Theme: Journey to New Horizons

As a private institution dedicated to promoting a love for lifelong learning, Menlo is excited to host their first-ever TEDx event. Menlo is located in the heart of Silicon Valley where startups and established companies are constantly innovating for the future. TEDxMenloSchool's 2021 event "Journey to New Horizons" hopes to offer audience members a look into the future with speeches from Bay Area experts from a variety of fields. Speakers will share personal experiences and inspire audience members to take action in their local communities. Join us on a Journey to New Horizons on June 5, 2021.

Menlo School
50 Valparaiso Avenue
Atherton, California, 94027
United States

Angie Mohr

Counselor at Menlo School

Angie Mohr has spent the majority of her career working at the intersection of mental health and social justice. Since earning her Bachelor’s from UC Berkeley and Master’s in Clinical Psychology from NDNU, Angie has worked on the counseling team at Woodside High School, served as the Wellness Director for a trauma-informed alternative to incarceration for transition-age youth, and supported refugee resettlement and housing equity programs in the Bay Area. Angie recently joined the Menlo School counseling team, serving as a pragmatic and collaborative counselor who had previously been a Menlo School student. Angie's deepest passion is working with and valuing the lived experience, wisdom, and strength of those who've encountered and are persevering through systemic or personal trauma and adversity - including those who’ve been incarcerated, refugees and asylum seekers, and young people attempting to navigate and rebuild a more equitable, inclusive, and just world.

Derick Lee

CEO and Founder of Pilot City

Founder of Pilot City -- a promising Bay Area start-up -- Derick Lee intends to “kick the idea of coffee fetching and document copying internships to the curb.” Lee’s background in both education and the tech industry motivated him to create a third-party intermediary between driven students and high-tech companies. He works as the current Chief Community Officer of ZipPower, manages for the Career Pathway at San Leandro Chamber of Commerce, and was formerly an Innovation Fellow for the City of San Leandro. Boasting the “Impact in Education” Award, “East Bay Innovation” Award, and other honorary recognitions, Lee is committed to sharing his vision of program-based planning and the future of education by offering hands-on internships.

Dr. Larry Brilliant

Epidemiologist

Dr. Larry Brilliant is a physician and epidemiologist, proud member of the TED community, and CEO of Pandefense Advisory. He is a senior advisor to Jeff Skoll and serves on the board of the Skoll Foundation. Previously, he was president and CEO of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, vice president of Google and the founding executive director of Google.org. Earlier in his career, Brilliant was a professor of epidemiology and international health planning at the University of Michigan. Brilliant lived in India for nearly a decade, where he was a key member of the successful WHO Smallpox Eradication Programme for southeast Asia as well as the WHO Polio Eradication Programme. Brilliant's awards and honors include the 2006 TED Prize, Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People, and "International Public Health Hero." He has spoken at Oxford, Harvard, the UN and some of the largest companies and nonprofits all over the world. He has written for Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian.

Dr. Leslie Field

Founder + CTO of Artic Ice Project, Lecturer at Stanford University

Dr. Leslie Field has earned MS and BS degrees in Chemical Engineering from MIT as well as PhD and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley’s Sensor and Actuator Center. Dr. Field worked in MEMS R&D at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories/Agilent Laboratories and during her decade there played a key role in starting HP Labs' Micromechanics group, while also working on a variety of MEMS projects and devices. Dr. Field is an inventor with 59 issued US patents, and has authored numerous peer-reviewed papers and technical conference presentations, as well as countless presentations in venues ranging from local communities and schools to the United Nations. Now, she is an Adjunct Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University while working hard to implement the Arctic Ice Project which she is the CTO and founder of. The Arctic Ice Project (formerly ICE911) works to restore Arctic Ice with unique technology, an innovative way to combat climate change.

Nkia Richardson

Non-Profit Executive, Attorney, Menlo School Parent

Nkia Richardson earned her bachelor's degree from Tufts University and her Juris Doctor Degree from the USC Gould School of Law. Nkia Richardson has been an executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) of San Mateo County since 2018. She began her legal career as a dependency attorney in Los Angeles County with Dependency Court Legal Services (now the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles) where she represented both children and parents. Afterwards, Nkia Richardson worked as a passionate legal advocate in San Jose before joining CASA where she served on the Board of Directors for 5 years and is now the acting executive director.

Prabhu Goel

Researcher, Entrepreneur, Former Menlo School Parent

Prabhu Goel is an Indian American researcher and entrepreneur. In 1970, Goel graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur as an electrical engineer. He also received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1974. Starting his first business with only $500, Goel navigated his way through the obstacles of entrepreneurship. He is best known for developing the PODEM Automatic test pattern and the Verilog hardware description language. After immense achievement in the business world, Goel founded the Foundation for Excellence (FFE), a foundation that provides impoverished students in India with scholarships to pursue medical or engineering degrees. His care for the global community and kind-hearted nature shines through his dedication to providing opportunity for future generations.

Sean Nesamoney

Tiktok Content Creator (@shaunhq 140k+ followers), Student at Menlo School

Sean Nesamoney is currently a sophomore at Menlo School. He is a singer/songwriter who is interested in the intersection of neuroscience, technology, and music. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Sean shares his voice (and occasionally his humor) on the social media platform TikTok. He boasts an astonishing 140,000 followers (@shaunhq). Sean envisions a mobile application that suggests songs to users to balance emotions and promote well-being based on their current physical and mental states. While he is still in the early stages of building the app, Muse: Music for You has a future to combine artificial intelligence and music emotion recognition to choose the right music for the user. He plans to continue applying his love for music and technology through TikTok videos and future projects.

Tripp Robbins

Menlo Upper School Teacher: Journalism & Moviemaking

Tripp Robbins’ career path started in journalism then serendipitously zigged into teaching high school students in 1985, and he’s been loving teaching ever since. He earned an MA from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. He has taught journalism and publications, English, history, theater, digital media, creativity and moviemaking. He’s a member of the Journalism Education Association and sits on the board of the Journalism Education Association of Northern California and on the Scholastic Press Law Committee.