Theme: Changing Your Community

Being the inagural TEDXJWUNorthMiami event, we want all students, faculty, staff, and community members to come together and share their experience, research and knowledge. This event will host various speakers and various topics to match the ever changing culture of our university and community.

Johnson and Wales University Ballrooms
1701 NE 127 st
North Miami, Florida, 33181
United States

Erika Obando

Entrepreneur

My first breath was taken in my native country of Colombia, S.A. and I have lived out my life in the U.S.A. since the age of 2 after being smuggled into Miami. I am an immigrant whose parents brought me here as they sought out a better life for themselves and their family! However, I come from an extremely painful and abusive childhood riddled with traumatic experiences that no child should have to bear. But today, I have used my experiences to fuel my force to propel and pay it forward. I could have and should have been a statistic but instead, I chose to empower others with my journey. You see, what once broke me as a child, empowered me as an adult. I speak from a place of knowing, and a relatability that allows people to see that there is a light at the end of the darkest of tunnels. My experiences created a responsibility in me to help guide others towards their better selves!

Jordan Boulerice

Johnson and Wales University Student

Dwarfism is very emotional subject for me to discuss with others in the world. As I have grown up, I have had both good and bad experience revolving around my problematic height. For my audience, I would like to enlighten their minds about the world of dwarfism and what they can do to help me in making an impact on the world.

Justin Randolph

Student Leader

Justin is a 21 year old from Tampa, Florida. He is a senior in college majoring in Hotel & lodging with a minor in travel and tourism. Justin is the Diversity & Inclusions student programmer for Campus Activities Board and is president of his fraternity Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity, Inc.

Michael Mannino

PhD Candidate

Michael Mannino is currently finishing his PhD in neuroscience at the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, at Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, Fl. He has a BS in astrophysics, a Masters in Philosophy, and teaches philosophy and critical thinking at Miami Dade College. Michael’s other main interests include all forms of fitness and exercise, and he has started an Instagram page called neuro_fit, focusing on what exercise and fitness do for the brain.

Miguel Asencio

Director Digital Library of the Caribbean - Florida International University

Great ideas are not uncommon, one of the greatest challenges these ideas face is follow through and execution. The digital Library of the Caribbean was born out a great need to serve scholarly research, preservation, and accessibility of Caribbean and Circum-Caribbean content. dLOC is now the world’s greatest digital library of Caribbean content supported by a community of international contributing partners.

Ro Ferrelli

Entrepreneur

Join Ro Ferrelli as she shares the profound and transformational effects that meditation. Hear how meditation transformed every aspect of her life as she was able to stop taking medications, quit smoking, change her diet, get out of debt, purchase a beautiful home way under market value, and start living a life of deep meaning and purpose.

Virginia Lockhart

Student Leader

Virginia Lockhart is a graduating senior here at Johnson & Wales University, who will graduate in February with her degree in Baking & Pastry and Food Service Management with a concentration in Event Management. Ye it’s a mouth full! With her time here she has been a part of Campus Activities Board as the productions Coordinator. Helping to create memorable and meaningful events for the student body. She is also became a part of Corazones Unidos Siempre Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority, Inc. in the Fall of 2014. A sisterhood that strives to Educate, Elevate and Empower women threw Education.