Theme: Embracing the Unknown

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).

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Aria Umezawa

Opera Director

Aria Umezawa is a portfolio artist who is changing the culture of opera creation. As a speaker and advocate, she has led anti-harassment workshops at opera organizations across North America and has spoken on a range of topics including managing the challenges of the inherited repertoire (OPERA America). She was the first stage director to be awarded an Adler Fellowship with San Francisco Opera in fifteen years, and the first Canadian stage director to participate in the Merola Opera Program in 2016. She is the Co-Founder of AmplifiedOpera. She is an Emerging Artist with Opera for Peace.

Jaclyn Grossman

Opera Singer

Jaclyn is defining what it means to be a portfolio-artist. Comfortable in roles both onstage and off, this year Jaclyn will curate and perform in the Shoah Songbook Recital Series with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre, sharing music by Jewish composers from the Holocaust. Equally committed to her work with nonprofits, she is the Founder of The Phoenix Leadership Project, a charity dedicated to providing youth leadership development programs. Jaclyn is a Co-Founder of Tactical Creativity, a company that helps individuals and teams tap into their creative potential. She is the 2020 winner of the Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award with Temple Sinai, and she recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Opera and Voice at McGill University.

Justin Shaw

Actor, Comedian, and Writer

Justin Shaw is an actor, writer, and comedian originally from Prince Edward Island. He has performed stand-up across Canada and has produced a number of his own original works, including The Wrestling Play (2017 Island Fringe Festival - Patron’s Pick, 2019 Nextfest Arts & Culture Festival.) He has written for Parton & Pearl and Maritime EDIT, is also host the Half a Star podcast. Trained as an actor at the National Theatre School of Canada, Shaw currently lives in Hamilton, Ontario where he hosts and entertains with Hub of the Hammer Event Planning.

Nathan Collett

Student and Research Associate

Nathan Collett studies decision-making, politics and philosophy at McGill University. His thoroughly interdisciplinary approach to life stems from a drive to understand, practically and theoretically, why people make the choices they do. Some experiences that inform this mindset include a fellowship at the Research Group on Constitutional Studies, research with several neuroscience labs, an architecture program at Harvard University, and a lifelong commitment to a youth-run summer camp focused on education and social justice. Nathan is currently an associate at The Decision Lab, a Montréal-based think tank that applies decision-making research for social good. He recently founded the McGill Journal of Human Behaviour to try and make some sense out of our increasingly complicated (academic) world. By speaking at TEDxMcGill, he hopes to do just that.

Peter Croubalian

Consultant

As a young graduate out of university, you are hit by a paradox. You need relevant experience to get that first job, yet you need a job to get experience. This paradox represents a wide and growing gap between what academia teaches and industry needs – a gap called 5 years experience. Over the last 4 years, Peter has been trying to find a solution for this problem, which has led to an unusual journey into Human Resources (HR). To gain deeper insights of academia, Peter embedded himself as the Industry Advocate for McGill University’s Analytics Program . Furthermore, to position himself into HRs digital future, he works at a tech scale-up called AppyHere as the Product Manager.

Sandra Lamouche

Cree woman and Advocate

Sandra Lamouche is a Nehiyaw Iskwew (Cree Woman) from the Bigstone Cree Nation in Northern Alberta and married into the Piikani Nation in Southern Alberta. She is a champion hoop dancer and an award-winning educator. She received her B.A. in Native American Studies from the University of Lethbridge in 2007. Currently she is completing a M.A. Thesis at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario in Indigenous Studies titled “Nitona Miyo Pimadisiwin (Seeking a Good Life) Through Indigenous Dance” which examines Indigenous Dance as a Social Determinant of Health and Well Being.

Shaan Baig

Student Researcher

Shaan Baig is a 20-year-old student at Concordia University. He is an American-Canadian student researcher, entrepreneur and speaker. What simply started out as science fair projects, lead to Shaan selecting an urgent global issue each year to develop a low-cost, sustainable solution for. This includes his novel work on Alzheimer’s disease early detection and treatment, his innovations of the anti-concussion helmet, cancer sensor strip, alternative prostate cancer treatment and more. He has worked with top institutes such as McGill University, Harvard University, Montreal Neurological Institute, Bauer, McGill University Health Centre and more. For his work, he has been named a 2020 Global Teen Leader by WAFF and selected as a Top Talent Under 25 in the category of management.