TEDxToronto Announces Initial Speaker List for 2018 Conference

TEDxToronto – one of the top 10 TEDx conferences globally – is celebrating 10 years and marks one of the longest independently organized TEDx events in Canada

Beginning today, TEDxToronto 2018 tickets are available for purchase

TORONTO, Aug. 28, 2018 /CNW/ - TEDxToronto today announced its first set of speakers for the 2018 conference, returning for its 10^th year on Friday, October 26, 2018 at Toronto's Evergreen Brick Works. A platform for exceptional ideas and a catalyst for profound change, this year's conference is aimed to be more transformative and inspiring than ever, exploring IDENTITY as its theme.

The first six speakers are from a diverse range of industries and experiences, with their own impactful message. They promise to shift conversations, actively challenge conventions and create positive change. The first set of speakers are:

Julien Christian Lutz (Director X), Filmmaker and Music Producer

• Director X is a recognized and sought after music video, film and commercial director. He moved to New York City to explore a career in film and became the protégé of pioneering director Hype Williams. Noted for directing visually distinctive videos for popular artists, including Drake, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna, Director X's work has been recognized by Much Music Video Awards and the MTV Music Video Awards.

Sarain Fox, Host of Future History on APTN, RISE on VICELAND and Anishinaabekwe Activist, Performer and Dancer

• Of Anishinaabe lineage, Sarain Fox is a dancer, choreographer, activist and television host. A storyteller at heart, Sarain combines these various mediums to amplify the voices of her people in hopes of creating meaningful dialogue between her indigenous community and settler communities. Sarain's screen highlights include Rise (Viceland), Cut-Off (Viceland) and APTN's Future History.

Sabarish Gnanamoorthy, 15-year-old Virtual and Augmented Reality Developer

• Sabarish Gnanamoorthy is a 15 year-old virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) developer. He is the youngest AR developer in the world to be sponsored by Microsoft to develop for the Microsoft HoloLens. He is also supported and sponsored by the Thiel Foundation for his venture, WaypointAR. Sabarish has been awarded a scholarship from Udacity for their VR Developer Nanodegree program and he's one of the youngest people to have built several applications for VR and AR.

Sarah Keast, Opioid Crisis Activist, Writer and Widow

• In 2016, Sarah Keast, the mother of two young daughters, lost her husband Kevin to an accidental overdose. Faced with a seemingly insurmountable task of dealing with her loss while raising two young daughters on her own, Sarah chose to use her experience as a platform to help others. Now an activist, she looks to raise awareness around addiction and mental health through speaking engagements and through her blog Adventures in Widowed Parenting.

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, MA, PhD, Assistant Professor, Sociology at U of T

• Akwasi Owusu-Bempah is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. His work focuses on the intersections of race, crime and criminal justice, with a particular interest in the area of policing. Akwasi is now studying various aspects of cannabis legalization in Canada. His current projects include a study of Black males' perceptions of and experiences with the police in Greater Toronto Area.

Jennifer Riel, Adjunct Professor, Rotman School of Management at U of T

• Jennifer Riel is an Adjunct Professor, Faculty-at-large at the Rotman School of Management as well as the Managing Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute's Knowledge Infrastructure Project. She is the co-author of Creating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking and has published articles in the Globe and Mail, Businessweek, Strategy Magazine and Rotman Magazine, as well on online at Fortune.com and the Daily Beast.

TEDxToronto 2018, taking place on Friday, October 26, will feature more than 10 speakers and several performers with the full roster to be announced shortly. Ticket sales are now open to the public and available at http://www.tedxtoronto.com. A limited number of subsidized tickets will also be available for those looking for financial support.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
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.)

About TED
TED is a non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED's annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman. TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a "wish," or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED or Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted.

SOURCE TEDxToronto

For media inquiries, interview requests, and/or high-res imagery, please contact: Kristen SchaffrathNATIONAL Public Relations, [email protected], 416.848.1704; Danielle Castellino, TEDxToronto, [email protected], 647.833.2030