Theme: FORWARD — what moves you?

Are we moving UPWARD, ONWARD, BACKWARD?
What moves you FORWARD?

TEDxKCWomen Theater at Municipal Auditorium
301 West 13th Street
Kansas City, Missouri, 64105
United States

Ashley Danielle Jacobson

Spoken Word Artist, Activist and High School Student

Soaring in the sky watching the fog rise from the Missouri River is one of 18-year-old Ashley Jacobson’s favorite sights as she pilots a Cessna 172. This senior in high school is earning a private pilot’s certificate during her limited free time and hopes to make flying a part of her career. Ashley discovered her passion for writing spoken word poetry after seeing A.Ward perform at her youth group a few years ago. She’s excited to be a part of a suicide prevention campaign sharing her positive message of unique and natural beauty. Ashley plans to pursue her education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, participate in the Air Force ROTC, and enlist in the Air National Guard.

Barbara Teicher

Leadership Development Guru

Barbara Teicher, CSP, is an international speaker focused on women in business. Barb specializes in strategic leadership development and effective business communication. With more than 25 years' experience in developing leaders for major brands, her book, “It’s HOW you Say It®” is endorsed by Kent Babb of The Washington Post. Barb is also the creator of The PropelHer™ System, accelerating women to be influential leaders with greater impact. Barb holds the distinguished CSP designation. CSP is the highest earned credential of the over 5,000 members of the National Speakers Association and The Global Speakers Federation. Less than 7% of these speakers worldwide hold this distinction.

Dari Grant

COO, Social Entrepreneur, Payday Loan Disruptor

Dari Grant is the Chief Operating Officer of SoLo Funds, a startup focused on transforming the digital lending industry. A supply chain expert, Dari has diverse experience in lean six sigma, FAA regulations and standards, Aerospace industry standards, leadership training, profit and loss and project management. Dari is also a co-owner of a women's footwear boutique called Fancy'd (In Her Shoes) Footwear.

Flor De Toloache

All Female Mariachi

The group is led by co-band directors Mireya I. Ramos on violin and Shae Fiol on vihuela. Together, they have graced international stages from Chenai, India to Paris, France and have extensively toured the U.S. as supporting act for Dan Auerbach of “The Black Keys”’ new project “The Arcs", as well as Cafe Tacvba, La Santa Cecilia, and Natalia Lafourcade. Upcoming shows include the ACL Festival in Austin TX, Alaska tour with Ozomatli and dates with Ana Tijoux.

Laura Tempesta

Bra Nerdist & Lingerie Expert

Laura Tempesta is the only American with a Master’s degree in Lingerie Design. Laura is also the only person in the world who has a M.A. that was specifically designed to study the engineering, design, performance, and innovation of Sports Bras. In Laura's previous job, she was Nike’s Sports Bra Innovation Director. Bottom line: Laura has the chops to give you credible advice about bras.

Lili Haydn

Classical Violinist, Actress, Singer & Activist

At 7 years old, Lili had a dream she could play violin, but her mom and she were on welfare, so Lili started working as an actress to pay for her education and violin. She graduated from Brown University in Political Science and started jamming with bands, ultimately leading to her legendary collaborations with artists such as Herbie Hancock, Roger Waters, Sting, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Josh Groban, Robert Plant and Jimi Page for whom she opened on their entire last US tour, and George Clinton, who called her "the Jimi Hendrix of the violin." A humanitarian and activist, Lili also performs regularly for various human rights and social justice organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the Global Security Institute (for whom she performed a concert at the UN), and AmeriCares.

Marcina Hale

Psychotherapist, Filmmaker, Activist

Marcina Hale is a co-founder of Reconsider. She has spent the past 20 years developing and presenting workshops for individuals and communal change and transformation. A master therapist and dynamic facilitator, she challenges and inspires others to live their lives more consciously and to take responsibility for their own lives. She is a Producer of Disturbing the Peace and is the lead developer and one of the primary facilitators for Reconsider Workshops, which have been facilitated in many locations in the US and internationally.

Natasha Kirsch

Social Justice Entrepreneur

Natasha Kirsch if the founder and Executive Director of Empowering the Parent to Empower the Child (EPEC), which operates The Grooming Project, Natasha believes in a two-generation approach to breaking the cycle of poverty. Basic needs for food and shelter must be met before a parent can focus on guiding children through school and out of poverty, so a living-wage, family-flexible career for the parent is key. Natasha’s idea earned support from the UMKC Bloch School’s Aaron L. Levitt Social Entrepreneurship Challenge in 2013.

Rachel Ignotofsky

Author, Illustrator, Feminist

New York Times Best Selling author, Rachel Ignotofsky, has published three books with 10 Speed Press and is always thinking up new ideas. Check out her books: The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth, Women In Science and Women In Sports. Rachel's work is inspired by history and science. She believes that illustration is a powerful tool that can make learning exciting. She has a passion for taking dense information and making it fun and accessible. Rachel hopes to use her work to spread her message about scientific literacy and feminism.

Robin Steinberg

Activist, Bail Disruptor, Audacious Prize Winner TED 2018

Robin Steinberg is the CEO of The Bail Project, a national organization modeled after The Bronx Freedom Fund, which she co-founded with David Feige in 2007. Steinberg is the founder and former executive director of The Bronx Defenders, a community-based public defense office serving low-income New Yorkers in the Bronx since 1997, and the director of Still She Rises, Tulsa, the first public defender office in the nation dedicated exclusively to the representation of mothers in the criminal justice system.

Saya Woolfalk

Artist, Futurist, World-Creator

Saya Woolfalk has exhibited at PS1/MoMA; Deitch Projects; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; the Brooklyn Museum; Asian Art Museum, CA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Studio Museum in Harlem; the Frist Center for the Visual Arts; The Yerba Buena Center; The Newark Museum; Third Streaming; MCA San Diego; MoCA Taipei; and Performa 09; has been written about in the New Yorker, Sculpture Magazine, Artforum, Artforum.com, ARTNews, The New York Times, Huffington Post and on Art21’s blog; and has also worked with Facebook and WeTransfer. Her first solo museum show The Empathics was on view at the Montclair Art Museum in the Fall of 2012. Her second solo museum exhibition ChimaTEK Life Products was on view at the Chrysler Museum of Art in the fall 2014. She recently completed a video installation commission for the Seattle Art Museum, and is a recipient of a NYFA grant in Digital/Electronic Arts.

Shea Diamond

Singer, Songwriter, Transgender Activist

Shea (pronounced she-uh) has always had to fight to live her truth. Indeed, she has fought to live her very she-ness. As a black transgender woman, that’s just what she does every time she walks out into the world--representing herself and amplifying the voices and experiences of her community. But now after all of her struggle, this game-changing new singer-songwriter is living her dream with Seen It All, her soulful and soul-baring debut EP (Asylum Records) that was executive-produced by hit songwriter Justin Tranter.