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).

Virtual
Whitis Ave
Austin, Texas, 78712
United States

Abhinav Raghunathan

Abhinav Raghunathan is a graduating Computational Engineering and Mathematics double major at The University of Texas at Austin. His interest lies at the intersection of data science and high-impact fields such as finance or healthcare. He is a contributor to Towards Data Science and Towards Artificial Intelligence, two of the largest publications on Medium for topics in ML/AI, where he aims to make data science more accessible. Long-term, Abhinav is excited to tackle the problem of algorithmic bias across industries and use cases by contributing to cutting-edge bias mitigation technologies. More information about Abhinav can be found here: https://abhiraghunathan.com.

Andre Williams

Andre Williams is a fourth year International Business student at the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout college, Andre has focused on utilizing his voice and platform to advocate for more equitable and inclusive policies both on campus and within surrounding areas. In Spring of 2020, Andre worked as an opinion columnist for The Daily Texan, UT’s official student newspaper. Utilizing this platform, he discussed social issues: racial inequality, education equality, disability advocacy, voting responsibility, and grading policy. Last academic year, Andre served as Communication Director on a Project for Austin CARES, through UT’s Leadership and Ethics Institute, working on increasing mentorship recruitment for the Austin based organization which focuses on empowering Black youth. Andre currently serves as Political Activism Co-Chair of UT’s NAACP, for the 2020-2021 school year, where he works alongside the rest of the executive board to organize and develop events and outreach efforts aimed at promoting increased education and political involvement of Black students at UT and in surrounding communities. With a mind that is constantly questioning established institutions and practices, Andre has committed himself to getting into ‘good trouble,’ causing disruption when necessary to dismantle barriers to access and inequities that continue to plague society.

Erin Reilly

Erin Reilly bridges industry and academia as an innovator, educator and strategist with 20 years of experience inventing new approaches, products, and experiences. She is Professor of Practice and Inaugural Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship for Moody College of Communication at University of Texas at Austin. Her area of expertise is combining storytelling, engagement and emergent technology, and recently founded Texas Immersive to offer students a specialized program related to this. Erin has been a guest lecturer worldwide at universities and industry conferences. She is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences New Media Peer Group, Past Board President of NAMLE (National Association for Media Literacy Education) and serves on advisory boards, such as IPSOS Media Development, Infinity Festival, Disney Junior Education and PBS.

Lakeya Omogun

Lakeya Omogun is a Nigerian and African-American writer, scholar, and creative. Born in New York and raised in Detroit, her experiences between both cultures and cities equipped her to see the world through a nuanced lens. Since a young girl, she has been deeply committed to shifting static ideas in cultures, society, and institutions. Currently, she is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Language and Literacy Studies Program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation research explores how Nigerian immigrant youth use language, literacy, and digital literacies to racially position themselves as well construct and negotiate their identities while living in the United States. Having experienced tensions with navigating aspects of her racial, ethnic, and professional identities, Lakeya advocates for showing up as our full selves across professional spaces. No shedding. No hiding. She believes that all parts of our identities deserve recognition and honor. Lakeya also uses writing to shift static ideas. Her writing sits at the intersection of storytelling and scholarship, which includes creative nonfiction, narrative poetry, and scholarly articles. It has been featured in Zora Mag, Human Parts, and Random House Incorporated (RHI). In addition to researching and writing, Lakeya teaches undergraduate literacy methods courses in UT-Austin’s College of Education. Her teaching prepares undergraduates to attend to sociocultural factors (e.g., identity, race, class, gender, etc.) in their teaching and instruction. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, Lakeya taught elementary and middle school in three cities – Newark, Detroit, Newark, and Harlem. She carries the love and memories from her students in all that she does. Outside of her professional roles, Lakeya loves to visit her favorite people and new places. She enjoys hitting the gym or going for a run. When she is not on the move, she is either trying a new recipe or slowly moving through a TV series. She likes to think that she has mastered anti-binge-watching shows. In fact, she considers it an art.

Nancy Giordano

As a strategist futurist, Nancy is focused on building a safe, inclusive, thriving future. She supports and champions those actively architecting bold solutions, as well as guides and inspires the visionary leaders eager to reshape their organizations and teams. She loves sharing these insights on emerging technologies and the impact they will have on us as humans, innovators and members of society with audiences of all sizes in ways that get everyone deeply motivated by the possibilities. Nancy has a rich history of advising and learning with some of the top companies in the world, including Nestle, Brinker International, The Coca Cola Company, Sprint and Acumen. More recently, she has helped build the team for an artificial intelligence start-up, produced a conference on the seven most disruptive technologies for enterprise, is board member for a non-profit trade organization focused on the future of retail, and is working with a leading fintech/martech provider to ensure the survival of community banks and credit unions nationwide. She also is helping usher in the world of distributed applications and computing by championing emergent cryptographic technologies Holochain + Holo. A frequent panelist at South by Southwest, global keynote speaker, Singularity University guest lecture, and world’s first TEDx licensee, Nancy is committed to advancing societal structures and new mindsets necessary to effectively harness the significant technology innovations heading our way… and ensure a safe and thriving future for us all.

Shana Merlin

“You improvise every day, why not get good at it?” is the slogan for Merlin Works Improv, founded by Shana Merlin in 2003 to provide custom training, interactive presentations, and comedy shows around the country to businesses and organizations using the tools and techniques of improvisational theater. Some of Shana’s clients have included Dell, T-Mobile, Silicon Labs, Transwestern and Deloitte. Winner of “Best Improv Teacher” in Austin from the Austin Improv Collective, some of her most requested programs are on the topics of team building, communication, sales, persuasion, leadership, making meetings matter, and creativity. For the past five years, Shana has focused on bringing improv skills to the medical community. Clients like Methodist Medical Center, Christus Health, Lone Star Dental Seminars, Austin Regional Clinic and Texas Medical Liability Trust have brought her and her co-teacher, Dr. Rob Milman, M.D. in for medical teambuilding, medical communication skills, customer service training and more. Shana is an associate at the Center for Health Communication at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School and was a lecturer in the College of Medicine Texas A&M University and Shana performs in the improv troupes B Iden Payne Award Winning Girls Girls Girls Improvised Musicals, the Austin Critics Table Award winning duo Get Up, and directed and performed in the nationally touring show Dusk, a Twilight parody. Shana can also do scripted work and performed in the national touring company of The Intergalactic Nemesis.

Taylor Ribar

Taylor Ribar is a writer, entrepreneur, and women’s health advocate. Her journey began when she was faced with an unplanned pregnancy in her Junior year at UT. She jokes that she went from having absolutely no sex education to talking about pee, poop, and vaginas at the dinner table after meeting her unofficial mother in law Dr. Teresa Irwin, also known as The Vaginacologist. Taylor is motivated by her personal experience with her unplanned pregnancy to raising awareness for how women’s health education can empower women to drastically improve their healthcare experience by actually understanding what’s going on with their bodies. Taylor now helps doctors utilize social media to begin conversations about women’s health issues that are often stigmatized and unheard. By bringing women’s health issues to the public, she hopes to help women better understand their bodies and put that knowledge into historical and societal context to address unique barriers in women’s healthcare. She is currently an undergraduate studying psychology with a pre-health certificate at the University of Texas at Austin.

Will Griffin

Will Griffin is the recipient of the IEEE Award for Distinguished Ethical Practices and his Top of Mind Ethics (TOME) framework also won the Communitas Award for Ethics. His past entrepreneurial work has also earned him the prestigious IAB/Brandweek Silver Medal for Innovation and the culturally significant NAACP Image Award. Griffin is an entrepreneur and proven thought leader with a track record of bringing culture-shifting content and technology to new platforms. He is currently the Chief Ethics Officer at, a leading artificial intelligence firm, Hypergiant Industries. His previous ventures include launching the first original content slate on the Sony PlayStation Network with Endemol North America. He launched the first original VOD channel, Hip Hop OnDemand, on Comcast Cable systems. Griffin is a long-time board member of the nation’s oldest multicultural ad agency, Uniworld (WPP) and was an in-house strategist at News Corporation (Fox Entertainment Group). He was an Associate at McKinsey & Co. in the Entertainment and Media practice (Los Angeles) where we worked on operations and post-merger integration for the world’s largest media companies including Time Warner and Disney. He began his professional career in the Asset-Backed Securities Group at Goldman Sachs in New York. Griffin is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Dartmouth College and he completed the Entrepreneurship Curriculum at Harvard Business School. Connect on twitter @WillGriffin1of1 and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-g-8a3284113/