Theme: Dare to Fail

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Emil Isac
Cluj-Napoca, Cluj
Romania

Adrian Covaci

Adrian has had two different mindsets with which he’s looked at the learning process and at the way he sets goals. They come with a few stories about how a kid copes (or not) with the fear of failure and how it makes him try (or not) his best. Currently, Adrian is a member of YouthBank and Learnity. YouthBank is a fund raised by high school students, for other high school students, through fundraising events. The money collected is being invested in youth projects. Learnity is a learning community for high school students, which will grow to become the first alternative democratic high school in the country. Both have had a major impact on his story.

Alin Fetiţa

Alin is a dynamic and effective leader with over 20 years’ experience in a variety of roles in different sectors (healthcare, food; FMCG, transport, engineering, construction; industrial production; management consulting) and diverse business cultures (American, British, French, Indian, Italian, Czech, Romanian). He has a consistent record of delivering extraordinary results in growth, revenue, operational performance and profitability with different companies, small and large organizations. Seen as a development specialist, capable of resolving multiple and complex issues (sales, marketing, operational, financial, human resources, logistic), Alin is able to utilize deep analysis, team and market approach to drive organizational improvements and implementation of best practices. Throughout his career, he gained solid experience in a variety of positions, with increasing responsibilities, from sales representative to CEO.

Alin Vaida

Starting with his high school years, Alin got involved in projects that focus on giving back to the community and thus discovered his passion for organizing events. At the age of 18, he started Miraje Festival, a cultural event dedicated to young people with disabilities, who are passionate about music, theater and dance. In 2009, he organized Ufest90, a 3 days event that marked 90 years from the founding of the Universitatea Cluj Football Club. When he was 22, he organized the inauguration event of the Cluj Arena Stadium. In 2012 he joined Fapte and started Jazz in the Park.The festival aims at bringing the people from the community together, and promotes culture. In 2014, the festival was voted one of the best 10 small festivals in Europe at the Europe Festival Awards. With an experience of 9 years in event management, he is one of the people in the community that managed to prove that young people are indeed a resource for community development and changing mentalities.

Andi Vanca

Andi was born in Braşov, on a rainy November day. He was the quiet and shy kid for the first part of his life. In March 2008, after a crazy night spent in Cluj, he decided he wanted to be a student there. The plan was simple: get admitted to the Communication & PR department at the ‘College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences’, get hired in an advertising agency and win a Cannes Lion. So, he sabotages his admission in Braşov (just to be sure), becomes a student at the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj and lives his first college year in a dorm. It took a little bit of luck and the entire Universe conspiring in order for him to meet some amazing and visionary people, who were about to start a project called Booha College. From there followed the unconventional Boiler Events, the legendary Electric Castle and the newest kid on the block, Electric City. It was only a matter of time and lots of passion for this young bloke to have it all by the age of 26.

Andreea Liana Buzea

During 12 years of civic and social projects, Liana had the honor, but sometimes the challenge as well, to work with passionate people, equally dedicated to the cause, but also very different from her. Together they have organized clean-ups in protected areas, informative campaigns on environmental protection themes in universities and high schools, a campaign to raise the awareness of the members of the Romanian Parliament with regards to urban green spaces, and mobilized 200.000 people for the first one-day long country clean-up – „Let’s Do It, Romania!” 2010. In her free time, Liana enjoys writing, jogging, practicing fitness or tai chi, as well as watching documentaries on astronomy, psychology or spirituality.

Avram Manea

Ever since college, Avram has tried to bring something new and better to his profession. But something new can only come once you know well both the past and the present, so he didn’t rush into developing any idea until he realized in which direction he wanted to grow. The chosen path was maxilla-facial surgery and implantology. Consequently, he started developing a dental implant he had imagined many years ago, an idea which resurfaced frequently in the present, due to the necessity of its existence in practice. Avram and his partner thought they could improve something which is good, but not perfect, by going one step closer to nature. Granted the existence of an optimal framework for development and a very competitive team, Avram is convinced that this implant, as well as other ideas they might have, will get to be put into practice and have a real impact in their field and among the patients who will benefit from them.

Bogdan Grigore

Bogdan Grigore is an experienced trainer and speaker, delivering high quality trainings for over 9 years. Nowadays, he’s a managing partner at Improvizaţie.ro, the first Romanian company offering business-applied improvisation trainings designed to develop people’s abilities (teams and companies included). Furthermore, Bogdan was involved in BiblioNet (an IREX project used in Romania for managing Bill Gates’ $27 M donation), through which he contributed to the development of the Romanian public libraries system. As a speaker, Bogdan stands out from the crowd because he likes to challenge his audience, involving it in experiential activities. This TEDxEroilor 2015 speaker strongly believes that success comes from assuming our own role in our lives, both professionally and personally. Furthermore, he thinks that good things come to those who are happy with themselves and who are part of efficient teams.

Cornel Marian Hoza

Cornel Marian Hoza is one of the founding members and the president of the Beard Brothers organization, probably the most non-conformist organization in Romania. In his one year and a half of activity with the organization he successfully managed to fulfill everything he sat his mind on, and he is always involved in at least one project. His ideas to change the mentalities of people and make the world a better place are targeted not only at helping people, but at educating them to help themselves. Everyone can be a big change for this world, all you need is determination. Cornel not only thinks, but lives the idea that nothing is impossible to achieve and there are no problems, only solutions. He always keeps in touch with his creative side, being a graphic designer. This helps keeping his mind open and looking at an idea from a lot of point of views.

Cristian Gog

CRISTIAN GOG is a Romanian mentalist, better known for winning the second season of Romania’s Got Talent. Born in Câmpeni, Alba county, he developed from an early age a true passion for magic tricks. He finished school in Baia de Arieş and then moved to Alba Iulia for college. It was there that he became interested in mentalism, a form of theatrical trickery that is different from magic tricks. In 2012, he took part in the live-broadcasted talent show Romania’s Got Talent, where he impressed the jury and the audience, defeated his opponents, and won the prize of 120.000 €.

Diana Galoş

Diana is an architect who lives and works in Cluj. She is involved in various architectural, educational, community, and urban development projects, for which she cooperates with Arhipro Arhitectura, the Colectiv A Association, Heritas Foundation (Sibiu), the Cooppestrada initiative and De-a arhitectura Association.

Dor Geta Popescu

Dor Geta Popescu is 11 years old, practices mountaineering and climbing at a professional level, as a member of the Altitude Moutain Sport Club. She is part of the National Team for Climbing – children section, being a multi-champion at national level, with podium rankings at Balkan competitions and European grand slam contests. Since the age of 10 she has been representing Romania in expeditions on high mountains, establishing, at the moment of the climbs, world records for age for Mt. Ararat (5165 m), Sabalan (4811 m), Damavand (5671 m), as member of the Altitude Expeditions Team. Her preparation for performances is done in climbing gyms and during summer and winter climbs of the 7 Mountains Circuit from the Carpathian Garden, training coordinated by the Romanian Federation of Mountaineering and Climbing.

Ioana Avădani

Ioana Avădani is the Executive Director of the Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest, Romania. In 2013 she was awarded the European Citizen of the Year prize by the European Parliament. She has an experience of over 20 years in the media field, having worked as a news agency deputy-in-chief editor, a TV editor and a media developer with CIJ. As CIJ director, Avădani coordinated programs ranging from professional training for journalists to targeted assistance for media operations, from advocacy for transparency, press freedom and protection of journalists to curricula development and strengthening the journalists associations in Romania. She was instrumental in the passing of critical legislation, such as Access to Information and sunshine laws, Broadcast law, Public Broadcast Services and public procurement legislation. She has also been central to the media self-regulation in Romania.

Ionuţ Soleanicov

A Romanian-born American-raised professional with more than 10 years of global experience in financial services, management consulting and education, Ionuţ is the CEO and co-founder of Teach for Romania. He was previously a Senior Associate for McKinsey and Company and an Investment Analyst for the Health and Education Department at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), where he developed innovative student loan and school financing facilities in partnership with local banks in Mexico, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya. Prior to that, Ionuţ worked in investment banking for Lehman Brothers in New York. Ionuţ also founded StreetWise Partners DC, a mentorship program pairing young professionals with low income job-seekers. Ionuţ has an MBA from the Harvard Business School, an MPA/ID from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from Columbia University.

Iulia Rugină

Iulia is a film director and screenwriter. In 2013 she completed her first feature film, "Love Building", awarded with the special mention of the FIPRESCI jury at the Warsaw Film Festival. The film came in second at the Romanian 2013 box office. In 2014, she directed the sequel, "Another Love Building". She is now in production with an animation short film ("Skugos") and in pre-production with her third feature film, "Breaking News". She was also actively involved in film-related cultural management, working for festivals such as Transilvania International Film Festival, NexT Film Festival, Anim'est Film Festival, and Doha International Film Festival. In 2009 she co-founded the Control N Cultural Association, dedicated to film education.

Iulia Romana Pop

Iulia Romana Pop (21) is an almost graduate journalism student. Since her last important life choice – enrolling in this field of study – and until the present moment, she has done quite some stuff. She launched projects such as Ideea 3 or RoFacts.ro, she studied abroad for a semester, traveled around Europe with little money and wrote about all these experiences on her blog. A month ago she found herself in front of another big decision: what to do next? And most importantly, where? This is why, at TEDxEroilor – Dare to Fail she will speak about why it is so freaking hard to decide whether to stay or leave the country when you are 21.

Lala Panait

Lala lives and works in Cluj. She has a PhD in Philology and Urban Anthropology, from the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj. She graduated from Bauhaus Dessau Kolleg VIII, in “EU Urbanism”. She organized several artistic interventions in public spaces in Cluj (including the Paintbrush Factory), Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and Luxembourg. She took part in the 12th edition of the Architecture Biennale in Venice, with the project "Superbia". She is a coordinator within the Colectiv A Association and she also coordinates the initiative 'At the Playground - Shared Space in Mănăștur'.

Liviu Grandl

Liviu deeply believes in shared learning and the force represented by offering support to each other at the right moment. During his student years, a conference in the field of education made him realize that this would be his major interest area. He started as a simple participant at courses and conferences. Afterwards, he got involved as moderator for the professional mentoring platform GOmentorship, where he discovered the idea of training. So, during the following years, he started doing this first at LEAP (Link Education And Practice), then for various NGOs or projects. The most recent part of his life has been marked by the coordination of communities such as InvataSa, where through his own workshops, Liviu has supported others in sharing their passions. Currently, he is the main coordinator for the “guides” of the Alternative University, he holds courses at AIESEC and is working on a new social platform for learning.

Matei Bogdan

Matei likes to call himself a “full-time dreamer”, although he realizes there is so much to work on it. He’s a graphic designer who really loves cycling and travelling; he enjoys reading and going on mountains trips, but there is so much left to say about his passions, anyway. He studied for 2 years at the Technical University of Bucharest and realized that it was not for him. From then on he has been trying to find his way by combining work with pleasure and hobbies, and enjoying every step that he takes.

Maximilian Dobrescu

After he enrolled at the Alternative University, Maximilian became more and more preoccupied with the learning process. He had invested more than 5000 hours in football trainings, so he asked himself how can training sessions be transformed into useful and memorable learning experiences for children. Maximilian has been working for almost two years with children, on the sports field, and he focuses on cultivating 5 attitudes: Cooperation, Fairness, Joy of playing, Self-control, and Perseverance. This is why he likes to say about himself that he’s rather an educator on the sports field.

Monica Macovei

Monica Macovei is a member of the European Parliament (EP), in the European People’s Party. In September 2012 she received the “MEP 2012” prize for her activity in the field of justice and civil liberties. Currently, she is the rapporteur of the EP for the Statute regarding the European Prosecutor’s Office. Macovei was Minister of Justice in Romania from 2005 to 2007, being internationally recognized and receiving awards for her anti-corruption initiatives and her justice reforms, which allowed Romania to join the European Union. Macovei was a legal expert for the Council of Europe and for other international organizations, she has worked in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, she has successfully represented Romanians at the ECtHR, she was the president of ADHRR – HC for Human Rights and has published articles on justice and human rights. Since 2015 she is the President of the M10 Association for democracy, liberties, transparency and good governance.

Petru Rogojanu

Petru is a 7th grade student at the „Samuel von Brukenthal” National College in Sibiu. He was initiated into the computer science field through the activities of the IT club within the Children’s Palace in Sibiu, as early as 3rd grade. That’s when he won 1st place at the regional computer studies competition Top Info. Starting with 5th grade he followed web design courses privately. The first website designed by Petru was that of the Children’s Palace in Sibiu, and it brought him a web designer certificate from Haute École Arc, Switzerland. He wanted this first website to not only be an abstract exercise, but a useful, functional one. Recently he has also won the special prize at the National Computer Studies Conference for Students: Programming, Communication, Imagination, Design (PCID) 2015. He is currently following web expert courses and aims to improve his qualities in the web design field, a field which evolves at a high speed.

Răzvan Potîng

Whether he is working, relaxing, cooking or riding his motorcycle, Răzvan tries to do everything as well as possible. Although from this introduction he may seem an ambitious guy, Răzvan is rather just careful not to waste time doing things badly. “There is time enough, but none to spare.“, said Charles W. Chestnut. In a hurried world, with perhaps too much competition, Răzvan knows that a failure is not wasted time, so, thoughtfully, he schedules some time for failures in his agenda. Răzvan is a young architect who spent his first school years in Cluj and finished his Master studies in Clermont-Ferrand, France. In 2014, he returned to Cluj-Napoca and now wants to share with us an original way to start a business in architecture.

Robert Rekkers

With 25 years of banking experience, Robert Rekkers – Dutch, married with 4 children, and living in Bucharest – is a seasoned banker, well respected in the Romanian financial sector. He was more than 9 years General Manager of Banca Transilvania and brought the bank from a small regional player to a top 3 position in Romania. Before that, he worked 16 years for ABN AMRO, in different senior management positions, in 7 countries. Since July 2012, Mr. Rekkers joined the Board of the Agricover Group and became General Manager of Agricover Credit IFN. His objective is to grow this financial institution into one of the leaders in agricultural and farmers financing for its region.

Roxana Rugină

Roxana Rugină is a technologist and communication expert engaged in social and disruptive innovation. She is passionate about new technology, remix culture and innovation in education. Her working experience with NGOs, international companies, governmental institutions, agencies and start-ups brought her to Simplon.co France. Enrolled in the first promo of Simplon.co she has been learning Ruby & Ruby on Rails for 6 months. Today she is managing various web projects and mobile applications. On the long term she believes that everyone should learn how computers work and how we can use technology to build new businesses. Her entrepreneurial drive determined her to move to Cluj, where she co-founded Simplon Romania, the Romanian branch of the French start-up Simplon.co (simplon.co).

Silviu Medeşan

Silviu lives and works as an architect in Cluj. He's interested in design, art, architecture and cross-disciplinary intervention projects in public spaces. He coordinated Architecture Days in 2007 and 2009, as the president of the Architecture Students' Association in Cluj, he participated in the Venice Biennale in 2010 with the multi-media project 'FoO0Oo0am' (part of the Superbia exhibition), he was constantly part of the art in public space exhibition 'Visible City', curated by AltArt (2011-2014). Since 2012, he has been working with the Colectiv A Association (at the Paintbrush Factory in Cluj) for the project 'At the Playground - Shared Space in Mănăștur'. Currently, Silviu is a PhD Student at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism in Cluj, working on a thesis titled 'Form follows situation - the contemporary city as foreseen by situationists'.

Tudor Marcu

Tudor Marcu is a young man from Cluj who discovered his passion for cooking at the age of 12. Since then, gastronomy became an art for him and he treats it as such. He gets his inspiration from the whole world, from life, from what is surrounding him; he makes up recipes without scheduling that, he cooks with passion and he is a strong example for a lot of youngsters. He stepped on the land of MasterChef preselections to get out of his comfort zone and to prove that self-command can take you to big achievements. He got into the finals and now he loves to share inspiration and motivation everywhere.

Tudor Maxim

Tudor is a law graduate and an active entrepreneur with a lot of energy for developing start-ups, having founded several businesses in the advertising and tourism fields. As a result of his work he was awarded the title "Volunteer of the Year" in 2004 and the "Most Creative Young Entrepreneur" in 2006, by the Leaders Foundation, as well as the "Creative Young Entrepreneur of the Year" 2007, by Junior Chamber International (JCI) Romania. In 2008 he received the title “Best Young Entrepreneur of the Year” from Junior Achievement Romania.