Theme: Spark + Curiosity

Join us for our “Spark + Curiosity” TEDxArlington Heights Salon event! Meet some of our 2023 conference speakers and learn about their big ideas directly from the speaker themselves! Enjoy engaging in group discussions and fun interactive activities with speakers.

Arlington Heights Memorial Library
500 N Dunton Avenue
Arlington Heights, Illinois, 60004
United States

ERIN HUIZENGA

LEARNING DESIGN INNOVATOR

Erin Huizenga is CEO and Co-Founder of Desklight, a learning innovation firm that brings a learner-centric focus to instructional design. Erin and the Desklight team have helped organizations such as McGraw Hill, Smithsonian, and American Marketing Association to discover learner insights and develop innovative strategies to design ideal learning experiences. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, and Fortune, and she has been included on Chicago Inno’s list of “Women Founders in Chicago Tech.” Erin has taught at nine universities including Northwestern University and the ID program at Illinois Institute of Technology and recently published Amazon #1 New Release "Learning in the Wild."

JANINE HILL

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION STRATEGIST

Janine Hill, PhD, PCC is the President and founder of Soar Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm focused on the program, policy, and organizational development of the social good sector. She has worked in and with nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions, of varying sizes and budgets. Janine also serves as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois School of Public Health’s Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health, where she received her doctorate in 2022. Janine is a certified leadership and executive coach, and is the author of “Embracing Equity: Best Practices for Developing a Winning Multi-Racial Leadership Team”. Janine recently served as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the McGaw YMCA.

KRISTIN CHMELA

SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST

Kristin Chmela, M.A., CCC-SLP BCS-F, speech-language pathologist, board certified specialist in stuttering, and ISHA Fellow, is founder and President of the Chmela Communication Center in Buffalo Grove. Kristin is former Chair of the American Board of Fluency and Fluency Disorders and is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Camp Shout Out, a non-profit overnight camp for kids and teens who stutter. Kristin received the 2023 West Michigan Woman’s Brilliant People’s Choice Award and recently co-produced a free YouTube video entitled “Branch Out: Kids Who Stutter Support Teachers”. She is lead author of two books, recognized as a national and international lecturer and is a trained mindfulness teacher. Kristin passionately believes all can choose to continue to evolve as communicators.

LIZ HANSEN

BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPHER

Liz Hansen is the photographer and owner of Chicago Boudoir Photography, a boutique studio that empowers women to feel confident in their bodies, relationships and lives. Liz has photographed close to 2,000 women in her studio. Liz holds an MA in Education, and as the owner of a photography studio that generates a million dollars a year, teaches entrepreneurship skills to photographers through her online coaching program, Million Dollar Studio Program. Liz has been featured on National Public Radio, as an educator with the Association of International Boudoir Photographers, and on many local podcasts and publications, including the Chicago Reader and Rebellious Magazine. She also serves as a representative and spokesperson for several photography companies, including Millers Lab, Shootproof and Aftershoot. She is also the founder of an online community, VIP Group for Empowered Women of Chicago, that serves over 10,000 local women.

TONY BRADBURN

D214 ADMINISTRATOR

Tony Bradburn has worked in public education as a teacher and administrator for over two decades. He is currently the Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in District 214. Prior to that he was a principal, Humanities Director, the Division Head for English, ESL, and Reading, and an English teacher. He has been nominated for Golden Apple’s Excellence in Leadership, received the Writing Achievement Award, voted to give the commencement address at Rolling Meadows High School, earned the Outstanding Teacher Award from University of Chicago, received the international Library of Poetry’s Editor’s Choice Award, and garnered Dundee Crown’s Teacher of the Year. He founded the group Activists for Racial Equity, published an essay in Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism, was featured on the YouTube series Quadrants and Race and Two Brothers: Raised Together, and is a repeated guest on the radio program Sabor y Sabiduria.

TRUMAN POST

YOUTH ATHLETE

Truman Post is a Thomas Middle School sixth grader, youth athlete, community volunteer, and content creator. Truman supports various community volunteer missions, including the creation of the Growth Box project, a community initiative that provides personal development resources for women in need. He is the co-author of a children’s book, “Psst…My Mom is a Superhero” and the YouTube creator behind Truman’s Adventures. He’s been featured on WGN co-leading a kids’ innovative camp segment and in Chicago Parent magazine. He plays the saxophone in his school band, and as a youth athlete, he plays tennis and baseball, and his baseball team won the AHYAA World Series Championship.