Theme: Diamonds in the Rough

TEDxCoeurdAlene offers you a chance to dedicate a day to feeding your curiosity. We will go on an intellectual journey with 100 smart and curious friends by listening to thoughtful speakers, captivating performances, and inspiring live musical performances.

Human Rights Education Institute
414 Mullen Road
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 83814
United States

Alyssa Pukilla

Educational Therapist + Teacher + Hockey Billet Mom

Alyssa is an Educational Therapist and the founder of Wired2Learn, Inc. Her passion is understanding how the brain learns to help children have personal and academic success. Alyssa, a mother of four, also served in various education arenas including homeschooling her own children, teaching art & history, and serving as a founding board member of River City Christian Academy. She has written and developed a multisensory literacy program that uses the creative, tactile, and kinesthetic strengths of a child to build foundational skills for reading, spelling and writing.

Angela Slabaugh

Executive Director of Hearth Homes

Angela Slabaugh is the Executive Director of Hearth Homes, a transitional home serving homeless single mothers, fostering healing through authentic relationships. Combining her background of Social Work and passion for living a life of faith, Angela rallies communities to serve the needs of their marginalized families and join the fight for freedom from oppression and injustice. Angela holds a Masters in Social Work from Tulane University and enjoys international travel and outdoor adventures with her husband on the back of his motorcycle. In her TEDxCoeurdAlene talk, Angela explores the challenges and victories of true service from her experience of living in a homeless shelter for single moms for over a year, while serving as the Director.

Benjamin Powell

Nature Photographer + Iraqi War Marine Corps Combat Veteran + Patriot

Benjamin Powell developed a passion for traveling and experiencing the outdoors by spending his childhood on top of the peaks, in the National Forests and walking the Wilderness areas surrounding Missoula, MT. The Realization that these experiences, places and culture are unique to our country, expanded his patriotic sense and led him to volunteer in the United States Marine Corps infantry. Returning home, after being tested through 3 separate combat tours in the Iraqi conflict, bolstered his confidence that the outdoors renews the health to a beaten and battered soul. However, Ben wanted to share the beauty he found in nature with the people of the nation he swore an oath to protect. Encouragement from the many influencers in his life, pushed him to begin rendering these spiritually directed scenic moments through the lens of a camera. Now his photographic prints reminding those who contemplate his work of the magnificence of the land we call our country.

Carli Osika

Musician

Carli Osika took an interest in music at a very early age, beginning to hum and sing nonsense words before she could really even talk. She began learning to play guitar in third grade and spent much of her free time as a young child learning and practicing songs. In high school, she began playing live shows, both solo and with her band, in which she was the song writer, lead singer and rhythm guitarist. While other students were making college plans, she was realizing that what she truly wanted to do was make music, so Carli chose not to continue to a university in order to allow more time to work on music. Currently, Carli is working on writing and recording an E.P. while continuing to play live shows around the Northwest United States. She is taking any and every opportunity to nurture her singing, playing, and writing skills and making every effort to advance her music career.

Come Nzibarega

Refugee from Burundi + World Class Runner + Case Manager

Come Nzibarega was born and raised in Burundi, a small, poor, war-torn country in the sub-Saharan Africa. Because of the civil war in his native Burundi, he was kidnapped by rebels and was held and tortured for two weeks time. Then, after being rescued by United Nations soldiers, Come lived in a refugee camp where he took up running as a form of therapy. After years living in refugee camps, Come entered the US as a legal refugee and was placed in Spokane, WA. Now he works as a high school teacher and cross-country coach at a local public high school.

Ed Stevenson

Addiction Treatment Counselor + Realtor + Software Consultant

Ed was born in Leadville Colorado, which is referred to as the two-mile- high city sitting at 10,252 feet. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest where he attended college and majored in Business and Photography. Prior to graduation he was sought after by a large multi-national firm and then spent most of his career as an executive in the software consulting industry, working with Fortune 500 companies in Alaska, California and Seattle prior to settling in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho a few years ago. Once back in the Northwest, he and his wife co-founded Life Recovery Solutions, a behavior modification software company. His brother and nephew both died at an early age because of drugs and alcohol and because of this he spends his free time helping those struggling with addiction and other afflictions.

Hanna Michaelis

Hanna Michaelis is a bright, inquisitive and driven young lady. She enjoys learning and loves gymnastics as well as other sports. Along with her family, she has traveled both within the United States and around the world. She also loves efficiency, which led her to perfect a faster and better way to tie a shoe lace.

JD Claridge

xCraft CEO + Pilot + Drone Designer

JD Claridge is the CEO and co-founder of xCraft, a leading drone company developing innovative vehicles for the UAV market. JD was born with a passion for flight. Building and crashing flying toys throughout his youth taught him much about the science and art of flight vehicle design. JD’s passion for flight runs deeply through all of his pursuits. In October of 2015, JD and xCraft co-founder Charles Manning were featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, making history by negotiating an unprecedented deal with all five Sharks. This catapulted xCraft into the center of the public spotlight and made household names out of xCraft’s launch prod

Jessica L. Bryant

Artist + Educator + Bagpiper

An award winning and published watercolor artist, Jessica is passionate about nature, wilderness, and our national parks. She has served five terms as an artist-in-residence for our national parks, embarking on her sixth residency this August. She is the director of the Fine Arts League at Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities, encouraging artistic growth in dedicated students. Jessica is frequently found in the less traveled regions of our National Parks and other wilderness areas. Her work is currently on display in two national exhibits, the Flora of the National Parks exhibit at the United States Botanical Gardens in Washington, DC and in Google Cultural Institute's "One Object" project celebrating the centennial of the National Park Service.

Raydeane Owens

Pastor + Speaker + Cancer Survivor

The beautifully written and deeply thoughtful call to unity will inspire and encourage you. Raydeane believes we can only become who we are meant to be by working together and celebrating our God-designed diversity. Raydeane Owens is a native Idahoan residing in Coeur d' Alene, ID. She is passionate about people discovering their true identity and serves her own community as a co-Pastor with her husband of more than 20 years.

Ryan Bones

Chiropractor + Entrepreneur

Born and raised on a family farm in South Dakota, Dr. Ryan Bones knew at an early age that his calling in life was not to sit behind the wheel of a tractor, but to help people live happier and healthier lives. After getting his degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Nebraska, Dr. Ryan went on to earn his Doctorate of Chiropractic from Parker University in Dallas, TX. He then fell in love with Coeur d’Alene and relocated to make his dream of opening his own neurologically based practice a reality. His personal mission is spreading the messages of true health and entrepreneurial development to help people reach their own fullest potential.

Scott Yost

Coffee Expert

Scott Yost loves coffee. And he wants you to love coffee as much as he does. As a member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, he has the expertise and passion to help you have the best coffee experience possible each and every time. In his TEDxCoeurdAlene talk, Scott explains all that goes into a great cup of coffee and gives some tips to be sure you get the best drink possible each and every time.

Shawnee Baughman

Virtual Reality Expert + Musician

Shawnee attended Stanford University where she studied communication and media studies with a focus in virtual reality technologies and applications. Her Honors Thesis, entitled "Virtual Superheros: Using Superpowers in Virtual Reality to Encourage Prosocial Behavior," studied the ways in which a positive virtual experience might increase prosocial behavior in real life. After completing her Bachelor's degree, Shawnee continued to study media and virtual reality in the Communication Department during her Masters program. After completing her Masters degree in 2014, she became the manager of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford and continues to develop virtual reality applications that encourage empathy, learning, communication, and environmental behavior. To learn more about VHIL, see vhil.stanford.edu