Theme: Unintended Consequence

The moment that we recognize the impact of an unintended consequence, a new story unfolds. Ideas that arise from unintended consequences are deeply personal. An unintended consequence forces us to reassess our assumptions and challenge our narratives.

1837 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19121
United States

Aïcha Ly

Market & Competitive Intelligence Strategist | Industry Speaker

Aïcha is a marketing and intelligence strategist, specializing in helping companies identify growth opportunities that promote positive consumer experiences. Aïcha has an M.B.A from Drexel University and is currently a Senior Manager of Marketing Strategy and Planning at Comcast. She has presented at conferences throughout the United States, addressing various topics including scenario planning, the importance of human-centered design, and leveraging digital technology to better understand evolving consumer needs. Aïcha is an active participant in efforts to advance the economic and civic empowerment of underserved communities. Drawing from her history as a Senegalese immigrant growing up in the U.S., Aïcha is passionate about sharing insights related to her own experiences navigating the complexities of race and cultural identity and promoting progressive and inclusive dialogue.

Annalicia Geeter

Design Thinking Strategist & Social Impact Advocate

Annalicia is a Design Strategy Consultant and Entrepreneur with 5+ years of consulting and industry experience leading software implementations. She is a conceptual thinker who helps drive transformative change for her clients through a human centered and empathy led approach. Annalicia has an M.B.A in Strategic Design Thinking at Thomas Jefferson University and has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Widener University. Her purpose and mission is to develop programs, services and frameworks that inspire and motivate people to participate in their communities and fuel a more sustainable future.

Gabriella Nelson

City Planner & Reproductive Justice Advocate

Gabriella A. Nelson is a city planner, possessing a strong affinity for issues at the confluence of urban development and public health. She currently works as a Project Analyst with the Philadelphia Housing Authority to help house some of the city’s most vulnerable residents and maintain a much needed level of affordability as the city resurges. She believes the city is for everyone, especially for those who wish to remain after bearing decades of disinvestment and devastation. Gabriella identifies as a problem-solver, an inquisitive thinker, and a creative whose experiences and opinions are deeply rooted in her Blackness, womanhood, and humanness.

Graham Quinn

Executive Director, Philly 311

Graham Quinn currently serves as the Executive Director to the City of Philadelphia’s Philly311. He graduated with a BA in Economics and minor in Business from the University of Colorado of Boulder. He went on to receive his MBA from The George Washington University and was selected for the Potomac Fellowship award. Graham's professional background is in Finance and Strategy. He brings over 10 years of experience managing teams for Fortune 100 companies as well as several start-ups and joined Philly311 in 2012. He was given the Customer Engagement Award by the Managing Director's office of the City of Philadelphia for his work on the Philly311 Mobile Application.

ill Fated Natives

Musicians

Born in Philadelphia, ill Fated Natives (iFN) artfully weave raw experiences into music. They marry hard-hitting live instrumentation reminiscent of Rage Against The Machine & Black Flag; with the musical elements of hip-hop artists such as Travis Scott & Lil Uzi Vert to deliver an unforgettable and in-your-face experience. The band has performed on renowned stages nationwide, such as SXSW & Firefly.

Jamal Parker

Poet

Jamal Parker is a writer, performer and teaching artist residing in Philadelphia, PA. He's performed, presented and facilitated workshops for MTV's Rock the Vote, Campaign For Black Male Achievement, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Art and Business Council of Philadelphia, The Kimmel Foundation, and more. He's a Two Time International Poetry Slam Champion, having won Brave New Voices in 2015 and the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational in 2016. In 2017 he was the Philly Pigeon 2017 Grand Slam Champion, and was a coach for Temple University's Slam Team, which earned the title of Co-Champions at CUPSI. Between 2016-2018 he served as the Artistic Director of Babel Poetry Collective. He is a Watering Hole Retreat Fellow, a 2014 Arts for Life Award Recipient, and the inaugural winner of L'Éphémère Review's 2018 Poetry Award. He is an alumnus of Brave New Voices, Philly Youth Poetry Movement, Orlando's Young Voices, Indiana University’s Slam Institute, & Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.

Keith Green

Director, Philadelphia LandCare, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Keith directs the development of new initiatives and the expansion of the LandCare program, which is recognized as a national model for reversing the ravages of blight in many cities through its “clean and green” treatment of vacant land. Keith has extensive experience in construction management and landscape installation projects. He currently oversees the long-range planning process for the program, determines the scale of the work to be performed each season, and cultivates key partnerships to ensure the successful delivery of the program. Keith’s expertise is in vacant land stabilization and management, capacity building for small business contractors, community engagement, and landscape construction.

Kyle Shenandoah

South Philadelphia Community Advocate & Social Innovator

Kyle Shenandoah is a community leader and advocate in Grays Ferry. As the VP of the Grays Ferry Civic Association, he has been instrumental in the rise of newfound revitalization in South Philadelphia. He adapts a three-pong approach toward reducing poverty through advocacy of accessible housing, workforce development, and equitable transit. In response to resident needs, Kyle co-founded the Tasker Morris Neighbors Association where he regularly organizes community meetings with developers and community leaders. His most recent achievement is his successful advocacy of the SEPTA 49 route. Through conversations with the community and SEPTA, Kyle was pivotal connecting his neighborhood to University City, 30th Street Station, and Fairmount. Due to Kyle's impact, he's received several awards including a congressional commendation, mayoral & city council citations, 1st place for The Philadelphia Innovations Awards, and recently received The 2019 Community Leader Award from PACDC.

Meghan Talarowski

Founder and Director, Studio Ludo

Meghan Talarowski is the founder and director of Studio Ludo, a non-profit dedicated to building better play through research, design, and advocacy. She has degrees in architecture and landscape architecture, over 15 years of experience in the design field, and is a certified playground safety inspector. Her research focuses on how the design of play environments impacts physical health and social behavior, and has been presented at conferences worldwide. Her work has been featured by The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, Medium, Next City, Landscape Architecture Magazine, and World Landscape Architecture Magazine.

Michelle Angela Ortiz

Visual Artist

Michelle Angela Ortiz is a visual artist/skilled muralist/community arts educator who uses her art as a vehicle to represent people and communities whose histories are often lost or co-opted. Through community arts practices, painting, and public art installations, she creates a safe space for dialogue around some of the most profound issues communities and individuals may face. Her work tells stories using richly crafted and emotive imagery to claim and transform spaces into a visual affirmation that reveals the strength and spirit of the community. For 20 years, Ortiz has designed and created over 50 large-scale public works nationally and internationally. Since 2008, Ortiz has led art for social change public art projects in Costa Rica & Ecuador and through the US Embassy in Fiji, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Venezuela, Honduras, and Cuba.

Mouaz Moustafa

Executive Director, Syrian Emergency Task Force

Mouaz Moustafa was born and raised in Damascus, Syria before moving to the US as a teenager. He is the current Executive Director for The Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF). As former staffer for Congressman Vic Snyder and Senator Blanche Lincoln, Mouaz spent a few years on Capitol Hill before joining SETF in the fall of 2011 to help advocate on behalf of the pro-democracy movement in his native Syria. Mouaz regularly travels to Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. He has organized many staff and congressional delegations to Turkey and Jordan including Senator McCain's trip to northern Syria in 2013. He worked closely with the Defector Caesar, bringing him to testify in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives. Mouaz has also worked closely with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to bring awareness to the atrocities taking place in Syria including a continuing exhibit of the Caesar photos currently at the Museum.

Nydia Han

Journalist

You can watch Nydia's docu-series about her #ThisIsAmerica journey and reach out to her by going to www.nydiahan.com. She'd like to sit down and talk to you, too.

Sara Goldrick-Rab

Founder, Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice

Sara Goldrick-Rab is Professor of Higher Education Policy & Sociology at Temple University, and Founder of the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice in Philadelphia, as well as the Wisconsin HOPE Lab. She is best known for her innovative research on food and housing insecurity in higher education, having led the largest national studies on the subject, and for her work on making public higher education free. She is the recipient of the William T. Grant Foundation’s Faculty Scholars Award and the American Educational Research Association’s Early Career Award, and in 2016 POLITICO named her one of the top 50 people shaping American politics. Her latest book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream (University of Chicago, 2016), is an Amazon best-seller and a 2018 winner of the Grawemeyer Award, and has been featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Stephanie Sena

Founder & Executive Director, Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia

Stephanie Sena is the founder and executive director of the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia (SREHUP) - a non-profit homeless shelter operating since 2011, where students provide shelter, food, services and community to individuals experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. Her most recent project is The Breaking Bread Village - communities of tiny homes and services for people and their pets who are experiencing homelessness. The villages house people, and work to get them back on their feet while also increasing the inventory of affordable housing through client/volunteer rehabbing of vacant homes. In addition, she works to increase the services available to people who are homeless and low income, and advocates for policy changes. Stephanie teaches history of poverty, homelessness, and resistance movements in the Center for Peace and Justice at Villanova University. She trains her students to be critical thinkers and responsible stewards of the world’s resources.

Youngmoo Kim

Director, ExCITe Center of Drexel University

Youngmoo Kim is Director of the ExCITe (Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies) Center, an institute at Drexel University for transdisciplinary research and discovery connecting technology and communities, and Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering. His research group, the Music & Entertainment Technology Laboratory pursues AI for music and sound, human-machine interfaces and robotics for expressive interaction, and K-12 outreach for maker and STEAM education. Youngmoo has also served as Resident Technologist for Opera Philadelphia, developed LiveNote with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and is an advisor for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. He received his Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab and holds Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Music (Vocal Performance Practice) from Stanford University as well as Engineering and Music degrees from Swarthmore College.