Theme: Change, UnlimiTED

Change is truly the only constant.
With powerful talks centered around changing times, changing ideas and an ever-changing world, we hope to inspire our audience to widen their perspectives and start the discussion. Our speakers are a diverse range of prominent figures in their respective fields, talented students and above all, people with big ideas about how they personally view change.

CHIREC international school
1-55/12, Botanical Garden Rd, Kondapur
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, 500084
India

Aadya Jolly

Student Activist

Aadya is a senior at the CHIREC International School. She is passionate about Law, Politics, and Public Policy. She aspires to leverage her academic interests and arsenal of personal experience in giving new colors to society, colors that will uplift it. She is an avid reader, researcher, and debater along with being a firm believer in the potential of the young. With this background, her talk at TedXYouth@Chirec portrays her sensitivity and knowledge related to the levels that today's youth can rise in order to achieve their dreams. Over the years, Aadya has been involved in various endeavors advocating for Mental health, Education, and The Environment as a Gen-Z Changemaker. She wishes to talk about how all these interests come together for her and propel her on to talk about her journey.

Amala Akkineni

Co-Founder of Blue Cross Hyderabad, Director of Annapurna College of Film

Amala and her husband Akkineni Nagarjuna founded Blue Cross of Hyderabad 30 years ago. As co-Founder and chairperson she created animal welfare services for street animals and has been part of several movements for social change. Helping animals is her passion, acting in movies is her profession. She has worked in 58 films in 5 Indian languages She is also Director of Annapurna College of Film and Media, a private and non profit institution recognised by Govt of Telangana - preparing young people for careers in cinema.

Karthik Palakodeti

Student Debater

Karthik Palakodeti is a Y1 IBDP student at CHIREC International School where he studies Physics, Economics, and Math. He's incredibly fascinated by the social sciences, particularly fields relating to Economics, Politics, and Sociology as they are what help us understand why human society is the way that it is. He represented Team India at the World Schools Debating Championship for the past three years. Apart from having helped Team India place 12th in the world this August, he's also won the International Competition for Young Debaters hosted by the Cambridge Union. What he enjoys most of all is coaching younger students of the Chirec Debate Club. He's also co-organized an online international debate competition that raised funds for GiveDirectly, a charity operating in East Africa aimed at ending destitute poverty. He cannot wait to talk about how to create meaningful change in the world at TEDxYouth@CHIREC 2023!

Santanu Paul

Founder and CEO of TalentSprint

Santanu is the Founder and CEO of TalentSprint. Under his leadership, TalentSprint has emerged as a leading player in the deep-tech education industry and is currently a part of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Group Company. TalentSprint partners with top academic institutions and global corporations to bring transformational learning programs to professionals. Santanu also serves as an Independent Director at NSDL Payments Bank and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Santanu began his professional career in New York as a Research Scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. Before embarking on this entrepreneurial journey, Santanu spent 5 years with Virtusa as Senior Vice President. Santanu has authored over 20+ research papers and is an inventor on 2 US patents. He is also a guest columnist for leading media publications. Santanu received his B.Tech from IIT Madras and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, both in Computer Science.

Shivani Tripurani

Social Advocate and Student Writer

Shivani Tripurani is a student in the IBDP at CHIREC International School, where she studies English, Biology, and Math at the Higher Level. As a self-proclaimed storyteller, she is fascinated with the ways of the mind and human connection, and she hopes to explore this under cognitive sciences in the coming years. Music, dance, poetry, dystopian fiction, Phoebe Waller-Bridge: she has a soft spot for all things that creatively braid emotion, impact, and wit. She is also very passionate about mental health and advocates for it through her NGO Serapy, and she hopes to be instrumental in its progress within rural communities. High school has been so rich in terms of service, science research, and leadership opportunities, and she couldn’t be more excited to exchange her stories with all of you at TEDxYouth@CHIREC 2023.

Sreekar Sannapareddy

Co-founder of Gradvine Advisors Private Limited

Sreekar is the Co-founder of Gradvine Advisors Private Limited - among India's largest education consulting firms serving customers from over 19 countries. He completed his bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from CBIT in Hyderabad and went on to pursue his Master's in Engineering Management (MEM) at Dartmouth College, where he was recognized as a Conrades Distinguished Fellow. Sreekar chose to return to India after graduating to ensure every student has access to the right advice so their dreams get direction, through Gradvine. He has since been invited by various start-up boot camps to discuss the challenges involved in scaling startups and has visited campuses across the country to educate students on career paths. In 2021, Sreekar was named in BW Businessworld India's 30 under 30 list of India's finest entrepreneurs under the age of 30. His company Gradvine was also named as India's best career guidance platform at the Times Business Awards 2022 hosted by the Times of India.

Surya Prasad Padala

Founder of Padala Charitable Trust

Surya Prasad Padala post-graduated (M.Tech) from IIT Kharagpur (class of 1996). After working for 16 years in the US as a software consultant, he resigned from his job at the age of 40 and returned to India for good in 2012. Since then, he has dedicated his life to volunteering for non-profits and exploring opportunities where his talent can be used to make a positive difference in society. One thing that drives Surya Prasad’s passion is the idea of paying it forward. He hailed from a lower middle-class background, where his father was a tailor in his village. After achieving state rank in his 10th and 12th class boards, he was financially assisted by an organization called BREAD to complete his B.tech education. This made a huge difference in Surya Prasad’s life and is what motivated him to pay it forward on his own. He has since been instrumental in the design and streamlining of several initiatives over the years at his organization Padala Charitable Trust since 2002.