Theme: Love, Music, and Other Drugs

Exploring what makes people breathe. The tics and passions and artistry that drives a person to wake up in the morning, the loves they tackle and the ideas they spread.
A full day of TEDx talks, activities, and music! Hurry and register today!

Note: We are no longer taking speaker applications for this event.

Humanities Lecture Hall
2500 University Heights
Asheville, North Carolina, North Carolina
United States

Dylan Forest Gamble

Student

D. Forest Gamble is a New Media (Video + Animation) and German Major at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. When he is not studying, Forest is a stop motion animator, documentary filmmaker, and aspiring chef. His art focuses on surrealism, ideology, and the malleability of truth. Find out more about his work at haagenamadeus.com

Kim Brophey

Dog Behavior Specialist

Kim Brophey, CDBC, is an applied ethologist and owner of the Dog Door Behavior Center in downtown Asheville, NC. Kim’s 20-year commitment to family dog mediation has been recognized both nationally and locally, awarded the Association of Professional Dog Trainers Outstanding Trainer of the Year in 2009 and the Best Trainer Of WNC annually since 2013. Kim’s trademarked Dog L.E.G.S.® model is a groundbreaking new system for dog lovers to truly understand their dogs’ behavior. Through her upcoming official L.E.G.S.® book -Meet Your Dog, Canine Genetic Heritage Testing Software and app-The Dog Key™, L.E.G.S.® shelter program, and daily service to organizations and families, Kim is doing her part to facilitate an important paradigm shift in our relationships with our dogs.

Lavinia Plonka

Body Language Expert

Body language expert Lavinia Plonka has helped people improve their movement, behavior, relationships and careers for over 35 years. She has taught The Feldenkrais Method® for over 25 years and is a level CL4 teacher of the Alba Method. She was an artist in residence for the Guggenheim Museum for nine years, and movement consultant for theater and television companies around the world, from the Irish National Folk Theater to Nickelodeon.She is currently the director of Asheville Movement Center in Asheville, NC, offering a complete movement curriculum including workshops and private lessons. Lavinia’s writing includes several books and audio programs as well as her popular column CosmiComedy.

Lisa Zahiya

Bellydancer

Lisa Zahiya travels nationally and internationally as an award-winning performer and in-demand dance instructor, workshop and event facilitator, and speaker. Lisa is based in Asheville, NC where she is the founder & owner of Studio Zahiya, four time winner of “Best Place to Take a Dance Class” in Asheville, NC. As a movement instructor, she travels, teaching workshops, performing and developing curriculum. She has taught and performed in New York, NY, Las Vegas, NV, Austin, TX, Baltimore, MD, Washington, DC, Montreal, Southern France and more. She also specializes in women’s empowerment workshops and as a teambuilding facilitator. She is the winner of the 2008 Bellydancer of the Universe.

Marcus Harvey

Professor

Dr. Marcus L. Harvey is an assistant professor of religious studies at UNC Asheville. His research explores indigenous African knowledge systems.

Oguz Erdur

Professor

Born and raised in Turkey, Oğuz received his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University. He teaches courses at UNC Asheville on Anthropology, Archaeology, Art, Writing, the Middle East, and Friedrich Nietzsche. He is the author of Stone in Love: Seduction of the Orphan Past, a work of poetry and photography that seeks to recreate reality as a surreal montage. Oğuz is happily married to Ayşe and is the proud father of Sophia and Kuzey.

Renuka Gusain

Shakespeare Professor

Dr. Renuka Gusain is an educator, a Shakespearean, and teaches in the Humanities Program at UNC Asheville. She is a global citizen who has grown up in diplomatic communities around the world and has taught at universities in India, the US, and Brazil. She also volunteers her time as the Strategic Development Director at the non-profit, Child Nutrition Foundation.

Robin Russell Gaiser

Certified Music Practitioner

Robin Russell Gaiser, MA, CMP, holds degrees in English literature and psychology, and a certificate in therapeutic music. As a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist she provides live, bedside acoustic music to critically and chronically ill, elderly and dying patients in hospices, hospitals, nursing homes, rehabs, and private homes. She is a published author of short stories and her full-length book, MUSICAL MORPHINE:Transforming Pain One Note 2016) at a Time (Pisgah Press: 2106) is a finalist in the 2017 Best Book Awards. She lives with her husband in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina.