Theme: The Story I Tell Myself

This university hosted TEDxUWLaCrosse event will highlight three speakers: two campus members and one community member on the UWL campus on October 10, 2024 at 4:00 in the Student Union. Between speakers, there will be TED and TEDx videos shown, and two improvisational pieces by a UWL trumpet jazz professor and a UWL contemporary dance professor. This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets will become available three weeks before the event, mid September.

The Bluffs, UWL Student Union
521 East Ave
3rd floor
La Crosse, Wisconsin, 54601
United States

Andrew Ives

In this presentation, "Exploring Self-Love by Embracing Interdependence,” Andrew Ives highlighted how interdependence is essential for cultivating self-love, drawing on the principles of Disability Justice. He emphasized how his college community helped him access vital student resources and grow personally. Andrew Ives is director of the UW-La Crosse ACCESS Center. Andrew and the ACCESS Center support students with disabilities at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. In his spare time, Andrew provides leadership for nonprofit boards and enjoys the Driftless Region with his husband, Bill, and two dogs, Fred and Pamplemousse.

Carolyn Coleen Bostrack

In this presentation, “Rewrite Your Broken Story,” Bostrack shared how life's toughest moments can be transformed into catalysts for growth. Through personal anecdotes and strategies, she demonstrated how she reframed adversity and uncovered hidden strengths, reversing the effects of ACE scores with resounding resourcefulness. The talk inspired resilience and empowered individuals to see challenges as opportunities for profound transformation, offering hope that smashes statistical disadvantages. Carolyn Colleen Bostrack is an author, entrepreneur and humanitarian. She founded the FIERCE Foundation and authored “F.I.E.R.C.E: Transform Your Life in the Face of Adversity, 5 Minutes at a Time!” and coauthored “Academic and Educational Entrepreneurship.” As a UN delegate for the Commission on the Status of Women, she advocates for women’s empowerment. Her mission is to help others overcome challenges, foster respectful dialogue, and bridge divides through effective communication and leadership, building stronger communities.

Sona Kazemi

In this presentation, "Woman, Life, Freedom: Redefining Social Justice in a Globalized World," Kazemi draws from her childhood experiences with the "Morality Police" in Iran and the recent "Woman-Life-Freedom" movement. She explored the importance of empathizing with the struggles of "other" people. She emphasized the need to build connections and solidarity movements worldwide. Sona Kazemi is an assistant professor of Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Her first monograph, “Disabling Relations: Wounded Bodyminds & Active Witnessing,” is under contract with Temple University Press, scheduled for publication in June 2025. Kazemi is the Society for Disability Studies’ 2018 recipient of the honorable mention for the prestigious Irving K. Zola Award for emerging scholars in disability studies.