We were delighted to have the following speakers in attendance for our 2012 TEDxTraverseCity event. If you would like to nominate a speaker for next year’s event or if you would like to apply to speak at next year’s event, click here.
Lauryn BallesterosLauryn Ballesteros relentlessly questions why brands and leaders are afraid to be themselves. She believes down to her bones that intelligent leadership combined with authentic conversation and generosity will spur the change necessary to build a more beautiful world.
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Fleda BrownThe author of six previous collections of poems, she has won the Felix Pollak Prize, a Pushcart Prize, the Philip Levine Prize, the Great Lakes Colleges New Writer’s Award, and her work has twice been a finalist for the National Poetry Series.
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Sheryl ConnellySheryl has served as the Global Consumer Trends and Futuring Manager for Ford Motor Company for over eight years. Her job is to identify and track trends in social, technological, economic, environmental and political arenas in an attempt to understand and anticipate shifts in consumer values, attitudes or behaviors.Learn more »
Michael Parrish DuDellMichael Parrish DuDell is a writer, speaker, entrepreneur, and all-around media renaissance man. As the founder of race + vine, Michael specializes in connecting businesses with consumers in more authentic and meaningful ways through content marketing, millennial engagement, and consumer experience.
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Leah Weiss EkstromLeah Weiss Ekstrom is a Contemplative Educator whose research and teaching focuses on the application of meditation in secular contexts. Leah has engaged in extensive retreat practice in the Kagyu/Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. She is also trained as a clinical social worker having worked with refugees in India, Nepal, and the United States.
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John FugelsangJohn Fugelsang is an actor, comedian & writer who recently had the first political comedy album to ever hit #1 on the iTunes, Amazon & Billboard Comedy Charts.
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Nargilya GasanovaNargilya Gasanova is an international student at Northwestern Michigan Collegefrom Turkmenistan. She first traveled to the U.S. in 2007 as an exchange student at Frankfort High School and quickly fell in love with the community. This inspired her to return to the area to attend college.
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Rashid GhaziRashid Ghazi founded North Shore Films to produce Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football,– a story which he began developing in 2003 with the basic belief that his fellow Americans were interested in what real-life American Muslims were really like. As a lifelong football fan, Ghazi felt the story of the Fordson High School football team could be the conduit this kind of relatable, entertaining story – a place where everyday Arab-American Muslims share their homes, values, aspirations and opinions with other Americans. Learn more »
Karen JacobsenWhen Karen Jacobsen walks on stage, there is no question she is in the driver¹s seat. The GPS Girl, Karen Jacobsen’s speaking voice is in over 25 million GPS units giving drivers directions worldwide as “Australian Karen”. She has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, the CBS Early Show, in The New York Times, NY Daily News, Glamour magazine and was named one of People Magazine¹s Most Intriguing People. Learn more »
Anjanette MerriweatherAnjanette Merriweather is currently finishing up her last year at Northwestern Michigan College where she is on pace to earn an Associate in Applied Science, with a concentration in Visual Communications in May. A New Mexico native, Anjanette moved to Traverse City in 2007 and returned to school to pursue her passion in art. Learn more »
Al PittampalliJ. Al Pittampalli is on a mission to help organization transform meetings, make decisions, and coordinate action. He is the bestselling author of Read This Before Our Next Meeting, the most popular Kindle book in the world during the week of its release. A speaker, blogger, and all around trouble maker, Al is part of a new generation that brings fresh eyes to stuck business systems. You can learn more about him at ModernMeetingStandard.com.
Robyn MarcotteAsk any of Robyn Marcotte’s friends or colleagues to tell you the first word that comes to mind when characterizing her business sense and entrepreneurial spirit. Not only will you hear one of these three words, you’re sure to hear example after example of her ability to inspire, motivate and grow ordinary people into extraordinary leaders. Learn more »
Veronika ScottVeronika Scott is the Founder and President of The Empowerment Plan in Detroit. The Empowerment Plan was created as a work system to help reduce Detroit’s homeless population while providing immediate shelter. The Empowerment Plan’s “Element S” waterproof coats by day, sleeping bags by night, “S” standing for survival, are constructed with an outer barrier fabric used popularly as an interior barrier on homes in the construction industry, an inner layer of synthetic nylon for warmth and enclosure fasteners including 12 inches of plastic cord and six inches of PVC tubing… Learn more »
Nina TandonNina Tandon, Ph.D. Dr. Tandon is a current TED Fellow, post-doctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Lab for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, executive MBA student at Columbia University, and adjunct professor of Electrical Engineering at the Cooper Union, teaching a “Bioelectricity” class. …Learn more »
Taro YamasakiTaro Yamasaki, a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist/documentary photographer, has completed hundreds of in-depth, behind-the-headlines, human interest, magazine assignments in 48 states in the U.S. and in many troubled countries around the world.
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Interlochen Arts Academy Percussion EnsembleEstablished in 1962, the Interlochen Arts Academy was the nation’s first independent high school dedicated to the arts and is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. Ninety-Five percent of Academy graduates go on to the nation’s finest universities and conservatories. Interlochen has produced more Presidential Scholars in the Arts than any other high school –public or private- in the United States. Learn more »
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** Due to scheduling conflicts, Simon Sinek will not be speaking at the 2012 TEDxTraverseCity event. We look forward to hosting him in a future event.
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