TED Community » Liam Darmody

About Me

Liam is is a young thinker and doer from Sydney, Australia. He is a world-traveller and constant learner. Finishing school in 2008, he entered the workforce as an Assistant Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). At the ripe age of 18, Liam decided to attend a conference on the other side of the world. It was called One Young World and it was hosting an event for young leaders from over 100 countries. Counsellors such as Desmond Tutu, Bob Geldof, Muhammad Yunus and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway would help facilitate the debate and dialogue for the resolution process. Never did Liam know this event would be the catalyst for an exciting journey ahead. With a dream to inspire change in others, Liam went about setting up a group to enable students to design their own subjects with a social cause. A framework was to be setup to assist with the development of service-learning projects. After a year and half of full-time work (+overtime), part-time study and night shifts working on his newly established group (Youth Unite For Education), Liam decided to resign from PwC in a move to take his projects (and study) a little more seriously. The next big project was going to be an event that inspired students to think outside of the box. TED presented itself to Liam through conversation with a fellow delegate at One Young World in 2010. Since then, he became an avid TED addict. Having stumbled across TEDx, Liam decided to go about setting one up in the Macquarie University community. By the time he got the project up and running, a trip to Copenhagen was on the horizon. A new project was born and so was another adventure. Liam studied full-time at Copenhagen Business School on a university exchange. While he was studying, he stumbled across Podio - a social work platform. Liam thought it was wondrous; it would solve all of the problems that people are faced with when working in a geographically challenged group. Two weeks went by and it was working like a charm. He decided he needed a job there so he could establish the Podio Sponsorship Program - a strategic endeavour that would allow students and non-profit organisations to use the awesome tool free of charge. Liam was contracted for 6-months to work as Head of Sponsorship and do exactly that. On the way home from Europe, Liam attended the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement in Pittsburgh. This was to be another life changing experience. He met the amazing Frances Hesselbein and spent time with an inspiring group of young leaders and mentors. Liam arrived back to Sydney ready for another big event: TEDxMacquarieUniversity! The team behind the event did an amazing job at pulling it off. As Licensee and Co Curator, he is proud to say it will continue to run annually as an approved internship which will attract credit points for the students involved. While the journey hasn't been the most direct, Liam managed to instigate the development of a student-run, student-driven subject at the university. Now, he is working as a creative consultant and is exploring the world of co-working in a move to connect three important facets of creative community building.