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).

Abramson Family Room
4400 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, District of Columbia, 20016
United States

Akshaya Kumar

Akshaya is a human rights advocate with a special interest in addressing the complex political and legal challenges presented by transitional and post-conflict contexts. She currently coordinates the Enough Project's work on Sudan and South Sudan with timely, gender sensitive research, advocacy and analysis about the human rights situation in both countries. She holds a JD from Columbia Law School and an LLM from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Her passion for Sudan and South Sudan was originally sparked through work as a volunteer teacher at St. Andrews refugee services in Cairo.

Anjali Mehta

Anjali is a senior at American University, where she studies International Development. Apart from IR, she found a passion for dance at the tender age of 5. She completed her Arangetram, a 4­hour debut highlighting her storytelling capacity through dance, has choreographed at Kalanjali School of Dance and The Bollywood Company, and was artistic director of AU in Motion. Anjali has recently sought to use dance to affect social change as artistic director of American University’s Bollywood group, Jhoom. She has been awarded a Fulbright Grant to Brazil where she will be spending part of her time working with organizations that use art to promote social change.

Chris Palmer

Chris Palmer has spearheaded the production of more than 300 hours of original programming for prime-time television and the giant screen IMAX industry, including the Disney Channel, TBS, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and PBS. Palmer and his colleagues have won numerous awards, including two Emmys, and an Oscar nomination. He founded the Center for Environmental Filmmaking at American University in 2005, a year after joining AU’s full-time faculty as Distinguished Film Producer in Residence. His book Shooting in the Wild has been made into a film for public television, and his new memoir, Confessions of a Wildlife Filmmaker, has just been published.

Esther Fanord

Esther Fanord, originally from Haiti, immigrated to the United States with her family ten years ago when she was in high school. Now, at 28 years old, she is a charge nurse at Georgetown University Hospital, where she was honored as a Nurse of the Year in 2013. Esther has one son and four younger siblings who she helps to raise. Her goals are to obtain a higher degree and, eventually, to run her own health care service in the U.S. and in Haiti.

Eve Bratman

Dr. Eve Bratman's research concerns sustainable development politics and environmental governance. Her major projects focus on the links between environmental policy, infrastructure, agriculture, and human rights in the Brazilian Amazon. Her book manuscript, based on a decade of research in Brazil, is tentatively entitled Governing the Rainforest: Sustainable Development Politics in the Brazilian Amazon. Dr. Bratman also has expertise in urban politics and development issues in the Americas, including in Washington DC. She is American University's lead beekeeper, and serves as faculty advisor for the American University Beekeeping Society. Her next book project is about the honeybee in global politics.

Megan Remo

Megan Hannon Remo is the Director of Social Enterprise at Crossway Community, a residential and education program for single mothers in Montgomery County, Maryland. In that role, Megan runs non-profit microenterprises for Crossway. Prior to joining Crossway, Megan independently founded and directed District Desserts. As the business took off, Megan seized an opportunity to incorporate her enterprise into the non-profit organization to sustainably grow further while providing jobs and workforce training to under resourced women.

Sheryl Winarick

Sheryl Winarick is an immigration attorney whose global practice is based in Washington, DC. Her clients include TED, Oxfam, various international organizations and US-based companies, entrepreneurs, investors, individuals and families. She serves on the HIAS Public Policy Committee, she is an Aspen Institute Scholar, and she founded the Just Cause social movement to raise awareness and funds for DC non-profits. Prior to starting her own law firm in 2007, Sheryl spent 8 years working with immigrant communities across the US as national program attorney for UMCOR-JFON and staff attorney for Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. She is a world traveler and global soul.

Timothy Lawson

Timothy Lawson served five years in the United States Marine Corps, spending the majority of his career as a Marine Security Guard protecting U.S. embassies in Algeria, Russia, and Peru. Since leaving the Marine Corps, Tim has pursued a degree in broadcast journalism at American University in Washington, D.C. Tim is the Founder of Lawson Entertainment and hosts four weekly podcasts – Tim and Derek Do What They Want, Tim and Brandon’s Bromantic Comedy, Fuel For Warriors and 1, 2, Many: Veteran Suicide. Tim’s former podcast, Veteran Empire, was nominated for a 2013 Podcast Award in the Culture and Arts category.

Zara Cadoux

Zara started playing ultimate frisbee at Vassar College, where she got her BA in Geography and Anthropology. After college, she moved to Baltimore and fell in love with the city and her husband, Warren, who she met playing ultimate. Zara’s ultimate resume includes co-coaching Towson University, starting a women’s development program, facilitating trainings for elementary educators, and co-founding the national initiative the Girls Ultimate Movement (GUM). She graduated with her MA in Service, Leadership, and Management in December 2014. When she’s not organizing ultimate, she is the Director of High School Programs at My Sister’s Circle, a girls mentoring organization.