Theme: Through It All

TEDxLaSierraUniversity will return November 8, 2019 with “Through it All.” The day will be a search for the victories, humanity, and lessons that can be found when we push through to the other side of fear, destruction, apathy, and pain. Join us as we continue the journey we started in 2014 with “The Possible.”

Zapara School of Business: La Sierra University
4500 Riverwalk Pkwy
Riverside, California, 92505
United States

Andrew Marr

Andrew Marr is a husband, father, Retired Special Forces Green Beret, entrepreneur, and best-selling co-author of TALES FROM THE BLAST FACTORY: A Brain Injured Special Forces Green Beret’s Journey Back from the Brink. His book is being turned into a full feature documentary titled Quiet Explosions: Healing the Brain by a two-time EMMY award winning director to include a three-time academy award winner contributing to the production efforts as well. He co-founded Warrior Angels Foundation 501(c)(3) and the Millennium-Warrior Angel TBI Network. He lives with his wife Becky the love of his life and their seven children in the Los Angeles area.

Lee Grismer

Herpetologist + Research Director

Dr. Lee Grismer has taken hundreds of students with him on research trips into the most remote jungles in Southeast Asia, which has in many cases for them resulted in life-changing experiences. "I'm always happy to open doors for students who think that medicine is the only way to go in biology, and I'm even happier when they reverse course and enter graduate school to become ecologists and conservationists." Lee began his professional career working for twenty-five years in the arid region of Baja California, Mexico until leaving for the humid tropics of Southeast Asia. He has discovered and described nearly 200 new species to science, and many of those descriptions were co-authored with his students. Lee believes there is no human endeavor more important than discovering, cataloging, and conserving the biodiversity of our planet. To this end, he has dedicated his life to doing field research in some of the most biologically diverse and remote regions of the world.

Leeav Sofer

Music Director + Teaching Artist

Leeav Sofer is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer/arranger, music director and teaching artist with a performance degree in clarinet and voice from the Bob Cole Conservatory of California State University of Long Beach. He currently is on faculty at the Colburn School in Los Angeles where he teaches classes, directs choirs, and community engagement programs. Leeav helped initiate music programs to culturally elevate a number of local communities. Some of these programs include a choral ensemble made up of students from underserved high schools and the Urban Voices Project, a choir with homeless men and women drawn from the community within Los Angeles’ Skid Row. In addition to co-founding Los Angeles’ only current Jewish Youth Orchestra, he also leads the band Mostly Kosher, dedicated to preserving and progressing cultural folk music of the Judaic heritage for future generations.

Tasia Valenza

Voiceover Artist + Actress

Tasia Valenza is an EMMY-winning voiceover artist, actress, and motivational speaker. Renowned for voicing iconic female characters in video games and animated television shows, such as the seductress Poison Ivy in the Batman: Arkham Series, General Doza in Star Wars Resistance, Shaak Ti in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Sniper Wolf in the fan-favorite Metal Gear Solid games; Tasia voices countless commercials, animated series, video games, narrations, promos, and radio imaging. These experiences inspired the creation of #GiveGreatVoice, a platform that encourages confident, considerate verbal communication. Additionally, Valenza has co-created and voiced a free-to-use, science-based affirmation meditation app, Haven, with the hopes of helping people rewire their brains for peace of mind.

Tim Strack

Fire Captain

Tim Strack began his career with the City of Riverside Fire Department as a Firefighter in 1995 and was promoted to his current rank of Captain in June, 2003. He serves as the 1st District Vice-President of the California Professional Firefighters, and as Chairman of the Riverside City Firefighters Association - a non-profit that assists with fire education, fire prevention, victim assistance, and fallen firefighter family support.

Urban Voices Project

A Skid Row Choir

Urban Voices Project brings the healing power of music directly to individuals marginalized by homelessness, mental health issues, and unemployment in the Greater Los Angeles Area. It works to create supporting community spaces with music to bridge vulnerable individuals to a common sense of purpose and improved health in partnership with social, civic, and healthcare organizations. An idea worth spreading and replicating, Urban Voices Project shifts the narrative and perception about homelessness in today's society.