Theme: New Angles

Welcome to the annual TEDxSurreyUniversity Conference. This year things will be a bit different, as the event has moved from face to face, to the livestreaming platform of Microsoft Teams Live. That means you can watch a TEDx event from the comfort of your house.
The event will be a live speaker virtual TEDx conference and there will be 12 speakers giving TEDx talks at the event, including 4 University of Surrey Students.

The event theme is New Angles
Growing up we all form our own opinions and ideologies depending on our surroundings, experiences and environments. We some times take for granted some parts of our lives and we don't even question why we do things a certain way. Sometimes we feel like we are all alone in this overpopulated world and other times we wish we heard something new and refreshing. Something that we hadn't though before or even something that challenges what we believe and what we think as right. It is well known however that only while challenging your own ideas, you can truly progress and evolve. That's exactly what our event will try to achieve. By exploring ideas and situations from new perspectives, our event will try to teach the audience to not just look life from one angle, but to always try to interpret and philosophize our experiences with balanced and new ways.

Virtual Event
Surrey University
Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH
United Kingdom

Abhishek Sundar

University Student

Having been born in India, bred in the UAE, and educated in the UK - Abhishek Sundar is your quintessential global citizen. Throughout his time at Surrey, he has been a strong advocate of student welfare and has represented their interests at the upper echelons of the University's management. Besides voluntary work, he is equally interested in the intersection of finance and technology as he is strongly convinced by the far-reaching impact the former would have on the global financial system. On the personal front, he is a self-proclaimed food connoisseur and an adrenaline junkie.

Amna Saeed

University Student

Amna is currently a student at the University of Surrey studying Psychology and has only recently delved into the world of public speaking. Throughout her childhood she was greatly involved in community projects which helped to massively improve her communication skills. Since then she has been a part of Surrey’s Islamic Society, Surrey’s Psychology Society and she was elected as her Psychology Course Rep. As a result of this, her communication and public speaking skills have improved even further. She has also gone on to start her own small business during the pandemic which encourages women to embrace their faith through modest attire.

Inês Contente

University Student

She is a second year International Business Management student at Surrey. Having grown up in Portugal and moved to England at 15, her last 6 years have been a time for extensive growth and development. From getting her first job at 16, learning the value of money to save up for a car, getting accepted to university, to getting involved in societies and putting herself out of her comfort zone. What she thought were struggles are now some of her proudest achievements. she is an ambitious individual aiming to make an impact, but most important of all become the happiest version of herself, while working towards her goals.

Kimberly Olson

Social Media & Branding coach

Kimberly Olson is a self-made millionaire and the creator of The Goal Digger Girl, where she serves female entrepreneurs by teaching them simple systems and online strategies in sales and marketing. She has two PhDs in Natural Health and Holistic Nutrition, is the author of four books including best-sellers, The Goal Digger and Balance is B.S., has a top 50 rated podcast in marketing and travels nationally public speaking.

Marc Caulfield

Author & public speaker

After 28 years in the Advertising business and struggling with his own mental health, Marc decided to make creating healthy workplaces his mission in work. Demolish the Wall was born to help organisations create environments and cultures which look after their people’s mental well-being, and where everybody’s voice can be heard and they can reach their full potential’. Marc is also an ambassador for The Youth Group and a Role Model on the InsideOut Leaderboard. Marc is a regular writer and speaker on all things Mental Health and business performance and is a TEDx speaker.

Meral Alizada

University Student

Meral Alizada is a law student, Podcast Host and Poet. She has debuted with her first poetry book ‘Rumi’s Daughter,’ documenting her journey towards soul liberation and embracing faith. The dominating themes of her poetry Meral also writes as an opinion columnist, hosts a podcast called ‘Millennial Symphonies’ tackling the key socio-political issues of today. Meral is an advocate for mental health, giving artistic expression and voice to her experiences of mental health struggle and ongoing recovery in her writing and directs a pro bono youth programme focusing on youth development, socio-psychological wellbeing and reconnecting with faith. As a polyglot, Meral considers herself to be a global patriot and recultivates the classical and ‘traditional’ beliefs of communitarianism; cooperative kinship and reimagining love and kindness to soothe the impact of a significantly self centric world.

Michael Meir

Cardiologist, Psychotherapist, Coach & License Mental Health Counsellor

With 30 years of experience in the field of Human Potential Development. Focusing on relationships he is a Trainer of Trainers as a Psychotherapist, life and corporate coach, and motivational consultant. He is the Former Dean of Health Sciences and Technologies at TCI College, New York and He has also served as President, vice president and Senior Trainer in several corporation in the private sector and in governments. Michael has conducted Business Training Workshops for many Chambers of Commerce including the New York State Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and many private and governmental organizations.

Perry Power

Actor, writer & public speaker

Perry Power influences change through powerful storytelling. Ranking up 2.3M likes and 125k followers on TikTok, his message of helping sexually abused survivors break their silence speaks to the hearts of many people all over the world. Perry co-runs a charity called We Rescue Kids, where they provide therapy and safe homes for children that have been rescued from sexual abuse and/or sex slavery. Perry's latest book, Breaking The Silence, reached the #1 spot on Amazon for Sexual Abuse and Mental Health. Perry has been seen on FOX, NBC, CBS, MTV, Sky and the Good Men Project. And is now working on his next project, which is 'Breaking The Silence' the movie, hoping that his story continues to impact the lives of those who need to hear it most.

Rebecca Weeks

TeachFirst Ambassador & trauma-informed teacher

She is the founder of an international charity called SEED Malawi which works to safeguard and enhance education in rural Malawi. She has spoken and written about issues such as challenging neo-colonial international development and intersectional feminism. Rebecca is passionate about challenging rape culture and runs ‘the.angrysurvivor’, a community which aims to break the stigma around sexual abuse and sexual violence

Tor Abrams

Public speaker

Tor was diagnosed with social anxiety at the age of 16, and after psychotherapy had no impact, he took it upon himself to practice mental exercises to improve his mental wellbeing. Having consistently applied these exercises for 10 years, he was able to turn public speaking into a strength, and he has since gone on to speak to audiences at some of the world’s largest institutions including Google, Barclays, Oxford and Cambridge University. In 2018, Tor conducted a research project into mental health for 16-25 year-old’s as part of his work as an Ambassador for the British Youth Council.

Tricia Nelson

health coach, host of a podcast, Emotional Eating Expert & author

Tricia Nelson lost fifty pounds by identifying and healing the underlying causes of her emotional eating. Tricia has spent over thirty years researching the hidden causes of food addiction. Tricia is an Emotional Eating Expert and author of the #1 bestselling book, Heal Your Hunger, 7 Simple Steps to End Emotional Eating Now. She is also the host of the popular podcast, The Heal Your Hunger Show. Tricia certifies health coaches as Heal Your Hunger Emotional Eating Coaches so they can help their clients get better results by overcoming emotional eating. As a highly regarded speaker and coach, Tricia has spoken on over 100 stages and media venues worldwide.

Winter Wheeler

Public speaker, author & attorney

Winter is a former top civil litigator who has made her niche as an expert mediator and arbitrator. Winter is sought out for her unique, compassionate and successful style handling complex matters that involve a diverse range of cultures, including Spanish speaking clients. Winter is the co-author of the bestselling book, #Networked, which tells the story of how she developed a thriving mediation practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also spends her free time volunteering in her community, enjoying her husband and four children, and traveling back to Miami, Florida, USA as much as possible where she was raised. She is especially passionate about changing the face of mediation and arbitration, by bringing compassion and listening to the forefront, and placing the litigator and emotions at the center of the conversation.