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).

Ciccone Theater
Bergen Community College
400 Paramus Road
Paramus, New Jersey, 07652
United States

Aaron Painter

Aaron Painter is a global executive who is passionate about how listening empowers people and organizational growth. As Vice President and General Manager at Microsoft in China, he leads a broad team of sales, marketing, product, and partner management professionals. He is also an executive sponsor for Microsoft’s rising millennial workforce of recent hires from top undergraduate and MBA programs. Painter has lived and worked in six countries across four continents and exemplifies a new generation of global leaders. He is the author of LOYAL: A Leader's Guide to Winning Customer and Employee Loyalty.

Andy Cohen

Andy is a popular and recognized global speaker, author and international thought-leader. He has a degree in experimental psychology and a room full of prestigious advertising awards. Most importantly he has track record for helping individuals and organizations think differently. Clients served include American Express, Bombardier, Citi, HSBC, Nestle, Novartis, Pfizer, SAP, Infosys, and World Bank to name a few. Between engagements, Andy teaches at some of the world’s most respected universities including NYU, Cornell and Duke University, ISB (India), the Qatar Leadership Center and the CKGSB (China). Follow the Other Hand, Andy’s first book, was nominated by The New York Times. It has been translated into multiple languages. His new book, Challenge Your Assumptions, Change Your World, was just released and has already received great reviews.

Beatrice Bridglall

Dr. Beatrice L. Bridglall is Bergen Community College’s Dean of Humanities. She was most recently Director, Office of Special Projects, Office of the New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education and Chair of the Advisory Board for Student Success in Higher Education in New Jersey, sponsored by the Office of the New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education. Her most recent book, On Exploring Craft: Writers as Architects (2015; Rowman & Littlefield Publishers), explores the craft of writing through the lens of select principles in architecture, to examine works of literature from the 19th and 20th century.

Bryan Falchuk

Bryan has used the philosophy himself, and has also coached and mentored people with it for years. He wrote the book to spread the message even further, and so far, it has been doing just that. The book reached the top spot in all three of its categories and earned the Amazon "Best Seller" label during its launch in March. Bryan has also been a guest on countless podcasts and radio shows, including Influencers Radio, Unbreakable Podcast, The Timeless Family, WMAP Radio, Butterflies of Wisdom, Join Up Dots and more. Bryan is also a new regular contributor at Inc - his articles can be found here: https://www.inc.com/author/bryan-falchuk You can learn more about the book at doadaybook.com, or you can download the Media Kit for more details on the message, its success, and the life he’s building around it. Just go to www.doadaybook.com/mediakit. Beyond the book, Bryan is a successful C-level executive in a financial services company, and has extensive experience with public speaking at various industry conferences and events.

Cornell Thomas

Cornell Thomas was 7 days away from playing professional basketball when he suffered a career ending injury. Being raised with adversity throughout his life Cornell used the lessons from his childhood to push him past the pain and into his purpose. Cornell was raised by his mother Tina Thomas, along with his 4 siblings Alicia, Romont, Craig, and Ronald. Cornell discovered writing five years ago when he first started writing his own inspirational quotes to help combat all the negativity he was seeing online. The quotes eventually became blogs, and the blogs became books. His first title is The Power Of Positivity-Controlling where the ball bounce, followed by The Power Of Me-Army of 1, and his latest book is called Extra-Ordinary the distance between good and great. Cornell travels all over the world sharing his story, and his third book was endorsed by Tony Robbins.

Elease Wiggins

Brooklyn native Elease A. Wiggins is the founder of ELEASE, LLC, a trainer, speaker, consultant, self-published author, philanthropist and adjunct professor. Wiggins is a graduate of the Brooklyn Job Corps Academy, has an associate’s degree in public administration, a bachelor’s degree in applied business management from Medgar Evers College, and a master’s degree in urban studies from Queens College. ELEASE, LLC is an New York City (Minority Women Business Enterprises) M/WBE certified social enterprise that seeks to sustain the economic development of communities through advocacy, consulting, educational materials and training, in-person and online leadership seminars, mentoring, motivational speaking, staffing and research. In 2015, Wiggins was aptly named Black New Yorker of the Week by Amsterdam News in August, New Jersey’s Leading Women Entrepreneur & Intrapreneur finalist and a finalist in the Queens Business Plan Competition. Also in 2015, Wiggins released her self-published her first book titled, A Farewell to Welfare: 25 Strategies to Freedom, Independence and Prosperity which focuses on helping individuals overcome mental, physical and spiritual poverty through sharing stories, statistics, strategies and solutions. The Queens Public Library has A Farewell to Welfare categorized in the Economics / Finance section.

Jean Semelfort

Jean Semelfort, Jr. is a licensed professional counselor in the State of New Jersey. He has been an advocate, educator and clinician for 9 years, merging feminist principles with his clinical skills to address issues surrounding domestic violence, sexual assault, and trauma. Jean presently serves as the Prevention Programs Manager in the SHARE Office, at Princeton University. Jean began this work at Ramapo College of New Jersey's Women's Center, engaging men on campus on the intersections between unhealthy characteristics of masculinity and gender based violence. He has continued to work with individuals on developing healthier ideas of masculinity in various settings ranging from schools to prisons. Jean received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Ramapo College, and received his Master's degree in Counseling Psychology at the College of Saint Elizabeth. Jean is dedicated to continuing his work towards challenging problematic structures of masculinity and helping men and women develop healthier identities. In addition to his work at Princeton, Jean is the founder of the Cactus Center, a private practice where he provides individual, family and couples psychotherapy, specifically sensitive to the needs of people of color.

Jennifer Marie Long

Jennifer Marie Long is currently a financial service professional with Integrated Financial Concepts. She holds the office of Post Commander for her local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1302, VFW District 3 Commander (Hudson County). National Association of Financial Advisors (NAIFA) as the Vice President of Government Relations and Political Action State Committee Chair. Selected by Governor Murphy, as Co-Chair, for Veterans and Military Affairs Transition Team. In 2009, after completing a military deployment in Iraq, she began her transition by starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT). In 2010, with another deployment, this time to Afghanistan, she delayed her legal portion of transition. Upon her return in July 2011, was presented with the Bronze Star Medal and French National Defense Medal for her actions in Afghanistan and retired after 30 years of military service at the rank of Sergeant Major (SGM). She returned to Fairleigh Dickinson University to complete her degree in finance and finalize the legal portion of her transition. During May 2012, she legally became Jennifer Marie Long. Robert Wood Johnson University, serving as a Board member on the committee to advance transgender education, and care. In 2015, she won a case against the Department of

Kevin Kreider

Fitness coach and model, Kevin Kreider recalls being bullied for his skinny figure and Asian heritage at a young age. Kevin now has won several natural bodybuilding competitions, graduated with a degree in exercise science and certified in nutrition. As a model, Kevin Kreider has been featured in publications such as Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness Magazine and publications internationally. In 2014, the stress and non-stop nature of his career in the entertainment industry took a toll on his body and Kevin was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata, an auto-immune disease that attacks the hair follicles. In two weeks, he not only lost a majority of his hair, and his modeling career. The same year, Kevin decided to embark on a soul-searching journey. He grabbed his skateboard and traveled from LA to NYC on his board in hopes that the trip would allow him self-reflection. It wasn’t until a few years later that Kevin found himself back into the health and wellness industry where he ultimately felt happiest.

Sergio Marrero

Sergio Marrero is Co-Founder & CEO of Caila, a platform for the future of augmented intelligence. He graduated from Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Previously he worked in Deloitte Consulting, Teach For America, Doblin, Gotham Ventures, and founded two startups in the education technology space. He is passionate and committed to creating systems that enable access to learning for people to keep pace with the evolving economy.

Stephanie Briggs

Stephanie Briggs is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the Community College of Baltimore County in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the recent recipient of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society Building Communities grant for “Practical Empowerment: Building Contemplative Communities With Students of Color.” She has fully incorporated arts- and movement-based contemplative practices into her English classes and started a Contemplative Communities Circle group, now in its second year, for faculty and staff that focuses on social justice, compassion, and self-care.

Steve Aguirre

Steve Aguirre is a leadership consultant working closely with leaders in financial services, professional services, industrials, automotive, and retail. Steve has 10+ years of experience in a variety of sales and account management roles. He began his career at PIMCO in Newport Beach, CA before moving to Sydney, Australia where he served as Vice President, Account Manager, managing some of PIMCO’s largest Australian relationships. Steve also interned at Google where he worked in the Large Client Sales group focused on technology clients. During his time working as a leadership consultant he has had the opportunity to work with leaders on change management, developing corporate culture, and leadership development. Steve has helped professionals in various areas including communication, influence, emotional intelligence, sales, and mental toughness. He is experienced at making highly technical information digestible as well as developing rapport with his audience in order to drive high quality discussion.

Terri Goldstein

Dyslexia Became the Secret to My Clients’ Success