Theme: All Stars

TEDxBirminghamSalon is a more intimate, smaller, live TEDx Talks event on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. This special event is an "All Stars" event featuring several past TEDxBirmingham speakers returning to the stage to share a new idea with the goal to affect positive change in our community and the world. There will also be artistic performances by past TEDxBirmingham speakers, as well as select TED Talks shown.

Attendees of TEDxBirminghamSalon represent a diverse cross-disciplinary mix of people, ranging from civic and business leaders to professionals, educators, technologists, artists, and more. Being a part of TEDxBirminghamSalon is an opportunity to share ideas and experiences with this amazing cross section of people in an intimate setting.

UAB's Alys Stephens Center
1200 10th Ave S
Birmingham, Alabama, 35205
United States

Andy Billings

Professor

Andy Billings is the director of the Alabama Program in Sports Communication and Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media at the University of Alabama. His research interests lie in the intersection of sport, mass media, consumption habits, and identity-laden content. His books include Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television and The Fantasy Sport Industry: Games within Games. Andrew’s work has won numerous awards and he has lectured in nations around the world, from Spain to China to Austria. His work in the classroom has also earned him many teaching awards.

Caroline McGraw

Writer

Caroline Garnet McGraw is a writer and speaker who, like her literary BFF Jane Eyre, would always rather be happy than dignified. She's the creator of A Wish Come Clear, a personal development blog that gives you carte blanche to change your life. Her writing has appeared on sites such as The Huffington Post, Momastery, Positively Positive, and MindBodyGreen. An honors graduate of Vassar College, Caroline lives and works in Florence, Alabama.

Gabriel Tajeu

Singer/songwriter

Growing up playing piano, clarinet, and saxophone, Gabriel Tajeu eventually settled on the guitar as his main instrument and uses it to write most of his songs. His music is “R&B, Folk, Rock,” and after a few years of writing, arranging and recording his first solo project entitled “Finding My Way,” it feels like everything has come together for him. As a performer, he has developed a sense of comfort on stage and is now ready to share his original music with the world.

Glenny Brock

Writer

Writer Glenny Brock is outreach coordinator for Birmingham Landmarks, Inc., the non-profit organization that owns and operates the Lyric and the Alabama Theatre. She teaches occasional courses in creative writing and journalism at Birmingham-Southern College.

Mary Page Wilson-Lyons

Nonprofit Director

Mary Page is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham where she brings the community together to develop opportunity pathways out of the violence and chronic poverty faced by Birmingham women and children. An aspiring generalist, her passions include systemic change, community theater, sacred texts, and rhetoric.

Quang Do

Spoken Word Poet

Quang Do, who does not believe that anyone has a right to define what is or isn’t poetry, delivers emotional, unrestricted, breathtaking performances about heartbreak and rebirth. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he is a two-time winner of the Montevallo Poetry Slam. In 2010, Quang ranked as the seventh-best poet in the Southeast and co-coached the 2010 Skinny Bullies Slam team to a sixth-place finish at the Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam. Quang is the Coordinator of Student Activities at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he advises Alabama’s only college spoken word collective, The Magic City Arkestra of Poets.