Theme: Traditions: Looking Forward/Looking Back

Our TEDxPhoenixCollege event will showcase how traditions and patterns have shaped and continue to shape the world we live in. We will explore ideas and innovative ways of honorable thinking and action and how doing these things can stimulate thought, create change, and influence our world.

Phoenix College
1202 W. Thomas Road
Phoenix, Arizona, 856012
United States

Charles Matheus

Founder Rocketfeather Creative

Charles’s presentations and workshops take the anxiety out of personal growth and interpersonal engagement. He speaks clearly about building stronger relationships though thoughtful communication, courage, and deep listening. His audience leaves ready and motivated to be more vulnerable, adaptable, resilient, and powerful. The communication techniques he promotes help parents maintain healthier family relationships, help romantic partners support one another more joyfully, and helps professional teams stay focused and productive. In 2010, Charles helped found a local chapter of Boys to Men Mentoring network and led that organization as its first professional executive director. Gathering a large team of community volunteers, that organization mentored over 1000 teenaged boys. In 2015, Charles helped found the national Boys to Men Mentoring organization and served as its Board Chair.

Colby Martin

Pastor. Author. Human.

Colby Martin remains obstinately hopeful that the church can change the world. Having experienced his fair share of pain and rejection from mainstream Christianity, Colby is awake to the flaws, tragic missteps, and misplaced earnestness that too often define the direction of the church. But the vision and movement of Jesus still moves him - a window into a way of being human that fosters wholeness, and can move communities away from shame into vulnerable, flourishing connection. As author of “UnClobber: Rethinking our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality” Together with his Co-Pastor and wife, Kate, they founded Sojourn Grace Collective, a progressive Christian church in San Diego, CA. Colby is passionate about carving out a space within Christianity that includes a whole-heartedly affirming posture toward LGBTQ individuals, a broader acceptance of other spiritual practices and religious perspectives, and an agreeableness toward all that science can teach us.

Katie Hess

Flower Elixir Apotheracy Expert

Katie Hess is an expert of flower alchemy - using the healing power of flowers to awaken our true potential. She is the author of Flowerevolution and founder of LOTUSWEI, a leading flower elixir apothecary. She travels in search of rare flowers with the healing qualities most needed by today’s world, from the forests of British Columbia, to sacred sites in India, rainforests in Costa Rica, hot springs in Iceland and the jungles of Taiwan. Katie captures the lifeforce and activating potential of flowers and translates it into an accessible method to bring more happiness into our daily lives. One of the most sustainable forms of natural medicine, flower remedies are known for their short-term benefits like clarity, focus and sleep, with long-term benefits of rapid personal growth.