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
Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1Y9
Canada

Adam Newman

I practiced full scope family medicine in Sioux Lookout and Kingston, Ontario for 20 years before obtaining Certification from the Canadian Association of Addiction Medicine in 2013. Since then my practice has been focused on Addiction Medicine and Harm Reduction exclusively, including perinatal addictions and substance use. I am the Most Responsible Physician for Opioid Dependent infants rooming-in with their mothers at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC). I am also the founding board chair of the Kingston House of Recovery for Women and Children, and a member of the Substance Treatment And Rehabilitation Team (START), which provides Addiction Medicine consultation and treatment for inpatients at KHSC. I am married to my high school sweetheart, with whom I have two adult children. I have been in recovery from Opioid Use Disorder since 2010.

Celia Lee

Celia specializes in research and programming on topics ranging from poverty to social economy, material culture, environmental economics, environmental design and sustainability. She is Executive Director of Sustainable Calgary, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting community-led action towards sustainability - as measured by 40 indicators in its State of our City reports. Recent programming has been dedicated to “co-designing” healthy neighbourhoods and informing policy on active travel, health and equity in city design. Celia has co-authored works such as Reimagine Catwalks Playbook: Policy Companion (2021), 2020 Poverty Snapshot in Calgary, Becoming A City for Everyone: 2019 Ottawa Hunger Report, The Cost of Poverty in Ontario (2019), Healthy Places: Designing for Health in Alberta (2018), and Poverty Costs (Alberta, 2012). As a trained mezzo-soprano, Celia can be found singing with local groups such as Luminous Voices, Early Music Voices and the Rosa Baroca orchestra. In her spare time she has been contemplating the merits of tree worship, reading, hiking, and listening to Buffy (St. Marie//the Vampire Slayer).

Evelyn Forget

Evelyn L Forget is Professor of Economics and Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba Canada. Her research investigates the social determinants of health, the health effects of social policy and, especially, Basic Income. She is often called upon by governments, First Nations and international organisations to advise on poverty, inequality, health and social outcomes.

Janine Rogan

Janine Rogan is a CPA and financial educator from Calgary, AB. She is a passionate keynote speaker on the topic of financial feminism and an Early Achievement Award recipient from CPA Alberta. Her company The Wealth Building Academy educates and empowers women to take control of their financial future. For the last decade Janine and been writing and speaking about money, most recently launching an investing course, The Wealth Lab, to teach individuals how to invest. Janine sits on the board of the CPA Alberta Education Foundation and is one of the co-hosts of The Pink Tax podcast.

Lizzy Munson

Lizzy Munson is a vocalist, cellist, and composer from Calgary, Alberta. Munson combines classical training in cello with vocal, musical theatre and dance skills which allows her to adapt her performances for a wide variety of venues and styles. She has spent the last three years performing for Cirque Du Soleil Kà in Las Vegas, after being named the grand prize winner in the 2016 Stampede Talent Search, where she performed a vocal and cello combination of Nirvana’s Heart Shaped Box and Smells Like Teen Spirit. Munson is a teacher, performer, as well as a session vocalist and cellist. She has had the honour of performing with artists such as Shawn Mendes, Michael Bublé, and Jann Arden, among many others.

Mehul Gupta

Mehul's day job is being a second-year medical student at the University of Calgary with research interests in medical genetics,neuro-oncology, as well as the interface between public policy and medical practice. Outside of the classroom, Mehul serves as the Co-Chair for Youreka Canada, a non-profit organization with a mission of improving scientific literacy through experiential learning opportunities. Currently, Youreka is active in 6 cities, providing tens of thousands of hours of education to students across Canada, helping them gain the skills and experiences to become more confident and capable citizens.

Michael Kehler

Originally from Kingston, Ontario, Michael Kehler is the Research Professor of Masculinities Studies in Education at the University of Calgary. From teaching high school English to research and teaching at university, Michael has established himself as a masculinities scholar examining the intersection of masculinities, schooling, reading, homophobia, men’s body image, health education, and men as activists, change agents. His passion centers on raising questions that challenge the daily assumptions about being a man and the taken-for-granted ways that education routinely maintains definitions of masculinity. His research often starts with boys who have in some way been pushed to the margins, left unheard or unspoken. Whether it is boys who enjoy reading, adolescent boys who struggle to reject the pressure to man up and muscle up, or men speaking out against sexism and homophobia, Michael's research has continued to question the static and linear arguments often assumed to explain boy’s behaviours and attitudes. Michael offers evidence-based research starting with the experiences and narratives of masculinity captured in the day-to-day lives of boys and men. Locker rooms, school hallways, and places in between as well as outside of schools provide the context where Michael's research shows the nuanced and often seamless ways that boys "do" boy while maintaining levels of privilege and unquestioned power among “the boys”. While widely published in academia, Michael appears in the media regularly both nationally and internationally. He is currently conducting research in the UK examining how men can actively challenge homophobia within sport. Within Canada his current research projects include investigating how boys have navigated school peer friendships during COVID-19 and exploring teacher practice that disrupts masculinity in schools.

Nina Kharey

Born in 1983 to Indian immigrant parents, Nina Kharey is a Canadian fashion designer and founder of womenswear brand, Nonie, and medical apparel company, Folds Wear Inc. Kharey was surrounded by textiles from an early age. Her father managed a knitting factory and her mother was a menswear seamstress. She was fascinated by how an artistic design transitions from the drawing board to a tangible article of clothing. She received a degree in Engineering from the University of Calgary. Following the violent death of her older brother in 2005, Kharey left her professional career to pursue her dream and launched House of Nonie. Kharey is known for designing relaxed silhouettes and refined basics with an emphasis on effortless style. Her work is influenced by minimalism and East Asian attire. In 2017 and 2019, Kharey was nominated for the Swarovski Canadian Arts and Fashion Emerging Designer of the Year Award. Her client list includes prominent personalities including the wife of the Canadian Prime Minister. In July 2018, HRH The Duchess of Sussex wore Nonie to the Nelson Mandela Centenary Exhibition in London. In 2020, at the wake of the Covid19 pandemic, Kharey retooled her business and started making masks for nurses and the public. During this time, she started working with tech fabric labs to create scrubs for frontline workers that are protective, functional, and also comfortable. In Jan 2021, she launched her innovative medical apparel company, Folds Wear Inc. – delivering athletic antiviral scrubs made from post-consumer material which are fully recyclable at the end of their life.

Reed Ferber

Dr. Reed Ferber is a Professor with joint appointments across the Faculties of Kinesiology, Nursing, and the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. He is the founder and director of the Running Injury Clinic and internationally recognized as a leading expert in biomechanics research using wearable technology. Currently, he leads a team of UCalgary researchers in the NSERC Wearable Technology Research and Collaboration (We-TRAC) CREATE Training Program to train the next generation of wearable technology experts. He is also an award-winning teacher and has been inducted into the Student’s Union Teaching Hall of Fame as well as being named a Killam Laureate after receiving the McCaig-Killam Teaching Award in 2020.

Sam Hester

Sam Hester is a Calgary-based graphic recorder and longtime indie comics creator who has collaborated with a wide range of organizations in Canada. Sam creates visual stories by drawing upon deep listening skills, a unique graphic style, a passion for community-building… and a lot of markers. Sam writes and draws The Listener, a comics column, for the made-in-Alberta independent journalism outlet The Sprawl.

Sean Crump

Sean is a Purpose Capitalist TM and an inclusion collaborator. After breaking his neck in 2004 from a diving accident, he now lives his life as a quadrapolegic. At the time Sean was faced with the choice of being angry and focusing on what he lost or be grateful for what he still had. Choosing the latter, Sean has dedicated the better part of his professional career committed to bettering accessibility and inclusion in society. As founder of Universal Access, Sean’s goal is to create communities where all people feel comfortable conducting daily tasks, participating in social events, and contributing to their economic well-being as though spaces were designed to accommodate all people regardless of their unique characteristics.

Sunad Kannappan and Mehul Gupta

Sunand is a BHSc student at the University of Calgary with a major in biomedical sciences and a minor in management and society. Apart from Youreka, he is involved in oncology research, biomedical informatics and healthcare operations. He is also involved in impact investing and consulting for impact-driven non-profit organizations in Canada. Mehul's day job is being a second-year medical student at the University of Calgary with research interests in medical genetics, neuro-oncology, as well as the interface between public policy and medical practice. Outside of the classroom, Mehul serves as the Co-Chair for Youreka Canada, a non-profit organization with a mission of improving scientific literacy through experiential learning opportunities. Currently, Youreka is active in 6 cities, providing tens of thousands of hours of education to students across Canada, helping them gain the skills and experiences to become more confident and capable citizens.

Sunand Kannappan

Sunand is a BHSc student at the University of Calgary with a major in biomedical sciences and a minor in management and society. Apart from Youreka, he is involved in oncology research, biomedical informatics and healthcare operations. He is also involved in impact investing and consulting for impact-driven non-profit organizations in Canada.

Wakefield Brewster

Since January 1999, Wakefield Brewster has been known as one of Canada’s most popular and prolific Performance Poets. He is a Black man born and raised in Toronto by parents hailing from the island of beautiful Barbados, and has resided in Calgary since 2006. He has spoken across Canada, several states, and made countless appearances on a regular basis in a variety of ways, for a myriad of reasons each year. Wakefield Brewster is accessible through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, radio, online, in pictures, in video, in print and many other streams. Anthologies: •T-Dot Griots, Trafford on Demand Publishing, 2004 •The Great Black North, Frontenac House, 2013 •The Calgary Project, 2006 •The Black Prairie Archives: An Anthology, Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2019 Recordings: • Wakefield Brewster • da lyrical pitbull • Kill Whitey Records 2007 • east2west • Spanish Fly Music 2008 In a point-and-shoot fashion, he is also currently wearing these hats: • Spoken Word Artist • 3-Time Calgary Poetry Slam Champion & Team Captain; 2006, 2008, 2009 • Calgary Poet Laureate Shortlist/Finalist 2012, 2020 • Reading Series Founder of Poésie à la Pâtisserie & Pitbull Poetry Reading Series • Resident Poet & Spoken Word Artist of The Grand Theatre • Poetry Coach/Mentor • Poet-In-Residence • Classical Pianist • Percussionist • Registered Massage Therapist • 1st Dan, Black Belt, World TaeKwonDo Federation • Advocate for The Humanities, Addictions & Recovery, Healing Arts, and Mental Wellness Most recently, he has been appointed the very first Resident Poet & Spoken Word Artist of The Grand Theatre House in Calgary, Alberta. He finds that underneath these many, many hats and the many, many hoodies he wears, resides a wonderful life. He would like to thank-you all sincerely for being a part of it. Wakefield Brewster is accessible through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, radio, online, in pictures, in video, in print and many other platforms and streams.