal shortcomings rather than reflections of broader systemic issues. This conversation explores how Delida challenges this narrative...
Sarah Thurber – “Good Team, Bad Team” Lead Your People to Go After Big Challenges—Not Each Other
Finding a good team, much less a good leader is hard. Let’s tackle this challenge from a cognitive perspective and explore proven practices for helping teams think creatively, work collaboratively, and deliver extraordinary results.
Gordon Ching – Design at the Decision-Making Table
In this thought-provoking TEDx talk, Gordon Ching, Founder & CEO of Design Executive Council, takes us on a captivating journey into design and its transformative power in the corporate world.
Freddie Ravel – Life in Tune: Harmonizing Personal and Professional Growth Through Music
Discover how the Life in Tune system, pioneered by Freddie Ravel, uses the fundamental elements of music—Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm—to revolutionize personal and professional growth.
Keren Etkin – The AgeTech Revolution: Shattering Stereotypes
This conversation delves into how technological innovations are reshaping the experiences of our aging population. We’ll explore the significant demographic shifts as the global population of those over 60 is expected to reach 2 billion...
Dominique Shelton Leipzig – In the Age of AI, Trust is Key: Practicing Responsible Data Stewardship
Humans control AI, not the other way around. By following the frameworks outlined in global legislation, we can take advantage of the opportunities while minimizing the risks.
Jim Sterne – Changing Your Mind about Computing: Generative AI as a Creativity Power tool.
Discover the transformative power of Generative AI, heralding the most significant leap in technology since the introduction of the Internet. Join us for an enlightening session that promises to expand your horizons and redefine what’s...
Ekta Vyas – Reciprocate to Transform: The Power of Collective Organizational Consciousness
In the wake of the pandemic, social justice movements, and the turmoil our world has faced in recent years, Dr. Vyas will explore the reactive nature of most business transformations and advocate for a proactive...
Amy Zolotow – Humanizing AI Through Storymaking in Healthcare
In this conversation, we examine the role of narrative in the humanization of AI technology with Amy, a leader in operations with over ten years of experience in healthcare.
Dave Gougé – How Entertainment Shapes Future Tech Trends
Examining entertainment’s historical role in technology adoption offers invaluable insights as we stand on the cusp of breakthroughs in areas like augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and immersive experiences.
Danniel Fuchs: Thriving Together: The Revolution of Multi-Generational Living
Explore the dynamic world of multi-generational living with Danniel Fuchs, a seasoned executive who transformed into a fervent advocate for shared family homes. Dive into the profound life experiences that shaped his understanding and appreciation...
Cindy Gallop – What Love Looks Like In The Real World
What different relationship models are people designing for themselves today? How do people manage their love lives through real-world health conditions, such as menopause, chronic pain, cancer, and aging? What do people really find hot,...
Petra Beumer – Sweetness of Doing Nothing – Learning from the Italians
What does it take to get off the hamster wheel, unplug from external stressors (and the addictive world of social media), and “come home” to oneself? Simply being and living in the moment is a...
Charles Feinstein – Addressing the Climate Emergency: Economic and Policy Options and Making Polluters Pay
Climate change is the defining challenge of our time, with global consequences affecting the natural environment, basic livelihoods, and nearly every sector of human activity. The interview will briefly review the current scientific understandings that...
Genein Letford – How Intercultural Creativity is the New Driver of Innovation
We need new ideas! Creative thinking is now one of the top skills needed in the workforce, BUT creativity can only thrive with a culture of psychological safety and belonging.
Robert Tercek – How to Digitize The Whole World: Industrial Metaverse is the biggest opportunity in a generation
Around the world, cities and industrial concerns are launching digital twins of real-world infrastructure. Unlike the consumer Metaverse, which is designed as a platform for communication and entertainment, the Industrial Metaverse is a tool for...
Wendy Whitman – Evil Obsessions: Unraveling Our Fascination with Crime
The “true crime” phenomenon has never been more evident. From television series to books to documentaries, there seems to be a never-ending fascination with crime, specifically murder. Serial killers are a constant topic of conversation,...
Debra Hopkins – Breaking The Chains: Empowering creativity and community through art and connection
The power of art is immense. It can evoke emotions of all kinds, from the most profound sorrows to the highest joys, simultaneously or separately. For many people, art is a form of therapy that...
William Skinner – California doesn’t have a water problem – it has a storage and distribution deficiency.
In recent years, California has faced severe droughts that have further highlighted the inadequacy of its water infrastructure. As a result, many experts argue that California doesn’t have a water problem per se but rather...
Tony Hunter – Reimagining the Global Food System: Feeding 10 Billion in 2050
Tony Hunter will engage in a conversation about reimagining the global food system. He will challenge conventional methods and explore innovative approaches to sustainably and equitably feed a growing global population.
Chad Lane – The Adaptive Age: AI’s New Frontier – The Evolution of AI: Learning, Adapting, Transforming
Adaptive AI in the workplace is heralding a new era of technical transformation, fundamentally reshaping how businesses operate and innovate. Unlike traditional AI models that rely on static algorithms, adaptive AI learns and evolves in...
Ceah Justice – From Ally to Co-conspirator, becoming active in the fight for social change
In a world of growing complex social problems— the ongoing pandemic, war, climate change, economic inequality, and rising populism—driving lasting positive social change in communities is on the minds of social innovators and racial justice...
Eason Yang: Not Entirely Dead – A comeback kid designing for belonging and dignity
Most of us have faced a gap on our resumes, whether due to maternity or paternity leave, creative sabbatical, or just giving the finger to the nonprofit industrial complex when we’ve had enough.
Jill Greenbaum: Drawing the Future: Visual Storytelling for End-of-Life Choices
Through her unique visual storytelling approach and compassionate guidance, Dr. Greenbaum invites individuals to engage in deep conversations about their hopes, fears, and wishes surrounding their own mortality.
Nicole Gibson – Love as a Catalyst: Harnessing Emotions for Global Change
Even those who believe they are entirely rational make 80% of their decisions emotionally. Understanding our emotions and nuanced emotional patterns offers profound insight into why we experience what we experience in life.
Stacy Pulice – Harvesting Wisdom: Nurturing Growth in Classrooms and Life
Each classroom, akin to our planet, is a potentially vibrant ecosystem, and the humans within it long for positive cycles of regeneration. This generative process fosters a more enriched education and more self-motivated students and...
Nelly Ortiz – Hacking the Wealth Gap with Tech
In this conversation we’ll explore topics such as the impact of emerging technologies like the Metaverse, Blockchain, and AI on wealth creation, the role of startups in driving innovation, and how individuals from developing countries...
Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, MD – The Long Road to Awareness: Breaking down barriers in long covid research
There is irrefutable data on the underpinnings of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (aka Long COVID). However, despite the burgeoning research on the topic, it has taken some time for the medical community and the general...
Matthew Chang – A Teen Climate Activist’s Perspective on the Cumulative Power of Action
At first glance, an innocuous cold email may not seem like a powerful seed of change. But for Matthew, it has led to a climate movement and years of public service.
Dr. Philippa Hardman – The AI Education Revolution is Coming – or is it?
Despite the promise of so-called disruptive education technologies like the MOOC, education technology has failed to deliver on its promise to transform both the reach and quality of education.
Jennifer Karapetian – Imprisoned in a web of trauma
Intergenerational trauma can lead to a perpetual cycle of substance abuse, addiction, mental health disorders, child abuse, interpersonal violence, and other criminal behavior. We can break the cycle of intergenerational trauma through greater access to...
Sarah E. McDonald – Cancer: How we show up for others in crisis
At 44, Sarah McDonald was newly married, newly promoted, and planning pregnancy. It felt like a time of new beginnings when suddenly she was diagnosed with a rare, incurable cancer. Two months later, she was...
Asude Altintas – Bringing Heart to Science Education
Asude will talk about the “double-winged” approach in education. She learned about this idea at YGA, an NGO in Turkey. They believe children need to be double-winged, competent, and compassionate to make a positive impact...
Sheela Shenoi – The pandemic’s effects on global health
Dr. Shenoi will review the covid19 pandemic’s trickle-down effect on other health conditions worldwide, including tuberculosis and HIV and noncommunicable diseases that plague our world.
Oz Rashid – The People Analytics Revolution is Coming – Are you Ready?
Companies have long been focused on traditional workforce performance metrics, including attrition, engagement, and tenure. Still, new methods of measuring human potential and productivity are revolutionizing how job candidates are identified, hired, and retained across...
Kurt Wenner – The Geometry of Creativity – Five Creative Principles
Through a deep understanding of artists’ geometry, Kurt has discovered the Five Creative Principles that are fundamental to the existence of form. This insight reveals a new connection between math, art, and nature and how...
Ryan Ford – Set Fire to Design Process—Throwing away unrealistic frameworks and moving forward
In this conversation, Ryan will disrupt the inaccurate application of Double Diamond and Design Thinking, the mistaken beliefs and pressures resulting from them, and a more realistic way to represent the workflow behind modern empathetic...
Shaun Tomson – The Code to Ride the Next Wave of Purpose
Purpose is the motivational power that enables individuals and organizations to thrive. Why is purpose important in life and business? Large-scale, longitudinal studies of over 73,000 people have shown that having a purpose in life...
Andrew Beall – Breaking Reality: The Emotional Impact of VR
In virtual reality, it’s so easy to get trapped by the fallacy that if only the technology mimicked reality better, the metaverse would unfold in all its splendor. That race to perfection blinds us to...
Greg Tehven – Rallying your community around a collective future
The Grand Farm Education and Research Initiative, powered by Emerging Prairie, are accelerating the research and innovation by creating the prototype for the first fully autonomous farm, impacting North Dakota, the United States, and the...
Dr. Ashley Lauren Joseph – Unstoppable: Social Change & Collegiate Leadership
Dr. Joseph is passionate about building leaders and helping them develop frameworks that will carry them into their careers. With her focus on understanding the evolving role of women in leadership, she’ll discuss what is...
Flossie Hall – Military Spouse Unemployment, Why it’s a National Crisis
Military spouses face one of the highest unemployment rates of any demographic in America at nearly 30%. While also facing an incredible under-employment problem. The military, government, nonprofits, corporations, and Department of Defense are spending...
Rich Jacques – Finding Your Voice: Exploring the Creative Process
The idea that we can be creative has always fascinated Rich. It seems the way is to let go of our thinking mind…of all our assumptions about ourselves and life, and relax into a flow...
Marc Hamilton – Powering the Metaverse: Building Sustainable AI Factories and Digital Twins
On the surface, a business meeting in the metaverse seems a lot more sustainable than everyone driving to the office. But what about all the computing power needed to build the AI factories and digital...
Peter Winick – Living in the Age of Thought Leadership
In this session, we will explore why thought leadership benefits individuals, teams, and organizations incredibly.
Brad Weed – We need renewables and EVs – What about congestion and social isolation?
Renewable EV charging can reduce fossil fuels, but will they relieve traffic congestion? While convenient, cars isolate people from their community, increasing separation, polarization, and despair. How can we improve our interactions with people?
Michael Hanrahan – Navigating the End of the World (as we know it)
We now face political polarization, climate catastrophe, and economic destabilization. How do we move through these difficult times with grace and well-being?
Evan Hirsch – Rethinking Big Data, You and Your Health
How do you use emotional awareness to change how healthcare works. Evan brings a career in design thinking to help solve the problem of how all of us interact with the healthcare system.
Majid Abai – Winning the Lottery – a metaphor for a life’s journey
Most of us have dreams of one day winning the lottery. We imagine how our lives would change if we won and the things we would do with that money. But have we considered other...
Mark Oehlert – Shifting the Bedrock – Why we need to make the foundations of business more human-centric
In this conversation, we will touch on why so much of what we talk about in regard to innovation in the corporate education/training space has been and will be surface-level until we change the fundamental...
Kathleen Cohen – Narrative Architecture vs. Virtual Worldbuilding
We will discuss how we hack feelings of safety and happiness in themed attractions as Experience Designers and how these core principles could be considered in virtual world-building and/or the Metaverse.
Chris Hill – How food will bring back our sense of Community
Chef Chris Hill believes the dinner table is the center of the community, both in and out of the home, and has ideas for how we can regain this sense of Community.
Richard Culatta – Education in an Evolving Digital World
EdTech expert Richard Culatta argues that technology can be a powerful tool for learning, solving humanity’s most challenging problems, and bringing us closer together. He offers a refreshingly positive framework for preparing kids and educators...
Diane Luby Lane – Is it possible to change the field of education with poetry? Yes!
Youth voices and youth stories are at the center of Get Lit’s curriculum in which students claim classic/contemporary poems that resonate with their hopes, dreams, and life experiences.
Brooke Ishibashi and Matthew-Lee Erlbach – The Important and Often Hidden Role of Arts and Culture in Today’s Society
In this episode, we discuss the mobilization effort for protecting the arts and culture sector of the U.S. through the grassroots campaign Brooke Ishibashi and Matthew-Lee Erlbach co-founded.
Fabiola Lara – Women in the Resistance: Empowering women artisans and entrepreneurs
In this talk, Fabiola breaks down the need for empowering other women, especially women artisans and female entrepreneurs to sustain their craft knowledge and skills. She shares her experience partnering with women artisans and female...
Alex Sheshunoff – The Future of Remote Work
Where, when, and, even, why we work has been turned on its head by the pandemic. In a far-reaching yet jargon-free conversation, Alex and Mark discuss where we are heading and what leading organizations are...
Daniel Robbins – The Future of Marketing in the Metaverse
Dan will explain how marketing will drastically change in web3 and the metaverse as we go to community-centric brands. With the adoption of DAOs and other community-driven projects, brands and people need to look at...
Jake Voorhees – Community evolution to DAOS: should your tribe become decentralized?
With Web3.0 in the news and being talked about in the general media, most of us are still in the dark about what this means. In addition, there seems to be a new language that...
Penelope M. Meurer – Virtual “Super-collaborators” in a Post-Covid World
How we partner is continuously evolving, and Penelope’s examination of differing perspectives on work forums provides an avenue to advancing recognition of the value of the virtual environment.
Richard Kerris – The Metaverse is nothing new
The word has been used and overused for the past few months as if it’s just been discovered, but in fact, it’s not new, and the concept has been around for over 25 years. Connected...
Bruce Sinclair – Digital Twins and Intelligent Environments
Bruce is an expert in the underlying technology that powers what is called the Internet of Things (IoT). He suggests the underlying technology that powers IoT allows us to create Intelligent Environments that will have...
Jennifer Strube Bochsler – Toddlers and Tech: A New Way to Look at Screen Time
In this talk, Jennifer explains why it’s never too early (or too late) to create a healthy relationship with tech. Through the use of simple screen swaps and intentional choices, it’s possible to boost your...
Luke Young, Rory Hornby – Entering a New Age of Agriculture
Agriculture suffers from sea-level rise, increased soil salinity, and unsustainable and environmentally damaging farming. With the next world crisis likely to be a battle over fresh water, a lot needs to change in how we...
Kavi Misri – For one founder, workplace burnout sparked a high-tech way to detect depression
Working 80 to 100 hours a week for 7 years in healthcare investment banking finally caught up to Kavi Misri, founder and CEO of Rose. Like many, he found himself burned out, depressed, and in...
Hannah-Beth Jackson – Why would anyone in their right mind want to enter the political arena today?
The critically important role of public policy in maintaining a functioning, working Democracy, needs participation by citizens to be effective. As the current political landscape seems impossibly polarized, Hannah-Beth will make the case to exercise...
Scott Ross – Metaverse: Heaven or Hell
Scott sees the Metaverse as a terribly disruptive and possibly dangerous platform. However, as corporations continue to be driven by profits, increasing stock prices, overestimating technology’s potential (VR/AR), and convincing investors that the Metaverse is...
Joshua Page – College Is Not The Only Option
We need kids to know that college is not the only option, that the trades need them. I believe getting into a trade saved my life; it gave me purpose and a sense of pride...
Jesse Rosenberg – Charge Your Commute
Whether it’s a morning commute or a weekend ride with friends, bike share can help cities meet their sustainability goals, and with e-bikes, can revolutionize transportation in their communities. People will not leave a major...
Khalila Writes – Fighting cultural misconceptions towards Muslims through the power of voice
With the rise of businesses exploding on social media, Muslim women who once had barriers in place, such as not being able to commit to working hours due to children, are now creating successful businesses...
Anthony Duca – The Journey Towards a Metaverse for All
Wondering how accessibility, collaboration, and learning will shape the metaverse? Anthony Duca shares vision, values, and solutions for connecting from anywhere in the world with ways to unify ideas, products, and people through shared experiences.
Jeremy Kermit – Self-Evident Truths: Wisdom from a Dying Man
Jeremy has Glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer with no cure. Speaking of death in western cultures is taboo and challenging. In this conversation, we’ll talk about facing that reality and his choice to live...
Carter Emmart, Ph.D. – A Space Perspective
Seeing Earth against cosmic scale exposes the absurdity of human difference, the invisibility of borders, the commonality of needs, all within a terrifying thinness of atmosphere. We hold the power of the stars; yet lack...
Dr. Suzanne Wertheim – The deeper meanings and the hidden power of inclusive language
In today’s world, it’s become increasingly important for individuals and organizations to prioritize inclusion. In this conversation, Dr. Suzanne Wertheim shares one element where everyone can strive toward inclusivity: language.
Greg Melling – Why the Metaverse Matters
With the recent renaming of Facebook to Meta, the launch of the Omniverse by NVIDIA, and the proliferation of AR (Augmented Reality and VR (Virtual Reality), it is finally time for the Metaverse to become...
Angella Goran – Obstacles & Illusions in Finance for the Banked & UnBanked
This conversation is for people and business owners to better understand global financial access and securities, allowing for better use of innovative technologies that are truly aimed at mobilizing and integrating inclusivity, diversity, & openness.
Dr. Valerio De Angelis – How batteries are changing our electricity infrastructure
Renewables are changing how we make electricity. Electric cars are changing how we move. Batteries invented to power small devices are enabling these changes. We will explore how batteries, electric vehicles, and the electric grid...
Avril Johnnidis – Net-Positive Regenerative Neighborhoods
The way we design and build our homes, energy and water and waste systems, streets, sidewalks, neighborhoods, landscapes, open spaces, and sources of food impacts just about every level of our lives and the broader...
Sandra Kwak – Climate Justice through renewable energy access
Sandra Kwak, the CEO of 10Power, will explain their work with local partners to develop and finance commercial-scale solar projects in Haiti, making renewable energy affordable and accessible for tangible improvements in livelihood and prosperity.
Dr. Margo Thomas – The imperative to foster global gender economic equity
“Women’s economic empowerment is not just a moral imperative, it is an economic no-brainer.” Women make significant contributions to economic growth, wealth creation, innovation, employment, and human capital. Yet, their participation is constrained by structural...
Michelle Beyo – A Wave of Change: The Rise of Female Founders, Inclusion, and Diversity
A harsh reality must be faced: Female founders still face huge challenges rendering access to opportunities and funding. In a world where diversity is key, how do we change?
Sam Kadi – Creativity in times of confinement
Filmmaker Sam Kadi has been creating films under extreme conditions well before the Pandemic. His TEDxSantaBarbara talk spoke about how he created a film to capture the Syrian crisis without ever being able to travel...
Dr. Joan Rosenberg – Rethinking Imposter Syndrome
Dr. Rosenberg will help us reframe Imposter Syndrome which includes addressing skills, knowledge, experience, and mastery along with discussing intersecting practices such as diminishing accomplishments, perfectionism, harsh self-criticism, refusing compliments, not speaking up and a...
Maureen McCoy – Resilient college students? Only if they have enough to eat.
We live in a nation with more than enough food, but the numbers of hungry people continue to rise, with some of the greatest jumps in the college student population.
Randy Bretz – Mentoring for a New Era: A Generational Perspective
With so much turmoil in the world today and everyone working in time-compressed situations, when would now be a good time to understand how you could raise your hand to help or be helped.
Dan Dalton – Realizing the future of transportation, for all
From the air to underground, countries are in the process of taking advantage of technologies to improve transportation in novel and impressive ways. But how do we ensure that this next transportation revolution maximizes the...
Ari Matusiak – The Climate and Economic Case for Electrifying Everything
We are motivated by the fact that 90 percent of all emissions in the U.S. are energy-related, and 42 percent of those energy emissions come from the decisions we make in our homes: how we...
Wesley King – Futuristic Health Technologies That Are Already Here
Wesley spends his time on the fringes of technology and innovation, and as a result, he sees ideas before they hit the mainstream. He’s particularly interested in the Human of the Future (Now) and how...
Duey Freeman – COVID, Family, and Development: The Next Three Generations
Covid has infected every cell of our families, communities, and society just as it infects our bodies, taking our life’s breath, affecting every person on a cellular and systemic level. We will explore how we...
Mike Fero, Ph.D. – Organism Making and Modding
Until recently, modifying microbial, plant, and animal cells has been a slow and artisanal process. However, with advances in technology allowing researchers to read, write, cut, copy and paste DNA much more easily, systems can...
Jonathan Brill – Future-Proofing Your Business in Our Rogue Wave Era
At this moment, rogue waves are forming under your business. If you thought COVID was a surprise, prepare for bigger waves. Ten barely manageable undercurrents are colliding to create a sea of radical systemic change....
Kimberly Rose – Rewilding – Loving Nature. Living Nature.
Kimberly’s passion is facilitating the relationship between people and nature, people and animals, and people and people. As a naturalist, humane educator, eco-therapist, nature mentor, and dog trainer, she believes the health of people is...
Fiona Sampson – Ending Impunity for Child Rape
The equality effect is an international network of human rights advocates (including grassroots community members, artists, musicians, filmmakers, health care workers, journalists, lawyers, teachers, students, judges, and Parliamentarians) working collaboratively to improve the lives of...
Sean Patterson – Design tool constrained thinking
Sean will talk with us about how electronic circuit designers are constrained by the design tools they use and today’s manufacturing techniques.
Sean Hastings – Protecting Blue Whales and Blues Skies
Every year, container ships and auto carriers make thousands of transits in the shipping lanes in the Santa Barbara Channel region and along the California coast. These vessels are a significant source of air pollution...
Gabe Ruzzier-Gaul – Changing The Way We Farm: How Green Spaces Can Feed Us Into The Future
To produce more quality nutrition for our future, we have to think differently. For example, we can create more resilient food systems by planting trees to turn landowners into farmers, reduce food waste, localize food...
Julian Reeve – Taking Control: The Great Career Migration
Covid-19 disrupted the global labor market in unfathomable ways. Millions lost jobs or were furloughed, and those fortunate enough to stay in employment faced the daunting task of adapting to life working from home. The...
Claudia Weintraub – Shape the future by shaping the education system
Charter schools provide more than a “cafeteria” style of education. Indeed, they provide a “farm-to-table” model, where students’ passions and dedication are essential to preparing them for this century and for their future, rather than...
John Davies – Is Any Form of Energy Acceptable?
John Davies will explore the powerful journey humanity has followed on the path of ever-improving energy and how the lessons of the past should lead us to a desire for a fact-based, non-politicized, national conversation...
India Rose Matharu-Daley – The Future of Work: Millennials in Sustainable Business
India Rose Matharu-Daley believes that we can create a fairer, greener, and more prosperous future through business for good. She aspires to help solve the world’s greatest challenges, including climate change, at the nexus of...
Dr. David Pellow – Struggles for Environmental Justice in Prisons and Jails
This conversation considers the origins and evolution of the movement for environmental justice as a grassroots demand for a bold vision of democracy that emphasizes the links among human health, racial justice, and ecological sustainability.
Ezinne Okoro – Understanding the Importance of Corporate Social Advocacy, and Cultural Equality in the Workplace
At this time in history, it is clear that diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a trend. The business case is proven that these strategies should be incorporated into the fabric of every facet of...
Dr. Sarb Johal – Staying Steady: What we need for good mental health and wellbeing as we emerge from the pandemic
How do you deal with uncertainty and anxiety when your world is upended by the coronavirus pandemic? Dr. Sarb Johal, an expert in emergency management and disaster psychology, had to answer that question for an...
Prof Dr Ger Graus OBE – Children can only aspire to what they know exists
“Children can only aspire to what they know exists” is Ger Graus’s mantra and he sees his and KidZania’s approach to education and entertainment as a significant piece in the large jigsaw which portrays a...
Marco Pinter, Ph.D. – Inspiring Movement in a Sedentary Public
Movement and dance are enormously valuable for physical and mental health, yet are rarely tapped into. Dr. Pinter creates interactive artworks designed to unlock and inspire movement and has opened the new Museum of Sensory...
Melody Stanford Martin – Conflict Transformation and the Lost Art of Healthy Disagreement
In a society of seemingly unending conflict, impasse, and polarization, many of us feel our communities tearing apart at the seams. Using an anti-oppression lens, author Melody Stanford Martin offers an approach rooted in restorative...
Melissa Yamaguchi – Beyond Vision and Purpose
Having vision and purpose isn’t enough, you must take action. The four roadblocks people often unknowingly or knowingly run into cause entropy. Your mind is the biggest cause of your inaction. What if one of...
Stacey McKinnon – The Societal Duty of Businesses. Happiness, meaning, and fulfillment for your people.
Businesses are often founded to make a difference in a particular industry. However, owners do not always consider the impact they will make in the lives of the people working for them. Business owners and...
Linda Cole – Moving Beyond Extreme Poverty: Women Speak Their Development Strategies
When women become active participants in defining their development strategies, change takes place. African Women Rising has been on the frontlines working in Northern Uganda for the last 15 years, an area long-damaged by conflict...
Chris Ragland – Climate Equity & Culture: Rethinking What Makes an Environmentalist
Chris will unpack environmental justice and the need for culture change to occur simultaneously with policy changes. Re-building relationships between the natural world and communities of color, centering awareness and resiliency into the minds and...
Allegra Roth – Feeding Our Soils, Feeding Ourselves: Making Land Stewardship a Viable Livelihood
This conversation in our continuing series on Sustainability will delve into nature-based climate solutions as well as carbon farming. Allegra will help us understand the complexities and nuances of both, as they’re very big ideas...
Majora Carter – Community as Corporation: Talent Retention in Low-Status Communities
Billions of dollars go into education, training, health, and other support for low-status communities in America, yet economic stagnation persists – at times interrupted only by displacement as a result of population increases from re-urbanization...
Jennifer Hernández – Climate Justice: Essential Practices to Advance Justice and Equity in the Climate Movement
In our continuing conversation during Earth Month, we will talk with Jen Hernandez about her work with the Central Coast Climate Justice Network, and her focus on an Electric Vehicle Blueprint for Ventura County.
Michael Chiacos – The Path to Carbon Zero – How to Solve the Climate Crisis
Michael will explain to us why climate change is the existential challenge of our time and the solution is straightforward. Generate 100% clean and renewable electricity, electrify transportation, buildings, and other sectors, and drawdown excess...
Dyhia Belhabib, Ph.D. – Understanding the global importance of small-scale fisheries
Dyhia works at the intersection of sustainability and ocean criminality. She created the most comprehensive and largest database of ocean criminality in the world, Spyglass.fish. She’s a TEDx speaker on Diversity and Inclusion in science...
Lynda Weinman, Patrick Hall – Kindred Spirits, a collaboration between traditional ceramics and 3D printed clay
During the past year’s shutdown, Patrick and Lynda got busy. They collaborated on a series of pieces that combined traditional ceramics techniques and 3D clay printing. The result is that they both pushed their work...
Bishop Lamont – Standing out within an industry that keeps artists boxed into predictable molds.
With the emergence of social media, streaming platforms, and new technologies, the journey of an independent artist establishing a global reach and taking control of their destiny can be a challenging yet significantly rewarding one...
Jenna Arnold – We’re doing the wrong *work* if we’re looking for concrete answers.
Our relationships, the systems of which we operate, our attempts to understand new sets of information can sometimes (who are we kidding, all of the time!) become polarized. We have forced each other and ourselves...
Tannis Thorlakson, Ph.D. – Driving Sustainability through Data: Agriculture’s Opportunity
Everyone is talking about the data revolution, but how can data be used to drive sustainability in agriculture? Hear Tannis Thorlakson, Ph.D. talk about her experiences helping farmers and companies use the power of data...
Carole Robin, Ph.D. – Staying Connected in our new Virtual Worlds
Carole has worked with thousands of MBAs and hundreds of high-profile execs and their teams for 40+ years to increase their EQ and interpersonal effectiveness by helping them understand the difference between contact and connection....
John Seigel Boettner – Riding on the Shoulders of Giants
We will talk with John Seigel Boettner, the Santa Barbara representative of Cycling Without Age. A worldwide movement providing joy and vitality to older adults through the magic of a bicycle ride. Memories are awakened...
Sharon Allen – Providing sustainable medical expertise to vulnerable communities all over the world.
We will talk with Sharon Allen, the co-founder of World Telehealth Initiative about their mission to provide sustainable medical expertise to the world’s most vulnerable communities to build local capacity and deliver core health services,...
Jeff Steinberg – Sojourn Project: Experience history. Inspire the future
Jeff will talk about the past 20 years and through 90+ study trips to the American Deep South and Washington, D.C., how Sojourn Project has been immersing middle and high school students from diverse backgrounds...
Aria McLauchlan & Harley Cross – The Opportunity Beneath our Feet
In this highly anticipated conversation, we will discuss why our future depends on our soils; and how Land Core’s Aria and Harley work across government, research, and the private sector to leverage our political and...
Jan Rutherford – Leadership is a Design Problem
Jan Rutherford has been studying leadership since before he became a Green Beret. His exploration of this topic has led him to conversations with hundreds of leaders all over the world. We’ll tap into his...
Bree Hendrick – How COVID has changed the recruiting challenge for businesses
Bree Hendrick helps organizations find the best talent from around the country and has been doing that for years. Now with COVID’s constraints, the challenges for the workplace have multiplied. We’ll talk about how growing...
Tim Goldstein – Diversity from a Neurodistinct Perspective
While diversity in the workplace is a common idea particularly in the tech industry, Tim will relate his personal autistic discrimination experience in the tech workplace including being fired multiple times for being different.
Matt Beane – Learning to Work with Intelligent Machines
As we look to a new normal of collaborating, we’ll talk with Matt Beane, an expert in understanding the workplace. We’ll go beyond how humans interact, especially under constraints of physical distancing, et al., and...
Bittersweet Gratitude – Concert & Conversations with Creators
To close out the year and to find an appropriate way to celebrate our 10th year of TEDx in Santa Barbara we’ve asked friends to join us for a concert followed by a series of...
O.P. Almaraz – Cleaning Up After COVID
O.P. asks, “Is your building asymptomatic?” As the first restoration company in the US that is certified by the Global BioRisk Advisory Council, he knows what a clean workplace should look like. He has advice...
Jan Campbell – Finding a Vaccine for Violence
Jan has been working diligently to get in front of the crisis of domestic violence here in Santa Barbara, and working at the state level to understand and learn from the best practices of others....
Reggie Smith III, Ph.D. – The Transformational Power of Distance Learning
Distance learning brings education and training to where students or trainees are connecting their world to worldwide learning communities. This presentation will cover how all of these technologies can transform the world and foster a...
Cooper Bates – Redefining the relationship between Performance, Art, and the Audience in a Sequestered Society.
Cooper Bates produced a one-man show and since sheltering-in-place has had to figure out how to be an actor in a virtual world. We’ll talk about the role of the audience in art and the...
Sandro Galea – A Wake-Up Call for Public Health
Dr. Galea thinks about health in a very different way than the discussion we’re used to surrounding healthcare. He is thinking much bigger. In fact, he’s concerned about our collective health and the factors that...
Andreas Forsland, Tim Jin – What Did the Nonverbal Person Say to the Verbal Person?
Cognixion’s goal is to unlock speech for hundreds of millions of people worldwide affected by communication disabilities. We’ll talk with Founder and CEO Andreas Forsland and Tim Jin, a Cognixion Brainiac Council Member, exploring the...
Dr. Keith Witt – Are we at the beginning of something extraordinary?
Dr. Keith has a unique point of view of our culture. He believes that our collective worldview is fraying at the edges, and the process of change we are all experiencing is existentially scary and...
Scott Mann – It’s time to bridge trust and restore social capital.
Scott believes if we’re going to hand this country off to our children better than we found it, we will have to overcome the distrust and disengagement in this country by bridging beyond our groups....
John Greathouse – Looking Around The Corner
John Greathouse has been studying entrepreneurship since graduating with an MBA from Wharton. He suggests that new challenges will arrive from today’s solutions and are unanticipated, creating entrepreneurs’ opportunities.
Kerri Murray – Rethinking the Role of Shelter
All of our lives are being affected by Coronavirus in some way, but those living in refugee camps or in makeshift settlements are particularly vulnerable. Shelter is a critical need for people who are simply...
Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP – No one knows your child better than you do.
As one of our leading pediatricians, Dr. Gordon suggests there are too many unknowns about COVID to guide long-term decision-making. Recent news from the American Pediatric Society suggests that children and teenagers are not immune,...
Donna Weng Friedman – Pandemic Empowerment: Finding Resilience in Music and Stories
In collaboration with WQXR, Donna Weng Friedman created Heritage and Harmony, a virtual concert that is both a recognition of the tremendous contributions to the musical canon by classical musicians of Asian descent and a...
Kyra Gaunt, Ph.D – Agree to be offended, then stay connected.
In 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois asked the question, “How does it feel to be a problem?” Day-to-day many of us witness and tolerate marginalization. In this critical juncture in our history, Dr. Gaunt shares lessons...
Lisa Biggs – Empowerment through Education
Lisa Biggs’ day job has her helping educators around the globe understand how maps tell stories about culture, history, and current events. Her passion project is taking storytelling skills and using them to help children.
Shannon Kenny – Humanizing Technology: Feminine Native Traditions and Startup Ideologies
Prontopia is putting the people back in the equation because human services are tragically hard to come by in the digital age. We cannot dismiss the complexities and interdependencies of people, and the earth, as...
Mariel Hemingway – Lives at Stake: Suicide and Mental Health During COVID
More people have suffered at the hands of depression and attempts of suicide in the state of California alone than even coronavirus.
Lisa Jones – COVID-19 and Race: Double Emergencies for Women of Color
Women of color face unique health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. This disproportionate impact on women of color should not be dealt with by women and their families alone.
Than Baardson – Accelerating the Fight Against Human Trafficking and its Root Causes
Human trafficking occurs when a person is forced into service against their will—usually forced work or prostitution. Often one person controls another by exploiting a vulnerability. Than’s organization, UNSEEN, is working through collaboration across a...
Simone Akila Ruskamp, Krystle Farmer Sieghart – Healing Justice
Formed in response to the destabilizing impacts of racism and anti-blackness, we aspire to build resilient communities for the African diaspora and other marginalized people along the Central Coast.
Dr. Sangwon Suh, Ph.D. – COVID-19 and the Value of Actionable Information
A sustainability scientist draws a parallel between environmental problems and the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the importance of rapid testing, tracing, and isolation.
Matthew Bershadker – Pets, Poverty and the Pandemic
As the head of the ASPCA, Matt has a deep understanding of the effect of poverty on our nation’s animals. Couple that insight with the Pandemic and you’ll look forward to hearing about what he...
Dr. Harry Grammer – Breaking Down Privilege
Harry was on the 2018 TEDxSantaBarbara stage and returns to talk about the confluence of COVID and Social Justice. We’ll discuss understanding the transformation that needs to happen as we come to grips with the...
Dr. Wizdom Powell, Ph.D., MPH – It’s time for radical healing
Dr. Powell will discuss how the combined impact of COVID-19 and racism is brewing a lethal force of mental health syndemics — or the social patterning of co-occurring disease conditions. COVID-19 has all the ingredients...
Michael Lewis – The Future of Retail
Michael has a long history of innovation in the retail industry. His current project is using technology to monitor what’s going on within a physical store to understand how merchants can make shopping safe and...
Geoff Green – Philanthropy as a Radical Act
The role of philanthropy during the COVID Crisis. Geoff makes conversations about philanthropy fascinating because he is fascinated by it. While now may seem the wrong time to ask for donations, Geoff makes a case...
Dr. Yonette Thomas – Is racism a public health crisis?
Health encompasses mental, social, economic, and educational success and stability – all of which are eroded by structural racism. If US institutions want to combat racism like the public health issue it is, they need...
Seth Streeter – Leaping forward into deferred dreams
Leaping forward into deferred dreams How to design and ignite your 3.0 life Seth Streeter was on the TEDxSantaBarbara stage in 2016, talking about a new way to think about how we manage our money...
Garrett TeSlaa – Rethinking Public Safety
Rethinking Public Safety Peace isn’t the absence of crime, it’s the absence of pain. Garrett addressed many issues related to public safety in this 30-minute conversation. We began with misconceptions the general public has about...
Sigrid Wright – The pandemic did not fix our climate problem
Rethinking how we come back online. Sigrid has a challenging role as the CEO of the Community Environmental Council. She’s thinking about emissions issues, protecting our food system, including how our ecosystem will recover after...
James Joyce III – COFFEE WITH A BLACK GUY
James says we’ve been having conversations about race in Santa Barbara for four years, starting with his Coffee with a Black Guy series. James joins us to talk about the community reaction to the senseless...
Noah benShea – TEN TRUTHS TO GET YOU THROUGH TOUGH TIMES
Noah benShea is one of North America’s most respected and beloved poet philosophers. He is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated, Best Selling author of 25 books. He is a scholar and theologian who has spoken to numerous...
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