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).

Eugenia Rawls Courtyard Theatre
1068 9th Street Park
Denver, Colorado, 80204
United States

Betty Hart

Actor, Facilitator

Betty is a theatre artist whose mission is to help create space for necessary conversations. These dialogues can center around who we are as individuals, who we desire to be as a community, or how we can change long standing behavior to become more than we ever imagined. Through acting, directing and facilitating, Betty strives to be a change agent and a force for positivity, creativity, and collaboration. Betty is both an actor who is a member of the Actor's Equity Association, the union for professional actors, and a director. This year Betty directed The Scottsboro Boys for Vintage Theatre, one of the few shows produced in 2020, due to the Pandemic. In 2019, she directed Hooded: or being black for dummies at the Aurora Fox Arts Center, which became the third best seller in the history of the theatre. Additionally, Betty is a full time facilitator and lead of the Experiential Learning Team for Kaiser Permanente's Arts Integrated Resources (AIR).

Carrie Morgridge

Chief Disruptor

Carrie Morgridge serves as the Vice President and Chief Disruptor of The Morgridge Family Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to invest in leaders and organizations that are reimagining solutions to some of today’s greatest challenges. Carrie is the award-winning author of Every Gift Matters – How Your Passion Can Change the World. Her second book, The Spirit of the Trail, was released in May 2018. Carrie and her husband John created Student Support Foundation, a national organization that inspires youth philanthropy. Carrie speaks internationally to education advocacy forums, at poverty alleviation conferences, and many convenings that are philanthropically focused. She divides her time between Montana, Colorado and Florida. She and John have two adult children who reside in Denver, Colorado.

Gavriella Schuster

Corporate Vice President, Microsoft

Gavriella Schuster is a C-level Microsoft leader who is passionate about recruiting more women and minorities into the technology sector. At Microsoft she has grown a P&L greater than $6.5B and currently leads their global portfolio of channel partners that reached $1 trillion in ecosystem revenues. With 20+ years of leadership expertise in digital and cloud transformation roles, her strategy and execution expertise spans all aspects of business model and product development, launch, marketing, sales and partner development. She leads the global recruitment, enablement and engagement of Microsoft’s fast-growing partner ecosystem. Additional areas of her specialization include licensing models, digital marketing and global routes to market. Gavriella specializes in starting up and turning around businesses by inspiring a vision for future customer relevance and engaging the team in developing the roadmap.

Hilary Blair

Speaker, Coach, Re-framer

Hilary Blair is a keynote speaker, champion of human connection, and the CEO of ARTiculate: Real&Clear. She is impassioned by moving beyond habits and learned behaviors to uncover what is unique and authentic in individuals and groups. A presentation and speaking voice expert, Hilary is a highly regarded coach and facilitator working extensively across the globe with a variety of businesses including American Express, Maersk, Staples, Liberty Global, Slalom, Merrill Lynch, and Hunter Douglas. Whether facilitating workshops on professional presence or on navigating tough conversations to improve leadership/team connection, or exploring the messiness of communication in a keynote. Hilary’s 30 plus years as a teacher combined with her professional stage, film and voice-over career present a unique skill set. Hilary is certified in Conversational Intelligence and CultureTalk. She is an active member of NSA and former board member of the Colorado Chapter.

Jamie Flecknoe

Nerd, Dungeons & Dragons Master, Leadership Skills Development Trainer

Jamie Flecknoe is a graduate of Towson University where she earned her bachelor’s in English, focusing on creative writing. She attended the University of San Diego and earned her master’s degree in Leadership Development. She spent several years working with teenagers and adults in their early 20’s developing leadership skills through a series of workshops she created for her company. In 2019, Jamie founded the Denver based organization Roll Play Lead and has been running social skill development programming for teens ever since. As a nerd, even in her early days, it was no surprise that Dungeons & Dragons made its way into Jamie’s life. Not long after learning to play, she made the connection that skill development was embedded into the framework of the game, and she began contemplating what it would look like to merge her educational and professional backgrounds with her passion for the nerd world.

Jamie Voros

Aerospace Engineering PhD Student

Jamie Voros is currently completing her PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences within the Bioastronautics Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is studying the efficacy of novel technologies that may ultimately support humans on long duration space missions. She has previously worked on quantifying trust in autonomous systems at CU's ATLAS Institute and on 3D printing artificial bone in the Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics at MIT. Jamie is particularly passionate about human spaceflights because of the opportunities it presents to expand scientific understanding of our universe, build upon existing technologies and, most importantly, foster teamwork across nations.

Joanna Cronan

Trauma Survivor

Joanna is a first generation Korean American and master’s degree recipient. Joanna has experience in the Department of Human Services, mental health, and health insurance fields. Joanna has dedicated her career to helping others. Currently working with a Fortune 500 company, Joanna has learned that being a leader in the workplace has similar requirements to when she worked in the mental health and Department of Human Services fields. From learning how to help others through everyday struggles to helping others through major traumas, Joanna has learned the recipe to how to become a pillar in someone’s support system. Joanna has a YouTube channel called “What’s Good?! With Joanna Michele” talking about what has been happening in the community contributing to positivity needed in these challenging times, everyday struggles and how to cope. There will also be a Colorado local business/artist features of the week. Check out the channel and subscribe to keep the focus on what 's good!

Julie Holunga

Leadership Trainer and Coach

Julie Holunga is a leadership trainer and coach developing professionals to lead with authority and influence, with an expertise in the careers of female leaders. Her focus is in the professional services industries, honing skills leaders didn’t previously learn in school. Julie is one of 30 Master Trainers in the world with the Assessment Profile Tool, Emergenetics®. Before starting her own practice, Julie worked at Harvard Business School on an initiative examining the careers of female alumni. She partnered with leaders at Wall Street firms to advance and retain women into positions of leadership. At The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, Julie worked with Fortune 500 corporations to develop and implement corporate citizenship initiatives. She started her career working at Harvard University in the Capital Gifts group, assisting high-net worth alumni impact change.

Julie Ulstrup

Photographer

Born in the City of Angels, raised in the Windy City, Julie now calls the foothills of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains home. It is here that Julie lives and shares her dream of creating portraits that bring the beauty inside out, allowing others to see themselves in their most authentic and vulnerable light. Julie captures not just an image, but the soul. As an empowerment photographer Julie helps her clients to see themselves in a way they have never seen themselves before. Her current project, 50 over 50, Julie continues this work as she inspires women to celebrate themselves exactly where they are. Her passion is and always has been to empower women; because she believes an empowered woman makes the world a better place. She is often referred to as “An Elevator of Women” because of the transformation that occurs during a session with her.

Kara Burns

Recovering Addict, NLP Coach, Speaker

Kara Burns is passionate about sharing her story of success after nearly 20 years of substance abuse and incarceration. She was released from federal prison in 2013 and since then became a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) coach and has studied at Metro State University. Kara has excelled in her career in the areas of events and catering management, corporate social responsibility, and national program development. She managed a social enterprise and has led 100’s of women on their journey in personal and professional development. Through her soul-baring honesty, Kara has raised thousands of dollars to help women living in halfway houses, teaches career-readiness classes, and assists women towards economic independence. Having overcome substance abuse, relapse, and incarceration, she speaks nationally about the barrier’s women experience. Today, she's dedicated to empowering women to see their value - inspiring them to seek and find unlimited potential within themselves.

Mackenzie Roebuck-Walsh

Senior Director Retail Operations

MacKenzie's passion for connecting people and encouraging their ideas has led to a successful leadership career. She is driven to create and implement innovative strategies for growth. Her leadership extends to culture development where she is known for improving both the employee and customer experience. MacKenzie prides herself on encouraging diverse teams to share their viewpoints and drive change. She is focused on leading and inspiring teams that will fuel the future economy. Growing up in the Wild West town of Deadwood, SD she learned the value of hard work early serving tourists in her family’s business. This foundation has carried her forward both in her career and in her efforts to giveback through nonprofit and civic boards. MacKenzie currently serves as Sr. Director of Retail Sales and Operations for Comcast’s West Division. She has enjoyed a long career in cable which began by winning CTAM’s Cable Apprentice while earning her International MBA at the University of Denver.

Maggie Johnson

Student, Poet

Maggie Johnson is a seventeen-year-old high school senior at North High School in Denver Colorado. Maggie is honored to share her thoughts and innermost feelings of a high schooler during the COVID-19 pandemic. At seventeen Maggie self-published her first short poetry novella, “Quarantine and Everything After.” Though the pandemic, Maggie found herself lonely and looking for an outlet for self-expression, so she fell back on an old hobby, writing poetry. Maggie is actively involved in her high school community and club volleyball and is looking forward to studying biomedical engineering in college. While she is young, Maggie hopes to provide a new outlook on the world through the current unprecedented times. Through her vulnerability, Maggie hopes to inspire her listeners to freely share their thoughts and feelings on the world and themselves.

Nga Vương-Sandoval

Social justice advocate for the refugee and immigrant communities

Nga Vương-Sandoval is a fierce and passionate social justice advocate for the refugee and immigrant communities by amplifying these voices through education, advocacy, storytelling, and lobbying. She and her family were forced to flee their homeland Việt Nam, became known as “boat people,” were displaced on refugee camps, and ultimately were resettled in the U.S. Nga amplifies the voices and issues for refugees and immigrants by serving as the Refugee Congress Delegate for Colorado. She’s a founding member and public speaker with Colorado Refugee Speakers Bureau. She lends her refugee experience and insight by serving as the first refugee elected to Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains Board of Directors. She serves as a Noble Ambassador for Christina Noble Children’s Foundation that serves vulnerable children and families in Việt Nam and Mongolia.

Nicole Dority

Women's Health Advocate

Nikki was born and raised in central Massachusetts. She went to undergraduate at University of Miami in Florida, to get a double major degree in Biochemistry. She also joined Army ROTC and became a cadet, certifying in Air Assault School and the Expert Field Medical School. Upon graduation, she was commissioned as a Medical Service Corps officer. In the Army she served in various leadership and medical operations positions, finishing her service as a Company Commander for an 180 person Medical Company. Nikki then moved to Denver to attend the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center to get her masters and doctorate in Physical Therapy. Nikki had the opportunity to study under Dr. Shirley Sahrmann, Washington University in St Louis, focused on Biomechanics. She also pursued lots of continuing education in pelvic pain, manual therapy, taping, ASTYM, women’s health, Postpartum and prenatal care, attaining over 1500 hours of continuing education hours through her career .

Sarah Allie Moore

The Crown Act Advocate

Sarah Allie Moore is an influencer, serial entrepreneur, and activist whose work centers on a deep love for humanity. She leads discussions with leaders on transformative change through heart-centered leadership. With a special interest in consciousness studies, emotional intelligence, social justice, and creative thinking, she carries a deep passion to bring hearts and minds together for greater connection, deeper purpose, and radical authenticity. She is passionate about anti-oppression and intersectionality awareness, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Non-Profit Organization, The Initiative, which provides a variety of services on the intersection of cross-disability issues, race, and abuse. She has served as a 2016 National Delegate and currently works as a public servant in her career as a Systems Analyst. Sarah is also active in the Toastmasters Organization and served as a 2019 Chapter President.

Sonia Chavez

Leadership Trainer and Coach

Sonia Chavez is the founder of Looking2Leap LLC with a life mission to liberate youth and others from toxic generational patterns by remembering and reclaiming the powerful soul they are. She is a veteran, an entrepreneur, a seasoned analyst, a leadership expert, an empath, and a certified life coach. She grew up poor in money, rich in love, and with a shadow of family addiction that followed her everywhere. She spent her life running from shame, addicted to alcohol and achievement. No amount of numbing or success could fill her emptiness. With the support and guidance of key mentors, coaches, and leadership training, Sonia took a deep journey of self-healing and self-love. Through this work she was guided to her calling of creating safe spaces for deep souls to explore their beautiful mess and set themselves free!