Theme: Echoes

Human action, invention, and creation is far more than the end result. It is a symphony of speculative melodies, set against the harmony of established truths. But the most important part of any symphony is the echo it leaves behind: the strongest traces of the past that clashed with the present, alters the future, and demonstrates the incredible complexity of the idea as a catalyst that reverberates forever.

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Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3X5
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Adrian Bica

Think back to the last time you were completely immersed in an experience. Whatever the moment was, it managed to capture you. Buildings can operate in the same way, according to Adrian Bica. Over the course of his architectural education, he’s noticed that buildings have lost the emotional attraction that was once there. Now, in the last year of his Masters of Architecture, Adrian believes the relationship between people and architecture has diminished, and that the loss of intimacy has fueled a wave of stale and technological buildings. Buildings like the Colosseum are an example of structures that Adrian says invoke an emotional attachment. Instead of becoming technological tools in modern society, Adrian advocates the idea of how our overall attitude towards buildings can change our emotional experience with them. This change, says Adrian, is more obvious than we think.

Alex Gill

A social entrepreneur, consultant and university innovator, Alex Gill has been working in the areas of social change and innovation for almost 20 years. In 2014, Gill co-founded Ryerson University’s groundbreaking SocialVentures Incubator and was named one of Canada’s Social Justice All-Stars in the following year. What inspires him is getting people enthusiastic about finding new ways to change their world for the better. In his mission to do the same, Alex founded the Mendicant Group, a collective that has worked on big and small social change projects across Canada and in 14 countries around the world. Alex has also moderated the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance since 2010. It is his belief that if we unleash the same levels of innovation that have made mobile phones faster, better and smarter, we could create truly innovative solutions to the serious social problems that face the world today.

Betty Chen

Betty Chen knows art. As an interior design graduate from Ryerson University in 2012, gallery tour guide at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and content curator and presenter of an informational art show called Articulations on YouTube, Betty’s career is dedicated to getting people to care about art. During her time at Ryerson, she always kept herself busy, whether she was volunteering abroad, working, or planning the Ryerson School of Interior Design year-end show. Today, Betty focuses her efforts on making art accessible and understandable to everyone. She believes in removing the barriers that make the art world appear elite and alienating.

CamMi Pham

Cammi Pham is a digital strategist at Kwinmedia by day, blogger by night, but a learner 24/7. To date, she has gained a following of over 77,000 followers on Twitter and trended #1 in the U.S. on Justin Bieber’s birthday. Cammi is no stranger to the digital marketing world with her years of experience and also previously working with the Digital Media Zone at Ryerson University. Her blog content has been viewed by millions of people and translated to many different languages. In fact, on Medium, one of the largest blogging communities, one of her articles is the 2nd most read on the entire website, gaining over 1.2 million views. At Kwinmedia, her focus lies on data driven content marketing and has helped her clients reach millions of people.

Frauke Zeller

Dr. Frauke Zeller received a PhD in English linguistics and computational philology from Kassel University in Germany in 2005. Since then she has furthered her research on organizational communication, Human-Computer Interaction/Human-Robot Interaction, digital communication, and method development for digital research analyses. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the School of Professional Communication at Ryerson University where she along with David Smith of Mcmaster Univeristy conceived hitchBOT. A robot developed to hitchhike across Canada and develop not only robotics but the relationship between humans and robot. Dr. Zeller combines the experiences behind the creation of hitchBOT to build her theory on trust, attitude and relationships we have to technology and robots.

Gizelle Lao

From a physically small person comes a big voice. Gizelle Lao is a third year Sociology major at Ryerson University, who has been exposed to many theories on human nature and also the winner of our Student Speaker Auditions. With strength in her words and knowledge, she wants to pursue a career in human resources management and activism. She has an interest in surfing, public speaking, and music. Aspiring to teach others to stay calm when waves come, and be strong enough to swim back up when they bring you down. Her journey all started from living in another country before she moved to Canada. This transition has helped her realize the importance of certain aspects of her life. From where she came, to where she is, and to where she wants to be, she realizes the importance of sacrifices.

Hamza Khan

If you ask Hamza Khan about his role as a manager, he’ll tell you his approach to managing is to avoid it altogether. Before his success as an award-winning digital marketer and entrepreneur, Hamza was a student struggling to find a practical outlet for his creativity while pursuing a degree in business and political science at the University of Toronto Scarborough. In his third-year of university, Hamza switched his major and received a Bachelor of Arts to facilitate a future career in creative multimedia and storytelling. Since graduating, he has worked as a graphic designer and marketer, and teaches social media strategy at Seneca College. He is also credited with making Ryerson University Canada’s leading university in online student engagement.

Imogen Coe

Dr. Imogen Coe has worked extensively as an academic scientist and administrator, challenging stereotypes and breaking barriers for girls and women in her field. Imogen sees the the lack of equity, diversity and inclusivity in STEM at Ryerson University in her role as professor and dean of the faculty of science. Low confidence levels and under-representation of young women in STEM disciplines means that we are losing important skill sets and talent, limiting our ability to solve complex problems such as climate change. Imogen is an advocate for women in STEM and she uses data and evidence to demonstrate unfair practices, while providing suggestions on how to fix the system. As someone who was raised with a strong sense of social justice, Imogen believes in the fundamental right of everyone to contribute and participate in STEM to their full potential. Imogen firmly believes that EDI in STEM is not just a woman’s rights issue, but a human rights issue.

Joshna Maharaj

As a chef for 10 years with deep involvement in community food work, Joshna Maharaj is a strong advocate for a just and equitable food system. Her current chapter as assistant director of food services and executive chef at Ryerson University led her to explore understanding change and where the resistance lies for her TEDx talk. Her talk aims to shed light on how our fear of change leads us to become numb and complacent to broken systems. If there is a system that doesn’t work, Joshna is compelled to change it, because she believes that we have the freedom and responsibility to make change. Joshna supports the idea that access to quality food should be a basic human right, and that the distance we have from our relationship to food is a real problem. This is a problem she aims to address, and will always continue to work on.

Kait Asquini

You don’t need to be a ​leader​ by title to make an impact ​within your community. This is an ideal that Kait Asquini has implemented in her work as ​the L​eadership ​D​evelopment ​F​acilitator for Ryerson University. At TEDxRyersonU 2015, Kait touches on what it means to lead in a community on a micro level. In a local sense, she believes leadership is accessible to everyone. There has been a shift in the definition and the concept of ‘one size fits all’ leadership is no longer accurate. She advocates that ​the ability to lead is something we are all capable of, but we must ​first ​​recognize and embrace opportunities to lead in our every days lives. As an​​ ​A​ssistant ​C​oach ​with ​the women’s basketball team, Kait feels that​ her experience in sport has helped to shape her leadership belief​s today. ​Reflecting on her experience, Kait describes leadership as ​"​creating opportunities for th​ose around you to be best person they can be​"​.

Kevin Shaw

Despite losing his vision at 19, Kevin Shaw has forged a successful career in media production, radio advertising and broadcast management. Over the past 15 years, he has become a leader in live entertainment, music production, and communications, earning a reputation for being a thorough, skilled, action-oriented entrepreneur and communicator. He holds an undergraduate and a graduate degrees from Ryerson University in Radio & Television Arts and Media Production respectively. In 2012, Kevin Shaw founded Zagga Entertainment, a startup company incubated at the Digital media Zone at Ryerson University. He is working to create a video-on-demand service featuring movies and TV shows with described video for consumers with vision loss.

Pamela Palmater

Dr. Pamela Palmater is an Associate Professor and Chair in Indigenous Governance in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University. She completed her Doctorate in the Science of Law (JSD) at Dalhousie University Law Faculty in 2009. Her thesis is entitled: Beyond Blood: Rethinking Aboriginal Identity and Belonging. In addition, she holds a Master in Laws from Dalhousie University in Aboriginal Law, a Bachelor of Laws at the University of New Brunswick, and a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Native Studies and History from St. Thomas University in New Brunswick. Over 25 years, Pamela has spent time working and volunteering to resolve issues issues facing the Indigenous people and their community.

Pascal Murphy

In 2013 Pascal Murphy unwittingly started a movement for change. An idea that began as a backyard barbeque grew into an event that unified not only his west-end community, but people from across Canada. The Neighbours United for Inclusion Community BBQ sent a message of inclusivity and is one example of how Pascal promotes positive social change through inclusive community engagement. In his role as an instructor on homelessness, disasters, and social and environmental justice at Ryerson University, Pascal works to inspire those around him by encouraging others to embody what they want to see more of in the world. Pascal puts his words into practice by facilitating a number of initiatives and cross-cultural exchanges to facilitate social justice among communities in Toronto and abroad.

Remy Hubereau

In addition to being a visiting speaker at Ryerson University, Rémy Huberdeau has worked as a freelance documentary director, editor and subtitler (with Trans & Sub Coop) based in Montreal, Quebec for the past 7 years. His directorial work explores gender and transsexuality, as well as linguistic and decolonial dynamics on Turtle Island. His most recent film Transgender Parents will be broadcasted on The Documentary Network in December 2014. Rémy is part of the programming team of Cinema Politica, a network that makes political documentaries accessible around the world. He is also really into cooking dinner, sharing food and building community.

Stéphanie Walsh Matthews

Nobody’s an expert in everything; and even though Stéphanie Walsh Matthews lauds a number of academic titles, including a PhD in French Studies from the University of Toronto, she believes anyone’s best work comes from collaboration. Stéphanie has always been interested in social-cultural reading and literature, and for years has worked in semiotics to understand how people interpret meaning from their environments. According to her, breaking disciplinary barriers can inspire, and give rise to new ideas worth spreading.

Vicki Saunders

Vicki is a serial entrepreneur, author, passionate mentor, advisor-at-large to the next generation of change makers and a leading advocate for entrepreneurship as a way of creating positive transformation in the world. Vicki has co-founded and run 4 ventures in Europe, Toronto and Silicon Valley including The NRG Group which went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2000. Vicki was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum and currently building SheEO, a 2 decade-long initiative to dramatically transform how we support, finance and celebrate female entrepreneurs who are creating new mindsets, new models and new solutions for a better world.