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).

The Roxian Theater
425 Chartiers Ave
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, 15136
United States

Aditi Gurkar

Aditi U. Gurkar is an Assistant Professor in the Aging Institute and Division of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Aditi received her Ph.D. at the Boston University School of Medicine and did her post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and The Scripps Research Institute. Her lab is interested in understanding the basis for 'Why we age?' and 'Can Aging be Reversed?' She received the K99/R00 Transition to Independence Award through the NIH and has been funded through the Nathan Shock Center, Pepper Center and the Aging Institute.

Anqwenique Kinsel

Pittsburgh native, ANQWENIQUE is an extremely versatile vocalist and educator specializing in opera, classical music, jazz and soul. Anqwenique has performed lead operatic roles such as Magda Sorel in Carl Menotti's The Consul and Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Voice Performance from Indiana University of PA. Anqwenique is the founder and director of Groove Aesthetic, a Pittsburgh based multidisciplinary artist collective experimenting with contemporary performance and collaborative processes. She has performed across the Pittsburgh Region including with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2018 celebrating the legacy of Black artists in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District. Anqwenique has been recognized with many awards and opportunities for her creative work. In 2017 she was named “Best Singer” by the Pittsburgh Magazine readers poll, listed among Who's Next in Music by The Incline and 40 Under 40 by Pittsburg Magazine and PUMP. In collaboration with digital media artist Julie Mallis, Anqwenique was featured in the 2016 CSA Season by the New Hazlett theater in a performance titled: A Love Supreme. 2015 she was recognized as one of Whirl Magazine's 13 under 30, and in 2018 was nominated for the Carol R. Brown Award as an Emerging Artist. Anqwenique remains very active in the arts and education community.

Caledonia Curry

Widely known as the first woman to gain large-scale recognition in the male-dominated world of street art. Today, her art can be found on the sides of buildings worldwide, as well as at more traditional locales such as: The MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Tate Modern Museum, and Sao Paulo Museum of Art.

Emily Wazlak

Emily Wazlak is the Founder and CEO of Shine Registry, a platform for female founders to ask for startup needs in the style of a wedding registry. You can ask for a gravy boat when you’re getting married and with Shine Registry you can ask for office supplies and network connections when you’re starting a business. Her company is changing the way communities show up for people they care about and reimagining the relationship between women and ambition.

Jane Werner

Jane Werner’s 37 years of museum experience includes 28 years at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Werner leads the team responsible for all aspects of the Museum’s mission and vision, exhibits, public programming, funding and operations. The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh expanded in November 2004 after the completion of a $29M capital campaign. Attendance grew from 80,000 to currently 310,000. The project was the recipient of the 2006 American Institute of Architects National Award and National Trust for Historic Preservation Award. The Museum received the 2009 National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for its work in the community and in 2011 the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh was named one of the top ten children’s museums by Parents Magazine. Under Werner’s leadership and in partnership with the Warhol Museum, the Children’s Museum reopened the closed New Hazlett Theater, raising over $2million and creating a separate 501c3 organization. In 2012, the Museum opened Buhl Community Park, a $6.1million public park in front of the museum. The museum’s latest innovation is Museum Lab, which opened in April 2019, as a learning environment for older kids. With the completion of Museum Lab the museum has created the largest cultural campus for children in the United States. In 2013, the museum was cited by AAM Press in the book Magnetic as one of six museums with powerful internal alignment and a compelling vision allowing it to attract the critical resources for success. Prior to her tenure at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Werner worked for the Franklin Institute, Carnegie Science Center and Buhl Science Center. She ran her own exhibit design firm whose clients included the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Franklin Institute and Scientific Discovery Museum. Jane is past president of the Association of Children’s Museums, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Board and New Hazlett Theater. She is on the boards of the Maker Education Initiative, Carnegie Mellon University’s Studio for Creative Inquiry, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Design Committee, Remake Learning Council, Fred Rogers’ Center and Benedum Foundation. She’s also served on the American Institute of Architects and Rudy Bruner Design Award national juries. She holds an appointment at CMU’s Studio for Creative Inquiry and Art department, attended the Getty Leadership Institute and is a graduate of Syracuse University. Jane received ASTC’s 2007 Leading Edge Award for Experienced Leadership in the field, 2012 YWCA Woman in the Arts Leadership Award and was named a 2013 Pittsburgh Businesswoman Leader. She is a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.

Leigh Solomon Pugliano

Daughter of a steelpan builder and tuner, Leigh Solomon Pugliano is Director of Opportunity at New Sun Rising and Founder & Director of Barrels to Beethoven, a business the launched with her husband to preserve the art of steelpan music and innovate its use in the world today. The Steel City transplant from Guyana helps women start their own businesses or do work that means something to them.

Liana Maneese

Brazilian born, Pittsburgh raised Liana Maneese is an award-winning activist, visionary entrepreneur, doula, and catalyst for creative engagement. She is the founder of The Good Peoples Group and The Center on Interracial Relationships where they use identity navigation as a key component and foundational tool toward building social justice and personal transformation. Growing up as an international transracial adoptee, Liana learned early on that her difference would be a source of pain that she would have to transform if she wanted to live a full life. Liana is passionate about providing an educational process that enhances individual experiences and improves the culture of the world we live in. She believes that through building strong, equitable, and informed relationships, with ourselves first, we can begin to shift toxic societal narratives that have created cycles of trauma for far too long. Liana holds degrees in Marketing (FIDM, Los Angeles), Cultural Studies (Chatham University, Pittsburgh), and clinical mental health (Antioch University, New England), and is also a certified doula. As a social practice artist whose work centers around interracial relationships and her experiences as a transracial adoptee, Liana has won numerous grants and awards that have allowed adoption narratives to be considered in the art world. Always pushing her own boundaries of self-discovery, her story motivates many through speaking, creative projects and her commitment to understanding people, processes, and pleasure.

Meghan Klingenberg

Meghan Elizabeth Klingenberg is an American soccer defender and FIFA Women's World Cup champion. She is a former member of the United States women's national soccer team and currently plays for Portland Thorns in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She is also the co-founder of re-inc.

Njaimeh Njie

Njaimeh Njie is a Pittsburgh based photographer, filmmaker, and multimedia producer. Her practice centers everyday people, narratives, and landscapes, with a particular focus on how Black people perceive themselves and their experiences in the cities they call home. Njie is the creator of the public art project, “Homecoming: Hill District, USA,” and was named the 2018 Emerging Artist of the Year by the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, among other awards, grants, and fellowships. Her work has been featured in publications such as Belt Magazine, the Huffington Post, and the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Storyboard blog. A Pittsburgh native, Njie earned a B.A. in Film and Media Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.