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).

2211 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan, 48201
United States

The Shelby 5

Don, Courtney, Andrea, Trenton and Amber are five amazingly talented siblings from Detroit. With styles ranging from acapella to danceable pop to urban infused worship, their free flowing melodies warm the heart and encourage the soul.

Scout Bostley

Scout is a poet-activist from Flint Michigan. She is a sophomore studying English Secondary Education at Eastern Michigan University. She is the founder of Feminist United at EMU, Managing Editor for the Eastern Echo, and the current Vice President of The EMU Poetry Society.

Aaron Foley

Aaron Foley is a copywriter at global advertising agency based in Metro Detroit by day. Prior to joining the advertising world, he was a full-time journalist and still occasionally freelances. Although, most of his time is spent working on his first book, “How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass,” which is due on shelves in September 2015. Foley started his career as a copy editor at the Lansing State Journal, and later came back to Detroit to help launch MLive Detroit, an experiment in online-only journalism in a city dominated by legacy media. After three years at MLive working as a web producer and covering education and entertainment, Foley embraced his lifelong love of cars working as an associate editor at WardsAuto, an industry trade. While working at Ward’s, he was approached by Jalopnik to contribute dispatches about the Motor City. That morphed into Jalopnik Detroit, a Gawker Media subblog with original takes on the constantly changing narrative of the city.

Ahya Simone

Ahya was born and raised in Detroit. As a child, Ahya always had an interest for the performing arts. Starting in the church, she performed in several grade school choirs. In late 2006, she started on the harp. She attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit and within 3 years, she became one of the top harpists, performing with the Cass Tech's Harp Ensemble and renowned Harp and Vocal Ensemble established in 1926. She annually performed in the city-wide Evening of Fine Arts with Detroit's top high school ensembles. Ahya attended Wayne State University for Harp performance under the direction of renowned harpist, Patricia Terry-Ross, of the Michigan Opera Theater. Since then, she has performed extensively at the Max Theater with the Wayne State Wind Symphony as their principal harpist in addition to several chamber and solo works.

Alden Kane

Alden Kane is a 16-year-old high school senior at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School dedicated to improving the lives of others through science and service. He recently invented and engineered a wheelchair stroller and baby carrier.

Alicia Michilli

Alicia Michilli is a singer and songwriter from Detroit. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee four years ago to pursue her passion, and last year released a self-titled EP. Her passionate lyrics and soulful voice echo those of her idols, artists such as Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Billie Holiday. She hopes to inspire her listeners and bring light into their worlds by continuing to create music that is soulful and timeless.

Amer Zahr

Amer is an Arab-American comedian, writer, and part-time law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy. He has produced comedy festivals in America and the Arab world, and he has performed throughout the world, including at the world-famous Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Britney Stoney

Britney Stoney is a singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist. Born and raised in Detroit, Mi. She is a 2014 Kresge music fellow who has been featured on several news stations, played at festivals across metro Detroit, and opened up for Ziggy Marley.

Cathy Olkin

Cathy Olkin was born and raised in Michigan. She is a planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, CO. Her main topic of research is the outer solar system, specifically planetary atmospheres and surfaces. She use near-infrared spectroscopy to study icy surfaces, stellar occultations to investigate tenuous atmospheres. Cathy is the Deputy Project Scientist for NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto.

Chace Morris

Chace “Mic Write” Morris, a slam poet, is the 2010 Detroit Grand Slam Champion and the 2010 Rustbelt Individual Slam Champion, and is a former member of four Detroit National Slam Teams. Morris was featured in the Metro Times list of “Top 5 Poets in Detroit” and has opened for acts such as Talib Kweli, The Last Poets, and RZA of the Wu Tang Clan. Morris is a member of the acclaimed hip-hop collective Cold Men Young and is a writer-in-residence with InsideOut Literary Arts Project, teaching creative writing in local schools.

Charles Gibson

Charles Gibson is an experienced informal educator with a passion for teaching science. He has developed a program at the Michigan Science Center that impacts over 60,000 people annually. Using large scale demonstrations that often explode, he creates memorable experiences that drive curious minds into the STEM career pipeline.

Charles Shanley

Dr. Shanley is a vascular surgeon, critical care specialist and entrepreneur. He is currently the co-founder of Medical Engineering Partners, professor of surgery at both Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine.

Charlie Wollborg

Charlie is a purveyor of attention. He opened the doors at Curve Detroit Marketing Strategy & Creative Design after being thrown out of several well respected ad agencies. As a marketing strategist and creative director, he has delivered blue sky ideas and bottom line results for blue chip national clients and budding challenger brands.

Chris Lambert

After studying marketing at Indiana University, Chris Lambert answered a higher calling and earned his doctorate in preaching. He helped a Liberian village raise needed resources, founded a church in Michigan, and in 2010 started Life Remodeled. After three years of building houses in six days for needy families, Lambert partnered with Detroit Public Schools to renovate high schools and their surrounding communities, evolving into a transformative citywide community rebuilding initiative.

Darius Simpson

Darius Simpson is a poet-activist from Akron, OH. He is studying Political Science at Eastern Michigan University. From Spring 2013-Spring 2015 Darius was President of The Eastern Michigan University Poetry Society. He is known globally for his spoken word.

Darius Simpson

Darius Simpson is a poet-activist from Akron, OH. He is studying Political Science at Eastern Michigan University. From Spring 2013-Spring 2015 Darius was President of The Eastern Michigan University Poetry Society. He is known globally for his spoken word.

Dave Santia

Dave Santia and Sarah Kay are performance speed painters from the metro Detroit area. Their unique form of artwork has amazed people all across the country. Travelling from Las Vegas to Manhattan, Washington, D.C. to Miami; their ability to paint a masterpiece within minutes has caused them to develop fans from all over the country. With a love for what they do, and a passion for art, Sarah and Dave's style and form of entertaining artwork allows people to be engaged and become a part of the performance as the audience tries to guess what image is being painted right before their eyes.

Debby Feinberg

Dr. Debby Feinberg began practicing Optometry in 1983, upon graduating from Illinois College of Optometry. Since 1995, Dr. Feinberg has been developing the field of NeuroVisual Optometry. This area of specialization involves the diagnosis and treatment of neurological conditions (such as Headaches, dizziness, ADHD, Dyslexia, TBI, PCS) that have an optometric or visual cause. One of the primary neurovisual conditions that Dr. Feinberg has done pioneering work on is called Binocular Vision Dysfunction, a condition where the eyes are misaligned, causing severe headaches, dizziness, anxiety, and neck pain. In 2004, Dr. Feinberg established Vision Specialists of Birmingham to better serve NeuroVisual Optometry patients.

Gary Abud

Gary is an innovative high school science teacher. In addition to his teaching duties, he is a state coordinator for the Michigan Modeling Instruction STEM Program, an education consultant at SAGA Educators, an active blogger, and a co-host on Teachers of the Year Radio. Selected by the Michigan Department of Education as the 2014 Michigan Teacher of the Year, Gary has been honored for his work in education by the Governor’s Office, U.S. Department of Education, and the White House.

Jean Redfield

Jean Redfield is president & CEO at NextEnergy. She’s held leadership roles at DTE Energy and McKinsey and Company working primarily on strategy, leading major change initiatives and supporting major industry transitions. Her work spans many industries including investment banking, chemicals, aerospace/defense, pharmaceutical and biotech start‐ups, and energy in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, India, and China. She is co-owner and CFO of Fordsell Machine Products, a precision machine products company.

Jeevak Badve

Jeevak understands the core creative design process as well as prevailing market dynamics and the strategic placement of the design function in that framework. He combines a unique blend of creative design, engineering and business talent to leverage product design’s integration into the client’s strategic plan for sustainable growth. Jeevak has more than 17 years of professional design experience. He started his career with Tata Motors and then Tata-Johnson Controls, Tata Elxsi, GM Warren Design center and ASC. His design influence has reached clients that include GM Design, VW, Navistar, Hyundai, Saleen, Monaco, Tata, Coda, IC Bus, Fiat and many more.

Karen Buscemi

When one thinks of fashion, New York, London, Paris and Milan are the cities that come to mind. But what about Detroit? We have a wealth of designers, fashion programs, an industrial sewing program, and fashion incubators. We even have a garment district in the works. Why doesn’t anyone outside the state know the breadth of talent inside the state? Because we’ve never had a unified message. Or a unified location. Or a unified marketing plan. Detroit Garment Group is working to change that.

Mallory Brown

Mallory Brown is a creative entrepreneur who finds her greatest sense of self while traveling. She graduated with a BA from Albion College in her homestate of Michigan and has worked in the film, music, and media industries. She loves photography, coffee, and anything related to Paris (as she studied there for four months). In founding World Clothes Line, Mallory hopes to share her interests in world culture and humanity. WCL's global campaign enables customers to join Mallory's movement and help make a difference. Every purchase counts.

Paul Elio

Paul Elio is founder and CEO of Elio Motors. He dreamed of owning his own car company since he was eight years old. After graduating from Kettering University, he launched a successful 40-person firm helping automakers with their engineering challenges. But Elio still yearned to own a car company. With the auto industry struggling in 2008, he decided there had to be a better way and Elio Motors was born.

Raj Paul

Raj Paul is the Vice President of Automotive and Emerging Technologies at Lochbridge. Raj provides the strategic leadership for the advancement of Lochbridge’s solution offerings and technical competencies. In his role, Raj has driven the evolution of connectivity in the Internet of Things. With nearly 20 years of experience in IoT connectivity, Raj has helped companies connect over 50 million objects that handle over one billion IoT transactions.

Rita Fields

Dr. Rita Fields worked at the senior executive level in the healthcare industry for 10 years and in corporate America for nearly two decades. She serves as a Dissertation Advisor in the PHOD Program at Assumption University in Thailand, as a spokeswoman for the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan and as a member of the EDA University Center for Regional Economic Innovation (REI) at the MSU Center for Community and Economic Development.

Rob Mies

Rob Mies is a scientist who has focused his passion for bats on educating, entertaining, and motivating people to protect one of the most unique and misunderstood animals in the world. Over the past 20 years, he has led the Organization for Bat Conservation, written books, appeared on national television, and traveled the US exciting people about bats. His latest mission is to inspire millions of people to join the Save the Bats Campaign to protect bats and ensure a healthy environment.

Sara Kay

Dave Santia and Sarah Kay are performance speed painters from the metro Detroit area. Their unique form of artwork has amazed people all across the country. Travelling from Las Vegas to Manhattan, Washington, D.C. to Miami; their ability to paint a masterpiece within minutes has caused them to develop fans from all over the country. With a love for what they do, and a passion for art, Sarah and Dave's style and form of entertaining artwork allows people to be engaged and become a part of the performance as the audience tries to guess what image is being painted right before their eyes.

Sharina Jones

Sharon Jones Jones was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Michigan in 2011 and has used her crown as a platform to impact the lives of others in a positive way. She established the organization, Think Beyond the Chair, to provide hope, healing and resources to others in the community faced with circumstances like hers. Her long list of achievements also includes participation in the Detroit Free Press Marathon and tossing out the first ball in a Detroit Tigers opening season game. Jones enjoys hand cycling, wheelchair basketball and swimming. She and her husband also love to travel; Jamaica being the favorite vacation getaway location. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Oakland University and an MBA from Wayne State University.

Stephen McGee

Detroit based Two-time Emmy Award winning director and producer of Detroit: City of Design and "One Day in Detroit", Stephen McGee, has spent the past 9 years documenting the city he calls home. He is currently working on a documentary film with the working title of TheDetroitFilm.com. His clients include CNN, Al Jazeera, The Kresge Foundation, Knight Foundation, The New York Times, The Empire State Building, DDP, DSO, DC3 and Team Detroit.

Tara Reed

Tara Reed is a Detroit based entrepreneur & the CEO of fast-growing startup, Kollecto. Prior to launching Kollecto, Tara drove software marketing initiatives at Google, Foursquare, & Microsoft.

Tunde Olaniran

Tunde Olaniran is a performing artist, facilitator, and author based in Flint. His professional experience centers on sexual health, new media, creating safe spaces for youth and sexual minorities, media-based strategies in social justice movement-building, and cultural competency in health care delivery. His current LP, Transgressor, was released on Ann Arbor label Quite Scientific in August 2015. Tunde was a contributing author to the 2015 science fiction anthology Octavia's Brood (AK Press). His creative works have been featured in diverse outlets, including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Jezebel, NPR, Bitch Magazine, and the New York Times.