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).

Malcolm X College Auditorium
1900 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois, 60612
United States

Antesa Jensen

Antesa Jensen is an emotional intelligence and human-centric innovation expert, specializing in evoking and conjuring the genius in others, potentiating personal and cultural entropy in organizations, and teaching leaders how to create brilliant teams through keynote speeches, bespoke transformational experiences, and 1:1 coaching.

Ashley Kirkwood

After trying cases around the country for Fortune 100 corporations, Ashley left her corporate legal career to start Mobile General Counsel PLLC, where she serves as a corporate keynote speaker, Intellectual Property Attorney, and consultant. Ashley has worked at global law firms such as Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Sidley Austin LLP, where she focused on employment discrimination matters. Now, she works with corporations to increase employee engagement and satisfaction. Ashley has been featured in the American Lawyer, Chicago Tribune, Black Enterprise, Crain’s Chicago Business and more for her professional accomplishments! She also serves an on-air legal expert for WCIU’s The Jam. Ashley is a proud double Big Ten graduate! She received her undergraduate degree in international business from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her law degree from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She takes pride in understanding her clients’ needs and crafts custom training and consulting packages that transform organizational culture.

Leah Goodman

Dr. Goodman is an educator, occupational therapist, yoga teacher and dancer in Chicago. She developed and teaches "Promoting Wellbeing", a credit-bearing course at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) that aims to support wellness and academic success for college students. She also teaches a course which explores the intersection of sexuality and health. In addition to curriculum development and teaching, Leah serves as faculty advisor for the Mental Health and Disability Alliance, mentors students as an Honors College Fellow, sits on the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, is a faculty fellow for the Office of Diversity Inclusive Classroom Initiative, and continues to advocate for comprehensive student services. Leah is interested in exploring the ways we define and provide student support, and seeks to develop initiatives that promote well being, inclusion, health, equity, and student success.

Seena Jacob

Seena Jacob has over 20 years of experience in the corporate and start-up world with a strong focus on bringing abstract ideas to life. In late 2010, she decided to leave the corporate world to found and focus on Bookwallah. After realizing how books helped her get through hardships in her own life, she knew she had to share the same power and magic of storybooks with orphans and children of trauma. Prior to bringing Bookwallah to life, Seena worked with companies such as CCC Information Services, The BOT Group, MarchFirst, Citibank and Heritage Financial Services. She earned her M.B.A. from Loyola University of Chicago and her B.A. in English Literature from Mundelein College (Loyola) and St. Teresa's College in Kerala, India. She currently lives in Chicago where Bookwallah is headquartered. Bookwallah has been featured on NPR- Chicago’s WBEZ, Huffington Post, Radio Disney, among others.

Shikha Jain

Dr. Jain is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the division of Hematology, Oncology, and Cell Therapy at Rush University Cancer Center, the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Rush Center for the Advancement of Women in Healthcare, and the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Women in Medicine Summit: An Evolution of Empowerment.

Steven Rothschild

Dr. Steven Rothschild is the Chair of Family Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, and a Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine in the Medical College of Rush University. A graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, he completed his residency in Cleveland at the MetroHealth county hospital system, affiliated with Case Western Reserve University. From opening a Rush medical practice in Pilsen in 1988, to working with Rush medical and nursing students at the Franciscan Homeless Shelter for the past 25 years, Dr. Rothschild’s career has focused on primary care education and delivery, with the goal of improving the health of historically oppressed urban communities. In addition to his work as a clinician-educator, Dr. Rothschild has been the Principal Investigator of multiple NIH-funded clinical trials testing inter-professional approaches to improving self-management among persons with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and depression. His commitment to health equity in Chicago extends to volunteer service on the Chicago Board of Health, the Institute of Medicine--Chicago, the Chicago Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, and the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group. He has received several awards at Rush for his teaching, humanism, and community service, and has been recognized on Chicago Magazine’s list of Top Chicago Doctors continuously since 2003.

Terrance McMahon

Best Selling Author, International Speaker, Coach and expert in personal and brand storytelling, Terrance McMahon was one of six children, born in the Berkshire Mountains in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He attended the University of Massachusetts-Lowell on a baseball scholarship. Following college, with a new wife and baby on the way, he worked as a door-to-door (life) insurance salesman, ultimately finding his niche as a managing Partner; he later worked for MassMutual and made CEO of MassMutual- Northern New England. Under Terrance’s leadership, they soon ranked among the top in the country, with over 600 agents and brokers, 56,000 clients and managing over a billion dollars in assets. In 2016, McMahon was the recipient of a life-saving liver transplant. He is the Author of two books, an inspirational speaker and business strategist as well as the acclaimed. He currently resides in Florida and is an advocate for Organ Donor Awareness.