Poets and doctors both save lives, just in different ways. World-champion slam poet Harry Baker shares the heartache of forfeiting the path of medicine for a self-guided career in poetry and writing. This talk is an ode to choosing to be different, woven through two poems that sing with universal truth. While he won't help the world by becoming ...

In his poem "The Coming Out Beauty," Muslim Sahib invites us along on his journey of self-love and self-acceptance, weaving together elements of culture, family, beauty and queerness. He compels the audience to proclaim "I am beautiful," encouraging them to celebrate self-love. In his second piece, "419 sq ft," he explores the experience of clai...

Artist Laetitia Ky has a unique medium: using the hair on her head (and some wire), she creates incredible sculptures of objects, animals, people and more, promoting messages of bodily autonomy and self-acceptance. She shares how she came to create these surprisingly intricate forms and offers a joyful message of creative perseverance.

To those who feel like they don't belong: there is beauty in being a misfit. Author Lidia Yuknavitch shares her own wayward journey in an intimate recollection of patchwork stories about loss, shame and the slow process of self-acceptance. "Even at the moment of your failure, you are beautiful," she says. "You don't know it yet, but you have the...

Lee Thomas has loved to watch, write and share stories his entire life.

Kristie Overstreet works with individuals to help strengthen their relationship with themselves and others.

In a hopeful talk followed by an empowering performance, musician and TED Fellow Muthoni Drummer Queen shares how industries like music, film and fashion provide a platform for Africans to broadcast their rich and diverse talents -- and explains how the shared experience of creativity can replace attitudes of exclusionism and othering with accep...

Bursting forth from Canada’s capital, native producer and DJ crew A Tribe Called Red is making an impact on the global electronic scene with a truly unique sound.

If you've sanded down your edges to fit in, it's time to bring them back -- there's power, value and beauty there, says Crystal Rasmussen. With candor and humility, Rasmussen shares their experience navigating shame, how it manifests in ourselves and the world and the ways drag revealed a path toward self-love and acceptance. A talk for anyone s...

About this event: "Feel your colors" is the title of the event which means self acceptance and self awareness as a first step of empowerment of emotional intelligence. The aim of the talks is to explore emotional intelligence from a personal, scientific, educational and social point of view. The event is organized in a school with active participation of students...

What is it like to raise a child who's different from you in some fundamental way (like a prodigy, or a differently abled kid, or a criminal)? In this quietly moving talk, writer Andrew Solomon shares what he learned from talking to dozens of parents -- asking them: What's the line between unconditional love and unconditional acceptance?

About this event: lim • it noun plural noun: limits 1. a point or level beyond which something does not or may not extend or pass. 2. a restriction on the size or amount of something permissible or possible Last year our theme was Shift Happens: Exploring Shifting Paradigms. This year we are exploring the human capacity to move beyond limits. Whether cre...

About this event: The wait will soon be over. At the peak of the 2023 TEDxUniversitasBrawijaya event, we presented "Memantik Baskara: Terlusut Tak Membara, Terbakar Tak Bersuara". This year's Grand Theme discusses about some people struggle amidst ambiguity about their identity until they finally spark an epiphany or give birth to new ideas that develop from a se...

Lindsay Amer is the creator of "Queer Kid Stuff," an educational video series that breaks down complex ideas around gender and sexuality through songs and metaphors. By giving kids and their families a vocabulary to express themselves, Amer is helping to create more empathetic adults -- and spreading a message of radical acceptance in a world wh...

Women and girls with autism spectrum disorder often don't display the behaviors people typically associate with neurodivergence, greatly impacting when, how -- and if -- they are diagnosed. Autism acceptance advocate Kate Kahle makes the case for more research into this gender discrepancy, sharing her personal experience with masking, being diag...

About this event: Embracing imperfection is the idea of accepting and even celebrating one's flaws, mistakes, and imperfections. It is about letting go of the need to be perfect and instead focusing on self-improvement and growth. This can involve practicing self-compassion, acknowledging and learning from mistakes, and recognizing that perfection is not achievab...

Making friends as an adult can feel like a baffling obstacle course. Why was it so much easier to connect as kids? To help you find well-rounded and fulfilling friendships, psychologist Marisa Franco discusses science-backed tips on how to make (and keep) friends, like the optimism-inducing "acceptance prophecy" and the shame-reducing "theory of...

About this event: Celebrate the spirit of adventure, resilience, and authenticity—from the heights of the world's tallest peaks to the frontlines of climate action and the beauty of being uniquely yourself. Join us for a dynamic TEDx school event that brings together three trailblazers, each redefining what it means to challenge the status quo. In a day filled wi...

What should we do when everything feels so out of control? Living with so much uncertainty is hard. Human beings crave information about the future in the same way we crave food, sex and other primary rewards. Our brains perceive ambiguity as a threat, and they try to protect us by diminishing our ability to focus on anything other than creat...

So many of us long to be part of something real. But we’ll need to risk discomfort and criticism and show the world our real selves first, says vulnerability researcher Brené Brown. True belonging. I don’t know exactly what it is about the combination of those two words, but I do know that when I say it aloud, it just feels right. It feels l...

What if striking a pose could not only make you look good but also help you embody who you’re meant to become? Demonstrating the art of mindful posing, portrait photographer and TikTok’s “King of Poses” David Suh shares body language secrets to help your most authentic, confident self show up for every photo.

Filmmakers Jenni Chang and Lisa Dazols share candid photos and descriptions of people they met around the world -- on their quest to document the global diversity of LGBTQ experience. In 2011, Jenni Chang and Lisa Dazols (TED Talk: This is what LGBT life is like around the world) traveled across Asia, Africa, South America and Australia to spea...

Alice Miller was born in a body that didn’t feel like hers. Every day, Yee Won Chong has to debate whether to use the men’s restroom or the women’s. Geena Rocero found success as a fashion model — but kept her birth gender a secret for nearly a decade, fearing what others would think. All these people have transitioned into their true gender....

Gabriella Lascano rose to prominence as a plus-size influencer, advocating for respect at any size with her natural blend of confidence and self-love. She shares how a friend's death led to a candid reassessment of her own health and sparked a viral conversation about the complex intersection of body image, community and personal growth.

Morgana Bailey has been hiding her true self for 16 years. In a brave talk, she utters four words that might not seem like a big deal to some, but to her have been paralyzing. Why speak up? Because she's realized that her silence has personal, professional and societal consequences. In front of an audience of her co-workers, she reflects on what...

Difficult emotions can get under your skin if you're not careful. Sport and performance consultant Jessica Garza calls this the "jumping cholla effect," inspired by a sneaky kind of cactus that detaches and burrows its spines into unsuspecting passersby. In this empowering talk, she shares four mood-regulating strategies to help you gain self-aw...

About this event: TEDxHoodCollege seeks to explore the ways we can adopt new perspectives on our ever-changing world. Whether it is a new technology, generational relationships, self-evaluation, the world of work, or shifts in the make-up of our families and communities, change is constant. TEDxHoodCollege offers a platform for speakers to share their experience ...

Obsessive navel-gazing can be satisfying, but the problem is, it can also be damaging. Organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich suggests ways to escape the loop of rumination and learn how to move forward for real. It was Tuesday evening around 11pm. Holed up in my dark office, I sat staring at a set of freshly analyzed data. A few weeks earlie...

Dan Clay was worried about being dismissed as "too gay" at work, so he dialed down his personality. But then his alter ego, Carrie Dragshaw, went viral online. Here's what happened next.