Ideas change everything

Challenging the perception of belonging

35,864 plays|

Kathy Vinokurov |

TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

• November 2018

What happens when you're Russian, grow up in Israel and work for an international pharmaceutical company in Germany? You end up with a multinational background that may be difficult for your peers to understand or relate to on a personal level. Materials scientist Kathy Vinokurov believes that we can break down these cultural barriers — using something as simple as a homemade cake.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

What happens when you're Russian, grow up in Israel and work for an international pharmaceutical company in Germany? You end up with a multinational background that may be difficult for your peers to understand or relate to on a personal level. Materials scientist Kathy Vinokurov believes that we can break down these cultural barriers — using something as simple as a homemade cake.

Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

About the speaker

Kathy Vinokurov

Culture collaborator

A chemist by education, Kathy Vinokurov joined Merck, KGaA Darmstadt, Germany in June 2016 after graduating from her PhD studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As a member of the Organic Light Emitting Devices team in Performance Materials, her work involves developing complex organic and inorganic structures with different properties. Previously, she researched and worked in environmental chemistry, with a focus on catalytic chemistry, and in material science, with a focus on quantum materials. Vinokurov believes that science today must be multidisciplinary.

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Read more about the TED Institute