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).

Griffith Theater
Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University West Campus
Durham, North Carolina, 27708
United States

Aya Shabu

Embodied Storyteller

Aya Shabu is a storyteller with over 20 years of professional experience telling stories through dance, choreography, cultural organizing, and memoir writing. Aya Shabu is an alum of the world-renowned African American Dance Ensemble, and continues dancing and drumming with The Magic of African Rhythm. In 2011, Shabu was the choreographer for the world premiere of The Parchman Hour, a documentary theater production featured at the 50th Anniversary Reunion of The Freedom Riders in Jackson MS in 2011. In 2012, Shabu founded Whistle Stop Tours LLC, a performance-based walking tour company. Shabu was commissioned to write a new tour for the Park Service’s National Historic Landmark Award ceremony in recognition of a queer woman of color—Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray. Aya leads Black parents in storytelling and world-building as the Director of Arts and Culture for Village of Wisdom Inc. Aya practices the art of vulnerability by sharing her own family stories in her one-woman show LandED.

Casey Goldstein

Duke Undergraduate Student, Founder of College to Climate

Casey Goldstein is a student at Duke University studying Computer Science, Environmental Science, and Entrepreneurship. Goldstein is the founder of College to Climate, a global platform that empowers college students to find careers in the climate space. In 2023, he was selected for the Melissa & Doug Entrepreneur Accelerator Program.

Dakota Douglas

M.A. Candidate in Bioethics and Science Policy

Dakota hails from Indian Trail, NC, a Charlotte suburb. She graduated from Duke University in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and minors in Global Health and Chemistry. Dakota understands the challenges that come with living with vulnerable identities because she lives in community with family and friends with disabilities. She aims to work alongside marginalized communities to promote equity, particularly in healthcare. Currently, Dakota is pursuing a Master's degree in the Program of Bioethics and Science Policy at Duke University, where she is learning how to promote equity in health policy through mindful AI usage, health law reform, and policy advocacy. Dakota plans on pursuing an MD and a JD degree, and aspires to embark on a career in medical-legal advocacy in health fields like gynecology and hematology.

Elaijah Lapay

Vexillologist & Immigrant Health Scholar

Elaijah Lapay (he/him) is an undergraduate senior at Duke University pursuing an individualized bachelor’s degree titled “Migrant Health and Healthcare: Access and Application.” Parallel to his studies and engagement with immigrant communities in Durham and North Carolina, Elaijah has cultivated his passion for flags toward investment into vexillology, the academic study of flags. Elaijah wrote and has instructed for much of his own undergraduate studies an undergraduate half-credit course titled “Symbols of Nationalism: The Power and Danger of Flags.” Both Elaijah’s work in immigrant health and vexillology are rooted in his personal experiences caused by living as the child of Filipino immigrants in the American South, his experiences seeking and studying belonging, and his desire to channel his experiences into perspective shifts in how to improve health, well-being, and understanding of both first and second generation Americans.

Ian McArthur

Medievalist

Ian McArthur has master's degrees in both German and English. He is now finalizing his doctoral studies in German Studies, with a focus on the literature of the Middle Ages. A dedicated educator, Ian has instructed courses in religion, writing, and German language. Most recently, he has shared his love of fantasy through his self-developed course, tracing the genre's evolution from medieval epics like "Beowulf" to contemporary media franchises such as "Star Wars." Beyond scholarship, he is always reading and delights in telling stories; his favorite audience being his three young children.

Jolynn Dellinger

Duke Law Senior Lecturing Fellow

Jolynn Dellinger is a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law School and also at the Duke Initiative for Science and Society where she works in the area of privacy, ethics and technology. At the law school, Dellinger teaches Privacy Law and Policy and a seminar about privacy and surveillance in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). She is a co-founder of Data Privacy Day, a globally recognized event designed to raise awareness about privacy and create mechanisms for dialogue, education, collaboration, and privacy solutions among nonprofits, academics, businesses and government entities. She has worked in the privacy area since 2007.

Mustafa Husain

Neuropsychiatrist

Dr. Husain had humble beginings as medical intern, in a developing country where Psychological disurbance were not even considered medical ailments. Was trained in very basic Neuro science in States. He applied this knowledge to the cinical care of very difficult refractory subjects and became be part of the evolution of the most advanced innovative, high tech, AI based multidiscilplanry, translational neuropsychiatric research for the treatment of complex Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Noah Lanier

Amateur Investor and Budding Clinical Psychologist

What do you get when you combine a love for adventure, a willingness to put it all on the line, and (hopefully) enough smarts to come out of it all in one piece? Well, you might get a person named Noah Lanier, a Duke University alumnus who always finds himself in the most bizarre situations. He currently does research at the intersection of AI and Psychiatry to develop novel treatments for intractable mental disorders, and has dreams of becoming a clinical psychologist who starts and directs cutting-edge behavioral health centers across the country.

Sarah Ishmael

Curriculum Theorist

Sarah Ishmael is a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a research fellow at Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. Her research excavates and interrogates the material effects that different philosophical conceptions of the human embedded within curriculum have on students, teachers and society.

Sophia Leeman

Duke Huang Research Fellow at the Musah Lab + Incoming Associate at BCG

Sophia is a senior at Duke University, where she applies her studies in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science to revolutionize healthcare. As a Huang Fellow at the Musah Lab, she has spent the last four years advancing preclinical models to unravel the mysteries of kidney disease, utilizing cutting-edge technologies like organs-on-chips. Her dedication to improving healthcare goes beyond the lab. Sophia has also crafted machine learning architectures for future applications in drug development and built prosthetics for the Durham community. Currently, she's developing a novel breast cancer screening device. After graduation, Sophia's journey continues at Boston Consulting Group, where she hopes to further her mission of modernizing the healthcare industry.

Tiffany Elder

Incremental Developer + General Contractor + Realtor

Tiffany Elder is the visionary democratizing small-scale real estate development. She is a Realtor, licensed general contractor, and developer, based in Durham NC, whose passion lies in empowering everyday people to shape their communities through inclusive and affordable projects. She's the mastermind behind NC's first "triple benefit" home, which received historic tax credits, green certification, and was priced for buyers below 80% AMI, and is a testament to her commitment to sustainability and accessibility. Today, Tiffany enjoys transforming historic structures and building new and vibrant residential and commercial spaces in Raleigh-Durham. Through her cohort leadership and training efforts, Tiffany equips you to be part of the change in your local real estate market.