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).

UCLA Royce Hall
340 Royce Dr
Los Angeles, California, 90095
United States

Ann Curry

Journalist

Award-winning Journalist and Photojournalist Ann Curry, a former NBC News Network anchor and international correspondent, has reported on conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Darfur, Congo, the Central African Republic, Serbia, Lebanon, and Israel; on nuclear tensions from North Korea and Iran and on numerous humanitarian disasters, including the tsunamis in Southeast Asia and Japan, and the massive 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where her appeal via Twitter (@AnnCurry) is credited for helping to speed the arrival of humanitarian planes.

Austin Vaday

UCLA Undergraduate Student

Austin Vaday is a 21-year-old software engineer, innovator, and entrepreneur. After becoming deaf at the age of 3 , Austin has proved to the world that disabilities are super-powers, not disadvantages. At only 17 years of age, Austin experienced his first of four software engineering internships at NASA and Amazon. When he was 19 years old, Austin co-founded a startup, Aquaint, a tool for social media discovery and organization. Currently a Computer Science student at UCLA, his technical skill-set includes web, iOS, and backend development. In May 2017, Austin started Signs For Humanity, a social media initiative that seeks to spread the beauty of sign language with all of humanity. In just 6 short months, his educational videos have generated over 3.5 million views and have been watched from all around the world. Some say that Austin's true talent is not in his technical ability, but in his ability to inspire and motivate others."

David Sarabia

Entrepreneur

David Sarabia is an serial entrepreneur, co-founder of UPrinting.com which was recognized by Inc 500 in 2009 and acquired in 2010. Then founding the first m-commerce platform built for touch-screens, which he sold within 2 years. He is the founder of inRecovery, an addiction recovery platform which he created during his time in rehab. Being later accepted to the Startup Health Accelerator in October 2017, becoming their first addiction treatment startup.

Gerardo Franco

UCLA Graduate Student

Gerardo Franco is a graduate student majoring in Mechanical Engineering at UCLA. Throughout undergrad and onto graduate school, he has conducted research in the Micro and Nano Manufacturing Lab at UCLA to make maritime transportation more efficient. He also performed solar energy research and is a published co-author in the scientific journal New Astronomy. When Gerardo graduates he will resume full-time work on a NASA satellite program at an Aerospace/Defense company in Los Angeles

Isaac Bryan

MPP Candidate, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Isaac Bryan is a second year Masters of Public Policy Candidate in the Luskin School of Public Affairs. He studies public safety and criminal justice policy, and has worked on projects with the U.S. Department of Justice, ACLU, Children’s Defense Fund and National Center for Youth Law. He currently serves as a Bohnett Policy Fellow in Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Reentry.

Jackson Rayne

Illusionist

A headlining illusionist, TV personality, and highly sought after corporate speaker, Jackson Rayne walks through walls, defies death, and lives life to its fullest! Jackson’s magic and world record escapes have been featured on national television in several countries around the world. Touring Asia and North America with his own 90 minute production Jackson’s shows continue to be featured at resort showrooms, performance arts centers, colleges, and arenas everywhere. Jackson’s multiple Guinness world records have provided a platform for speaking to Fortune 500 companies and universities about success and leadership topics. Combining visual magic with motivational words, Jackson has an uncanny talent for inspiring and connecting with an audience in the most unforgettable ways. Jackson’s engaging charm, high-energy magical performances, and obsession for pushing the boundaries is exactly why the Manila Bulletin hails him “Spellbinding!

Jade Robertson

Choreographer, community activist, dancer, filmmaker, and teaching artist

Jade Charon is a choreographer, community activist, dancer, filmmaker, and teaching artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She began dancing at the age of 5 with City Ballet Theater, and trained with many local dance organizations around Milwaukee such as: Art in Motion, Milwaukee Ballet School, Feet of Praise Dance Ministry, and graduated from Milwaukee High School of the Arts as a dance major. In 2005, she joined Signature Dance Company where she served as a company member and choreographer. In 2007, she was accepted into Columbia College Chicago.

Juan Rivera

Gluck Fellow, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Krystle Hickman

Artist & Illustrator

Krystle Hickman rediscovered drawing. The first drawing Krystle did was a simple pen sketch of Freddie from the television show Skins. After finishing that sketch, over a three-week period, she drew every cast member from the first four seasons of Skins. Krystle edited the drawings into a video and sent the video to the creator of the show. He responded the same day and later asked her to draw portraits for the American version of the television show. With that little bit of early success Krystle made the decision to make art her life. Her artwork is constantly evolving and expanding into new mediums. Krystle specializes in creating hyper-realistic artwork as well as video, website and Photoshop content. Artistic and creative content has been commissioned by marketing companies, families, political figures, as well as professionals in the music and movie industry. In the past Krystle has worked with MTV, The Jacksons, Jamiu Abiola, Kevin Hart, West Elm and many others.

Louise Sandhaus

ouise Sandhaus is the former Program Director and current faculty in the Graphic Design Program at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Her book on the most ecstatic and distinctive California graphic design, Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires and Riots: California and Graphic Design 1936-1986, published in late 2014 by Metropolis Books and Thames & Hudson, received laudatory attention from The New York Times, The Guardian (London), The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Eye magazine, among many others. In 2015, the book received the Palm D’argent from The International Art Book and Film Festival (FILAF). Her book on the prolific designer and American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) medalist, Gere Kavanaugh, co-written and designed with Kat Catmur, will be published Spring 2019 by Princeton Architectural Press. She is currently working with AIGA on Making History, a national initiative to build and preserve graphic design history through crowd-sourcing and utilizing a digital platform/tool

Lousie Sandhaus

Faculty, CalArts

Louise Sandhaus is the former Program Director and current faculty in the Graphic Design Program at California Institute of the Arts. Her book on the most ecstatic and distinctive California graphic design, Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires and Riots: California and Graphic Design 1936-1986, co-published in late 2014 by Metropolis Books and Thames & Hudson, received laudatory attention from The New York Times, The Guardian (London), The Los Angeles Review of Books, among many publications. In 2015, the book received the Palm D’argent for Best Art Book from The International Art Book and Film Festival. Her book on the prolific designer and American Institute of Graphic Arts medalist, Gere Kavanaugh, co-written and designed with Kat Catmur, will be published Spring 2019 by Princeton Architectural Press. She is currently working with AIGA on “Making History,” a national initiative to build and preserve graphic design history through crowd-sourcing and utilizing a digital platform/tool.

Matthew Prescott

Author

Matthew Prescott is the author of Food Is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World. He's Senior Director of Food Policy for The Humane Society of the United States, an advisor to the Good Food Institute, and a leading figure in the global movement to reform how we farm and eat. A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Prescott has spent over a decade and a half sharing his ideas with Ivy League universities, Fortune 500 companies, consumers, and more. His work has helped lead to sweeping changes in the supply chains of hundreds of major food companies, impacted countless individuals’ diets, and has been covered extensively by the media: his work has been featured by CNN, in the pages of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Boston Globe, and countless more; he's been published in FORTUNE, the Washington Post, Barron’s and others; his photographs have appeared in Rolling Stone and Food & Wine; and he was even once a guest on NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me.

Michelle Craske

Faculty, UCLA Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences

Michelle G. Craske, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the Director of the Anxiety and Depression Research Center, and Associate Director of the Staglin Family Music Center for Behavioral and Brain Health, at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge (Co-Chair, Human Studies section). She has published extensively in the area of fear, anxiety and depression. In addition to over 392 research articles, she has written academic books on the topics of the etiology and treatment of anxiety disorders, gender differences in anxiety, translation from the basic science of fear learning to the understanding and treating of phobias, and principles and practice of cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as several self-help books and therapist guides.

Mike Alonso

Co-Founder of Pactum

Mike Alonso is a co-founder of Pactum.io, a platform that enables the deployment of no code blockchain solutions. Upon graduating from the United States Air Force Academy with a degree in Systems Engineering Management, he served as an Acquisitions Officer and worked in the nuclear weapons field. After which, Mike discovered the power of blockchain technology and focused 100% of his energy and efforts towards blockchain advancement, and adoption. He is now fully engaged in advancing blockchain technology around the world.

Nuno Santos

Professional Musician and Big Wave Surfer.

A Violin in the Most Unlikely Places is about challenging myself on the highest mountains and in the biggest waves around the world. It’s an endeavor that requires the best of me at all levels with the purpose of playing my violin in some of the world's most remote and extreme settings, as a way to know myself and to understand the fine balance between confidence & humbleness, resilience & patience, team work & self-reliance.

Nurit Katz

UCLA Chief Sustainability Officer

UCLA Chief Sustainability Officer, Nurit Katz is working to foster partnerships among academic, research, and operational departments to facilitate creating a world class living laboratory for sustainability at UCLA. As Executive Officer for UCLA Facilities Management, Nurit provides strategy support to make the university more operationally efficient and coordinates with Emergency Management on resilience planning. Facilities Management provides energy to the campus through a highly efficient cogeneration plant, as well as managing landscaping, renovations, operations, and maintenance. Nurit is also an Instructor for UCLA Extension’s Sustainability Certificate Program. Before starting in this position she founded the UCLA Sustainable Resource Center to provide resources for the community on sustainability. She then served as President of the Graduate Students Association & assisted Dr.Charles Corbett in developing a new interdisciplinary graduate certificate Leaders in Sustainability.

Pash Pashkow

Pash is a brand strategist / author / educator with 28.66 years of experience in the field of design. He is currently Vice President of Brand & Design at ABC. Before joining the network in 2010, his work spanned a wide variety of clients and industries. He designed the official logo for Miles Davis, brand extensions for Playboy, products for John Varvatos, retail product strategy for Motown Records, and advertising for Perrier. Pash is a President Emeritus of AIGA Los Angeles and currently sits on their Advisory Board. He has taught in UCLA Extension's Design Communication Arts program since 2001 and frequently lectures to students and creative professionals around the country. Pash lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Jessica and his daughters, Mirabelle and Juliette.

Sepehr Ghassemi

UCLA PhD Student

Sepehr Ghassemi designs and builds robots. With backgrounds in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design, and Photography, he is currently a PHD candidate at the Robotics and Mechanisms Lab at UCLA and a multi-time RoboCup champion. His projects have attracted global attention and include full size disaster relief humanoids, legged walking balloons, and even artificial organs and limbs. Sep's projects aim to improve lives and create technologies that accelerate human evolution.

Shamell Bell

Community organizer and choreographer

Shamell Bell is a mother, community organizer, and choreographer. An original member of the #blacklivesmatter movement, beginning as a core organizer with Justice 4 Trayvon Martin Los Angeles (J4TMLA)/Black Lives Matter Los Angeles to what she now describes as an Arts & Culture liaison between several organizations such as the BLM network and Blackout For Human Rights among others. Her work on "street dance activism" situates dance as grassroots political action from her perspectives as a scholar, dancer, and choreographer. Shamell’s street dance experience includes featured roles in music videos, award shows, and tours with artists such as Will Smith, Christina Aguilera and Ludacris, and in David LaChapelle's acclaimed documentary "Rize" which features Miss Prissy, "The Queen of Krump".

Tracey McNamara

Professor

Tracey S.McNamara is a Professor of Pathology at Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine in Pomona, CA. She graduated from the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. She served as senior zoo pathologist at the Bronx Zoo from 1987-2003 and held the Schiff Family Distinguished Scientist in Wild Animal Pathology endowed chair. Dr. McNamara specializes in the recognition and understanding of the diseases of captive and free-ranging wildlife and is best known for her work on West Nile virus. Her role in the discovery of the West Nile virus is described in the September 2000 GAO report “West Nile Virus – Lessons for Public Health Emergency Preparedness”

Zhehao Zhou

UCLA Undergraduate Student

Zhehao Zhou is a forth-year UCLA computer science & mathematics student, also the founder & CEO of Sentinel Tec, Inc, an AI driven chatbot startup company in medical & educational field. Sentinel Tec’s smart patient service chatbot has been adopted by Pacific Dental and 584 associated dental office. Zhehao and his team are now focusing on creating college counselor chatbot using the same AI technology to help high school student on college application.