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).

101 Zellerbach Hall
Berkeley, California, 94720
United States

Aaron Rose Philip

Aaron Rose Philip refuses to be defined. Hailing from The Bronx by the way of the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda, Aaron Rose was discovered through her social media where she took notice of the lack of representation of her communities. An outspoken advocate for trans women of color and the disabled community, the trailblazer has accomplished covering British Vogue's May 2023 Issue, appearing in spreads for Vogue, W magazine, Interview, Paper magazine, i-D, Allure, Teen Vogue, and Dazed, and gracing billboards worldwide as the face of Moschino. She has since been embraced by industry titans like Jeremy Scott, Katie Grand, Tyler Mitchell, Ethan James Green, and Edward Enninful. Aaron Rose is driven by the lack of disability and trans woman of color representation in the media, specifically in the fashion and beauty realms, so these accomplishments are something that's very personal to her. She has, also, starred in Miley Cyrus' "Mother's Daughter" music video, made an appearance on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, posed for Dove's United We Stand campaign in support of the 20th Anniversary of Stonewall Uprising — and was featured in extensive profiles for The New York Times and Vogue, the latter alongside her friend, Chella Man, discussing the stark absence of disabled representation. These bookings prove just how multi-faceted Aaron Rose really is. Aaron Rose has, quite simply, become an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

Benjamin Oakes

Benjamin Oakes, Ph.D., is co-founder and CEO of Scribe Therapeutics, a genetic medicines company unlocking the potential of CRISPR to transform human health. Previously, Dr. Oakes was an Innovative Genomics Institute Entrepreneurial Fellow and received a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. He worked in the lab of Nobel Laureate, CRISPR co-inventor, and Scribe co-founder Jennifer Doudna, where he developed new CRISPR-Cas9 molecules with enhanced characteristics. Dr. Oakes and his Scribe team pioneered CRISPR by Design™, a data-driven design and engineering process, to enable a new era of in vivo CRISPR-based standard of care treatments for patients with highly prevalent diseases. They are leveraging the power of comprehensive molecular engineering to create new genetic medicines on two proprietary platforms, X-Editor for gene editing and ELXR for epigenetic editing. Dr. Oakes has contributed to dozens of publications and patent applications and was named to the MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35, San Francisco Business Times 40 Under 40, Endpoints 20 Under 40 in Biopharma, Business Insider 30 Under 40 Transforming Healthcare. Prior to his Ph.D. Dr. Oakes received his B.A. in the fields of Philosophy and Neurobiology and worked as a researcher building tens of thousands of “version one” genome editing tools, providing an open-source framework for scientists and medical professionals to modify the genome B.C. — before CRISPR.

Clancy Wilmott

Clancy Wilmott is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Berkeley Center for New Media at the University of California, Berkeley. After completing her BA in Communications and International Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, she went on to obtain a PhD in Human Geography at the University of Manchester, focusing on the ongoing legacies of mapping and cartography in the settler-colonial cities of Sydney and Hong Kong. Following post-docs at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Warwick, UK and in Design and Creative Practice at RMIT University, Australia, she joined the faculty of UC Berkeley in 2020. She is currently the principal investigator of studio.geo?, an experimental geographic research studio focusing on questions of representation, visualization and technology. She writes about cartography, digital media and landscapes, sits on the board of the GIS Certification Institute, and has published in Big Data and Society, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and Cartographic Perspectives and is the author of Mobile Mapping: Space, Cartography and the Digital which traces how cartographic form has evolved from paper to pixels. Currently she is working with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, mapping Indigenous spaces of the San Francisco Bay and on her next book project, Cartotopia: An Atlas of Artificial Intelligence Maps which explores the intersections of cartography and computation.

Manjusha Kulkarni

Manjusha P. Kulkarni (Manju) is the Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance, which serves and represents the 1.6 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County. In March 2020, Manju co-founded Stop AAPI Hate, the nation’s leading aggregator of COVID-19-related hate incidents against AAPIs. Alongside fellow Stop AAPI Hate co-founders Cynthia Choi and Russell Jeung, Manju has been recognized as an honoree of the prestigious TIME100 Most Influential People and Bloomberg 50 lists, and as a recipient of the 2021 Webby Social Movement of the Year award. More recently, she was awarded a spot on the 2022 Forbes 50 Over 50 list for her leadership in advancing the Stop AAPI Hate movement. Manju’s work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR and CNN, as well as in numerous local and ethnic media outlets. As part of her advocacy work on behalf of AAPI communities, Manju has shared her expertise with countless individuals and entities including the Aspen Institute, the World Bank and the United Nations. Manju serves on the Board of Directors of LA Voice and is a member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board. Manju holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University and a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law.

Natasha Hastings

Natasha Hastings is an Olympic, World, and US National Champion Track and Field Sprinter. She specializes in the 400 and 4×400-meter relay events. She’s also an influencer, entrepreneur, mom, and philanthropist. While Natasha accomplished a lot on the track, she knows that rest is just as important as exertion. She’s also a mental health advocate and decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health in order to help eradicate the stigma around mental health in her community.

Sky Nelson-Isaacs

Sky Nelson-Isaacs is a physicist, speaker, musician and author. Nelson-Isaacs is interested in the physics of complex systems and how they relate to the larger universe. Discovering an early fascination with holograms and some of the most fundamental questions in physics, he has sought for over two decades to establish a connection between synchronicity and physics using rigorous research methodology. His most recent publication Quantum Reports generalizes some aspects of quantum mechanics with a holistic model of space and time. He seeks to better understand how consciousness and the observer effect impact the way we experience reality. He is the author of Living in Flow: The Science of Synchronicity and How Your Choices Shape Your World and Leap to Wholeness, which is an exploration of how our filters shape our reality. Nelson-Isaacs is also a multi-instrumentalist and professional performer of award-winning original musical compositions. In 2019 he founded the Synchronicity Institute to continue research and training on the science of wholeness, synchronicity, and flow.

Tu David Phu

Chef Tu David Phu's culinary journey blends heritage and innovation. Raised in Oakland, California, he is a first-generation Vietnamese-American with deep roots tracing back to Phu Quoc, known for its artisanal fish sauce since 1895. Chef Phu's expertise reflects diverse experiences, from renowned kitchens like New York's Daniel to San Francisco's Michelin-starred Acquerello. While mastering various culinary traditions, his 'memory of taste' led him back to his Vietnamese roots. Exploring his mother's recipes and journeys to Vietnam, Chef Tu's Vietnamese-California cuisine gained recognition with 'Ăn' in 2016. He was crowned a Rising Star Chef by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2017. Joining Bravo's Top Chef Season 15 in 2019 and hosting ABC's Taste Buds: Chefsgiving, Chef Tu earned a James Beard Award nomination. He co-authors 'THE MEMORY OF TASTE' with James Beard Journalism Award winner Soleil Ho, celebrating culinary lessons from his Phu Quoc refugee parents. This cookbook weaves frugality, zero-waste cooking, and practical gill-to-fin eating into playful California-Vietnamese dishes, reflecting Chef Tu's modern style and ancestral wisdom. Beyond the kitchen, guided by his family's multigenerational food insecurity due to war and poverty, Chef Tu is committed to food recovery and regenerative practices. He shares culinary expertise with incarcerated individuals, co-executive produced the Emmy-nominated 'Bloodline,' and partners with organizations like Eat Real, Postelsia, and the Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative. Chef Tu David Phu's culinary artistry is a reflection of heritage and a commitment to making food a vessel for meaningful work and positive change, as beautifully encapsulated in 'THE MEMORY OF TASTE.'