TED Community » Caroline Phillips

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Music, voice, hurdy-gurdy, piano, classical music, opera, traveling, democracy, Barak Obama, languages, Astanga Yoga, travel, India, reading on m'Kindle : do u GROK this? Giving.

An idea worth spreading

Hmm. So many. Mainly TOLERANCE. Tolerance and acceptation of differences and different behaviours in others.

Talk to me about

E-business & web consulting
Music and my hurdy-gurdy
Digital life
Yoga and my project Yogamassala.com
Community and urban development
Ayurveda
Science Fiction
Languages

People don't know that I'm good at

Vocal coaching.... cooking southern Indian cuisine, standing on my head for 10 minutes.

My TED Story

Went to TEDIndia, loved it, submitted to talk at TEDU in 2010 .. and did it ! Look up 'hurdy-gurdy' :)

Comments

• TEDCred score: +2853.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Whose responsibility is it to educate our young people on healthy eating, physical activity, and positive self esteem?

  Nov 6 2011: I live in France where kids are practically "bottle-fed" red wine. I think the education starts at home, however, many parents (here in France), don't consider it important to educate their children on eating right and responsible drinking because they, themselves don't eat or drink responsibly. A doctor here in the Basque Country told me that she told one of her patients who had high cholesterol to eat only one egg per week and to stop eating processed meat products. The patient cried "Well what will I eat ??!!" So in order for parents to know what to do, we, as a society need to educate the parents and limit the kind of advertising we receive for junk food and alcohol. I think that each country should make it a priority to get their citizens and their littlest citizens, healthy.

• A comment on Conversation: Have you reinvented yourself, or started a movement?

  May 30 2011: I feel like I'm re-inventing myself everyday, every week, every month. As a musician, I seek out new ideas for songs, new ways of interpreting them. As an entrepreneur, I'm always looking for a better way to manage my team, for fundraising, for product development and as a TEDx organizer my team looks to me to lead them in new and exciting directions. Of course, being a catalyst for change comes with the obvious pitfalls : lack of funds, lack of commitment from others, intellectual fatigue and the BIGGEST problem ? Lack of TIME.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: What can we do, as citizens to promote tolerance in our daily lives ?

  May 21 2011: Hi Jaime,
  
  I agree with you that education at home is key. However, MOST kids grow up with parents with a biais about something racial or political. I wonder if the people on FOX News grew up in a tolerant and open household ?

• A reply on Conversation: What can we do, as citizens to promote tolerance in our daily lives ?

  May 13 2011: Yep, I also believe that compassion is the key ... most of us are products of our education and family and it's difficult for some to "break the mold" and live outside the confortable bubble of belief.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: What can we do, as citizens to promote tolerance in our daily lives ?

  May 9 2011: Thank you Leonard for your input ! However, I don't agree on your definition of tolerance ... my definition of tolerance exactly fits the definition you find in a dictionary ...
  
  "The capacity for or the practice of recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others."

• A reply on Conversation: What can we do, as citizens to promote tolerance in our daily lives ?

  May 2 2011: I completely understand your point of view, even though I don't share it, which is what makes for an interesting debate ! I come from a family where we regularly debated at the dinner table and took social risks by speaking out against racist comments and behaviour. It's never easy and sometimes I have to "Live and Let Live". Recently a client starting going off on a tangent about how a certain ethnic group was taking over France ... I ignored it once, twice and then said "I'm sorry, but I'm really uncomfortable with this conversation, I need you to keep your opinions to yourself on this subject"... and he did, and we went on with the meeting. However, he could have reacted badly, walked out and not paid me.

• A reply on Conversation: What can we do, as citizens to promote tolerance in our daily lives ?

  May 2 2011: Hello,
  
  I'd like to "jump in" here for a minute :
  
  Mario, I don't know where you live in France but I can promise you that in the 25 years that I have lived here (in Paris and in the provinces), I regularly run into people who are openly racist : the most prevalent is anti-semitism, but it also extends to Africans, people from the former French colonies ... and the social circles where I have most encountered this kind of intolerant behaviour is in the business sector :(.
  
  Debra, to add to your comment : I think that it's difficult for a man to understand how a woman feels about the sharia. I've travelled quite a bit and in some countries I've had to wear a headscarf, simply because I am, well, swarthy and I tend to blend in so without the headscarf I was absolutely taunted, a couple of times men tried to grab my arm, by posterior, my well, chest ... Women fought hard for their rights which came LATE in France :
  
  A passport for a woman (without her husband) : 1937
  Women' right to have her own bank account : 1943
  Women's vote : 1944
  and ... in France, the husband's name is on his wife's passport while on the husband's passport, the wife's name doesn't appear !

• A comment on Conversation: Rethink the human-centered airline experience. *A TEDActive Travel Project*

  Apr 29 2011: Here's a fun anecdote ... a couple of years ago, Air France had a really cheesy jingle with a woman singer singing "Within the miles, away from the sea" like a mantra but with a strong French accent so it sounded like :
  
  "Weeseen ze miyuls, away frrrrom ze seeeee". Hysterical.
  Unfortunately it was played everywhere, on the phone systems, in the airport lounges and on the planes before taking off. On a flight with a friend, I didn't even realize it, but I started singing the song with a (fake) French accent, she started singing too, a couple of people chuckled and then joined in ... everyone ended up laughing and the pilot and the crew were practically on the floor they were laughing so hard. That was a fun flight.

• A comment on Conversation: What can we do, as citizens to promote tolerance in our daily lives ?

  Apr 28 2011: What kind of projects could be created for kids to promote tolerance ? (At school, after school, with friends) ...

• A reply on Conversation: What can we do, as citizens to promote tolerance in our daily lives ?

  Apr 26 2011: Hello Andrea,
  
  I like your attitude of "assertive empathy" : asking questions is an excellent idea - and preparing them in advance, I believe, is essential.
  
  Thank you !