Theme: Anything But Normal

There is the normal way most people think about and interact with life. Then there is the way instigators, disruptors, troublemakers, and change agents do it. Those are the stories we highlight.

Normal Theater
209 W North St
Normal, Illinois, 61761
United States

Alex Bruton

Innovation facilitator + professor + designer + unicyclist

Dr. Alex Bruton helps people (learn to) innovate. He’s spoken around the world, including an invited talk at Google, and he's been recognized as the Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year in Canada. He's been an engineer, a manager, a several time entrepreneur, and a tenured professor - among other exciting roles - and today he's the founder and president of a practical open education and innovation design firm called The Innographer that helps people become more innovative and entrepreneurial. He invites you to join him in transforming the way society thinks about innovation and in making it accessible to anyone, anywhere.

Deborah Halperin

Educator + non-profit + GSDer

Deborah Halperin is the Director of the Action Research Center at Illinois Wesleyan University which connects the campus and the community in innovative, practical, and meaningful ways. She uses her 25 years of experience in non-profits to create transformative learning experiences for her students as they practice project management skills from ideation through implementation. Deborah is dedicated to mentoring young leaders and comes alongside her students as they learn to come alongside communities. On campus, Deborah teaches community-based research and grant writing (where we write real grants for real non-profits to raise real money). In the community, she serves on numerous Boards and coalitions, provides strategic planning consultation, and conducts research on non-profit impact and infrastructure.

Doan Winkel

Organizer

Dr. Irum Tahir

Chiropractor

Dr. Irum Tahir is an international speaker, business coach and Chiropractor. She was honored as one of the top 100 Entrepreneurs under 30 years of age in the United States by the Obama administration. Dr. Tahir has been invited to speak at both the White House and the United Nations on Entrepreneurship. Dr. Tahir earned her Doctor of Chiropractic degree from New York Chiropractic College and built her businesses shortly after graduation. She was named Woman of the Year within the Chiropractic profession in 2014. Whether it’s coaching individuals and businesses, or speaking to audiences around the globe, her mission is to transform limiting beliefs that hold people back from having a greater level of success, health and happiness. www.drirumtahir.com

Elisabeth Cardiello

Storyteller + coffee + women empowerment

Narrator, nostalgist and native New Yorker, Elisabeth Cardiello’s first product hit shelves when she was just a teenager, so it’s no surprise that even during her post-business school tenure at Credit Suisse and a $3 billion hedge fund, she was constantly pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors. This will be Elisabeth’s second time gracing the TEDx stage. At TEDxFultonStreet, she shared the awe-inspiring story of her coffee company and since then has become a transatlantic innovation and leadership development consultant, inspiring individuals, corporations and organizations to think differently. She is passion personified and has been featured by AMEX, GQ, NBC, NY Media and many others. Raised to live by the phrase “what the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve” and fueled by the power of legacy (and really good coffee) Elisabeth is on a mission to instill that mindset and confidence in the next generation of young women leaders (and anyone else who wants to realize their potential).

Jackie Boone

International digital marketing + adventurer + coach

Jacqueline Boone is an International Digital Marketing Consultant and the Creator of 6 Months to Live, a blog, web series, and online publication that inspires people to create meaningful lives they love. She specializes in working with mission-driven companies and entrepreneurs that want to make a profound impact on a global scale and collaborates with them to create digital marketing and business strategies to expand quickly. Her clients have described her as a walking catalyst, lightning in a bottle, and even a cheerleader for the world. Her extensive international experience in strategy, marketing, and communications includes working for multinationals & publications such as Volt, Cisco, Aramark, Bel Power, Instyle magazine, and several others. She frequently speaks and teaches all over the world for leading organizations such as WeWork, IBM, and NHE. Her first book, Heart Language, will be making its debut in 2016. Twitter Handle: @6monthstolive

Jeff Havens

Comedian + corporate trainer

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vanderbilt University, Jeff has quickly become one of the most in-demand keynote speakers in North America. His truly unprecedented ability to deliver high-quality education in an undeniably entertaining way has earned him dozens of repeat clients, all of whom appreciate Jeff’s insistence that education is the only way that we improve at anything and that we’ll all improve better and faster if we enjoy the learning process. By combining the content of the traditional presentation with the entertainment value of a comedy show, Jeff has found enthusiastic audiences in government, academia, small businesses and several Fortune 50 companies, all while still being one of the youngest members of the professional speaking circuit.

Jeffrey Stamp

Idea machine + storyteller

Jeffrey Stamp guides people to expand their discovery mindset so that they can see the world with purposeful possibility. His goal is to help anyone sharpen their creative competency in order to impact the world around them.

Jessica Tenuta

Designer + branding + philosopher

Jessica is a Co-Founder and Head of Design for Packback. The Packback team started the company in their junior year of college, after they realized that the cost of their education was at an all-time high, but the value of their education was at an all-time low. Packback helps students get affordable access to their materials, while giving them a safe space to be curious and ask BIG questions through online book-based study groups. As a designer, Jessica specializes in the art of asking the right questions to uncover the real problem that needs to be solved. Jessica has experience building compelling brands for startups, from both the perspective of a founder and from that of operational Venture Capital. As a brand designer at both Lightbank and Listen Ventures, she helped build the brands and user experiences for some of Chicago's top startups. Jessica was recently named as one of Chicago's "25 Startup Founders under 25" by Chicago Inno.

John Vozenilek

Doctor + professor + administrator

As the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Simulation at Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center, "Dr. Voz" provides central coordination and oversight for OSF HealthCare undergraduate, graduate, interdisciplinary, and continuing medical education programs. Under his direction, OSF HealthCare and University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria has created additional organizational capabilities and infrastructure, building resources for educators who wish to use innovative learning technologies for teaching and assessment. Dr. Vozenilek is actively involved in the academic programs across traditional departmental boundaries and in clinical practice at OSF. In addition, Dr. Vozenilek serves as faculty teaching in formal programs in engineering, healthcare quality, and safety. Prior to his appointment at Jump, Dr. Vozenilek was the Director of Simulation Technology and Immersive Learning program for the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

Kali Lewis

Student

Kali is a recent college graduate who wants to bridge psychology with design and the scientific community with the creative community. In her years studying psychology and in her time abroad, Kali began to recognize a number of disparities. Why do people gravitate towards creative work and stray from scientific work? How do we design education around the way students learn best? Why do we continue to practice centuries-old teaching styles when we also seem to agree on the need for change in education? In an effort to understand these disparities and develop technical skills to help in the designing of solutions, Kali is living out a year of experiential learning as a student at the Experience Institute. From that year she aims to continue learning, exploring, and creating structures that bridge unlike worlds to redefine the limits of each.

Ken Myszka

Chefrepreneur + restauranteur + farmer

Ken Myszka of Downs, IL first discovered his interest in hospitality during high school. Vocational cooking classes through school helped to develop Ken’s skill set. Ken’s teachers recognized his natural ability and urged him to enroll at the Culinary Institute of America in NY. After graduating, he honed in on the business side of the food industry by pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Living in Vegas provided Ken with opportunity to work in elite kitchens of renowned hotels and armed him with impressive culinary experience and a vision for a sustainable farm and restaurant. Today Ken operates Epiphany Farms Hospitality Group with this mission: to create a diversified, pasture based, food system that blends beyond organic farming with impeccable food. Today Ken is proud to call himself a Chefarmer™, operating a “beyond-organic” farm in symbiosis with two nationally recognized restaurants.

Kim Behrens Kaufman

Journalist + Public Speaker

Kim Behrens Kaufman believes in the power of story. A communications specialist, media freelancer, and public speaker, Kim is passionate about finding the true purpose of a message and sharing it with others. Kim’s experience writing and delivering stories transcends multiple mediums including television, radio, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and websites. A former television news anchor and reporter, Kim’s storytelling has appeared on CNN, as well as CBS and Fox affiliates. Kim has received multiple awards for her work, and is eager to help others find their creative drive. Speaking of creative, Kim’s career began at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida where she made magic as an entertainer, tour guide, host and storyteller.

Lisa Bodell

CEO + change champion

Lisa Bodell, CEO of futurethink, is on a mission to create space for change and innovation in organizations using the power of simplicity.

Liz Flores

Artist

Liz Flores is a self-taught artist inspiring others to find their life's work through small steps of bravery, and consistent action that comes from the heart. She paints, writes and creates out of her West Loop studio in Chicago.Through her writing and painting, she shares the journey of creative recovery, vulnerability and her own small steps of bravery that began nearly two years ago when she decided she was made for more. These steps have led to featured group shows and becoming a contributing artist and Community Catalyst for The World We Want art movement. When she’s not in her studio experimenting, you might find her running through the international terminal at ORD, in search of a mural location.

Michael Luchies

Entrepreneurial Writer + Storyteller

As an experienced writer and entrepreneur, Michael Luchies is on a passionate quest to help others. Michael has a rich history of work-related adventures, including managing a national non-profit focused on helping college entrepreneurs, starting numerous ventures, working with companies from marine refrigeration manufacturers to the largest social networking company for teenagers, and writing over 1,000 published articles for himself and clients. He's the founder of TrepRep, a content strategy and creation agency for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Michael is dedicated to sharing stories unselfishly as a storyteller and ghostwriter for entrepreneurs. He uses his background and education in the field of entrepreneurship to help bring life and viability into the ideas of others, and can often be heard from several rooms away due to his unmuted and unfiltered enthusiasm.

Mike Veny

Drummer + mental health expert

After suffering from a devastating mental health breakdown in August of 2011, Mike made the decision to use his speaking and drumming skills to serve others. As a person who painfully struggles with mental health challenges every day, he is committed to transforming the stigma surrounding mental health into strength. After suffering from a devastating mental health breakdown in August of 2011, Mike made the decision to use his speaking and drumming skills to serve others. As a person who painfully struggles with mental health challenges every day, he is committed to transforming the stigma surrounding mental health into strength.

Nicole Loftus

Entrepreneur + innovator + investor

Entrepreneur Nicole Loftus disrupted a $20 billion industry and built the 8th fastest growing company in the country. Nicole’s difficult experiences with venture capitalists triggered her next obsession – a better way to fund entrepreneurs. This TEDx Talk shares the first discovery in Nicole’s journey. Loftus is an author, speaker and a frequent guest faculty member at Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern University. Nicole has served as a mentor to many entrepreneurs, some through The Clinton Foundation and The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).