Theme: Urbanism Unlocked

Today, some 56% of the world's population lives in cities and this number is expected to rise to 68% by 2050. The shift in residence away from rural areas is reshaping our world and redefining the ways that humans are interacting with each other and their physical spaces. With the impacts of climate change and population density reaching new thresholds, the world needs creative solutions more than ever before. At TEDxRiverdaleCountrySchool we want to take you on a journey of ideas, stories and innovations that will unlock our conception of urbanism and provide hope and optimism for a sustainable future.

Riverdale Country School - Lower School River Campus
1 Spaulding Lane
Bronx, New York, 10471
United States

David Rosenberg

Co-Founder of Inspired Growing

David Rosenberg founded AeroFarms, Inspired Growing, and Hycrete and helps lead Aspire and The Every Company at the board level. David has won awards, such as the Regional EY Entrepreneur of the Year and Goldman Sachs’s Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. David is the CEO of Aspire. He is also a Venture Partner in Tau Capital. David previously co-Chaired the YGL Circular Economy Taskforce for The World Economic Forum, where he was also previously a member of the Global IoT Council, the New Vision for Agriculture, and the Global Agenda Council on Water Security. David is a former member of the U.S. delegation to the B20 and a Managing Trustee of The Liberty Science Center. David received his BA from UNC Chapel Hill and MBA from Columbia. He won three U.S. National Team Fencing Championships and two individual silver medals.

Jacob Darringer

Student at Riverdale Country School, Class of 2025

Jacob is a rising senior at Riverdale Country School in Riverdale, New York. During the Summer of 2023, his passion for sustainability led him to attend the Island School in Eleuthera, Bahamas, for six weeks. While there, he studied marine ecology and sustainability. Jacob brought the lessons he learned back home and created his own hydroponics system at Riverdale as part of his coursework. He hopes to inspire other students to join his fight against the climate crisis. He is currently creating a website to help educate younger students about hydroponics and the importance of sustainable systems and is developing a curriculum to bring it into Riverdale’s community partnership schools. He is an Ambassador for Grassroots Grocery and Billion Oyster Project and will be the leader of Riverdale’s Sustainability Club during the 2024-2025 school year.

Joel Grayson

Student at Riverdale Country School, Class of 2024

Joel Grayson has worked to help Riverdale Country School move toward a solar installation, consider the possibility of electric school buses, and also support New York City’s street vendors gain access to grid electricity. He has been involved with the local government, serving as the youngest-ever member of Manhattan Community Board 1 and collaborating with the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice. He has also created software thousands of people use daily (Buseroo, Homework Checker, and Focus for Google Docs) and built a vending machine that sold hundreds of snacks at school. After graduating from Riverdale, Joel intends to study mechanical engineering at Stanford.

Kaitlyn Helf

Student at Riverdale Country School, Class of 2025

Kaitlyn resides in New York City and is passionate about animals, child development, and art. She is an Ambassador for Drawing For The Planet (DftP), a global art environmental education and conservation charity, and aided their expansion to the East Coast. Kaitlyn's responsibilities include assisting with research and planning and executing workshops. Kaitlyn brings a diverse experience to her role as an Ambassador having worked with children as a tutor and mentor at the Riverdale Neighborhood House, as well as working as a counselor at Hayground Day Camp. She is an active volunteer in animal welfare programs including Animal Rescue Fund (ARF). Having been raised in a city, Kaitlyn is aware of the negative impacts of urbanization on endangered animals. Kaitlyn's ultimate goal is to help DftP expand to other cities on the East Coast and continue raising awareness and empowering communities to help reverse the biodiversity crisis and take responsibility for Earth's invaluable ecosystem.

Kamala Sankaram

Composer and Vocalist

Praised as “one of the most exciting opera composers in the country”, composer Kamala Sankaram moves freely between the worlds of experimental music and contemporary opera. Known for her work pushing the boundaries of the operatic form, she has created operas as varied as The Last Stand, a 10-hour opera created for the trees of Prospect Park, Brooklyn, Looking at You, a techno-noir featuring live datamining of the audience and a chorus of 25 singing tablet computers, and The Parksville Murders, the world’s first virtual reality opera. Recent commissions include works for the Glimmerglass Festival, Washington National Opera, the PROTOTYPE Festival, and Creative Time, among others. As a biracial Indian-American and trained sitarist, Kamala has also drawn on Indian classical music in many of her works, including Thumbprint, A Rose, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, and the Jungle Book.

Melissa Kasper Shapiro

Founder of Green Pastures Capital

Melissa Kasper Shapiro is the founder of Greener Pastures Capital, an investment portfolio providing seed capital to mission-driven health and wellness companies. Her portfolio includes investments (and exits) in Four Sigmatic, Fishwife, Ghia, Akua, Apothékary, Cadence, Cleancult, SmartyPants Vitamins and Maple Hill Creamery. Melissa is committed to promoting a sustainable food system. For six years, as well as four as chairperson, she served on the board of Just Food, an organization focused on distributing sustainably sourced food throughout New York City, ranging from community supported agriculture (CSA) to food pantry programs. Melissa’s involvement extends to other impactful organizations, including Harlem Grown, GrowNYC and Edible Schoolyards.

Ruth Messinger

Global Ambassador

Ruth Messinger is a life-long advocate and activist for human rights. She is currently both the inaugural Global Ambassador for American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and the inaugural Finkelstein Institute Social Justice Fellow at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In each position Messinger is engaging rabbis and interfaith leaders to work collaboratively and take action on behalf of oppressed and persecuted communities domestically and globally. Messinger lectures around the U.S. and holds prominent roles in the faith-based advocacy arena including as a member of the World Bank’s Moral Imperative Working Group to End Extreme Poverty. Recently, Ruth has been working tirelessly on behalf of migrants arriving in New York City, and is advocating for the mayor, state, and federal governments to provide ongoing support.

Sarah Paiji Yoo

CEO and Co-Founder of Blueland

Sarah Paiji Yoo is CEO and Co-Founder of Blueland, which is reimagining cleaning products to eliminate single-use plastic packaging. Launched in 2019, the brand was the first to bring the unprecedented tablet form factor to market across a range of refillable cleaning products that promise no single-use plastic, ever. With over 40 patents and patents pending, Blueland's innovative products have helped divert over 1 billion single-use plastic bottles from landfills and oceans. All products are designed in dry tablet or powder formats, to be mixed with household tap water or used directly — saving consumers money and space while helping to reduce emissions and plastic. Sarah was recently named EY Entrepreneur of the Year for New York for 2023 and is the author of "Wake Up, World," a newly released children's book on climate action. She was featured on Shark Tank’s 11th season and has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Forbes, Time, and Glamour.

Theodora Siegel

Founder of Got2GoNYC

Theodora Siegel is a NYC based creator, opera singer, and writer. She is the founder of Got2GoNYC- a social media based mission dedicated to sharing public, sanitary, and accessible restrooms. Teddy’s content has reached millions and she has built a community of over half a million followers across all social media platforms. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Time, Insider, The Kelly Clarkson Show, CNN, Teen Vogue & more. Teddy has performed in venues across NYC — from a site specific opera at Southstreet Seaport to solo performances at Carnegie Hall. Her words have been published in The New York Times and Gothamist.