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).

Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts
528 Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55408
United States

Damaris Hollingsworth

Damaris Hollingsworth champions the creation of holistic and approachable spaces that are accessible to all. Born in Brazil and a graduate of the University of Sao Paulo, Hollingsworth brings a strong multicultural and global perspective to her architecture practice. She was recently named as a “40 under 40 Class of 2017” by Building Design and Construction magazine and is hailed as a “change agent,” in recognition of her passion for using architectural design as a tool for social and economic change. Hollingsworth currently serves as Vice President for THOR Design Plus in Minneapolis, and is a co-founder and the President of the Minneapolis-St Paul chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. She is a U.S. Registered Architect, is accredited as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design architect and holds a National Council of Architectural Registration Boards certificate.

Fires of 1918: Fantome Rosu Quartet

The Fires of 1918: Fantome Rosu was conceived by guitarist Joe Hastings and violinist Sarah Muellerleile in 2015 with the initial aim of playing turn-of-the-century European parlor music. After an influential trip to Key West, their project quickly evolved into writing dark, sophisticated, original compositions inspired by chamber music, waltzes, and traditional Romani tunes that touch on such themes as hauntings, mermaids, voodoo, pirates and pretzels. Presently, the duo is experimenting with additional performers and instrumentation with the ultimate goal of composing music for a new version of the symphony orchestra. Joe Hastings: Guitarist Sarah Muellerleile: Violinist Kim Mancini: Percussion Matt Senjem: Upright Bass

Jane Whitlock

Jane Whitlock, aka, Doula Jane, is an end-of-life doula. Whitlock provides guidance and emotional support for individuals and families through the end-of-life process. Why is it okay to ask strangers at the supermarket about their pregnancy but not about their impending death? Doula Jane spends an inordinate amount of time thinking about how she can normalize death. You could say that she has a healthy fascination with death, grief, and dying. Recognising the need for an impartial and compassionate perspective during her husband’s terminal cancer battle in 2013, Whitlock launched her practice to help others in dealing with the fragile and fleeting constants of life and death. Whitlock declares that Death and its sacred rituals have many gifts to offer us. The gift of living our best lives while we face dying. The gift of finding meaning in our lives. The gift of having the opportunity to tell loved ones: I'm sorry, I forgive you, thank you, and goodbye. When we know we are dying and time is short there comes an opportunity for deep transformation for both the departing and their loved ones.

Jill Fish

Jill Fish’s work focuses on transforming social institutions to make them inclusive and equitable for Native American peoples. Fish has been recognized for these efforts by several organizations, including the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the Quell Foundation, and the American Psychological Association. Fish is from the Tuscarora Nation (Skarú:rę' Kayeda:kreh) of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy which is described as the earth’s oldest, participatory democracy. For the Haudenosaunee, law, society and nature are equal partners and each plays an important role. Fish earned her master's degree in mental health counseling from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2014. Following this, she moved to Minneapolis to pursue her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities where she has been awarded The DOVE Fellowship and the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship.

Kevin Ehrman-Solberg

Kevin Ehrman-Solberg is a co-founder of the Mapping Prejudice Project at the University of Minnesota's Borchert Map Library where he and a small team have built the first-ever comprehensive visualization of racially biased covenants for an American city. Their project maps restrictive deed covenants–agreements made during home purchases–that enforced racial segregation in Minneapolis until the Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlawed such covenants. Despite this landmark legislation, to this day the vast majority of the nation’s neighborhoods remain deeply segregated. As an active proponent of the digital humanities, Ehman-Solberg interrogates the intersection of space and historical narrative. Born and raised in the Twin Cities, Ehrman-Solberg has recently completed his Master of Geographic Information at the University of Minnesota, and is now a graduate student in the Department of Geography, Environment and Society.

Leondra Hanson

Leondra Hanson joined the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts at Hamline University in 2008 where she now teaches courses across the legal curriculum and chairs the legal studies department. Hanson’s scholarly and professional work focuses on women and law, sexual assault and harassment, and legal education. Before Professor Hanson taught law, she practiced, working on cases involving sexual assault, discrimination, and real estate–a wide array. Hanson loved the counseling and advocacy work of representing clients on both sides. Her specialty was in simplifying the complex and making people comfortable with the litigation process, a skill she has, no doubt, carried over into academia. Hanson earned her BA from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and her JD from the University of Minnesota. She has provided counsel, risk prevention, and training to professionals in human resources, legal, advocacy, and real estate fields. Professor Hanson is a former board member of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault and served on the Minnesota State Bar Association Alternative Legal Models Task Force.

Lula Saleh

Lula Saleh is an Eritrean-Ethiopian, Saudi-born and raised multidisciplinary artist, third culture kid, healer, and creative entrepreneur. Saleh is committed to remaining authentic, vulnerable, and sharing her light, heart and soul, while honoring her ancestral lineage and creating intentional spaces for healing and truth-telling. Recognized across the fields of journalism/media, music, poetry, healing justice, and cultural community organizing, Saleh is an Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, a Creative Community Fellow with National Arts Strategies, a NEXUS music alum, a Minneapolis Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum, a Bush Foundation Events Scholar, and an Inner-City Muslim Action Network artist. As a singer-songwriter, spoken word poet, and writer, Saleh’s voice transcends topics such as: diaspora, African/Muslim/Black immigrant feminisms, healing and belonging. She has performed, partnered or collaborated with: Amnesty International, So Far Sounds, Yale University, Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Loft Literary Center, Button Poetry, Intermedia Arts, Icehouse, Pangea World Theater and more.

Nkauj Ntxuam Dej

Nkauj Ntxuam Dej is the senior dance team from Dao Lan Dance Studio located in St. Paul, MN. Our vision is to promote self-appreciation, preserve our cultural heritage, explore the beauty of other cultures, and to maintain a well-balanced healthy lifestyle. Our mission is to empower Hmong youths to reach their fullest potential by building self-confidence through dancing.

Thong Nguyen

Thong Nguyen is an entrepreneur who is using virtual reality to help people experience, test and learn from the future. His company, Roomera, works with innovative business leaders to apply VR within the enterprise to accelerate prototyping and research, enhance learning, and aid in sales development. Before Roomera, Thong spent 15 years in the corporate sector in roles ranging from analyst to VP and CTO. Featured as a 2017 Minnesota Business young entrepreneur, Thong has a profound fascination with exploring the nuances of human behavior, and is interested in technology that creates empathy and strengthens how we understand ourselves and each other.

Two Sugars Show

2 Sugars is a sketch comedy duo composed of beloved Twin Cities performers, Shanan Custer and Carolyn Pool. Carolyn and Shanan met in 2008, and in their words, “liked each other a great deal, had some coffee, and decided to, you know, write a show about scenes from life, stuff we think is funny.” Their series of scenes and original music won an Ivey Award for Ensemble Acting. Shanan is an adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and is a Teaching Artist at the Guthrie Theater, the History Theatre, and Park Square Theatre. Shanan is also an improviser with the Theater of Public Policy. Carolyn Pool has performed at almost every theatre in the Twin Cities, as well as regional theaters across the country. She is the recipient of a 2008 Ivey Award, and in 2011 won “Best Actress” at the SoCal Film Festival for her work in a short film.