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).

Creative Cubes South Melbourne
111 Cecil Street
Level 5
South Melbourne, Victoria, 3205
Australia

Ben Simpson

CEO & Founder - Collective Shift

Ben is on a mission to democratise crypto education and wealth to millions. He is a founder and CEO of a pioneering and rapidly growing Web3 education and research platform. Originally born and raised in Tasmania, he is a passionate entrepreneur who loves being at the forefront of cryptocurrency and solving the most challenging problems that scale-ups face today. Ben's personal mission is to one-day help provide basic financial education to millions around the world and believes his work is a key step towards doing so. When he's not busy building, he can be found playing golf, watching sports, listening to a business podcast, drinking coffee or reading.

Caroline Kell

Founder - Blak Wattle Coaching and Consultancy

Caroline is a proud sovereign Mbarbrum woman and a former counsellor with over six years’ experience working alongside Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities to drive reform and community-led responses in first of its kind Treaty discussions in Australia. She played an integral role in the Victorian Aboriginal COVID-19 response and Victorian Aboriginal Communities’ response to the Mental Health Royal Commission. Caroline is the Founder of a 100% Indigenous owned coaching and consulting agency, where she takes a trauma informed coaching approach to coaching and mentoring First Nations leaders and business owners.

Dr. Anita Goh

Clinician Researcher

Dr Anita Goh is a clinician researcher and, as a clinical neuropsychologist, her expertise encompasses mental health, cognition, ageing, and dementia. She is a senior researcher and strategic projects leader, and an honorary Clinical Neuropsychologist. Her work spans the worlds of industry, healthcare, university, research institutes and publicly-funded research and she has compelling future-gazing insights on research directions, policy and funding.

Dr. Emma Fulu

Founder - The Equality Institute

Emma is a feminist activist, social entrepreneur and one of the world’s leading experts on gender-based violence, appearing widely throughout the media. In 2015, Emma founded a global feminist agency working to advance gender equality and end violence against women, which has grown to work in over 30 countries, conducted over 50 studies, and trained thousands of people. She has a PhD, is an author, and lives in Naarm (Melbourne) with her three children.

Eleanor Danks

Somatic Coach & Facilitator

Eleanor is a lawyer turned somatic coach and facilitator, mental health advocate, and fierce believer in the power and importance of re-humanising the way we deal with harm - both within the criminal justice system and outside of it. Having witnessed the justice system from the perspective of being a prosecutor, a defence lawyer, as well as a victim of crime, Eleanor is passionate about finding new ways of dealing with harm that go beyond the binary of ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ and instead move us into the territory of ‘human’. Eleanor believes in challenging our capacity to hold the nuance of the human experience, shine the light on a better way forward, and gift ourselves a new perspective that may even shake our own capacity for self-forgiveness.

Elle Steele

Psychic Business Coach, Healer & Speaker

Elle is a 5-time Australian Swimming representative, Paralympian and Gold medalist, who now works in the personal development space as a psychic business coach, healer and motivational speaker. Born with a congenital disability called Arthrogryposis, Elle’s life has been full of moments of great joy and sadness due to the continual change in her physical capabilities. Living on the Surf Coast in Victoria, Elle’s life mission is to show others that despite all the heartache we may face, if we can be brave to heal our hearts, the ripple effect of this bravery will help to heal the world.

Friska Wirya

Founder - Fresh By Friska

Friska transforms organisations to enable them to better respond to rapid change. She has worked for some of the biggest names in mining, engineering and technology as a change and transformation expert for nearly a decade, leading programs that have influenced up to 23,000 people across 6 of the seven continents. This has included the digital transformation of the largest gold miner in the Southern hemisphere, the largest policing jurisdiction in the world and Australia's number one university execute its digital COVID-19 response for 65,000 students and 15,000 staff. Friska’s passion in driving change around the world has seen her influence people of all backgrounds and inspire the most conservative organisations to do things differently from the way they've always been done before.

Jerico Mandybur

Author and Creativity Coach

Jerico Mandybur is an autistic author, award-winning creativity coach, and tarot reader. With an accomplished background in writing and content strategy, Jerico is passionate about helping creatives and neurodivergents let go of perfectionism and imbue their daily lives with self-expression, mindfulness, and magic.

Kemi Nekvapil

Speaker, Coach, Author

Kemi Nekvapil is one of Australia’s leading credentialed coaches for female executives and entrepreneurs, an author and a highly sought-after international speaker. She has studied leadership and purpose in Bhutan and works with teams and organisations to create daring leaders and courageous cultures. Kemi hosts a number one ranking podcast and with a level of compassion and wisdom only gained through extraordinary life experience, she is a powerful advocate for connected, value-based living. Kemi is a mother of teenagers, a wife, an endurance athlete, a dedicated gardener and aspirational flower farmer.

Mark Murray

Nurse Practitioner

Mark is a Nurse Practitioner specialising in chronic disease and care of the older person. He has been in healthcare since 1998 and has received numerous awards and honours in nursing including an invitation to Government House by the Governor General and the Mavis Mitchell Memorial Scholarship Award for his pursuit of great patient outcomes. He is passionate about elder rights, the patient voice and end of life care. 2020 saw Mark’s role change to one of outbreak response coordination for a team assisting in the management of one third of the COVID-19 residential care outbreaks in Australia.

Marlous Teh

Mindset and Energy Coach

Marlous is the first generation of her family to be born in a western country, the Netherlands. She is a multi-passionate woman of colour, a Certified Mindset Coach, a Support Trainer at an international life coaching academy, and a professional Corporate Fundraiser in the for-purpose sector. Being raised between cultures - Dutch and Chinese, a polyglot, and well-travelled across continents, she considers herself a global citizen, yet not quite fitting in. In 2011, she pursued a Master's degree as an international student in Sydney, and a few years later married an Australian, which added another layer to her identity. This saw her go on a personal quest. Through having her first child recently, and her own journey, she has awakened to a phenomenon she realised has existed in her home country and also in Australia and across the world - that there is a cost to fitting in.

Nartarsha Napanangka Bamblett

Founder - Queen Acknowledegments

Nartarsha Bamblett a First Nations woman, Yorta Yorta born and raised on Yorta Yorta Country in Shepparton, now residing in Melbourne on Naarm Country. Nartarsha worked across many sectors before deciding to move into healing work and sharing with people how to better care for themselves and country. She is passionate about storytelling through art and performance and has worked with over 10,000 young people from across Australia and has had her work recognised in American schools. Nartarsha’s proudest work so far is being a mother and raising her son to learn and grow with confidence in the two worlds they live in as Aboriginal people.

Nevo Zisin

Educator, Writer & Speaker

Nevo is an esteemed educator in transgender and LGBTQIA+ topics. Using their own lived expertise, Nevo runs workshops in schools and professional development training in workplaces to create more inclusive and gender equitable environments. Nevo is also an award-winning author, a mentor, an ambassador, and a member of Australia's largest all trans and gender diverse show on a main stage where they perform spoken word poetry.

T Guthrie

Artist & Music Producer

Guthrie is an artist and music producer based in Naarm, Melbourne. They have supported numerous national and international music artists with their powerful combination of folk storytelling and electronic soundscapes which has received praise from a wide range of music media outlets. Exploring themes of gender advocacy in their music, Guthrie sub-verts expectations about genre and challenges societal norms in their work. They also have a background in pure mathematics, philosophy and data science which allows them to question both artistically and technically many of the binaries assumed in music. With experience in running a social enterprise as well as leading an artist project, Guthrie brings an advocacy lens to all their work with the goal of making music more inclusive and equitable in the industry.