Theme: Connectivity

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).

Orthodox Cathedral
Tirana
Tirana, Tiranë, 10100
Albania

Alice Taylor

Digital nomad

Alice Taylor is British-born digital nomad. After spending the last decade living countries such as Malta and Cyprus, she fell in love with Albania during an impromptu holiday and decided to stay. Previously she had spent over a decade working in professional consultancies and law firms, but one day she woke up and realised that this 9-5 life was not for her. She left her job and set up her own business as marketing consultant and has not looked back since. She is a professional freelance legal and tech writer, corporate blogger, journalist, and is halfway through writing her first book. She also set up a travel blog called The Balkanista that follows her travels in Albania and explores the culture, history, places, food, and people of her adoptive country. The level of freedom she attained by shunning the traditional working world has allowed her to travel and experience things that she previously would have only dreamed of.

Dhurata Thanasi Daneri

Albanian food anthropologist and historian

Dhurata Thanasi Daneri is a food enthusiast and healthy living style popularizer. She is the creator of “Luga e Argjendtë”, the first albanian food blog, turned to be a typical traditional albanian food shop. She is an Albanian food anthropologist, historian and initiated Food Revolution in Albania. Dhurata has worked for more than 20 years within United Nations Agencies in the development sector all over the Balkans, Europe and North Africa. She is an agro-environnemental engineer and holds a Master Degree on Public Administration and Policy from the Central European University in Budapest and four Executive Courses from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She considers herself a changemaker.

Edon Muhaxheri

Designer/Art preofessor

Edon Muhaxheri is an art professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore, US. His teaching portfolio includes digital fabrication prototyping, and courses on the design and making of mechanical sculptures. He also co-leads curriculum support workshops, including vector illustration and animation. Edon belongs to the pioneering generation of digital arts in Kosovo. For 18 years, he has contributed in the visual and conceptual identity of private businesses, public enterprises, non-governmental organizations, and public figures. His work is internationally recognized and covered by magazines such as Yorokobu, Print Mag, GDUSA, AIGA Eye On Design, Design Week UK, How Stuff Works, and more. Edon is an entrepreneur and a philanthropist.

Genti Selenica

App developer/Entrepreneur

Co-Founder in many Start Up: Wine e-Commerce Agregator App in Italy, International Shipping Service in New York, and the last one, BABOON, is dedicated to being around for a long time. Baboon is the first professional app for Food Delivery present in more than 100 restaurants in Tirana, and it has more than 50.000 active users.

Harald Friedl

Circle Economy’s CEO

In his role as Circle Economy’s CEO, Harald brings extensive international experience running both for-profit and non-profit businesses with a focus on scaling impact. Before joining Circle Economy in 2017, Harald spent 5 years in Myanmar, during which he co-founded Impact Hub Myanmar, headed the market development for the world market leader of electromechanical hydropower projects in the country and co-founded Myanmar’s first pre-incubation programme for social enterprises. Prior to moving to Myanmar, he lived in New York where he worked as the Head of Office for the Assistant Secretary General and acted as the spokesperson for the Deputy Prime Minister of Finance in Austria. He has also spent time as a journalist and TV presenter for economic focused news. Harald enjoys connecting with people who are striving to make the world a better place for future generations. In his spare time, he loves exploring the great outdoors with his wife and kids

Jeta Xharra

Journalist

Jeta Xharra is a journalist and leader of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), which is the biggest non profit organization in Kosovo to co-produce the most viewed broadcasts "Jeta në Kosovë" (Life in Kosovo) and "Drejtësia në Kosovë" (Justice in Kosovo), she is editor in chief in "Kallxo.com", a platform that has won several prizes on war against corruption, and "Prishtina Insight", a publication in English. The broadcast which she now leads for 15 years "Jeta në Kosovë" (Life in Kosovo), profiled in New York Times, has always been part of KOSID group that fights for pure energy and accountability through a decade, succeeding to convince the World Bank not to support another coal power plant in Kosovo that would have horrible consequences for the coming generations in the next 50 years.

Linda Rukaj

Linda Rukaj is a Paris based artist, who is working to bring back old Albanian folk music with a modern touch. Her performance in TEDxTirana was soothing and beautiful as she shared with the audience two songs she used to listen to as lullabies as a child. She explained how by bringing back these treasured pieces was also also a way to reconnecting with her Albanian roots.

Lori Amy

Academic

Dr. Lori E. Amy is Professor of Cultural Studies and Writing at Georgia Southern University, where she also served as Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program from 2002 – 2009, and the Academic Director and Human Rights Coordinator of OTTOnomy. She is currently working on her second book, Restoring the Social Fabric: Albania, the Cold War, and Building Our Futures. This book brings a global dimension to the analysis of cultural violence she undertook in her first book, The Wars We Inherit: Military Life, Gender Violence, and Memory (Temple University Press, 2010). Amy serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Narrative Politics and serves as an editorial reviewer for Studies of Transition States and Societies, and History of Communism in Europe and as a judge for the Department of State Fulbright Scholars programs.

Mark Kosmo

Consultant

Mark is the chair and a founding member of the Massachusetts Albanian American Society in Boston, and in the process of establishing the Global Albanians Foundation to promote Albanian philanthropy to help Albanian not-for-profit organizations. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Germin (an organization in Kosovo leading efforts to engage the Albanian Diaspora) and the Board of Directors of Action for Mothers and Children in Kosovo. Mark is currently the Chief Financial Officer of the Mentor Group in Boston. Mark served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, and worked in various not-for-profit organizations in Washington DC such as the World Resources Institute, the Brookings Institution, and the Urban Institute. Mark holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, and did his undergraduate degree in Economics and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Taulant Muka

Scientist

Taulant Muka is a medical scientist, having a broad interest on ageing, and particularly on diabetes, women’s health and epigenetics. Dr. Muka’s main work has been conducted in Erasmus MC, the Netherlands where he obtained his PhD and worked as postdoc, but he has had also research experiences with the University of Harvard and Cambridge University. Dr. Muka has published over 50 international scientific papers, taught few undergraduate and master classes, participated in writing books published by Elsevier and to date has completed the supervision of 3 PhD trajectories. His scientific work has received several times global media attention (BBC, CNN, Reuters, TIMES, NY TIMES). Working in the last year in Novo Nordisk headquarters in Denmark as pharmaceutical medicine physician has helped Dr. Muka to extend his understanding on drug development and clinical trials.

Vasjen Katro

Visual designer and art director

Vasjen Katro, popularly known as Baugasm is a freelance visual designer and art director. He started designing at the young age of 14. After being inspired by Electronic music, he went full swing into design and began designing his own covers for the label he was part of. He discovered that Art is the only platform he can express himself because this is the area that inspires him the most in life. Vasjen constantly demonstrates persistence and resourcefulness whenever it comes to doing what he loves to do best - designing. His most prominent work is ‘Baugasm’ - a personal project he started early in 2016, where he challenged himself to design a poster daily for one year and post them on Instagram. His work has been published in different media, which include: Adobe Create Magazine, We And The Ccolor, Abduzeedo, Fubiz, Design Taxi, Computer Arts Magazine, Swiss-Miss, The Inspiration, Design Taxi, Net Diver, Experimenta and Typeroom.