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).

Two River Theater
21 Bridge Ave
Red Bank, New Jersey, 07701
United States

Atoosa Rubenstein

Author and Former Editor in Chief

Atoosa Rubenstein, an Iranian immigrant, became the youngest editor at Hearst and transformed several magazines, then she left it all, in order to come to grips with her deeper, inner story, that now powers her joy.

David Burke

Chef and Restaurants Founder and Owner

Blurring the lines between chef, artist, entrepreneur and inventor, world-renowned David Burke is a leading pioneer in American cooking today. Raised in Monmouth County, NJ, he has launched dozens of innovative restaurant concepts across the country. He has authored two cookbooks and become a recognized chef on television, including appearances on NBC’s TODAY Show and two seasons on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. Burke believes that food can be described in one word: JOY. Food is a joy to prepare, to share, to gather and create and, of course, to eat. Food is what connects us around the dinner table and around the world.

David Cieri

Composer and Musician

David Cieri is a composer and musician who has written film scores for many of today’s most distinguished documentarians, including Ken Burns. Cieri’s film scoring work with Burns has been extensive, including The Vietnam War with Yo-Yo Ma and Trent Reznor. He has recorded nine acclaimed albums under his own name and made two records with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Yusef Komunyakaa. His music has been performed at Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center among other prestigious venues. Cieri believes that JOY has many tributaries and will explore our capacity and willingness to become “unstuck” from singular outlooks as one.

Edafe Okporo

A global Gay Rights Activist, and The Founder of Refuge America

Edafe Okporo is an author of the forthcoming book Asylum, a memoir & manifesto by Simon and Schuster, and founder of The Pont LLC. He is passionate about extending a hand to communities in need and teaching leaders in communities and organizations on how to motivate their members to act. His work includes trying to build an inclusive society, both in and out of the workplace, that will spark JOY. The inclusion of LGBTQ people, refugees, and marginalized people is a path to building a joyful society.

Erin Maguire

Stand Up Comic/Podcast Host

Erin Maguire is a stand-up comic, writer, actor and podcast host based in NYC. Her comedy advice podcast, Dear Pod, charted in Apple’s top 100 comedy pods in America within two months of its debut. She recently headlined Caroline’s Comedy Club, appeared on Gotham Comedy NextVR live for Oculus, and wrote for Comedy Central’s Roast of Alec Baldwin. She has appeared at the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, among some of comedy’s greats. She has also been featured at Women in Comedy Festival, Laugh Your Asheville Off, Boston Comedy Festival, and Woodstock Comedy Festival. Erin has frequently worked for ESPN and the Game Show Network. Erin appears regularly at clubs in NYC and she invites you to come laugh at/with/for/near her.

Jessica Durdock Moreno

In no particular order, Jessica Durdock Moreno is a writer, producer, actress, director, and teacher. The first time she officially wore all those hats at the same time was at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival, where her play “To Richard!” premiered, won the Encore Producers Award, and was nominated for the Inkwell Theater Playwright’s Promise Award. As a writer, Jessica's second full length play “Georgie D.” was developed in the Chain Theatre Playwriting Lab, where it received a full workshop production in New York in the summer of 2021. She was a finalist for the Theater Masters Take Ten 2020 Festival, and a semifinalist for the Athena Project’s 2020 Plays in Progress Series. She has developed plays with the Workshop Theater, who presented a reading of her play “New Canaan” starring Debra Jo Rupp in the fall of 2021.

Jim Watt

Jim Watt is an American artist and architect based in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Watt’s paintings and drawings are an obsessive exploration of space, form and material, a context that marries his work as a practicing architect. At Princeton University, where Watt earned his Masters in Architecture, teachers Michael Graves and Enrique Miralles espoused the Renaissance notion that architects must paint, draw, and sculpt to fully realize their ideas. Form, space, material, texture, color, and light are shared languages that transcend medium. Watt’s work as an artist is the opportunity to work without a structured, planned intention, instead playing in the tension between thought and instinct: discovery through the process of making. Watt has a body of built buildings spanning North America, and his art is in private collections across North America and Europe. His work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Dwell Magazine, and The New York Times.

Michele Mitchell

Journalist and Filmmaker

Returning TEDxAsbury speaker, documentarian/journalist Michele Mitchell, is bringing to life the “original gangsters” or the outlaw originators of the Cannabis movement in the West before it was legal. Michele is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist best known for her work exposing crimes against humanity. As both an on-camera reporter for PBS and CNN Headline News and as a documentarian, Mitchell has worked with survivors of mass violence in Bosnia, Cambodia, Kenya, Myanmar, Rwanda and South Sudan. She studied trauma in journalism as an Ochberg Fellow at Columbia University.

Mike Sockol

Michael "Mike" Sockol passed away on October 1, 2022 after a gallant three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. His memory lives on in the hearts of family and friends, and in his joyful art. Mike was a storyteller all his life—as a journalist, speechwriter, community activist, actor, and playwright. He wrote close to 30 plays, with production credits throughout the US and the UK. Two of his plays, "Horseshoes" and "Pets (and Their Humans)" are licensed worldwide through Broadway Licensing and available for local production through the Dramatists Play Service.

Rebecca Barry

Story Teller and Intuitive Coach

Rebecca Barry is the bestselling author of Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories and Later, at the Bar: A Novel in Stories, a New York Times Notable Book, and cofounder of magazine Fresh Dirt. A notable MOTH storyteller she shares about Finding Joy in Death.

Richard Lyons Conlon

Richard is a Resident Playwright Alumnus at Chicago Dramatists and proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and alumnus of the prestigious Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive. Richard has written over forty plays (11 produced, 2 published, 10+ awards), including: 7 MINUTES TO LIVE (Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist), ONE TIME (record-breaking production at Next Act Theatre; Gold Prize: 2015 Beverly Hills Stage Play Competition), THE VOLITIVE EFFECT OF ORAL LITERARY INUNDATION ON THE LSTM RECURRENT NEURAL NETWORK (First Prize Winner: 2017 Stonybrook University Science Playwriting Award; and Current Finalist: Playwrights' Round Table Shorts Festival), DESCANSO (Winner: WordWave One-Act Play Competition and Emerging Illinois Playwright Award), and COVID COHAB (Selection: American Blues Theatre Ripped Festival; and production at Taphouse Theatre). Some theatres Richard has worked with . . . In Chicago: Chicago Dramatists · Victory Gardens · American Blues Theater · The Second City · Ubiquitous Players · Otherworld · Raven · Naked Angels · Theatre Evolve. Beyond Chicago: Next Act · Santa Fe Playhouse · Theatre Southwest · Taphouse Theatre · Actors' Theatre · Ruckus Rockwell. In New York City: Urban Stages, Vulcan Theatre, and Rhino Theatre.

Roger Manix

Founder of Ludolo. Teaches at New School - Global Master Porgram

As a Stanford University Graduate School of Business Instructor, Roger Manix created a methodology to teach emotional and social intelligence using play- based learning. He was invited to Parsons School of Design at The New School to develop a play-based program in Design Strategies for Cities, Services and Ecosystems. Currently, he teaches “Compassionate Leadership through Play” in the Global Executive Master Program. Roger has been nominated for The Distinguished Teacher Award along with Outstanding Contributions to Social Justice Teaching Award for his work on experiential learning. Roger is also co-founder of Immersiva, an interactive technology company built by storytellers and educators to make the world a kinder, more connected and joyful place. Collaborative play trains us to explore the unknown and maintain a joyful state of mind.

Siobhan Fallon Hogan

Writer, Producer and Actress

Siobhan Fallon Hogan is the writer, producer, and star of the soon to be released Shelter in Solitude. She also wrote, produced, and starred in her first feature RUSHED released in 2021. Fallon Hogan and Peter Hogan established Emerald Caz Productions in 2019. She has been in three Lars Von Trier films since 2000 including the Palme D’ Or winner Dancer in the Dark, Dogville and The House that Jack Built. The actress has been in several blockbusters over the years including Men in Black, Forrest Gump, Holes, New in Town, Going in Style, Charlotte’s Web and Funny Games. Her televisions credits include SNL, Seinfeld, Billions, Wayward Pines, 30 Rock, Law & Order and many more. Shelter In Solitude stars Robert Patrick, Peter Macon, Peter Hogan, Dan Castellaneta and Fallon Hogan. The actress was seen this fall in Paramount Picture’s, Clifford the Big Red Dog. Siobhan just finished playing a supporting role in a film Eileen.