Theme: Jaganmaya

At TEDxStoneRidgeSchool, live speakers and video will combine to spark deep discussion and connection. The mantra of the TED talks is “ideas worth spreading”.

Our Stone Ridge community is vast, diverse, inclusive and forever learning. We would like to show our students and greater community “jaganmaya”, the Sanskrit word for “the mystery of the world” through the viewpoints of our speakers. The theme would allow our speakers to craft their talks around what makes the world a mysterious and curious place. This could relate to their life, work, roles in their community or simply how they view the world. Additionally, it will allow our audience and community to merge and massage the ideas they hear at the event with their own understandings/ideas of the world. Our approach to finding speakers will be to tap into the innovative greater DC area community. DC is teaming with individuals in government, arts, technology, education and community work that will lend well to our theme.

9101 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland, 20814
United States

Deirdre White

CEO of PYXERA Global

Deirdre White is a globally recognized leader in building tri-sector partnerships to address the world’s most pressing challenges. As CEO of the international NGO, PYXERA Global, she has led the transformation of the organization to one that maximizes impact through strong and strategic partnerships. PYXERA Global does this cutting edge programming like Global Pro Bono, Local Content Development, and Integrated Community Development. Deirdre drives the discussion of new strategies for global engagement and has been a featured speaker at the Shared Value Leadership Summit, Wharton Africa Business Forum, Wall Street Journal’s CFO Network, and US Department of Commerce’s Discover Global Markets. She has served for multiple years as regional judge for the HULT Prize, a competition dedicated to launching the world's next wave of social entrepreneurs.

Elaine Kim

Student

Elaine Kim is a junior at the Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland. She was born in Bethesda, Maryland and is the older of two children. She began violin lessons at the age of 5 and viola lessons at the age of 10. She joined her first orchestra, the American Youth String Ensemble, in 2009 as violinist and since then has played as a violinist or violist with the D.C. Youth Orchestra, the American Youth Symphonic Orchestra and the American Youth Philharmonic. In 2014 she joined the Maryland Youth Philharmonic viola section and, in 2015, had the opportunity to play side by side with the National Symphony Orchestra. This past summer she played at The U.S. Capitol Building and The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra’s Mendelsohn Octet. She currently studies viola under Danice Crespo and performs regularly in Strathmore’s Concert Hall with the Maryland Youth Philharmonic. On weekends she volunteers at Jill’s house, an organization that helps fami

Gabriella Morris

Senior Vice President, USF's IKAC and The UNICEF Bridge Fund

Gabriella Morris is Senior Vice President of the In Kind Assistance Corporation and the UNICEF Bridge Fund (the “Fund”), an innovative financial tool created by the US Fund for UNICEF to fast-track lifesaving assistance to children in need around the world. In this capacity she oversees all operations of the Fund, including marketing, fundraising, investor relations and coordinating programmatic needs. Prior to this appointment, she was President of Connective Advisors, LLC , a comprehensive consulting practice offering a broad range of expertise to the public, private and independent sectors, including strategic planning, governance, fund development, philanthropy, networking and inclusion.

Genevieve Klein

Student

Genevieve Klein is currently a sophomore at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. Coming up on the completion of her tenth year at Stone Ridge, Genevieve has developed a deep respect for the values and goals instilled in her and what it means to be a child of the Sacred Heart. A great amount of Genevieve’s time is dedicated to her violin which she uses within the community playing at masses and with the Stone Ridge Orchestra. Playing the violin brings her great joy but more than anything, Genevieve’s greatest interest lies in her social work. She takes advantages of the opportunities Stone Ridge offers in addition to being involved in social work with her family both here and in the Philippines. With friends and family scattered throughout the world, she has had the privilege of doing extensive travel both here and abroad.

Gyasi Ross

Civil Rights Activist and Author

Gyasi Ross is a member of the Blackfeet Nation. His family also comes from the Suquamish Nation of the Port Madison Indian Reservation where he resides. He is a father, an author, a speaker, a lawyer and a filmmaker. TV, radio and print and digital media regularly seek his input on politics, racism and social justice, as well as sports and pop culture and their intersections with Native life. His newest project is the spoken word/hip hop CD entitled Isskootsik (Before Here Was Here).

Ken Woodard

Educator

In his 26th year of independent school history education, Ken Woodard divides his year between chairing the upper school history department of Stone Ridge School in Bethesda, Maryland and summer work at Keewaydin Camps, an outdoor adventure and canoeing camp in Salisbury, Vermont where he teaches canoeing and leads backpacking trips. Bicycling figures prominently in Ken’s life as both a means of transportation, he bicycle commutes to work many days of the school year, and as a cause to which he contributes as the Stone Ridge faculty liaison to Bikes for the World, a non-profit organization committed to collecting unwanted bicycles in the United States and shipping them to world-wide partners in areas in need of affordable, clean transportation options. His evolving interest in writing led him to his current position as the Pedagogy section editor of the Oral History Review, the academic journal of the Oral History Association. Fascinated by the power of combining timelessly valuable c

Luis Gabriel Cuervo

Doctor and Researcher

Dr. Cuervo is an MD with a specialty in family medicine whose career has focused on integrating research with health care, health policy and prevention. His initial involvement in research was as an undergraduate student and intensified during his pursuit of an MSc in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (research methodology). Dr. Cuervo promotes research as a driver of human and economic development and a means to make a difference in people’s lives by engaging partners in different fields of knowledge to spur innovation and address not only health but its social, economic and cultural determinants.

Nicole Cutts

Consultant and Author

Dr. Nicole Cutts is the author of the heroine’s quest fairytale “The Adventures of Isabelle Book I: The Embryo Goddess and the Morpho.”She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, Success Coach, Speaker and Organizational Consultant who inspires and empowers people, especially women to achieve a more balanced and successful lifestyle. She is the CEO of Cutts Consulting, LLC and the Founder of Vision Quest Retreats. Nicole enjoys taking clients to the “Aha” moment, helping them identify blocks, spark change and ramp up personal performance. As a Master Facilitator, Speaker and Success Coach, she helps people create an exceptional life by honoring their mind, body, and spirit so they can experience joy, passion and ultimate success in their work. She was named 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year by The National Black MBA Association’s DC Chapter and one of Tagg Magazine’s Most Enterprising Women in 2015.

Olenka Wellisz

Student

Olenka Wellisz was born in Singapore but has lived in Maryland and gone to Stone Ridge since she was six years old. Her favorite classes are and have always been Art and English, and she wants to be a writer and illustrator more than anything else when she grows up. Her other passions include watching classic movies obsessively in hopes of gleaning the director's secrets to glory (sadly, all her efforts have failed, though she has been left as a result with a fairly worthless yet enormous heap of movie trivia). She is also fairly obsessed with Tolkien and will classify you among the various groups of sundered elves if you give her the chance, though this is not advisable. Thus neglected, she has no other alternative than to channel her angst into drawing.