Theme: Think Beyond

TEDxTottenham aims to give a platform for the passionate and driven people of the community to tell their story, to inspire “tottenhamites” to share their love of the area and take ownership of what is truly their community.

Haringey Sixth Form Centre
White Hart Lane
Tottenham
London, London, City of, N17 8HR
United Kingdom

Ballet Black

Ballet Black is a professional ballet company for international dancers of black and Asian descent, which aims to bring ballet to a more culturally diverse audience by celebrating black and Asian dancers in ballet. The ultimate goal is to see a fundamental change in the number of black and Asian dancers in mainstream ballet companies, making that vision wonderfully unnecessary.

House Gospel Choir

The late great Frankie Knuckles once called house music: "church for people that have fallen from grace." Anyone who has been caught up in the rapture of a true house classic can testify to its power to unify and uplift. House Gospel Choir is the place where spirituality and the euphoria of the dancefloor come together. Founded by Creative Producer & vocalist Natalie Maddix, HGC is a voice for those that can sing... but don't always know the words! It's a home for anyone who has ever found themselves lost in music at a festival, or in a night club... or on the tube on the way to work.

Alain "fusion" Clapham

Alain ‘Fusion’ Clapham is a firm believer in the alchemy of creativity. Raised by a West Indian father, keen to instil the importance of traditional education and a Filipino mother, sympathetic to his artistic leanings, his childhood in Tottenham, North London was an exercise in walking the line. Set to a backdrop of street skating, Dungeons & Dragons role-play, cartridge games and DJing for local hip hop crews; it was only a matter of time before he would create his ‘Fusion’ alter ego as a means to makes sense of his kaleidoscopic experiences. Today, he is MD of Industry In The Streets (IITS), a creative consultancy that challenges organisations and schools to re-imagine how to engage with youth creativity. His work draws on a deep well of experience in media, music and education.

Alim Kamara

Following his calling to deliver storytelling helped Alim through the trials in life. Relaying stories that mirror actual real world obstacles was therapeutic for himself as well as his audience. In his own words: "Storytelling allows us to create our own free will, using imagery and conclusions. It probably saved my life." The wind is speaking and Alim is translating it the best way he knows how. Storytelling, Rhythm and poetry have transported Alim to different countries and has spoken to thousands of young people, from Canada to Dubai to Dubai, Holland, Canada, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and The USA. Just like the Griots from his past, Alim leaves his audience captivated with all his performances and craving to not only enjoy his stories; but to learn, relate and elevate. "Great storytelling is ultimately about capturing elegant context to the complexity and the nuances of life."

Allison Rowe

Allison is professionally, perpetually, moonstruck. She is a designer and engineer who dreams up fantastical futures and creates radical technologies and experiences at the horizon between conceivable and conceptual, exploring how we might live healthier and happier—perhaps in unexpected ways. In a past life, Allison developed medical devices for peadiatric surgery, managed the global rollout of healthcare software, and helped launch a hardware startup making female-centric sex toys. But two years ago she turned away from a respectable engineering career to chase after bigger fish, and she recently completed a double master’s program that mashes up design, cutting edge tech, and entrepreneurial naivety, all while jet-setting between New York, Tokyo, and London (Global Innovation Design, at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art).

Benjamin Southworth

Benjamin Southworth is the co-founder of 3-Beards, an events company that celebrates early stage entrepreneurship through events, community building and networking. He was formerly the Deputy CEO of Tech City UK, working with Number 10 to deliver policies, strategies and partnerships to best support young, dynamic, creatively lead business to succeed. He is an occasional musician, poet and painter, he’s currently an Entrepreneur in Residence for Techstars.

Chardine Taylor-Stone

Chardine Taylor-Stone is a writer, musician and activist. She was the program coordinator for Black British Feminism: Past, Present and Futures 2015. Her DJ collection spans records from the 1940s to 1990s and she has played at festivals and clubs at home and abroad. Her politics and activism are inspired by her experiences as a Black British working class woman having found her voice through alternative subcultures like Punk Rock and Hip Hop.

Dave Birss

Dave Birss has been working at the intersection of creativity, technology and business for years. And as a restlessly curious individual finds it hard to do just one thing. In the past he’s been an advertising creative director, patented inventor, musician, graffiti artist, illustrator, poet, radio presenter, nude model, busker, stand up comedian and voiceover artist. Many of these things at the same time. He now works for The Drum as their Editor at Large and Head of TV. Last year that involved him writing, directing and presenting the TV documentary series ‘The Day Before Tomorrow’. And currently he’s working on Do It Day, which encourages the marketing industry to focus a day of their time on making the world a better place.

Katy Dawe

Katy Dawe is t he Co­Founder and Director of charity A RT AGAINST KNIVES. Their award winning creative programmes reduce violent crime; supporting young people and their communities to enable lasting positive change. Katy set up ART AGAINST KNIVES in response to the unprovoked stabbing of her best friend and fellow Central St Martin’s student, Oliver Hemsley in 2008, leaving him wheelchair bound. Her reaction was to listen to the communities worst affected by violent culture, and understand first hand the root causes, channeling these learnings into action. The charity is fuelled by Katy’s belief that every young person can build a life they want through creativity rather than violence. In response she has been successful at mobilising some of London’s most neglected communities through creativity, offering young people the opportunity to be resilient, ambitious and confident in their own futures.

Kenny Imafidon

Kenny Imafidon is a political commentator, social entrepreneur and a campaigner on socio-economic issues affecting young people in the UK. He is also the author of The Kenny Reports. 

Kenny is the co-founder & director of ClearView Research Ltd and is currently a trustee of the British Youth Council. In 2014, Kenny was acknowledged by Rare Rising Stars as the most outstanding black student in the UK.

Mikkel Rasmussen

Mikkel B. Rasmussen, one of the founding partners of ReD Associates, is an expert in innovation and business strategy. As the director of ReD Associates Europe, he works closely with the top management of some of Europe’s most forward-looking companies, including Adidas, Lego and Novo Nordisk. His work has led to several breakthrough technologies and products in the markets for toys, sporting goods and health care. In his practice at ReD, Rasmussen has pioneered new thinking on how to make social science methodology practical, creative and effective in business. His work focuses on helping companies create and implement a direction for the future and figure out where and how to focus innovation. Rasmussen is a well-known keynote speaker and provocateur on innovation, business creativity and the practical use of social science. He’s on the board of Copenhagen Clean Tech, numerous startups, and several design policy and management firms.

Professor Mark Bishop

Professor J. Mark Bishop is Director of TCIDA (the Tungsten Centre for Intelligent Data Analytics) and Professor of Cognitive Computing. Under the aegis of Cognitive Computing Mark's research spans Artificial Intelligence - its theory and applications - and the Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Mark has published over 170 articles and two books alongside running research projects with total funding in excess of four million pounds. His most recent joint venture with Tungsten Corporation saw him secure £1.6million of private capital to fund TCIDA.

Seema Chandwani

Seema is a lifelong Tottenham resident and a Youth Worker by Profession. More recently Seema has moved into politics, spending the past few years campaigning for a variety of national charities. She led the London-wide 'Wall of Silence' project with the Met Police exploring why some victims and witnesses were reluctant to report crime to the police. She has campaigned for better work-place policies for people who encounter stalking and has worked alongside MPs and Lords to challenge decisions placing people's personal safety at risk, including reduction of street lighting across the UK and changes in Taxi and Private Hire legislation. Seema attributes her sense of community development and social justice to growing up and living in Tottenham. She describes it as 'a daily education on constantly growing to be a better a person'. She is a long suffering Spurs fan, a self confessed Twitter addict and her ideal day off is spending hours in Poundshops.

Tunde Okewale

Tunde Okewale is an award wining barrister, social commentator and champion for diversity and representation of the disaffected. Raised on a council estate in Hackney, East London he is the eldest of four children and was the first person in his family to attend university and obtain a degree. As director of the ‘From Boyhood to Manhood Foundation’, Tunde was awarded a meritorious scholarship to attend bar school where he would excel academically.