Theme: Insert Future Here

Following the success of the last TEDxYouth@Brum conference and its theme of ‘An Age of Change” , the theme of our 2020 conference will be ‘Insert Future Here’
The theme this year builds on the previous theme ‘An Age of Change’ and stems from the question, what is the result of change? What comes next? Within the UK 2019 was the year of change and uncertainty with pivotal moments surrounding climate change, Brexit and the General Election. The 31st January marked the official day of Brexit, society is currently divided at this result, generations are currently divided at this result and communities were more divided than ever.
Young people were also at the forefront of connectivity; the climate change agenda and effectively the world stopped to listen to what the next generation demanded. More people voted in elections than ever in a generation and previous organisations that were deemed untouchable, have been successfully held to account. After a series of major tumultuous transformations it is evident that now is a time to reflect and build on the aftermath of change.
Therefore the future is here, the future is right now. There has been a shift beyond the uncertainty and we are in an age of choice, we have choices to repeat historic divisive historical patterns or invest in the power of collaboration against the odds and build a new world. Birmingham is known for having a D.I.Y mentality, and young people are known for being resilient and innovative. As we enter a new decade it is time to highlight a new dialogue, wherein we will platform innovative ideas, gather the learnings from archaic institutions and connect the residents of the city to forge a new future collectively.
What is certain is that in 2020 we will *Insert future here* and young people have the power to lead this movement, as the most connected, technologically resilient and global generation we aim to create a platform to evidence impact of young people and innovation against the odds!

Birmingham Hippodrome
Thorpe Street
Patrick Studio
West Midlands, Birmingham, B5 4tb
United Kingdom

ADIBA ARJITA

young person

Adiba, a young woman, citizen of the world. She has struggled with mental health since a young age, contemplating life at its most intricate mechanisms. She hasn’t won any prizes, nor any highly recognised positions; though she is marvelled by people who do achieve such an opportunity! Adiba, is just a simple young adult. Learning the curves and edges of our interconnected journey we call Life; and as her philosophically poetic/analytical mind unravels the uncertainty, she stands strong in the knowledge of fragility of the human kind. Today, she stands strong in the desire to share her little wisdom of her early years through mellow tone of her words in loud words.

Adjei Sun

Artist

I'm Adjei Sun. I'm 21 and a Birmingham based artist. As well as writing poetry, I write my own songs, create films, curate events for different causes I'm passionate about and I act. Creating has always been a form of therapy for me, since I was young, a way of dealing with things. When I started sharing my work in the last 5 years I realised that my art wasn't only helping me but helping others too. This is what I always hope my art to do. To make others feel less alone. To inspire others to share their truth.

Casey Bailey

Teacher - Poet - Artist

Casey Bailey is a writer, performer and educator, born and raised in Nechells, Birmingham, UK. Casey is the Birmingham Poet Laureate 2020 - 2022. Casey released his debut full collection of poetry, ‘Adjusted’ in 2018 with Verve Poetry Press and his second collection Please Do Not Touch will be published by Burning Eye in 2021. Casey’s play ‘GrimeBoy’ will be arriving on the stages of a number of theatres in 2021. Casey’s poetry has featured in a number of anthologies and he was commissioned by the BBC to write ‘The Ballad of The Peaky Blinders’ in 2019. In 2020 the poem was internationally recognised, winning a Webby Award. Casey has performed his poetry nationally, and internationally. Casey was named as one of ‘Birmingham Live’s’, Birmingham ’30 under 30’ of 2018. Casey was also recognised in 2019 when he was made a Fellow of the University of Worcester. Casey was named the Greater Birmingham Future Face of Arts and Culture 2020.

Cassandra Maria

Comedian

Cassandra Maria is comedian and presenter from Birmingham. In 2017 she began her career in comedy creating short sketches online, working with the likes of White Yardie, David "Sideman" Whitely and McJoel W. Cudjoe (4everJoey), by 2018 she had produced her first viral sketch that was viewed over 3 million times across platforms and continued to produce videos to become one of the Midlands most loved content creators. Cassandra has performed standup comedy alongside household names Judi Love and Kane Brown to audiences of up to 300 people on prestigious stages such as the Glee Club. In 2020 Cassandra was hired as a presenter and content creator for the UK's biggest gospel music radio station Premier Gospel.

Chloe Deakin

Youth Engagement and content creation specialist

"Chloe is an engagement, and content curation specialist whose work focuses on giving equity, and empowerment to communities who not just need it, but want it. Chloe’s passions are fueled by her lived experiences of being a young, neurodiverse, queer woman of colour, who grew up experiencing poverty, and mental health complications. Because of her journey, she knows the importance of enabling others to shift their own narratives, so they can live fulfilling lives. Her life goal is to use marketing and e-commerce to create revenue that is funneled to community leaders so they can build better systems, and infrastructure to holistically support their community to thrive. Chloe also loves Beyonce, and passed out at her concert at age 16. She also loves to dress as, and act as if she is in Las Vegas, when actually she lives in Birmingham. "

Darcy Holmes

Performance

Coming with a rich and eclectic blend of electro r&b and vintage orchestration, Darcy Holmes navigates modern relationships and ego with thoughtfulness and honesty.

Grace rose gwynne

Barrister

Grace is currently a barrister in Birmingham, having been called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2017, at the age of 21. She then worked in the United States of America specialising in criminal defence, most notably defending clients charged with firearms offences and drug trafficking. She returned to the UK and began her career as a barrister in England in 2019. Grace was the first person in her family to attend University and grew up thinking that she wasn’t the right ‘fit’ for a barrister; she didn’t go to Oxbridge and she had a Birmingham accent. However, with resilience and sheer determination, she became one of the youngest Barristers in England in 2017. She is thrilled to have been invited to take part in a TedX Talk to enable her to be a strong, young, female voice in a male dominated sphere.

Lady Sanity

Artist

Sanity embodies storytelling as an art form, encased within a distinctive blend of grime, hip-hop and jazz. The Birmingham native's relentless lyricism places her front-and-centre of a creative new wave defined by embracing fluidity and dismantling categories. Sanity's sharp commentary has a fearless instinct, expertly balancing smoothness and potency with each line, while navigating current themes from empowerment to self-examination. As the artist took to the stage at the 2018 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Australia, her bold authenticity has captured global audiences. Sanity's ascent as one of the most exciting voices in the UK scene is no surprise for the two-time Birmingham Music Awards winner, having made the 2020 shortlist for the BBC Introducing West Midlands One to Watch. Setting the tone for 2021, versatility and experimentation are the benchmarks of an artist creating captivating, genre-bending experiences.

LOREAL STOKES

Head of Inclusion and Participation at a Birmingham

Loreal is the Head of Inclusion and Participation at a Birmingham based conglomerate. She advocates for equitable and inclusive practice, in order to promote better representation for Black and Mixed Race women in senior leadership positions. Loreal’s passions are fuelled from her lived experience of rejecting the societal expectations of being a young mixed-race girl from a displaced home; to becoming a high achiever. In 2019, Loreal graduated from an International Masters of Business Administration (MBA), thus enabling her to understand the strategic operations of businesses to make change from within. She shaped her studies around gender, race and culture and the impact they have on career progression. Loreal is an enabler and advocate in eradicating the current systems and policies that oppress Black people as well as other underrepresented communities. Her dream is to occupy space as a woman from mixed heritage and take lead from the boardroom.

Luke Vernon

Actor & Social Media Influencer

uke Vernon is an Actor and Social Media Influencer. Currently combining all his social media’s has him with 1 million followers! Luke has acting credits with the BBC, Netflix and Plenty of television adverts! His theatre career had him touring the UK multiple times and even writing 2 professional shows. He is currently focusing on social media with all the restrictions around the world right now not letting any situation stop him from growing! Working with the likes of Burger King, Tinie Tempah, Amazon Prime, Dave (tv channel) and many many more! He uses the pain from losing many of his close loved ones to truly prosper in life and get what he wants no matter what! You can truly learn a lot from this young man.

Mark Hipwell

STEM

Mark Hipwell was the GBCC Future Faces President 2018 to 2020, a young professional network supporting young people working across all sectors within the Greater Birmingham area. Alongside his previous role as President, Mark is a Design Interface Manager working as part of the Systra Motts Macdonald Joint Venture on the Main Works Civils design for HS2 Phase 1. He has previously worked at CH2M as a Bridges Team Leader for the Birmingham Office, engaging with the Women’s Network as a UK Office Rep Coordinator and on secondment as a HS2 Land and Property Liaison Manager. Mark has always been an advocate for other young people entering STEM careers and civil engineering roles and has been Education and Inspiration Volunteer for the Institute of Civil Engineers. Mark is well-regarded for his work in both supporting young professionals and in engineering and in 2018 was awarded ICE West Midland’s Young Engineer of the Year Award.

Olamide Olabode

STEM student

Olamide is a Mechanical Engineering student at Aston University. Studying a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) related subject at sixth form and university, the disparity in gender became very apparent to Olamide. Olamide wants to support and create a community for females, especially black females that study STEM related subjects. Joining university, Olamide wanted to make a change in her local community so she joined the WEST (Women in Engineering, Science & Technology) society, where she is now the Vice-Chair. During her time at WEST and university Olamide has worked on exciting projects such as a circular economy workshop and fundraising for period poverty. Whilst promoting STEM for all, she has featured in the Engineeringgals and Stemschick, as well as appearing in the STEM at Home YouTube Channel

Omran Omran al habbal

Entrepreneur

Awards winning entrepreneur, refugee and a visionary. Left home in 2012 to a life in exile, worked and lived in 6 different countries across Europe, Asia and Africa to develop a multinational outlook and the ability to understand the needs and requirements of the local and international markets and communities. Came to the UK in 2016 and based in Birmingham since and named as one of Birmingham Live’s Birmingham 30 under 30, of 2019 for his support to Birmingham's next generation of entrepreneurs. Omran is entrepreneurs and startup coach involved with many enterprising initiatives and working with founders, entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups across the nation and globally!.” Omran finds great pleasure in supporting and witnessing the growth of like-minded people in their journey to the top, no matter what is their background or sector they are in.

Rakeem Omar

Journalist

Rakeem Omar is an award-winning journalist, BBC Radio WM presenter previously heard on BBC Radio 1, documentary filmmaker and a Channel 4 Investigative Journalism MA alumnus. He has worked with the likes of BBC One, BBC Three, Channel 4, and MTV on documentaries, current affairs, and factual entertainment programming. He is currently a Community Reporter at regional newspaper BirminghamLive where he passionately reports on underserved ethnic minority communities and young people. Rakeem's stories have made the front pages of Birmingham Mail, the Sunday Mercury, The Mirror online, packaged on BBC radio, featured on Hold The Front Page, and The Lad Bible.

Xhosa Cole

Artist

Critically acclaimed saxophonist, flautist and composer, Xhosa Cole is an embodiment of the success of numerous community outreach arts programmes in Birmingham. In 2018 he was the recipient of the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award and has since: performed alongside artists including Monty Alexander and Courtney Pine and as a soloist for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; had the opportunity to perform at prestigious venues and events. In 2020 received the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Newcomer as well as having been nominated for the Jazz FM Breakthrough act. Xhosa’s deep and authentic connection to the lineage of Jazz music has helped to establish him among the most exciting young talents in the country. His exposure to players from a range of different traditions and outlooks compounded by his strong connection to his inner-city community in Handsworth at the heart of Birmingham has helped to develop a fiercely unique and independent voice.

Yumna Hussen

Student

Yumna is a multi-hyphenate growth enthusiast, committed to influencing transformational change to ensure marginalised young people’s voices are directly embedded in policy making. She is the elected Deputy Member of Youth Parliament for Birmingham and the Chair of Birmingham Aspiring Youth Council, representing 200,000+ young people in UK Youth Parliament. As a Bite Back 2030 Youth Leader, she has worked on the national campaign for a permanent solution to the Free School Meals issue, with the wider aim to revolutionise the entire food system. Yumna is also a strong advocate for health equity evident by her continued and ongoing collaborative partnerships with healthcare services to highlight inequalities in health outcomes. She is an avid writer, spoken word poet and co-author to the fiction book 'Struggles of War'. To date, Yumna has embarked on the journey of launching her youth-led startup called RESILIENCE.

Zaynab (ZEZE) Zaynab sohawon

Mental Health advocate

ZeZe is a 19-year-old award winner and published author. She is an executive at global mental health boards. With a passion for science, ZeZe describes herself as a transducer. This is a mechanism in photosynthesis that turns light energy into chemical energy. ZeZe triumphed over her struggle transforming her painful past of psychiatric inpatient units into energy that catalysed her to effect meaningful and impactful change in the world around her. She has spoken at public corporate events for mental health research launches as well, talking about her lived experience of being in care, having psychosis, autism and borderline personality disorder. ZeZe wants to see a world that fosters recovery, healing and resilience. She wants personality disorder diagnoses to not be ones of exclusion. ZeZe decided she didn’t want to be a product of her environment, she wanted her environment to be a product of her.