Theme: "Come Together"

Uniting and inspiring a community.

Chicago is made up of individuals from all types of backgrounds: people with separate thinking, different ideologies, and unique creative outlooks. We are a community full of every kind of person imaginable. Our strength lies in our variety, where new thinking is invited and big ideas, when spread, become unstoppable.

TEDxChicago presents COME TOGETHER — a celebratory gathering of creative minds who’ve come together to share ideas worth spreading.

Spertus
610 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois, 60605
United States

Anil Ahuja

Engineer, Author, Speaker

Having experienced growing up with limited resources living in a refugee camp in India, Anil has dedicated his life’s work to sustainability, leading a movement to design sustainable cities and systems that protect the earth and the people who live on it. Over the past 14 years, Anil served as president of CCJM, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm providing infrastructure solutions to smart cities and smart building designs. Anil also recently released the book Integration of Nature and Technology for Smart Cities, which explores trends and paradigms in the smart building and smart city sectors and offers a new approach to green, innovative building and city design.

Anna M. Valencia

Advocate, Collaborator, Elected Official

As City Clerk of Chicago, Anna focuses on making government accessible to everyone. It’s been a priority to increase civic engagement, improve efficiencies and collaborate across government in the private and public sectors. Prior to becoming Clerk, Anna also worked as an Illinois political professional in several positions, one of which she served as the second woman to run Mayor Emanuel’s Legislative Counsel and Government Affairs (LCGA). In 2017, she was listed as one of Chicago Magazine’s Emerging Power Player’s and she’s also been awarded Negocios Nows’ 40 under 40 for her work as part of the next generation of Latina leaders.

Ari Afsar

Artist, Activist, Entrepreneur

Ari is a singer/songwriter from San Diego, CA currently starring in Hamilton Chicago as Eliza Hamilton. Alum of UCLA as Jazz Vocal major under the direction of Kenny Burrell, Ari is now working on her EP set to release later this year. Subscribe to her channel at: youtube.com/ariafsar. Her top 40 sound consists of indie and soul with an underlying jazz feel. She has placements on ABC's Mixology, Disney Channel, and Netflix/On Demand movie- Martian Land, where she also debuts as the lead actress. Afsar was top 36 on American Idol, Miss California 2010, and top 10 at Miss America.

Caralynn Nowinski Collens

Thinker, Innovator, Collaborator

Caralynn is the Co-Founder and CEO of UI LABS, an emerging think tank and first-of-its-kind innovation accelerator for courageous leaders seeking to redefine their industries through collaboration. Caralynn believes that to solve big problems and create new things, you can’t do it alone. She advocates organizations to come together to figure out problems at large through collaborative innovation

Chris Lee

Singer, Songwriter, Musician

Chris is cast as Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the 11-time Tony Award-winning Hamilton: An American Musical, and is the originating role in Chicago at The Private Bank Theatre. His latest works include projects with Wayne Brady, guest star on the multi-award-winning series Empire, and a recurring role on the new Showtime series produced by Common, The Chi. He is an actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, and musician from Augusta, Georgia.

Dorri McWhorter

Community Leader, Innovator, Accountant

As CEO of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, Dorri has embarked upon a journey to transform the 140-year-old social service agency into a 21st-century social enterprise. She’s an active member of Chicago’s civic, business, and philanthropic communities, and she’s active in the accounting profession. As an engaged community leader, Dorri is a member of the Mayor’s Commission on a Safer Chicago and served as a member of Mayor Emanuel’s second-term transition team. Dorri was included in the Chicago Tribune’s inaugural list of top 100 innovators in Chicago, and in 2016, she was recognized by Good City Chicago, receiving its Innovative Leader Award.

Jodi Glickman

Advocate, Innovator, Communicator

Jodi is passionate about closing the skills gap and providing pathways to career success for all. She has trained the brightest young minds in this country by creating a groundbreaking curriculum that delivers practical, tactical communication skills and strategies to influence, advance and lead in the workplace. Through her leadership work and online courses, Jodi is helping to shape the next generation of talent. Jodi is also the author of the critically acclaimed book Great on the Job, What to Say, How to Say It, The Secrets of Getting Ahead and is a writer for the Harvard Business Review.

Kareem K.W.O.E. Wells

Artist, Entrepreneur, Motivator

Driven by the greater good and fueled by a love of music, Kareem “K.W.O.E.” Wells is an entrepreneur, an artist and a motivator. In the past decade, K.W.O.E. has been the force behind redefining bar/bat mitzvah celebrations, creating dozens of jobs, and inspiring thousands of young people to persevere through life’s challenges and pursue peace and unity with their peers. K.W.O.E. is equally recognized for his good deeds at community anti-violence events. Through the K.W.O.E. Hope Foundation, he partners with nonprofit organizations, public schools, and community groups to inspire children and teens with his music and his life story.

Kimbal Musk

Real Food Entrepreneur

Kimbal is Co-Founder of The Kitchen, a growing family of businesses that pursue an America where everyone has access to real food. For his impactful, scalable work, Kimbal was named a 2017 Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation, a sister organization to the World Economic Forum. His family of restaurant concepts source food from American farmers, stimulating the local farm economy. His non-profit organization builds permanent, outdoor Learning Garden classrooms in hundreds of underserved schools around the U.S. His urban, indoor vertical farming accelerator, Square Roots, seeks to empower thousands of young entrepreneurs to become real food farmers.

Kris Perry

Advocate, Leader, Caregiver

Executive Director of the First Five Years Fund, Kris understands that America’s future lies in the health and well-being of the country’s youngest children. She has dedicated her career to bringing resources and support to parents, caregivers, and early learning workforce professionals to ensure children grow up healthy and ready to succeed in school and in life. Kris is a national thought leader on early childhood education and has appeared in the New York Times, POLITICO, New Republic, Salon, Congressional Quarterly, and many other news outlets across the country.

Larry Keeley

Global Innovator & Designer

Larry has worked for over three decades to develop more effective innovation methods. He is co-founder of innovation firm Doblin, which is now a unit of Deloitte Digital, where he serves as Managing Director. Larry has been identified by BusinessWeek as one of seven leading global innovation gurus, and separately as one of 27 leading global designers. He teaches innovation at both IIT’s Institute of Design, where he is also a Board Member, and at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he has been recently appointed as a Distinguished Fellow.

Mary Jo Madda

Educator, Advocate, Optimist

Featured in Forbes “30 Under 30,” Mary Jo is a born educator, from her start as a charter middle school teacher during her years with Teach for America to her current work as a lead at Google on the Code Next team, where she's working to develop computer science education programs for students of color. Aside from her time served teaching, Mary Jo was also a Director at EdSurge (an edtech news organization), a member of the ScratchED team at the MIT Media Lab, and one of four founding Education Entrepreneurship Fellows at the Harvard University Innovation Lab. She has spoken at SXSWedu, Stanford University, the University of Virginia, and now will grace our stage at TEDxChicago.

Michael Slaby

Activist, Technologist, Poet

As a passionate world leader in digital, data, and technology, Michael elevates mission-driven organizations. Currently, his focus is on reclaiming democracy as Head of Mission of Timshel — a social-impact technology company. Previously, Michael was Fellow at Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and he helped lead Obama for America as Chief Integration and Innovation Officer. Michael has served as advisor to the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, Rhize, Bright Pink, I Am That Girl, and LiveStrong and was named to Crain’s Chicago 40 Under 40 List for 2011 and their Tech 50 List in 2013.

Miguel Cervantes

Singer, Actor

Miguel Cervantes is an American actor and singer who is known for many TV and Broadway appearances, as well as in 2010's Broadway Idiot. Cervantes currently plays Alexander Hamilton in the Chicago Production.

Slim Freedom

Singer songwriter, Guitarist, Street performer

Ashley Stevenson, known also as Slim Freedom, is a singer songwriter, guitarist and street performer based in Chicago. For years she has displayed her talent in the subways of Chicago to support herself. Recently her performances have gotten the attention of YouTubers who’ve filmed her songs in “The Tunnels” as Ashley refers to them. Many of these videos have reached tens of thousands of views and her cover of Landslide received more than 8 millions views since its release a year ago. Slim Freedom is now joined by a team to help spread her message even wider this upcoming year. She looks to release a series of professional recordings of her covers and past originals as she prepares her debut album.

Stan Sonu

Physician, Advocate, Teacher

As a physician, double-boarded in both internal medicine and pediatrics, Stan is an advocate for changing our health care system to deliver the highest-quality care to underserved and disadvantaged communities. Currently, he is a Fellow in the Cook County Preventive Medicine and Public Health Program, and a LUCENT Fellow at the University of Chicago, a leadership program designed for physicians passionate about urban primary care. He is ardent about teaching and believes a fundamental aspect of changing the system is putting more research to the science of adverse childhood experiences and health impact of community trauma.

Xavier Ramey

Polymath, Activist, Educator

Xavier is the founder of Justice Informed, a new firm based in Chicago that consults with businesses, nonprofits, churches, and foundations to benchmark, catalyze, and shift their cultural and engagement strategies to increase diversity and socioeconomic equity by leveraging accountable partnerships informed with on-the-ground leaders. A native Chicagoan, by way of the North Lawndale community, he is a recognizable voice and writer on the topics of community and economic development, American culture and history, policing and policy violence, and connecting principles of spiritual faith to our lived human experience.