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).

Slocum Auditorium
146 College P
Syracuse, New York, 13210
United States

Amy Oestreicher

Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, speaker for RAINN, writer for The Huffington Post, award-winning health advocate, actress and playwright, eagerly sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, performance, art and speaking. Amy’s “beautiful detour” inspired her to create the #LoveMyDetour movement, a campaign inspiring people to flourish because of, rather than in spite of challenges. As the Eastern Regional Recipient of the Great Comebacks Award, Amy has spoken to hundreds of WOCN nurses on behalf of ostomates nationwide. She contributes to over 70 online and print publications, and her story has appeared on the TODAY Show, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, among others. Amy is currently touring college campuses with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre as well as her one-woman autobiographical musical, Gutless & Grateful.

Brian Kam

Brian is a 2016 graduate from Syracuse University, United States Marine, and founder of Thrive Projects and its subsidiary venture the Power Nepal Initiative, based out of Syracuse, NY. He is a B.A candidate, dual majoring in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies, with language capabilities in Chinese and Arabic. As a U.S Marine, he served in the infantry as a rifleman and team-leader from 2003-2007, with deployments to both combat and humanitarian theaters.

Emily Anhalt

Emily is a psychotherapist and psychological consultant practicing in San Francisco, California. She completed her doctoral dissertation on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Success Without the Use of Medication, spending two years interviewing, transcribing, coding, analyzing, and writing about the ways in which certain people feel their ADHD has contributed to their occupational and financial success. Her current life crusade is about making psychotherapy more accessible and less stigmatized in our society.

Mark Horvath

Everyone talks about social media's potential to democratize and empower those less fortunate. Mark actually makes that happen. Mark, or @HARDLYNORMAL as the Internet knows him, is an internationally recognized activist who tells the story of the countless individuals without a voice-- those living in shelters, motels, tents, alongside streets and under highway bridges. His platform INVISIBLEPEOPLE.TV is one of the most revolutionary and poignant storytelling destinations we've ever seen on the web. Mark is also CMO at RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE. Mark's work is extraordinary because he not only helps solve the systemic, scaled problems of homelessness by destroying stereotypes, but he also helps singular individuals, every day.

Nick Murphy

Nick Murphy, owner of Mission Fitness, is a Certified Personal Trainer and Life Coach. He has 20+ years of experience in his field and is equipped to train clients across the fitness spectrum from the world-class athlete to the morbidly obese, and everyone in between. His passion is to teach people about health, fitness, diet and exercise, and to empower clients to take control of their lives.

Sean Kirst

Sean has been a journalist and storyteller for more than 40 years, beginning his career as a 14-year-old in Dunkirk, a small city along Lake Erie. He has worked for four newspapers, most recently a rewarding 27 years at the Syracuse Post-Standard. His goal has always been to share the struggles, triumphs and passage that serve as a form of larger community. During his career, Sean has worked for newspapers in five Upstate cities, four of them alongside the Great Lakes.

Siddhi Sundar

Siddhi is a filmmaker, adventurer, and social entrepreneur passionate about stories, particularly the ones about how courage and heart can empower the wildest of ideas in the unlikeliest of places. After graduating from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Siddhi co-founded The Hero Lab, a "people incubator" that cultivates resilient, entrepreneurial youth in the slums of Mumbai and inner city schools in Baltimore. Siddhi's favorite word is possibility"- it's everywhere, and can transform the most low-resource places in the world into models of social change.