Theme: Ideas for our future

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, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. 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).

Steinbeck Institute of Art & Culture
940 N Main St.
Salinas, California, 93906
United States

Ahad Anwar

Ahad Anwar is a US Department of State sponsored high school foreign exchange student from Lahore, Pakistan.

Candra Canning

CEO

Candra Canning is a culture coach for Fortune 500 companies as President and Founder of Live Bright Now. She has worked with high performing teams from the summit ridge, as the only women on high altitude mountaineering expeditions, to the Board room as an organizational development consultant and executive coach. Candra is collaborating with the Great Outdoors Lab, a partnership of Sierra Club Outdoors and UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center to support and collect scientific data on the benefits of the emotion of awe. Candra was raised in the San Joaquin Valley, the daughter of a cattleman.

David Westrick

David started working as a journalist in 1984 as a sports writer for the North Fork Journal and Sierra Star. He began the State Center Peace Officers Academy in Fresno, CA in 1990. He was sworn in as a police officer for the City of Los Banos in 1991and moved to Redwood City Police Department in 2000. He began working at Hollister Police Department in 2003. He worked up through the ranks and became the Chief of Police on July 2nd, 2013. During his career he has worked many different assignments including: grant writer, detective, gang officer, traffic officer, detective sergeant, patrol sergeant, narcotics officer, street crimes officer, training officer, Press Information Officer, Social Media Coordinator and Police Captain.

Julie Gordon-White

CEO

Julie Gordon White is an award-winning entrepreneur and bestselling author, has advised hundreds of business owners as the founder & CEO of BlueKey Mergers & Acquisitions and The WELL for Women Entrepreneurs, teaching women how to crack the code of growing to a million and someday selling for a million through business coaching and online training programs. Julie is a featured small business expert for Google Small Business and Intuit QuickBooks; and has been quoted in Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg Businessweek.com, and the New York Times, and will release a new book in 2017 titled, “100K Concept: The Freedom Formula for Women & Girls”.

Kathy Gruver

She has earned her PhD in Natural Health and has authored five books including, Body/Mind Therapies for the Bodyworker, Conquer Your Stress with Mind/Body Techniques (Winner Indie Excellence Awards, Beverly Hills Book Awards, Global E-book Awards, Irwin Awards, Finalist for the USA Best Books Award), Journey of Healing (Winner USA Best Book Awards, Beverly Hills Book Awards, Pinnacle Awards, Indie Excellence Awards and the non-fiction category of the London Book Festival) and she co-wrote Market my Practice.

Larry Rosen

Larry Rosen is the founder of the mediation law practice Through Understanding, where he has helped thousands find solutions to crippling legal and personal conflicts. He regularly lectures on motivation and empathy at Berkeley, MIT and other national universities, as well as trains attorneys and business professionals to see the hidden human mind. Larry is author of the recently completed novel The Peacemaker. Set in the high Himalaya five hundred years past, it is the inspiring tale of a Muslim orphan, raised among Hindus, who dares to imagine peace. At the heart of Larry’s endeavors is a simple philosophy: when people understand each other at a fundamental level, magic happens. They solve seemingly intractable problems—together. They build new and beautiful worlds—together. Larry holds a JD from the UCLA School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif and was an editor of the Law Review.

Malcolm Burt

Malcolm Burt is an amusement academic (yes really), undertaking a PhD in virtual reality amusement experiences. Previously he spent three years in a Research Masters degree trying to find out why rollercoasters exist, and in doing so uncovered a wealth of detail about our societal obsession with amusement, diversion and leisure (and not all of it was good). The resulting documentary Signature Attraction is available for free online. He’s now asking: if virtual reality is so hot right now, what’s wrong with “real” reality?

Marla Mervis-Hartmann

Health specialist

“Do you Love Your Body?” As creator of Love Your Body Love Yourself, Marla Mervis-Hartmann assists women in finding a “YES!” to that question. After years of struggling with her own dysfunctional relationship with her body, including healing body dysmorphia, food obsession, and Binge Eating, Marla uses her experience to help women honor and appreciate their bodies. Marla is a graduate of Kent State University and was a leading body image expert at Journey Malibu, a Drug/Alcohol rehabilitation center. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son and works full-time as a professional coach, speaker, facilitator and Living Light Reiki Master and Teacher.

Neil D Brown

Neil D. Brown, LCSW, is a family therapist, author and podcast host. Brown has worked with families, couples, and individuals for more than thirty years. Deeply steeped in the theory and practice of family therapy, Brown uses a simple yet profound method of empowering parents and their adolescent youth to put an end to destructive control battles for good.

Ravi Kurani

Ravi is a budding entrepreneur with a background in sustainable business and supply chain management. Ravi founded a startup, Sutro, which aims to create a platform around water monitoring and evaluation. He launched a due diligence and investment campaign for the BoP communities in India, while working with First Light Ventures Fund and Village Capital. First Light Ventures and Village Capital democratize entrepreneurship through peer support networks. Ravi previously launched a consumer-facing database called ImpactSpace.org which aims to bring more transparency in the impact investing industry. Ravi is committed to utilizing technology to find innovative ideas and designs for emerging markets. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Riverside, MBA in International Finance from MIIS-Middlebury College, and a Certificate from Stanford University in Renewable Energy Systems.

Robbie Tripp

Robbie Tripp is the author of ‘Create Rebellion,’ an abstract manifesto for disruptive creativity. He lives and creates in San Francisco with his beautiful wife Sarah.

Shrina Kurani

engineer

Designing technologies to work for people and the planet - I'm an engineer turned sustainability scientist, scraping the world to build solutions. I thrive leading and working in teams, with over four years of international experience in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. and a background ranging from research, engineering consultancy, and systems design to social entrepreneurship and business development. Constantly finding ways to improve and be more inclusive!

Susan Shillinglaw

PhD

Susan Shillinglaw is Director of the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California. She is also a Professor of English at San Jose State University, where she was Director of the University’s Center for Steinbeck Studies for 18 years and also the 2012-13 President’s Scholar. For the past 29 years she has been a scholar and a student of John Steinbeck’s work, speaking frequently on the author’s impact and relevance. Dr. Shillinglaw has published widely on Steinbeck, most recently Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage (University of Nevada Press, 2013) and On Reading The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, 2014) as well as A Journey into Steinbeck’s California (2006; 2011). She also wrote introductions to several of Steinbeck books for Penguin New American Library editions of Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men, A Russian Journal and The Winter of Our Discontent. Other publications include collections of scholarly essays (i.e. Steinbeck and the Environment, 1997) as well as an edition of Steinbeck’s journalism, America and Americas and Selected Nonfiction (2002).