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).

Reno Convention Center
4590 S Virginia St
Reno, Nevada, 89502
United States

Allen Stone

Musician

On his third full-length album, soul artist Allen Stone proves himself deeply devoted to making uncompromisingly soulful music that transcends all pop convention. Made in collaboration with Swedish soul singer/songwriter/phenom Magnus Tingsek, Radius captures the warm energy of that creative connection and transports the listener to a higher and more exalted plane. The New York Times said the Chewelah, Washington-bred 28-year-old’s lyrics on Radius “promise honest sentiments, grooves built with physical instruments and a gospel-rooted determination to uplift … glimmers of Al Green, Bill Withers, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton, Prince and a bit of Sting.” Allen is currently writing for his fourth full length album.

Cara Brookins

Author

Cara Brookins is a sought after speaker and a best-selling author of both fiction and non-fiction. She is reframing the way people reach for their goals by helping them plan a future so big it will change their perception of themselves. These innovative ideas came from her own difficult experiences. After escaping from domestic violence with her four kids, she decided the only way they would ever build a better life was to take an impossible leap and literally build it with their own hands. Together, they built a 3500 square foot house from the ground up by watching YouTube tutorials. Mixing concrete by hand in a wheelbarrow, raising walls, and running plumbing and gas lines taught her that a determined human can do practically anything. Sharing her extreme methods of leaping toward major life change eventually led to Cara’s memoir, Rise, How a House Built a Family, which sold at auction and has been optioned for a major motion picture

Catherine Cortez Masto

United States Senator

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Catherine Cortez Masto has spent her career fighting for Nevada’s working families. She served two terms as Attorney General of Nevada and, in November 2016, became the first Latina and the first woman from Nevada ever elected to the United States Senate. Cortez Masto is working to repair our broken immigration system and protect hardworking families. She is a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act of 2017, which would allow hard-working young people to come out of the shadows and fulfill their potential in our communities, and a fervent supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Cortez Masto earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Finance from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1986, and a J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1990. She currently resides in Las Vegas with her husband Paul.

Christine Porath

Author

Christine Porath is author of Mastering Civility and co-author of The Cost of Bad Behavior. She’s a professor at McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a consultant working with leading organizations to help them create a thriving workplace. Her speaking and consulting clients include Google, United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Pixar, AT&T, Genentech, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, and Department of Justice, and various health care organizations and law firms. Christine is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today, and has written articles for New York Times, Wall Street Journal, McKinsey Quarterly, and Washington Post.

Daniel Price

IOT Entrepreneur

Daniel is the CEO of Breadware, a Reno-based electronics design and sourcing company that partners with organizations to help them launch new IoT (Internet of Things) products. Daniel has spoken at multiple national IoT conferences, including IoT World in Santa Clara and IoT Evolution in Las Vegas, on the industrial shifts that are being brought about by the Internet of Things. Daniel is particularly interested in the IoT-related changes that he is seeing in corporate business models, product development philosophies, and university curricula. Daniel is a Rhodes scholar and holds an MBA and Masters in Biomedical Engineering from Oxford University. Daniel graduated summa cum laude from University of California at Berkeley with BS degrees in Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

David Burkus

Author

David Burkus is a best-selling author, a sought after speaker, and business school professor. In 2015, he was named one of the emerging thought leaders most likely to shape the future of business by Thinkers50, the world’s premier ranking of management thinkers. His forcoming book, Friend of a Friend, offers readers a new perspective on how to grow their networks and build key connections—one based on the science of human behavior, not rote networking advice. He is also the author of Under New Management and The Myths of Creativity. David is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and his work has been featured in Fast Company, the Financial Times, Inc magazine, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and CBS This Morning. David’s innovative views on leadership have earned him invitations to speak to leaders from a variety of organizations. His TED talk has been viewed over 1.8 million times.

Frankie Curreri Forza

Philosopher

Frankie (Curreri) Forza is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, journalist and writer. The Las Vegan has competed in 300-plus combat sports matches, won three IBJJF Masters World Championships and professionally interviewed north of 20,000 people from all walks of life. For more than three decades he has toiled in the trenches studying the seeds of the human psyche and mindsets of high performers — picking the brains of everyone from billionaires to elite cagefighters to prison inmates. The former newspaper reporter and Ultimate Fighting Championship correspondent has been to the White House on assignment, covered the Olympic Games and conducted seminars in Beijing. Forza’s writings and commentary have appeared in USAToday.com, CNN.com, Associated Press, FOX News, MSNBC, YAHOO! Sports, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Salt Lake Tribune and many other publications. He can be reached at frankieforza555@gmail.com

Jim James

Musician

Jim James has spent the better part of almost two decades as the lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of My Morning Jacket. Through seven studio albums, My Morning Jacket has grown into one of the most acclaimed rock and roll bands in the world. The New York Times heralded the band as, “…the new kings of expand-your-mind, religious-experience rock…” Their last three albums, 2008’s Evil Urges, 2011’s Circuital and 2015’s The Waterfall, each received Grammy nominations for Best Alternative Album — the latter debuting at number 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. Alongside the band’s recording and touring, James has maintained a steady, bordering on voracious, flow of work. James’ most recent work is the 2016 solo record, Eternally Even.

Joe Sabini

Student

Joe Sabini has lived in Reno, Nevada for his whole life. After graduating at Reno High School, he has gone on to attend the University of Nevada, Reno. He is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in the College of Business. Joe brings humor and thoughtfulness to all aspects in his life. He currently is found as the Lighting Designer for a local Creative Team at Grace Church Reno and assists in media and networking needs. In his free time, he finds passion in music and live productions and has performed all over the United States, including Carnegie Hall. He looks forward to traveling frequently to Australia along with other parts of the world on trips with the Love Does Team.

John Brenkus

Sport Science

John Brenkus has been a pioneer in the fields of television, sport and science for over 20 years. As Creator/Executive Producer and Host of Sport Science, he has appeared in and produced over 1500 segments that have been featured on ESPN’s entire sports platform including: SportsCenter, Monday Night Football, the NBA Finals, Sunday Night Baseball, and The Masters just to name a few. John has won 6 Emmys and has written a NYT/USA Today Best Seller called “The Perfection Point” that explores the absolute limit of human performance. He now hosts the popular podcast “The Brink of Midnight Podcast” that explores the moments that guests credit with changing their lives forever… those that pushed them in an unexpected direction, shaping the experiences that followed and molding them into the people who they are today.

Julie Hogan

Sociologist

Dr. Julie A. Hogan is an associate professor at the University of Nevada Reno’s College of Business. Hogan earned her doctoral degree at the University of Nevada Las Vegas in Sociology. She earned her master’s degree at the University of California Chico when Pioneer Days (a university sanctioned week long alcohol and drug party) was broadcast on MTV. She has spent 30 years in the substance abuse prevention field, has amassed a whopping 38 million dollars in grants and contracts, and has three textbook publications. For 30 years, Hogan has been deeply engaged in the topic of culture. Over the past ten years, she has been embracing diversity through the framework of cultural humility. In August of 2015 she met a student who changed her life. After experiencing some socially rich observations in the classroom, Hogan accepted a gift that changed the way she views American culture and herself.

Lee Rowland

Attorney

Lee Rowland is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Lee has extensive experience as a litigator, lobbyist, and public speaker. She has served as lead counsel in federal First Amendment cases involving public employee speech rights, the First Amendment rights of community advocates, government regulation of digital speech, and state secrecy surrounding the lethal injection process. She also authors amicus briefs and blogs on topics including the intersection of speech and privacy, student and public employee speech, obscenity, and the Communications Decency Act. While at the ACLU, Lee has served as an adjunct clinical professor for NYU Law’s Technology Law and Policy Clinic, a member of the New York Bar Association’s Communications and Media Law Committee, and an adjunct faculty member in the Human Rights Program at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.

Mariana Atencio

Journalist

Mariana is a Peabody-Award winning journalist and news personality working for MSNBC and NBC News, where she covers domestic and international issues doing breaking news and special reports. The Huffington Post called her “our Latina Christiane Amanpour” and one of the top Latinas in American Newsrooms, making the rare “crossover from Spanish to English television.” In 2017, she gave a TEDx Talk about the search for humanity, tolerance and inclusiveness in our world that has been seen by more than 4 million people. Mariana is very passionate about inspiring the next generation of storytellers. Connect with her @marianaatencio

Marianne Cooper

Sociologist

Marianne Cooper is a sociologist studying gender and inequality at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research and the Center for Women’s Leadership at Stanford University. She is also an affiliate at the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality. She was the lead researcher for Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg. She is a contributing writer to The Atlantic and writes about gender, leadership, diversity and inclusion, financial insecurity, and economic inequality. She is an author of the 2016, 2017, and 2018 Lean In & McKinsey Women in the Workplace reports on the status of women in corporate America. Her book, Cut Adrift: Families in Insecure Times, examines how families are coping with economic insecurity. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mike Meinhardt

Food Activist

From marketing consumer packaged beverages with Coca-Cola and Molson to promoting professional sports with the National Football League, Mike Meinhardt has spent his 20-year career developing inventive programs that drive increased consumer traffic, retail volume and revenue for the companies he serves. In recent years, Mike brought his marketing expertise to local growers at RedHat Co-operative and introduced a number of innovative programs aimed at raising the profile of local fresh produce while tackling the complex issue of food waste. In this business, it is common practice for growers to dispose of healthy produce that doesn’t meet the high visual standards of consumers, even while grocery prices continue to rise. This is a real and emergent issue for growers, consumers and the environment.

Orrin Johnson

Attorney

Orrin is a Deputy District Attorney in Carson City, Nevada. He also writes a weekly column on politics and public policy for the Nevada Independent. He began his legal career after graduating from the University of Washington School of Law in 2007 as a public Defender in Reno, Nevada, during which time he lobbied his state legislature on criminal defense issues. Prior to his legal career, Orrin graduated with a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota. He then served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the US Navy, from 1998 – 2004. He served aboard two destroyers – as the Electrical Officer aboard USS Russell (DDG 59) and as the Navigator of USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964) – deploying three times in four years. During these deployments, Orrin led boarding teams to search and sometimes seize vessels violating sanctions then in place against Iraq. He completed his service as the Commanding Officer of Naval Reserve Center Everett, WA.

Robin Brockelsby

Event Planner

Robin Brockelsby is an Entrepreneur, Speaker, Leadership Consultant and President of the Board for the Crisis Call Center of Nevada. In addition to running her household which includes her husband and 3 teenagers, Robin owns and operates multiple businesses in Northern Nevada, including Creative Coverings – a corporation that is recognized as one of the nations’ leading Special Event Linen Rental & Sales Companies. Robin believes passionately in her community and her strong desire to empower others to succeed emotionally and fiscally is what drives her soul. Her newest project, Embrace the PATH, stems from her personal journey to seek her true self. Embrace the PATH is a website that includes blogs and motivational speaking topics dedicated to helping people gain confidence by conquering their fears and discovering their Passion, Authenticity, and Truth…all of which are necessary to find complete Happiness. True Happiness equals Success

Sharyl Attkisson

Journalist

Sharyl Attkisson is a five-time Emmy Award winner and recipient of the Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting and author of two New York Times bestsellers: “The Smear” and “Stonewalled.” Attkisson hosts the Sunday national TV news program “Full Measure,” which focuses on investigative and accountability reporting. For thirty years, Attkisson was a correspondent and anchor at PBS, CNN and CBS News, where the Washington Post described her as "a persistent voice of news-media skepticism about the government's story.” She’s a fourth degree blackbelt in TaeKwonDo.

Steven Ing

Psychologist

Marriage & Family Therapist Steven Ing is reframing an important conversation in society — one about the intelligent management of human sexuality. His most recent book, “We’re All Like This” is used as a textbook in Human Sexuality courses in university classrooms. His frank, accessible and compassionate demeanor has earned him a wide following — whether in his HuffPost contributions, his newspaper columns or in his speaking engagements. He has trained parents about having “the sex talk” (or rather, talks), HR professionals about sexual harassment, advertisers and marketers about using sexuality (rather than just sex) in advertising, law enforcement about sex offenders and more. Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein observed that if we do not have the words to describe a thing, then we cannot understand that thing. Steven Ing's career is all about helping us find the words to safely talk about this most intimate part of who we are.

Tony Lillios

Integral Coach

Tony Lillios is an Integral Coach in personal development who is passionate about bringing transformational tools to larger audiences. Tony brings a breadth of experiences and education into this growing field of integral practice that supports whole person evolution to create sustainable personal shifts. As a serial entrepreneur, Tony founded and grew several companies, most notably the mobile case and accessory company, Speck Products. As an 8-time Ironman and a seasoned open water swimmer, he became the first swimmer to complete a round-trip swim across the deep cold waters of Crater Lake. No wetsuit or any outside assistance was utilized. Tony has also led an expedition across the country of Bhutan, seeking a deeper first-hand account of the country’s policy of Gross National Happiness. The journey is now the subject of a forthcoming documentary, Crossing Bhutan.

Troi Irons

Musician

Troi Irons refuses to be pigeonholed. Irons makes music that grabs, urgently, influences from all over the map—the pointed lyrics of Alanis Morrissette, the sinewy churn of The Dead Weather, and the in-your-face wail of Shirley Manson are just a few of the reference points that come to mind when listening to Turbulence, Irons’ debut EP. Irons’ lyrics speak frankly of defying boundaries—”Maybe I’m screws loose, maybe it’s you/ Some say I’m too blue, so what if it’s true,” Irons spits over the sitar-led maelstrom of “Peculiar”—and tackling hard situations head-on. The electric blues of “Fool” are turbo-charged by Irons’ wail recounting 2 a.m. arguments and a wavy guitar riff that sounds summoned from the world’s depths. Growing up in a musical household allowed Irons, who graduated high school at age 12, to be similarly prodigious in making music.