TEDxToronto Officially Announces Lineup of Speakers for 11th Annual Conference

Beginning today, TEDxToronto 2019 tickets are available for purchase

TORONTO, Aug. 20, 2019 /CNW/ - TEDxToronto announced today its full list of speakers for the 2019 conference, returning for its 11^th year on October 26, 2019 at Toronto's Evergreen Brick Works. For the first time ever, the conference will take place on a Saturday.

As one of Canada's largest TEDx events, this full day conference aims to build a community of thinkers and doers, centered around the mission of ideas worth spreading, both big and small. Through this year's theme – Rise – TEDxToronto will bring voices to the forefront that might otherwise not have a stage to share their ideas.

So many things are on the rise: new technologies and businesses, political movements, online communities, the temperature – our city. However, not everything that rises is good, and when some things rise, others get left behind. So this year, TEDxToronto is asking: what will it take for us as a society to rise together?

Below is the full list of speakers set to take the stage at the 2019 conference:

Andrew Reeves, Environmental Journalist

• An award-winning environmental journalist, Andrew's work has appeared in The Walrus and The Globe and Mail for his reporting on environmental issues and innovations. Recently, Andrew published his book titled Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis which focuses on the devastating effects of the invasive fish, Asian carp, throughout North America.

Anthony Morgan, Human Rights and Civil Liberties Lawyer

• As a lawyer who practised in the areas of civil, constitutional, and criminal state accountability litigation, Anthony has a deep interest in anti-black racism advocacy, which he currently advances through training and development across the City of Toronto. Anthony has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada and the United Nations treaty bodies and is a regular commentator on issues at the intersection of justice, race, and multiculturalism.

Casandra Diamond, Founder and Director of BridgeNorth

• Casandra is the founding director of BridgeNorth, a survivor-led charitable organization that provides programs to assist victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Her work includes investing in public education, awareness, and advocacy at all levels of government including supporting Bill C-36 which is now law as the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.

Danielle Goldfarb, Head of Global Research at RIWI Corp.

• Danielle's work at RIWI, a global data collection and trend-tracking company, sees her using proprietary technology to track the opinions of marginalized voices that aren't often polled or heard. With this RIWI technology, Danielle forecasts and tracks socio-economic behavior globally and has created the first and only real-time, global measure of young people and online-enabled work (like Uber driving etc.).

Esie Mensah, Dancer and Choreographer

• An award-winning dancer and choreographer, Esie is considered to be a leading dance artist in Canada's urban music scene and has single-handedly built a new dance genre: Afrofusion. In the past, she has worked with talent such as Rihanna, Drake, French Montana, Janelle Monae, and events including TIFF, FIFA, Luminato, WE Day and more.

Gulshan Allibhai, Owner of Lahore Tikka House

• Gulshan took over the operation of the iconic 400-seat restaurant Lahore Tikka House in Toronto's Little India when her husband passed away in 2013. With a master's degree in social work, she has worked with diverse populations like immigrants, refugees and individuals with mental health issues. She currently teaches within the social work programs at Wilfrid Laurier University and Seneca College.

Joseph Palermo, Engineer at Dessa

• Joseph is a machine-learning engineer at artificial intelligence start-up Dessa based in Toronto. He was part of the team that produced what many consider to be the most impressive "deepfake" to date – a computer-generated voice that sounds like Joe Rogan, the popular American podcast host.

Mark Cohon, Chairman of Toronto Global and Former Commissioner of the CFL

• Mark's long history in the business of sports saw him as a former executive with Major League Baseball International (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and most recently, the 12^th Commissioner of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Now as the chair of Toronto Global and the Juno Awards, Mark is known for building successful Canadian brands, and through them, the reputation of Canada.

Michelle Xuereb, Director of Innovation at Quadrangle

• Michelle is a specialist in complicated construction projects and the Director of Innovation at Quadrangle, a Toronto-based architecture and interior design firm. Her approach to design intersects sustainability and resiliency as recovery strategies for communities in the face of climate change are an increasing concern for the future.

Sage Paul, Costume and Fashion Artist

• As an award-winning artist and recognized leader of Indigenous fashion, craft and textiles, Sage uses her work as a platform to amplify the visibility of Indigenous people, their culture and artistic practices. She's the Founder and Artistic Director of Indigenous Fashion Week in Toronto that launched in spring 2018 and co-founded Setsuné Indigenous Fashion Incubator.

Shireen Ahmed, Writer, Podcaster, Activist for Muslim women in sports

• Shireen Ahmed is an award-winning sports activist, athlete and community organizer. She is also part of a team of five women who created the Burn It All Down podcast, a feminist sports podcast that analyzes sports culture from the intersection of gender, race and religion. Shireen is on the advisory board of the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) and helps refugees use football as a vehicle for resettlement.

Umbereen Inayet, Artistic Producer of Nuit Blanche, City of Toronto

• Umbereen is an award-winning producer and curator of public art. She has been an Artistic Producer at Nuit Blanche for the City of Toronto, one of the largest free contemporary art events in North America, for over a decade and has worked with artists including Ai Weiwei, Bill Viola and Director X. She uses her background in social work throughout the curation process and in collaborating with artists to elevate art as a medium for storytelling and source of narrative therapy.

TEDxToronto 2019 will feature speakers from diverse backgrounds, coming together to explore their perspective on what it means to rise. Ticket sales are now open to the public and available at www.tedxtoronto.com. A limited number of subsidized tickets will also be available for those looking for financial support. To view the speakers from the 2018 conference, visit https://tedxtoronto.com/past-talks/.

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 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, including our annual gathering in Vancouver, as well as TEDWomen, 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 the talks from TED2019 will also be published to TED's podcast TED Talks Daily, available on Apple Podcasts and all other 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; TEDSummit, which gathers the most engaged members of the global TED community for brainstorms, discussions, performances, workshops and an eclectic program of mainstage talks; and the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED also has a library of original podcasts, including The TED Interview with Chris Anderson, Sincerely, X, and one of Apple Podcasts' most downloaded new shows of 2018, WorkLife with Adam Grant.

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

SOURCE TEDxToronto

For media inquires, interview request and/or high-resolution imagery, please contact: Amber Ciolfe, NATIONAL Public Relations, [email protected], 416.848.1384; Danielle Castellino, TEDxToronto, [email protected], 647.833.2030