TORONTO, April 4, 2022 /CNW/ - TEDxToronto today announced its slate of speakers set to present at its flagship event on the evenings of May 17th, 18th, and 19th. For its 13th year of amplifying ideas worth spreading in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), TEDxToronto will be held in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)'s beautiful Eaton Theater with a reception in the historic Rotunda.
Ticket sales are now open to the public and available at this link: tedxtoronto.com. A limited number of student and subsidized tickets are also available for those who qualify, supported by a Pay TEDx Forward program.
"The theme for this year's event is 'Renew,'" co-chairs Gillian Cameron and Kapil Khimdas explain. "This year's programming will help us all to pause, assess where we are, imagine a better future, and work to make it happen. After two years of connecting virtually, we are looking forward to providing an intimate experience to our audience at the ROM, a monumental Toronto venue that sets the tone for Renewing the power of in-person connections."
The speakers for this year's event are as follows:
● Kelly Boutsalis is a writer and journalist based in Toronto and a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River community. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Refinery29, Elle Canada, The Walrus, The Narwhal, Chatelaine and the Toronto Star and centers on topics such as Indigenous perspectives, parenting, entertainment, and education.
● Tariq Fancy is a Canadian entrepreneur and founder of Rumie, a non-profit organization that aims to educate children in underserved communities using affordable technology. Previously, Tariq led a successful career in finance, becoming BlackRock's first global Chief Investment Officer for Sustainable Investing in 2018. He has appeared on CNBC, ABC, BNN, and the CBC, has spoken at the United Nations, and guest lectures at Harvard Business School. In 2017, he was named one of Canada's Top 40 under 40.
● Brandon Gonez is the CEO of Gonez Media and host of the successful YouTube news show "The Brandon Gonez Show". Formerly an on-air anchor for CP24 and Your Morning, Brandon's YouTube channel showcases diverse stories relevant to all Canadians and features his signature humour and candor.
● Jessica Burgner-Kahrs is an Associate Professor, the founding Director of the Continuum Robotics Laboratory, and Associate Director of the Robotics Institute at the University of Toronto. Before joining the University of Toronto in 2019, Jessica was Associate Professor at Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, where she was funded by the prestigious Emmy Noether Research Programme of the German Research Foundation. Her research focuses on continuum robotics (i.e. tiny robots that move like an elephant's trunk) and in particular on design, modeling, planning and control, as well as human-robot interaction.
● Andre Gibson is a Professional Beatboxer dubbed "The Beatbox Scientist" by his community for pioneering popular techniques such as the Laser Lip Roll. Andre has earned prestigious titles like Montreal Beatbox Champion (first place) and Vice Canadian National Champion (second place) and has performed on CBC Toronto and CP24. In-and-around Toronto, Andre's beatboxing workshops have taught resilience to under-resourced youth in homeless shelters and public schools. Whether competing in an international battle or headlining a charity event, Andre inspires his audience to stretch the boundaries of human potential.
● Dr. Nafiseh Nafissi is a top scientist and Molecular/Microbiologist in Canada. She is the Executive VP of R&D at Mediphage Bioceuticals, and the co-inventor of Mediphage's ministering DNA platform technology and its production system. Dr. Nafissi holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of Waterloo, executive leadership certificate from AdMare Academy's Executive Institute with 15 years of both academic and industrial experience working on various preclinical projects.
● Dan Breznitz is a Professor and Munk Chair of Innovation Studies in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy with a cross-appointment in the Department of Political Science of the University of Toronto. Dan is known worldwide as an expert on rapid-innovation-based industries and their globalization, as well as for his pioneering research on the distributional impact of innovation policies. He is a Fellow and Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, where he co-founded and co-directs the program on Innovation, Equity and the Future of Prosperity. Currently, Dan is the Clifford Clark Economist at the federal Department of Finance. His award-winning books include Innovation and the State, The Run of the Red Queen, and The Third Globalization.
● Jaivet Ealom is a refugee activist and author born in Myanmar who now resides in Canada, where he has become a prominent spokesman for the Rohingya community. His memoir, Escape from Manus Prison (August 2022), tells his awe-inspiring story of being the only person to successfully escape from Australia's notorious offshore detention center on Manus Island, where he was being held for years after fleeing persecution in Myanmar.
● Chandra is the founder of Kakhwa'on:we/Real People Eat Real Food, an organization that explores the links between food, art, people, language and land. She is also co-founder and Nutrition Coordinator of Skaronhyase'ko:wa Tyohterakentko:wa tsi Yontaweya'tahkwa/the Everlasting Tree School and is currently a collaborator on The Legacies Project: An Intergenerational/Intercultural Exchange of People Transforming the Food System through York University in Toronto.
● Tanya Hayles is an award-winning creative storyteller who uses various mediums to evoke emotions, create change, and build movements. She's an entrepreneur who runs an anti-Black racism consulting business, "Color in White Spaces". Tanya is also the founder of Black Moms Connection, an online global village of 20,000 and non-profit providing culturally relevant programs and resources to educate and empower the Black mother and her family. She was the 2019 BMO for Women award recipient for Community & Charitable Giving, 2020 L'Oreal Woman of Worth honoree, and selected as one of Canada's Top 25 Women of Influence in 2021.
As a 100% volunteer-run organization, TEDxToronto's programming would not be possible without the generosity of its partners. This year, the entire TEDxToronto organizing team is grateful to the following organizations for sharing their time, energy, and resources in pursuit of the mission of ideas worth spreading: 44North, A&C, Air Canada, Centre for Social Innovation, CWB Optimum Mortgage, Chocolat de Kat, Mint, Pinpoint, TD.
Finally, a limited number of volunteer opportunities are open to Torontonians who would like to get involved during the event in May. If interested in participating, please visit https://tedxtoronto.pinpointhq.com/jobs/42712.
For more information on TEDxToronto, please visit:
Web: www.tedxtoronto.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tedxtoronto/
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, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. 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.)
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, often in the form of short talks delivered by leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED conferences, intimate TED Salons and thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world. Videos of these talks are made available, free, on TED.com and other platforms. Audio versions of TED Talks are published to TED Talks Daily, available on all podcast platforms.
TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; TEDx, which licenses thousands of individuals and groups to host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities; The Audacious Project, which surfaces and funds critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives; TED Translators, which crowdsources the subtitling of TED Talks so that big ideas can spread across languages and borders; and the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED also offers TED@Work, a program that reimagines TED Talks for workplace learning. TED also has a growing library of original podcasts, including The TED Interview with Chris Anderson, WorkLife with Adam Grant, Far Flung with Saleem Reshamwala and How to Be a Better Human.
SOURCE TEDxToronto
For media inquiries, interview requests and/or high-resolution imagery, please contact: Nicole Hanley, A&C Inc., [email protected], 416 966 3428
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