Theme: Rise and Run

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).

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
3680 Walnut St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104
United States

PHILADANCO

The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO) is a nonprofit organization that presents the highest quality of professional dance performance and improves the skills of emerging and professional dancers and choreographers in a nurturing environment, while increasing the appreciation of dance among its many communities. Across the nation and around the world, PHILADANCO is celebrated for its innovation, creativity and preservation of predominantly African-American traditions in dance.

Araba Ankuma

Araba Ankuma is an editorial and documentary photographer based on the east coast of the United States. In Jan 2017, she officially founded ASA Productions, LLC before securing her Bachelor’s degree in Visual Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in May. Her work and international projects seek to illuminate the “invisible”narratives of human beings worldwide. Currently, Araba works as a Production Assistant at GQ Magazine.

Brayton Bowman

Born in Philadelphia, Brayton Bowman attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative & Performing Arts where he studied classical and choral music and dabbled in musical theatre. After high school he studied jazz at Berklee College of Music and then moved to New York City. Now based in Los Angeles, he released a second EP, The Update, in August 2015. Inspired by classic artists like Stevie Wonder and Amy Winehouse, Bowman describes his sound as "somewhere in between soul-pop and future-funk."

Daniel Everett

A famed linguist, Daniel Everett is a professor of global studies and the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, MA. He has been the subject of a feature story in the New Yorker, a cover story in Harper’s Magazine, a Smithsonian documentary, and one of eight “masters” in Robert Greene’s NYT bestseller “Mastery.” His 2008 bestseller, Don't Sleep There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle, has sold over 100,000 copies and been translated into 12 different languages.

Davis Smith

Davis Smith received his MBA from the Wharton School in 2011. Three years later, he founded Cotopaxi -- where he has innovated the industry by placing social impact at the core of his company. A world traveler, having visited 70 countries, Smith brings his passion for doing good into the business world as an entrepreneur and as a member of the UN Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council.

Dwayne "Mr. Fish" Booth

Booth began his art in 1990 and has been featured in The Atlantic, The Nation, Los Angeles Times, TruthDig, and Vanity Fair. He has won numerous accolades for his art, including several AAN Alt Weekly Awards, the Grambs Aronson Award for Cartooning with a Conscience, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Editorial Cartooning from the Society of Professional Journalists. He’s currently teaching at both the University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College.

Hyungsoo Kim

His team at Eone has created the innovative fashion timepiece, the Bradley, that the blind and the sighted can touch to tell time. The Bradley remain one of Kickstarter’s most funded design campaigns as it raised nearly $600,000. The design has also won renowned design awards, including iF Design Award, Red Dot Award, and Good Design Award, and become a permanent collection at the British Museum in London since 2014. Hyungsoo holds BA/MA degrees in Psychology from Wesleyan University and an MBA degree from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Joe Castillo

Joe Castillo is an expert on crafting a powerful story in a totally unique way. He has applied his creative genius to the challenge of creating a performance that communicates, inspires and motivates. His unique presentation stimulates the mind, capture the eye, engages the ear and grips the heart

Katherine Milkman

Named one of the top 40 business school professors under 40 by Poets and Quants, Katherine Milkman is a professor at the Wharton School and a Princeton/Harvard alumna, having consulted for numerous companies including the American Red Cross and Google. Her research has been published in leading social science journals and featured in The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes, among other media outlets.

L. Scott Levin

An accomplished clinician, Dr. Levin is the Director of the Hand Transplant Program at Penn Medicine and at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is the Paul B. Magnuson Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine and a Professor of Surgery in the Division of Plastic Surgery. Published in 316 peer-reviewed journal articles, 80 book chapters and 11 books, he specializes in surgery of the hand and upper extremities.

Megan Ryerson

A professor at the Penn School of Design and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Ryerson conducts research on optimizing transportation efficiency and future vehicle technologies. Ryerson is also a research director of the Mobility21 team, which was recently awarded $14 million from the US Department of Transportation to improve mobility and safety in transportation in the 21st century.

Rachel Hwang

A graduate from Penn’s Computer Graphics and Game Technology Masters program, Rachel is now a software developer on the Cesium team at Analytical Graphics Inc, which has provided 3D dynamic-data visualization for the space and defense industries. She has also designed and now leads a procedural graphics course at Penn, in which she teaches the power of using programming as a creative medium at the intersection of art and technology.

Sagi Haviv

Haviv is a partner and designer at Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. He teaches Visual Identity Design at The School of Visual Arts in New York City and coauthored the book Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar. Haviv has been a frequent speaker internationally and has served as a judge for the Art Directors Club of New York, the CLIO awards, and other competitions.

Tia Kansara

A professional moderator, author, and award-winning entrepreneur, Tia is the founder and director of Kansara Hackney, the first sustainability consultancy in the UK. She has interviewed world figures, moderated panels for the likes of Forbes, Coca Cola, and London Business School, and delivered keynote speeches on the future of cities. A member of the Pontignano delegation hosted by Enrico Letta, former prime minister of Siena, she has created partnerships with the University of Siena and leads discussions on climate change at University College London.

Vijay Balasubramanian

Balasubramanian is Cathy and Marc Lasry Professor of Physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies space, time and information, from their manifestations at the foundations of physics to their perception by humans. As passionate about teaching as about research, he has received the Ira H. Abrams Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching.