Theme: Beyond the Mask

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).

The Bay Theatre
80 Gangwan Avenue
Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518067
China

Ace Yu Ling Iu

Grade 11 Student at Shekou International School

Ace Iu-- was born and raised in China. She is currently in Grade 11 in Shekou International School.

Alice Du

Grade 9 Student at Shekou International School + Actor + Activist

Alice Du was born in Toronto, Canada. She spent half of her life there attending Kindergarten and transferred to Shekou International School three years ago. Her multicultural and diverse experiences has brought her a chance to encounter different cultures and people. In her free time, she is enthralled in the music world; playing piano for over 7 years and enjoying a variety of musicals at a young age. Theatre has also become a significant part of her identity as she continues to expand her understandings towards extraordinary characters. On the other hand, Alice has always been aware of the Left- Behind Children community by showing her compassion through volunteer teaching and Christmas Shoe-box events. She holds a close connection and understanding towards this community and hopes to bring global awareness and understanding.

Baptiste Philipp

Grade 11 Student at Shekou International School + Podcaster

Baptiste PHILIPP was born in Beijing, China. He spent his early years in China and the United Kingdom. At age 7, he moved back to his native country of France. Philipp is currently 16 and studying in grade 11 in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. He enjoys discussing societal topics through his interview-based podcast: "Unscripted" on Spotify. He also appreciates traveling and discovering new cultures. Baptiste PHILIPP strives to make the world a more open-minded environment.

Chris Tuazon

Personal Trainer

Chris considers himself a lifelong learner, mostly to explain his perpetual curiosity and frequent confusion. Born in Manila and raised in Southern California, he found a career teaching ninth-grade Humanities, taking a chance to teach in Shenzhen. After a few years in the corporate sector, Chris rediscovered his passion for teaching as the Head Coach of Lazy Laowai, a group fitness collective in Shekou. He is currently making as much impact as he can as a personal trainer, as well as the Community Manager for The Process Programming, an online training organization. When he's not taking his two daughters to and from school, you can find Chris training, coaching, or trying desperately to catch up on his sleep.

Christine Hyomin Gil

Grade 7 Student at Shekou International School + Introvert

Christine (Hyomin) Gil was born in South Korea, and has lived in China for 11 years. She is currently attending Grade 7 at Shekou International School, Guangdong, China. She hopes that through her talk, she can influence the society to be more inclusive towards different people’s personalities. In her free time, she enjoys reading books and playing the violin.

Cohen Hooton

Grade 5 Student at Shekou International School + Dancer

Cohen is a 10 year old currently living in Shekou, China. He loves the K-Pop Group: Black Pink and has seen them perform in concert. In addition, he loves collecting Black Pink photo cards. They have inspired some of his current hobbies in dancing and performance as his talk will highlight his passions for dancing and gender bias. He hopes everyone follows their dreams and don't let the haters get to them.

Deepak Kapoor Kodwadni

Grade 5 Student at Shekou International School

Deepak was born in New York, USA. Deep has lived internationally in more than 7 countries! Since 2017, Deep has spent most of his childhood in China. Currently, he is studying in Shekou International School.

Galatea Lando

Grade 11 Student at Shekou International School

Galatea Lando was born in an Italian-Chinese family, she grew up in a small town in Italy, embracing the Italian dolce vita and learning all about the Chinese ways. Already at a young age she was learning to balance the beauty of these two cultures while exploring her identity in this world. Being a young girl finding her own definition of happiness, she hopes to share some of the things she learned along the way, that ultimately defined the strong independent person she is today.

Ivan Ozbolt

French Teacher at Shekou International School

Ivan Ozbolt was born and raised in the suburbs of Paris, France. He has studied history and anthropology in France, and linguistic anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. He has taught French and English as a Second Language in the United States and in China. He loves to patiently teach French to his students, and is adamant that anyone can learn it. In his free time, Ivan likes to learn about world cultures and languages, and practice rock climbing. He is the proud dad of ten-month old Amélie.

Jill Tseng

Jill is a Grade 11 student at Shekou International School

Jon Welchman

Grade 5 Teacher at Shekou International School

Jon Welchman was born and raised in Davenport, Iowa, USA but now calls the Seattle, Washington area his home. He’s spent most of his adult life living and teaching abroad in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. He currently lives in Shenzhen, China with his wife, Nisse, and daughter, Odelia. He has worked as a basketball coach and union activist and enjoys imagining an idealistic future while spending his free time watching Star Trek. He hopes to help build understanding and respect amongst those he encounters daily.

Kahana Nakadai

G5 Student at Shekou International School

Kahana Nakadai was born in Japan. She came to China when she was 6 months for her father’s work and grew up in Chongqing, Suzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. She has met teachers and friends from various nationalities. It makes her to have diversified thinking way. She is into sports(tennis, lacrosse and soccer),games, musical instruments and DIY. She loves chatting with friends and family! Through her TEDx experience and studying presentations, she hopes to challenge herself in various fields.

Kiana Kimball-Arangu

Grade 11 Student at Shekou International School + Artist

Kiana Kimball-Arangu was born to an American dad and a Venezuelan mom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but grew up in Taipei, Taiwan before eventually moving to Shenzhen, China. Kiana’s passions include all forms of art, from digital to traditional and from fine art to animation, as well as creative writing. Kiana hopes to go to art school in the near future.

Leah Oh

Grade 5 Student at Shekou International School + Violinist

Leah Oh was born and raised in Seoul, Korea. She lived there until she was 10 years old and then moved to Shenzhen. She is currently in grade 5 at Shekou International School in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. She hopes others will feel more confident about everything they do and the choices they make. In her free time, Leah enjoys traveling and swimming.

Li Wei

Li Wei is a street performer in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. He is specialized in acrobatics.

Stacy Wee

Stacy is currently a student at Shekou International School.

Tareq Barhoumeh

Grade 11 Student at Shekou International School

Tareq Barhoumeh was born in a small town in Canada called Kenora and is of Palestinian descent. His early years were spent in Winnipeg, Manitoba until the age of 7 when he moved to Dubai. He stayed there for 2 years before moving to France for a year, and then back to Winnipeg for another year, and to Doha, Qatar where he stayed for 4 years until he was 16 years old. He now lives in Shenzhen, China and attends the Shekou International School. He hopes to inspire more people to voice their opinions. In his free time, he enjoys playing music and traveling.

Xiao Fei

Xiao Fei is a street performer specializing in Intangible Cultural Face Changing in Shenzhen, Guangdong China.