Theme: Growing through our Truths

TEDxTRU seeks to foster conversations around growing through our truths. By understanding and embracing our reality for what it is, we open ourselves to becoming catalysts for societal and self (r)evolution.

Grand Hall Conference Centre
805 TRU Way
Kamloops, British Columbia, V2C 0C8
Canada

Alexandra Proctor

Eco-Entrepreneur, Writer, Speaker, & Healer

A passionate eco-entrepreneur, writer, speaker & healer, Alexandra Proctor holds sacred space for change with the awareness of each invested choice which co-creates our world. She lives her own unique truth, building conscious community, healthy soil & a biodynamic food forest on Made with Love Urban Permaculture Farm with her partner, Colin, their four children, international volunteers, interns, guests & landmates. Through madewithlove.ca, they lead the global food industry with an ethical approach to artisan groceries.

Heramb Vadalkar

Founder of BitBox and EduFunWizards

Heramb is the founding member of two web-based companies Bitbox and EduFinWizards (https://edufinwizards.com/). Bitbox is a real-time peer to peer Bitcoin exchange and EduFinWizards is a firm that specializes in financial education. He has over 7 years of experience, providing clients with education related to financial planning and wealth management. He has conducted numerous training sessions via classroom and virtual modes.These training covered various aspects of investment education and financial literacy. He is extremely proud that during his previous job he could reach over four hundred thousand investors through these initiatives. He is also reverent of the fact that he was a part of a team that conducted the largest stock mind competition for students in India. He is currently working with Thompson Rivers University in the capacity of a sessional lecturer.

Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour

Two-Spirit Secwépemc Land & Water Defender

Jeffrey McNeil-Seymour is Tk'emlupsemc and 4th Gen. English Settler. In the current post moments of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Calls to Action, projects of Indigenization/Reconciliation and the poignant and timely unsettling of LGBTQ Pride Parades internationally by Black Lives Matters, McNeil-Seymour unsettles allyships first moment of encounter with "the real" work, and its inherent performances of settler colonial moves to innocence by, of and for exalted settler subjects. In this TEDx talk, Jeffrey is deeply reflecting on the reimagining and potential of social works story of the next 150+ (as leaders in the resistance) through a two-spirit lens of decolonized social work practice of action based evidence centered from Secwepemcul’ecw - without healthy land and water we won't have people.

Katherine McParland

Founder & Manager of A Way Home Kamloops

Katherine McParland is the founder & manager of 'A Way Home Kamloops,' movement to end youth homelessness, an issue close to her heart as she was once a homeless youth. Most recently, Katherine was appointed to the Federal government's Advisory Committee on Homelessness. Provincially, Katherine co-chairs the BC Network to End Youth Homelessness & is helping to lead the development of recommendations for a provincial plan. Furthering these feats, Katherine is integrating her learning as a Masters of Social Work Leadership student at the University of Calgary.

Michael Mehta

Professor of Geography & Environmental Studies

Dr. Michael Mehta is a Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at TRU. He has held academic appointments at several other institutions before moving to Kamloops in 2010 including York University, Queen's University, University of Saskatchewan, University of Alberta, and the University of Winnipeg. He specializes on environmental and health risk issues, and in the field of renewable energy. He is the author of five books and more than 50 academic articles and book chapters. He is founder of several non-profit organizations, and is the owner of the Sweet Spot Solar Company. He led recently the development of Canada's first solar road/path at TRU called the Solar Compass.

Saira Sabzaali

Psychotherapist, Canadian Certified Counsellor, Author

Dr. Saira holds a Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology, & has been in private practice as a psychotherapist and workshop facilitator for over 10 years. As a Canadian Certified Counsellor with a special interest in the inner life and relationships, she bridges mainstream psychological principles with the deeper questions of value and meaning that allow people to come to terms with truth in their personal lives especially at key transformative decision points. In 2009 she published a book of poetry called Imprints on my Soul: Poetry in Search of the Beloved.

TIm Shoults

Operations Manager for Aberdeen Publishing

Tim Shoults is the Operations Manager for Aberdeen Publishing. Over the past 20 years, Tim has worked as a reporter, editor, publisher, group publisher, regional & divisional manager, & VP of Content and Audience Development with weekly & daily newspapers across Western Canada. Tim serves his community & industry on boards and organizations including the TRU Foundation, the National Newsmedia Council, the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism Foundation & the Rotary Club of Kamloops. Tim is currently studying for his MBA.

Yasir Ali Khan

Graduate Student at Thompson Rivers University

A graduate student from Pakistan, undertaking a Master of Education program at Thompson Rivers University. Yasir has a keen interest in the realm of human behavior, social dynamics and personal development. He has conducted a number of workshops centered around personal growth and communication skills and is also a competitive public speaker, having won 6 speech contests in 2017. Yasir has an unquenchable thirst for acquiring and disseminating knowledge. His ultimate goal is to inspire others to push the boundaries of their own comforts, cultivate social congruence and become the truest and most authentic versions of themselves.