Theme: Conflict & Violence

TEDxXavierUniversity is a student-led, collaborative experience that inspires innovative thinking, moving others to purposeful action.

Conaton Learning Commons, Kennedy Auditorium
3800 Victory Parkway Cincinnati, Ohio 45207
Cincinnati, Ohio, 45207
United States

Matthew Dooley

Master of Ceremonies - Matthew is a Cincinnati OH native residing in Newport KY whose life is about innovating, connecting and giving back. He has quickly become a go-to for social media expertise, product or service innovation and was recently named a Great Leader Under 40 by Venue Magazine. Matthew is the founder and CEO of dooley media, a Cincinnati-based agency that leverages social technologies to ignite ongoing, positive word of mouth about clients’ brands. The firm currently services a growing list of small and medium-sized clients, including Montgomery Inn and Esther Price, and their success was recently highlighted in a Soapbox Media article. In addition to his social media agency, Matthew is the co-founder and COO of Kapture, which is debuting a wearable tech device in 2014. Kapture is the audio-recording wristband that allows you to easily save and share unexpected moments. The recording technology ensures that the last sixty seconds of conversation is always being cached and ready to archive with the touch of the wrist. He and his business partner recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and also closed their “seed round” of funding. Their product has been featured in Vogue, TechCrunch, CNET, USA Today, and Mashable. Matthew is also teaching social media to MBA students at Xavier University’s Williams College of Business. Combining his knowledge and his experience in this emerging field, Matthew developed the curriculum from scratch and is especially proud of the interactive nature of the course and the lineup of guest speakers and participating companies. His course was recently featured in a Soapbox Media article. Matthew’s passion for social media also plays out in a number of other ways. He actually got his start in practicing social media by helping various local not-for-profit organizations, all of which he continues to support. Matthew is also a monthly contributor to the technology/social media column of Cincinnati Profile, an online lifestyle publication for professional men in Greater Cincinnati. In order to stay on top of the latest, Matthew is an active member and moderator for Cincinnati Social Media, the largest social networking group in Cincinnati (over 4,000 members).

Marvin Abrinica

"Storytelling is community" - Marvin is a social entrepreneur, design thinker, dad, and storyteller. He’s gained a broad range of skills at Procter & Gamble over 16+ years, taking on roles in Brand Management, Purchasing, and now as the HR Leader for R&D Recruiting. “It’s taught me a great deal about running a business, building a team of talented people, & doing good in the community,” he says. Marvin is a writer who got his BA in English from the University of Cincinnati in 1998, and also received his MBA in 2002. He’s passionate about innovation and is a design thinking facilitator. Marvin designs these experiential workshops based on skills he learned as a storyteller. He says, “Business is just like a story, where a team must go on a journey to overcome a big challenge and gain a reward.” Marvin’s greatest passion, however, is developing people as a corporate trainer, coach & mentor. As the son of Filipino immigrants who struggled with English as a second language, he found his mission to serve through his writing & communication skills. He teaches courses in strategy development, leadership storytelling, & effective presentations. In 2011, he founded Thrivera, an education NGO that empowers people to harness personal storytelling for authentic leadership and community development. Dr. Tammy Brown Tammy is a writer, educator, and artist. She earned her B.A. in International History from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in American History and African Diasporic Studies from Princeton University. As Assistant Professor of Black World Studies and History at Miami University of Ohio, Tammy’s teaching, writing, and service to her community are connected through her interest in art, technology, and biography as a methodological approach. The youngest of four children born in Cincinnati, OH, to Marion and Stephen Brown, Tammy comes from a family of educators, artists, and entrepreneurs who value life-long learning, spirituality, and public engagement. Her mother is a teacher who writes creative non-fiction and her father is a reverend and self-taught carpenter. Tammy says, “Years of watching my father’s work pushed me to think of what I could create with my own hands.” She builds her academic and artistic repertoire upon this foundation. Dr. Brown’s research, writing, and art range from historical studies to abstract paintings and multimedia poetry. In her literary and visual art, popular culture icons and plantation crops (e.g. sugar, cotton, indigo, rice, and tobacco) repeat throughout like a refrain—reminding the reader/viewer of the complicated history of slavery, colonialism and economic globalization that shapes our world today. Her current historical book project, City of Islands: West Indian Immigrants in New York, explores the lives of six different West Indian intellectuals. In this manuscript, Tammy argues that biography, historical context, and civic engagement provide a framework for understanding how West Indian intellectuals leveraged their African diasporic identities to both challenge racism and push for the reform of American democracy. Tammy’s academic and creative work have appeared in Callaloo, Southern Cultures, and an anthology titled African Americans on Television. Her selected awards include a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, the Altman Faculty Fellowship and the Heanon Wilkins Faculty Fellowship at Miami University of Ohio, the Diversity Projects Development Grant from Lehman College, writing fellowships at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at Princeton University, and the Mellon Mentored Fellowship at Harvard University.

Beth Nowak

"Helping our littlest helpers" - While teaching Kindergarten for 12 years, Beth Nowak observed the fact that young children are innately altruistic and, as a result, was inspired to create Giving Families, an online resource providing parents with fun and easy activities designed to educate, engage and empower children through shared moments of giving. In just two short years, her work with Giving Families has earned her an Honorable Mention in Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education's Compassion and Technology Competition; recognition as a Finalist in Duke Energy’s Children’s Museum Difference Maker Awards; the Alumnae of Excellence Award as a Leader of Promise from the Girl Scouts of America; and the title of Best Social Entrepreneur in Grow America’s She Can Pitch competition. Beth regularly volunteers at her church, serves on the Advisory Board for Orange Financial, and maintains memberships with Green Umbrella and the Junior League of Cincinnati when she’s not spending time with her amazing husband, Andy and two beautiful children, Harper and Frankie.

Georgine Getty

"Christmas is an arms race" - Georgine started working with people experiencing homelessness in 2001 at First Step Home, a drug and alcohol treatment program for homeless women and their children. After that, she served for six years as the Executive Director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, a social-action agency focused on advocacy and education around homeless issues. Georgine has been the director of Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati (IHNGC) since March of 2009. IHNGC is an emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness that works in partnership with the greater Cincinnati faith community. Georgine is on the board of the Homeless Clearinghouse and Human Services Chamber and is a past board member of the Cincinnati Health Network, the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio (COHHIO), the Affordable Housing Advocates (AHA), the Cincinnati Interfaith Worker’s Center, and the Ohio Coalition of Homeless Advocates (OCHA). She graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with bachelor degrees in both Philosophy and Religion and received her Master’s Degree from the University of Cincinnati in Women’s Studies. She is actively involved with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and enjoys reading, writing and discussing ideas. Georgine lives with her husband James, 3 dogs and 2 cats in Northside.

Dr. Victor Garcia

"A system of Violence" - Dr. Garcia graduated from West Point, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, studied pediatric surgery under C. Everett Koop, and was Walter Reed’s Chief of General/Pediatric Surgery. Victor founded Cincinnati Children’s Trauma Center and led the effort to establish the country’s first Pediatric Weight Loss Surgery Center. For his ongoing work to eliminate childhood health and social disparities, he has received numerous awards and commendations which include the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award and the National Jefferson Award. Dr. Garcia has an uncompromising belief in the power of systems thinking and stakeholder engagement to solve society’s most intractable problems.

Lyden Foust

"Reverse-engineering war" - An ethnographer by profession and designer by passion, Lyden is on year two of a ten-year mission to build a new future through design. As a Research and Innovation Consultant, Lyden travels around the world helping companies re-imagine the future by re-connecting them with the people they serve. Fascinated with innovation and frustrated by a lack of human-centered products, he began researching the origin of innovations. What he discovered were three patterns that are as surprising as they are simple for bringing ideas to life. He regularly leads design research and innovation workshops for fortune 500 companies and has been recognized as a top 20 innovation blogger by Innovationexcellence.com for his essays blending design, history, and story. In eighth grade, he pitched a no hitter.

Dr. Tammy Brown

"Art is a weapon for social change" - Tammy is a writer, educator, and artist. She earned her B.A. in International History from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in American History and African Diasporic Studies from Princeton University. As Assistant Professor of Black World Studies and History at Miami University of Ohio, Tammy’s teaching, writing, and service to her community are connected through her interest in art, technology, and biography as a methodological approach. The youngest of four children born in Cincinnati, OH, to Marion and Stephen Brown, Tammy comes from a family of educators, artists, and entrepreneurs who value life-long learning, spirituality, and public engagement. Her mother is a teacher who writes creative non-fiction and her father is a reverend and self-taught carpenter. Tammy says, “Years of watching my father’s work pushed me to think of what I could create with my own hands.” She builds her academic and artistic repertoire upon this foundation. Dr. Brown’s research, writing, and art range from historical studies to abstract paintings and multimedia poetry. In her literary and visual art, popular culture icons and plantation crops (e.g. sugar, cotton, indigo, rice, and tobacco) repeat throughout like a refrain—reminding the reader/viewer of the complicated history of slavery, colonialism and economic globalization that shapes our world today. Her current historical book project, City of Islands: West Indian Immigrants in New York, explores the lives of six different West Indian intellectuals. In this manuscript, Tammy argues that biography, historical context, and civic engagement provide a framework for understanding how West Indian intellectuals leveraged their African diasporic identities to both challenge racism and push for the reform of American democracy. Tammy’s academic and creative work have appeared in Callaloo, Southern Cultures, and an anthology titled African Americans on Television. Her selected awards include a postdoctoral fellowship at The University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, the Altman Faculty Fellowship and the Heanon Wilkins Faculty Fellowship at Miami University of Ohio, the Diversity Projects Development Grant from Lehman College, writing fellowships at the Center for the Study of Religion and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at Princeton University, and the Mellon Mentored Fellowship at Harvard University.