Theme: Spark!

Libraries have been spreading ideas for thousands of years and our TEDx event is the next step in that evolution. TEDx videos and live speakers will combine to spark new ideas and bring light to community initiatives. This is why we have selected spark as our theme. A spark may be small, but can quickly grow into something magnificent, powerful, and truly transformative.

Markham Public Library is excited to host this event at the beautiful Markham Village Branch (6031 Highway 7, Markham, ON). The event will begin at 6pm with complimentary refreshments and a cash bar. Child care will be available on site at no cost.

Markham Village Library
6031 York Regional Rd 7
Markham, Ontario, L3P 3A7
Canada

Dance Migration

Dance Migration is Canada’s top contemporary Brazilian dance company, bringing to the stage the highest quality in Samba, Afro Brazilian dance, and more. This past fall, Dance Migration completed a tour of the Netherlands with its production Terra Brasil. Dance Migration is also an established school offering top training in Brazilian dance in Toronto. Check out DanceMigration.com for more info.

Angelique Mendiola

Student, York University

Brent Angelique Mendiola is an Economics and Philosophy double major completing her final year at York University. In an increasingly binary world, she lives comfortably in the greys – continuously trying to foster a more nuanced understanding of the complex network of both socially constructed and naturally occurring relationships we all encounter everyday. In her free time, she is an arts-aficionado – she particularly enjoys literature, the visual arts, theatre, and music.

Arina Kharlamova

Arina Kharlamova is a writer of all things. Find her @akharlamova.com.

Bill Cameron, PhD

Philosopher

Bill Cameron received his PhD in moral epistemology and feminist ethics from Western University in 2014. He studies and writes about the intricacies of how we know right from wrong, specifically how we ought to think about our gut feelings telling us what we ought to do. He is also an avid geek, with a voracious appetite for comic books, movies, roleplaying games, and overly large paperbacks filled with maps and made-up words. He lives and works as a benefits administrator and freelance writer in Markham.

Brian Lau

Founder and Principal Designer, Mad Studios

Brian is a designer of 25 years and he has come to the realization that Design has been complicit in the environmental degradation of our planet. To solve this problem, he has made explorations into Deep Ecology, Ecological and Biophysical Economics and Environmental Philosophy and Ethics to inspire ideas in Design Futuring. Brian is completing a Masters degree in Knowledge Media Design at the University of Toronto and he has a Masters of Arts in Design from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design and a Bachelors degree majoring in Fine Arts and Economics. He has taught design at numerous design institutes and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (UK), a Certified Graphic Designer of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, a professional member of the International Association of Designers (EU) and the Hong Kong Designers Association. His studio has won more than 100 international design awards.

Julielynn Wong, MD

Founder, 3D4MD

Julielynn Wong, MD, MPH, is a Chinese-Canadian physician who founded 3D4MD, which creates 3D printable medical supplies to deliver healthcare in the most challenging places to those who need it most.

Paul Mortfield

Director, David Dunlap Observatory

Paul Mortfield is Director of the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario, housing the largest telescope in Canada. He is currently President of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Toronto Centre. Paul has worked on several NASA spacecraft missions studying the Sun and Moon, creating innovative educational and outreach products and hosted a variety of live educational broadcasts on NASA-TV. Paul has taught astronomy and computing courses at colleges in the US and Canada. In his free time he plays blues piano and uses his own telescopes for astrophotography, science projects and the discovery of four asteroids.

Peter Ellman

Peter Ellman is versed in a number of styles from folk to jazz to hardcore to noise, and approaches every project with conscience and curiosity. Find him at peterellman.bandcamp.com.

Sandy Cardy

Author and Motivational Speaker

Perhaps best known in Canada for her role as one of Canada’s leading authorities on financial, tax and estate planning, Sandy spent two decades helping Canadians increase their net worth and preserve the value of their estates. Her resume includes numerous print and broadcast media appearances such as The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, The Halifax-Chronicle, BNN TV, CBC Radio, Canada AM, City TV, CP 24 TV and a variety of magazines. Following years of struggle with a thyroid illness, she was diagnosed in 2012 with ovarian cancer. Since then, she has stepped forward to employ her public profile in the promotion and awareness of transitioning mind and body to harmony and balance.

Sarayu Chityala

Student, Bur Oak Secondary School

Sarayu Chityala is a 15 year old teenager in grade 10 at Bur Oak Secondary School in Markham. She has had many negative experiences dealing with social media and society’s actions. But she overcame these experiences to become the confident and positive young woman that she is today. She now speaks about how social media can lead to lower self-esteem, the importance of being true to yourself, and explains why listening to society’s negative words is not the key to a happy life.

Trish Lamanna

Site 3 Fire Arts

By day, Trish is a design director at a 360 camera company with a large body of knowledge in interactive marketing, design and usability. By night, she is a member of Site 3 Fire Arts, a volunteer group of 20+ people bringing together art, engineering, software programming, stagecraft and game design to create large-scale, fire installations for anyone to interact and have fun with.