TEDxSomerville

Viktor Genel is an independent artist, inventor and creator of an interdisciplinary collaborative Art/Science/Business initiative called MeconoMorph, which is an infinitely growing re-configurable installation. He will be transforming our TedxSomerville stage with a truly collaborative piece of artwork made entirely out of business cards.

So why exactly did Viktor decide to use business cards to construct this object? “Business cards are truly fascinating objects,” said Viktor. Each business card has the same “sacred ratio” (3.5x2) which allows the cards to be folded together without cutting them, allowing for different geometric manipulations. Business cards also have an emotional charge to them, because it is a result of “a very intimate and sometimes painful process of putting together everything which is important for a given business or activity”. In other words a business card is a small representation of an individual. When all these little business cards are put together in an installation, the energy of each card can be felt.

It roughly takes Viktor about three hours to assemble one Mecon (one of the 3-D cubes).This does not include the process of organizing the pattern of the cards. “Cards are endlessly different so patterns they create are never the same, and I try to control these patterns to an extent, which is never fully achieved.” The process of creating each Mecon is truly a manual process. Viktor uses just a ruler and paper knife.

Viktor’s ultimate goal of this project is awe. “When my art manages to cause a Wow reaction - I consider the goal being achieved”. We can’t wait to see Viktor transform the TedxSomerville stage on Sunday. We hope you will be in awe of his work as much as we are!

This year we are so fortunate to have Tufts University hosting our event. Little did I know Tufts has its own student run TedxTufts organization. This is a fairly new organization on Tufts campus, as they had their first Tedx event last spring. TedxTufts originated out of an organization called the “Tufts Ideas Exchange”. Essentially it was another Ted type forum in which Tufts students and faculty could share ideas.

Stephanie Cleland, currently a senior at Tufts, was apart of the original “Tufts Ideas Exchange”. She joined because she loved passing on her knowledge with others as well as listening to new ideas. Last fall Stephanie and her team decided to apply for a Tedx license. They were approved for the license and had their event that following spring. The event’s theme focused on the Tufts community as they had students, alumni, and professors all from Tufts give talks. “There is such a diverse group of people at Tufts, each with their own unique ideas”. Stephanie mentioned how difficult it was to select their group of speakers. “To narrow down which speakers to choose we had to find unique ideas and speakers that present well”.

One of the more unique talks was on the way elephants are treated. (Elephants are special to Tufts since that is their mascot!)This talk was divided among three people; a professor, reference librarian and student. Each of these individuals had their own perspective and ideas around how elephants could be saved and the ivory trade stopped.

Speaking of elephants, even the stage had little elephant cutouts. This was one of the touches the team added to try a dress up a somewhat tired lecture hall. Ramone Brown, a sophomore at Tufts and lead of the TedxTufts production team, said the venue was one of the biggest problems they faced with the executing this event. They had issues with lighting, projectors that didn’t work, not to mention it was a boring lecture hall. Ramone said, “It was all about dressing up the space, and working with what we had.” The team at TedxTufts is working on getting a bigger space in hopes of making “next year’s event bigger and better”.

We can’t wait to see TedxTufts grow in size and popularity! I got the sense from both Stephanie and Ramone that Tufts is a big community of dedicated, passion filled learners. “The people at Tufts are so friendly and relaxed. Everyone I meet has a really cool background but you wouldn’t know it unless you talked to them!” mentioned Stephanie. Ramone continued by saying, “At Tufts there is a healthy competition, in which everyone wants to watch one another succeed. This is why at Tufts we love to share ideas with one another.”

What a perfect place to have TedxSomerville 2015!  A place where collaboration and ideas meet. Not to mention how fitting the theme  “reinvent” is to TedxTufts. They started out as “The Ideas Exchange” and now they are hosting full fledged Tedx events! To learn more about TedxTufts please visit their website here. Members from TedxTufts, including Stephanie and Ramone, will be in attendance on Sunday at TedxSomerville.

Hitendra Patel, founder of the Center for Innovation, Excellence, and Leadership (IXL Center), believes that all of us have the potential to create new, great ideas. Anything humans can imagine for the future, he believes, humans have the capacity to make it reality one day. Which is exactly what the IXL Center aims to help people learn to do - to see glimpses of a new future and connect the dots. This, Hitendra says, is what innovation is really about. “When you talk to scientists and the big breakthrough thinkers, they’re like, ‘Oh, I was driving, and this idea came to me while I was driving.’ Or ‘Oh, I was taking a shower and got a big Eureka!’ Right? Those individuals like to talk about the idea in that format because it makes them look like geniuses. But it creates this exclusive club…because you don’t get ideas driving to work, and you don’t get ideas taking a shower - maybe you get tiny itty bitty ideas, not big ideas.”

   So if everyone has the potential to have great ideas, why aren’t we all part of the super genius club? Hitendra explains that he is trying to figure out if some people can connect the dots faster because they have more dots to begin with. “The thing that has been driving me for the past ten years,” Hitendra says, “Is the question, ’How do we democratize innovation?’” This is where events such as TEDx come in. By spreading ideas, knowledge, enthusiasm, courage (I could go on here…), TEDTalks helps to give everyone more dots, gives them the tools to connect the dots, and encourages the resilience to try time and again - because failure is a part of innovation, too.

   Maybe Hitendra himself was actually born with more dots than the rest of us.  Born in Zambia, with Indian heritage and a British high school education, Hitendra has spent the past 30 years in America and is now married to a woman from Latin America.  While that sounds to me like an identity crisis overload, Hitendra describes himself as a truly global citizen as he gets to take the best of each culture.

   Besides “dots,” what other aspects are there to innovation? Breaking the rules is a big one. (Hitendra suggests using your judgement to know when to go beyond being a boring goody-two-shoes that follows the rules but not ending up in jail. Hint: if you see anyone drive out of here late at night through a red light or two, you’ll know who to look for.) Well, that would be true except - Hitendra doesn’t have a car anymore. “About six years ago,” he explains, “I’m driving a fairly expensive, really cool car - a BMW 5 series - and one day I pull up and a few of my students are on the sidewalk and say, ‘Hey Prof, that’s a cool car!’” So of course I’m all proud until they ask, “‘How many miles does it get per gallon?’ And I said, ‘Well, only fifteen miles a gallon.’ And they’re like, ‘But Prof, didn’t you write a book called Greenovate?’  And I was like “Oh, damn! Yes…yes I did.’ And - ‘Umm…’ - that’s all they said.”

   Faced with this conundrum, Hitendra went where any man would go for solid advice - to his six year old daughter and seven year old son. They firmly told him he would have to return the car. Hitendra sighs. “So the next day, we sold the car, and for the last six years I’ve traveled by bike.”  If it sounds like he holds his kids in high regard, he certainly does. “I spend a lot of time with my kids. It may not seem like it when you look at my calendar but any time I have free I spend with my kids.” Together, they play sports, go hiking, biking, swimming, travel, view science exhibits, attend hackathons - I hate to use the term “well-rounded,” but it sounds a bit better than “dotty,” which is the only other way I can think of to describe what he must be giving his kids - more dots.

   This weekend will be busy for Hitendra, as he heads off to the Hult Prize event to declare a winner of the million dollar prize in New York City on Saturday, and returns for TEDxSomerville on Sunday.  However, the time and effort he puts into his work is well worth it. “We [at IXL] want to make an impact that people will write about. We want people make stories that they are proud to tell their kids and their grandkids..”

   Well, if this blog post shows anything, it’s that people certainly are writing about him!  We hope the Hult Prize event on Saturday goes well, and can’t wait to see him at TEDxSomerville on Sunday!

Drew is the co-founder of Emzingo, a company focused on creating a generation of responsible leaders. The organization is also the 2014 Ashoka U Cordes Innovation award winner. Drew holds a M.S. in Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid.

Drew’s story is inspirational simply because he’s dedicated to helping others become responsible leaders, find meaningful work, and use business to create a positive social impact. Drew began his career in operations and went on to complete his MBA in 2009 in Madrid. There he met his cofounders who helped create the idea of starting  a leadership development company. After graduating he launched the company and for its pilot program, in the summer of 2010, he took students from the IE Business school to Johannesburg, South Africa. Since launching, Drew has worked with a variety of universities and businesses to create leaders who have a long-term view that benefits employees, customers and society.

Just by talking to Drew, I could hear the passion in his voice about responsible leadership. That’s why he decided to give a Ted Talk on this very topic. During his talk, Drew will talk more in depth on how responsible leadership can be taken to a local level and how individuals can create positive changes in their own communities. Drew is excited for this year’s event because he enjoys sharing and discussing ideas with other people. He believes TedxSomerville is a great forum for people to get excited about new ideas and ideally take action on these ideas well after the event is over.

In addition to running his own business, Drew enjoys spending time outdoors and with his wife. “I’m happy where life has brought me. I’ve been fortunate to find meaning in my work and have a great family and friends.” Drew has gotten the opportunity to engage and live in five different continents around the world. Currently, he is planning for a one week social impact trek for South African MBA’s in NYC.

Get ready to be inspired by Drew’s talk, and learn how you can create a positive impact in your life and community. We are so excited to hear Drew and our other speakers talk at TedxSomerville 2015. 

Billy and Bobby McClain make up the Wondertwins, a hip-hop dance group that got their start in the 1980s.  Having toured with Bobby Brown and Apollonia Kotero, the duo has also performed at the Apollo theater 16 times, and has achieved national acclaim for their dancing.  They follow the long tradition of brother dance duos and are touring today with their show “To Hip-Hop With Love”, which demonstrates the history and origins of hip-hop dance music.  They’ll be performing a short excerpt from their show on the TED stage, called “From Broadway to Hip-Hop”.

Billy and Bobby McClain have been dancing for a long time.  The two Roxbury natives began dancing at age 10, eventually performing at talent shows in their high school and coming up with the likes of other superstar performers like Bobby Brown.  Surrounded by an emerging hip-hop culture and inspired by shows like Soul Train, the twin brothers naturally gravitated towards dance.  They joined a professional dance crew at age 10, performing around Boston and getting some notice from other locals.  Like many Roxbury kids in the late 70s and early 80s, they were also looking to make it big after graduation, whether that was through basketball or dance music.  Upon graduation, they faced that major choice for themselves: would they play basketball at the Division 1 college level or attempt to make it in the dance business?  Despite both being gifted basketball players, they opted for dance.  Both brothers liked the control they had over their dancing since it involved less people and that they were the owners of their success.

The Wondertwins, as they became to be known, hit it big after winning several talent shows in New York City.  After winning the All Star Talent show two years in a row in the late 80s, they landed their first audition at the Apollo Theater.  They ended up landing a gig on Good Day New York, winning their Apollo audition, and quickly gaining recognition throughout the dance scene.  After their dancing success at the Apollo, their childhood friend Bobby Brown asked them to join his international tour as backup dancers.  Both of the brothers were taken back at the success and popularity that Brown had on the international circuit.  They were then connected with Apollonia Kotero and even did choreography for New Kids on the Block.  With Brown and Apollonia, they traveled globally for months, and enjoyed the experience, but were still interested in eventually breaking out into doing their own shows and performances.   By the late 90s, they had moved into booking their own shows and performing for themselves at shows like Jacob’s Pillow and the Brooklyn Dance Festival.

Their current 90 minute show “To Hip-Hop With Love”, highlights the origins of hip-hop music through the Harlem Renaissance, tap dancing, jazz and other early influences of hip-hop.  As hip-hop has grown into a $1 billion industry, the Wondertwins are seeking to provide hip-hop education through dance music.  In today’s current hip-hop scene, the Wondertwins recognized that the music wasn’t seeking to educate its listeners in the same way it once did.  Their dance show aims to walk its viewers through a history of hip-hop, and they are performing it across the region from places like Colby College to the Music Loft in Portsmouth.  Their shortened version for the TEDx stage will be a very special excerpt from the show which will provide how the brothers use their dance to communicate the origins of hip-hop music.

At the end of the day, the McClain brothers are glad to see the prominence and success of hip-hop, having transformed from an emerging culture in the early 80s into global phenomenon.  Through their dancing and love of music, they hope to share their passion of hip-hop in its original form and where many of the groups today find their influence.  Just like an up and coming boy band should know about The Beatles or even The Rolling Stones, fans of hip-hop music should be well aware of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.  The Wondertwins are happy to carry that torch 35 years after they got their start, dancing in front of diverse groups of people and spreading the love and passion they feel for hip-hop music.

Spirited Materials: A Journey Through Mixed Media and Studio Art is the brainchild of local fraternity brothers Owen Linders & Thom Crowley. Born out of the conviction that arts education can strengthen communities while doubling as court-mandated community service, SMAJTMMS both demonstrates and analyzes the finer facets of printmaking, sculpture, weight training, and felony sentencing in the state of Massachusetts. Also, bring a smock; art can get sweaty.

Confused as to what you read above, or even what to expect from our comedians on Sunday? Don’t worry, as this is exactly how Owen and Thom want you to feel. “We confuse all types of audiences...art talk confuses some audiences, while our idiot ‘frat-bro’ characters confuses others.” This show will confuse all types of audiences, as fraternity brothers will be teaching you about art technique while doing pushups and giving high fives.

Rest assured, this is not your ordinary art class. “I’ll be making it rain linoleum prints”, said Owen. Owen actually studied art in college before he got his start in comedy. Owen wished he had someone in college explain to him the importance behind art technique in a fun way. “There are so many people that don’t get art so they don’t think it is for them. Art doesn’t have to be dry”. Besides laughs, Owen and Thom are trying to explain art technique in a way that makes their audience say “that’s a gangster painting”. Who knows? Some cool art may even be thrown at you…

I asked this duo how they will preparing for their performance on Sunday. “We will start like we always do with preparation 4 hours before the event. We will talk about overall structure, then once we get on stage this structure will turn into utter chaos and we will have to improv everything.” The duo then proceed to ask me if we could loan them a potato cannon for their show...looks like I’ll be just as shocked with their performance as you!

From being a wedding DJ, to dying twice, to being homeless our 2014 TedxSomerville speaker alumnus, Matthew Dicks, has had anything but an ordinary life. His friends pushed him to story tell because, as one can only imagine, Matthew has a lot of stories to share.

Last year at TedxSomerville Matthew shared with us the story of becoming a wedding DJ, which led him to having a successful writing career. In last year’s talk he discussed why initially one should say “yes” even if it leads to saying “no” down the road. One of his friends asked him if he wanted to wedding DJ with him, and Matthew, having no experience DJ’ing or attending weddings for that matter, said yes. He has been a wedding DJ ever since then...about 20 years now. He mentioned that if he didn’t say yes to this opportunity he wouldn’t have met his friend who helped him get back into writing and he wouldn’t have gotten the courage to engage in public storytelling. “I feel like so much advice these days are telling people to say “no”. I wanted to tell the TedxSomerville audience why you need to say yes initially so you can at least take advantage of that opportunity.”

Since then Matthew has written a handful of books. He got the inspiration for his new book The Comeback of Caroline Jacobs from his wife, Elysha. One night his wife and him were talking about an incident of bullying she had witnessed at school (they are both school teachers). He proceed to ask his wife if she was ever bullied in school, and asked “wouldn’t that be awesome if you could find that bully years later and let her have it?” After asking his wife this questions a light bulb went off in Matthew’s head “this would be a great story!” This is what the basis of The Comeback of Caroline Jacobs is about. A 40 year old woman who realizes that the dissatisfied feeling she has towards her own life actually stems from a betrayal she had as a teenager by her best friend, Emily. She decides to go back to her home town and confront Emily with the perfect comeback, which is 25 years in the making.

In addition to writing stories, Matthew is a story teller himself who is 18 time Moth Story-SLAM champion. He originally started tuning into The Moth podcasts because he enjoyed listening to the stories. He attended his first story slam event in New York, because his friends kept telling him that he had great stories to tell. Matthew told me that he was homeless, died twice (given CPR), convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, and was the victim of a horrific robbery. I then understood why his friends pushed him to tell his stories! At the slam event in New York his name was called to present. He originally didn’t move, until his wife forced him on stage. “I crushed it in the wife department”. (Matthew talking about his wife). He got on stage and hated the whole experience until he started speaking. He ended up winning the slam which led him to love storytelling and co-founding his own storytelling organization in Hartford, CT.

Storytelling, Matthew believes, is an important skill to have. It allows businesses to connect with their customers, attorneys to win a case, and to win a second date. (Dating..really?) Matthew says he actually gets lots of men coming in to learn about how to story tell so that they can be more engaging during a date. “Even wives send their husbands to me. I had one wife call me in tears to tell me how bubbly her husband has become.” Matthew continues by mentioning, “If more people knew how to tell a great story the world would be a better place. People would be engaged with each other and not with their phones”.   

Devin Bramhall is our Executive Director, Speaker Curator and Co-host of this year’s TedxSomerville. She is the founder of The Master Slam, a poetry-slam debate about startups and tech, as well as a teacher at the General Assembly who teaches “How to Use Storytelling To Get What You Want”.

Devin’s involvement with TEDx began in Bali, Indonesia while she was volunteering at a maternity clinic. She met a group of people that were organizing a TEDx talk who asked for her help organizing the event and training their speakers. She was already an avid consumer of TED talks so to her it was a perfect fit. “If I have a bad day, I’ll find an uplifting TED Talk to watch to help me change my thinking and be more positive”.

The next TEDx event she worked on was TEDxSomerville last year, where she volunteered as speaker curator and co-host. She loved the experience so much that when it came time for this year’s event, she was thrilled to step up as executive director. In fact, every time I chat with Devin, she always has confidence in her voice as she is telling me about the next TEDxSomerville task at hand. She has so much on her plate, yet is able to complete everything with a smile.

Being that this is Devin’s first year as executive director of TedxSomerville, there are always challenges that arise. Laughing Devin says, “What challenges haven’t I come across organizing Tedx?” As a unique type of event, TEDxSomerville is definitely a challenging endeavor that requires great attention and care to the details. Not to mention motivating a team of people to volunteer thousands of hours to make this event happen! Devin fully embraces all of it, quoting advice she got from a friend early in her career: “If you do what you love, then you’ll never work again”.

(Devin talking to our 2015 TedxSomerville speakers)

Speaker curation is Devin’s bread and butter. She and her co-curator Yanina Wolf spent hours reviewing speaker applications, and researching each one to piece together the final lineup. “It was an exciting and scary job!” she tells me. “It’s a lot like putting together a puzzle. You want to make sure you’ve got a diverse set of ideas and speakers and piece them together into a stimulating experience for the audience.”

And it’s those ideas that are why Devin is excited to be hosting the event at a university. “This is an event about ideas, so hosting it at Tufts seemed like the perfect fit.” She says she’s working with the art gallery and TEDxTufts student group to bring as many parts of the community into the program.

Which gets to the heart of all her efforts: A desire to bring something great to the community she lives in - a topic that brings a smile to her face every time she talks about it. She says she hopes to make it even bigger in years to come and develop new opportunities for people to participate and attend. “I believe everyone who is enthusiastic about this event should be able to attend, and it’s on me to figure out how to make that happen.”

This year theme’s “REINVENT” really spoke to Devin since it embodies where Somerville is at as a city right now. Somerville is transforming and with that comes a lot of excitement as well as apprehension. “They don’t call them growing pains for nothing - the reinvention that Somerville is experiencing is both exciting and complicated, but that’s exactly why I chose this theme: I like themes that are non-linear and challenge us to think deeper about the changes that are happening around us.”

(Picture courtesy of Cintell)

Katie Martell is a B2B marketer who has experience driving market demand and creating buzz. She is most recently the co-founder and CMO of customer intelligence startup Cintell. She was also the Director of Buzz for NetProspex, where she grew the company from startup to an award-winning organization which now serves fortune 500 clients.

As a current graduate student at Emerson College, I was excited to be interviewing Katie Martell, who graduated from Emerson with a degree in Marketing Communications. I was able to learn more about her background as well as get a sneak preview of her talk!

What will your Ted Talk be about? Can you give me an overview?

I believe the role of marketing in our culture has changed in significant ways compared to its history (think the days of Mad Men and mass advertising). The future of our profession has the potential to positively impact the world in which we live, if marketers take advantage of the technology available to us today.

Why are you excited for this year's Ted Talk?

We live in a world that is changing and evolving faster than ever before thanks to the rapid rise of social connectedness and technology. This year's Ted Talk theme, "reinvent," resonates because it speaks to the ways in which nearly every aspect of our lives is undergoing a type of reinvention.

Speaking of “reinvent”, if you could, how would you reinvent yourself today?

I actually believe that our ability to reinvent ourselves is one of the greatest gifts in life. Starting a company was my attempt at reinventing who I was as a marketer and an entrepreneur - by diving into the deep end and figuring it out along the way. It's a constant process of learning my limits, stretching them, and growing. That said, if I could go back in time and reinvent anything about myself, I would have never stopped playing trombone and I'd be touring the world in some awesome ska band. The Beyonce of Ska (yes, I said it.)

Why are you excited for this year's Ted Talk?

We live in a world that is changing and evolving faster than ever before thanks to the rapid rise of social connectedness and technology. This year's Ted Talk theme, "reinvent," resonates because it speaks to the ways in which nearly every aspect of our lives is undergoing a type of reinvention.

Any advice you could give to students that are specializing in marketing, either graduate or undergraduate?

The academic theory around marketing is critical. Pay attention. That said, get out into the "real world" of marketing and get your hands dirty as early as possible. This could mean an internship, but I'm also a big proponent of freelance work. Be willing to teach yourself Photoshop or how to build a website, maybe try some media relations to help a local business or nonprofit. It's easier than you think to start building real-world skills, and the pace of marketing changes so fast that your work outside the classroom can help to keep you current.

What do you have on your to-do list this week?

This week I'm off to a content marketing trade show in Cleveland, where 3,000 marketers are getting together to figure out how to keep up with ever-connected, always-on consumers. You know those articles you love to read on Buzzfeed? Every company is trying to figure out how to create the same sort of irresistible content in a way that works for their audience. It's a fascinating time to be in marketing.

What is one thing you wish people would ask you more?

I love talking about the history of gender identity and gender roles in our culture. Combined with my perspective as a marketer, it's one of the most fascinating intersections of commercialism and our identities as human beings.

If you had all the time in the world, what would you study, learn how to do, read about more or new profession would you explore?

Cooking and travel. I'd travel and learn how to cook local cuisine. Ok maybe my real aspiration in life is to become a cross between the Barefoot Contessa and Anthony Bourdain.

Thanks Katie! We can’t wait to hear your talk at TedxSomerville on Sunday September 27th.

Laur Hesse Fisher is the project manager at the Climate CoLab, a project run out of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence that is trying to solve the problem of climate change by using crowd sourcing solutions. She is also the founder of the Civic Series, that holds free events that helps educate the public on major global and domestic issues.

The fact that Laur Fisher works at MIT’s Climate CoLab is no accident. The Climate CoLab, a project of MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence (a lab that is studying the way massive amounts of people can collectively solve a problem together via the internet) is trying to solve the problem of climate change by bringing together thousands of scientists, policy makers, business people, investors and concerned citizens. This fits squarely into Laur’s background in sustainability and interest in collective intelligence.

“Studying collective intelligence is studying how groups of people can work together in ways that are smart and effective. I’ve always been excited about the idea of the human race working together as a global community. Once considered a naive idea, platforms like Wikipedia and the Climate CoLab are making this a reality.”

So, the idea of using collective intelligence to solve global environmental problems felt like a perfect fit. Though not without its challenges.

“We have very impressed by the caliber of ideas that have been developed on the Climate CoLab, but not every contest we run succeeds,” Laur says. “For example, something as physically and morally complex as geoengineering -- physically altering Earth’s climate to reduce the impacts of climate change -- is difficult to crowdsource solutions to. We need to find a new way for the crowd to tackle this topic.”

She said there can be a disconnect between what the experts in the field are working on to fix this problem vs. public knowledge on this issue. “It’s about finding out how to open up the expert’s process to the public and figuring out what role the experts and crowd play in solving the climate change problem”.

A new approach Laur and her team is exploring is an initiative where they invite the crowd to piece together individual ideas to form a larger strategy. “For example if one person has a proposal on carbon pricing, and another has an idea about smart grids (where your meter communicates with your appliances), and another has a strategy for mobilizing the public-- these ideas can be combined to make a larger “package” of ideas that can be implemented on a national or global scale.”

For Laur, TedxSomerville really comes full circle for her. She studied at Tufts and was actually in performances at the Aidekman Arts Center where this year’s Tedx will be held! In her talk, Laur will share how collective intelligence and crowdsourcing ideas are helping to solve the big problem of climate change. “There are a lot of things that aren’t going well in our world and I get that. What has me get up in the morning are the people -- like those who join the Climate CoLab -- who are working to create and strengthen this global community.”

A self-proclaimed computer nerd growing up, Chad Jones is socially conscious investor and Chief Strategy Officer at Deep Information Systems. He followed your typical path of computer-geek turned professional volleyball player turned investor/programmer/public speaker.  Er...wait a minute….

Chad’s career has clearly been anything but typical. “I'm kind of one of those guys that has one foot squarely on the tech side and one foot squarely on the marketing and public speaking side so I'm kind of a unicorn when it comes to being able to understand deeply nuanced technology and to articulate clearly in front of a large audience,” Chad says. However, this was something he was able to leverage when it came to the startup world (especially in the Laguna Beach area, where playing volleyball is “required.”)

He got his first computer when he was in the 6th grade, mainly to play the famed Space Invaders game. However - perhaps indicative of his ability to see the far-reaching potential of new technology - he quickly realized his computer could be useful in other ways as well. “Every time my mom opened up my bedroom door, a little string would pull and a weight would go down on the keyboard and I could keep track of how many times it hit the keyboard - even if my mom turned off my TV she didn't turn off my computer so I'd come home and be like, "ugh - Mom - you went in my room five times!"

He wrote his first computer program for a company at 17, but after heading off to college to study computers, he left to in order to play professional beach volleyball.  Five years later, “the internet was taking off and I was on tour - having a hell of a time - but I really had the interest to do something more.  So I jumped back into computers and got a couple of degrees in it."

Chad went on to work at a startup that was eventually acquired by another company, where he received stock in the acquisition. “This was in those hazy crazy internet bubble days,” he reminded me, “and all of a sudden it was like, ‘Ohhhh, selling companies is cool!’” So he went on to help build a number of startups, which led him around California, the world, and finally to Boston.  

Today he is at Deep Information Sciences, a company working to fundamentally change the way we use databases by utilizing machine-based learning (aka “Artificial Intelligence”). He still plays volleyball, and also enjoys skiing (“probably my favorite thing on the planet,” he says), as well as wakeboarding, and playing the guitar and drums.

On the investment side of things, Chad sees great potential in alternative energy.  I asked him to give us a sneak peek of what he’ll be talking about at this year’s TedxSomerville talk. In return, he asked me how to eat an elephant. “One bite at a time,” was the answer - in short, the same way we should address alternative energy. His ideas for the future are ambitious and have far-reaching implications. Chad explained one such vision - by retrofitting trucks with part-electric engines to offset the gas they use, and installing wireless chargers on highways, they could save perhaps 10-20% more gasoline.  But given that 36% of oil today is used for trucking, saving even a small amount on shipments across a myriad of industries and companies adds up quickly - very quickly.

It’s clear Chad has the necessary tech skills and the far-reaching vision to see the potential in technology that might not be around yet, as well as the ability to map out the steps needed to reach these visions. As for why he’s looking forward to sharing his ideas at this year’s TEDxSomerville event:  “The TED brand is so amazing and I've been personally not only incredibly inspired by TED talks, but have also found really useful pragmatic information from some of the big ideas which I've brought to my marketing, technology, and personal life.  So to be part of that family of presenters - to share interesting ideas like that, hopefully reach a few people, inspire them, stir some thoughts around and to really help the world is something that I'm ultimately excited about - I can't wait to see where it goes."

Dillan DiGiovanni is a health coach on a mission, supporting individuals, organizations and teams to establish healthier cultures around their environments.  Having worked in the field of nutrition, teaching and consulting for over six years, Dillan has grown his own business around Boston and around the world and he’s constantly accepting new clients.  However his journey arriving to the work he loves has not been a direct one.  

Work-life balance has grown into an increasingly relevant topic for young professionals looking to advance their careers while still maintaining a stress-free lifestyle.  Relationships, work projects, exercise, preparing meals--these are  some of the many commitments that inundate our schedules on a daily basis.  Health coach Dillan DiGiovanni is all too aware of the need for better work-life balance and letting your true passions guide you.  Dillan started off his career as a teacher in New Jersey, where he plunged head-first into the classroom where he enjoyed the engagement and energy of teaching youth. But he quit his teaching career because he realized it wasn’t the right fit, for a few good reasons. In his late 20s, even while working in a health food store full-time, Dillan developed a severe case of adult acne and worked closely with a health coach for a remedy. Impressed by his recovery and general increase of happiness, Dillan began to grow interested in the field of wellness as he realized that good health meant more than eating healthy food.

In 2009, he moved from his home state of New Jersey to Boston where he took up a position in a reputable non-profit organization.  While working at this organization, he decided to enroll in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.   This is when his story becomes a bit of a rollercoaster ride.  At the time, Dillan and his close friend were up for a promotion at the nonprofit, but Dillan let his friend get the promotion. At the time, Dillan was in the process of starting his own health coaching business, and was still riding the wave of excitement from his Integrative Nutrition program.  Fast-forward six months and Dillan is abruptly let go from his job; by the very same friend he had recommended to receive the promotion.  Despite this bad news, there was a silver-lining.  Dillan had wanted to quit sooner and pursue his passion, but felt a lot of fear if he could make a living as a health coach. The night before he was laid off, he told a friend he wanted $10,000 in order to get his health coaching business off the ground. Thanks to his surprise layoff, he received a severance package from his work just over $10,000. With that money in hand, he was able to embark on his dream of forming a health coaching company that could support both individuals and companies in improving their work-life balance. He took his experiences in many different work environments and combined basic health coaching principles with leadership development training to create healthier work environments. Now, he helps shift work culture and interpersonal dynamics to make things work better for everyone, starting with the wellness of each person.

When talking to Dillan, I was most struck by the tremendous amount of enthusiasm and energy he has for his coaching work.  He is immensely passionate about helping people work through the things that really keep people stuck and afraid, just on the other side of real progress and change.  He helps them with their relationships, both professionally and personally, as well as exercising properly and getting good sleep and nutrition in spite of having a busy schedule. Dillan’s business is focused on helping individuals as well as businesses create healthier lifestyles and workplaces. When I asked Dillan about one thing that every person can do tomorrow to improve their happiness and health, his answer was simple: “drink more water. It improves focus, energy, reduces headaches and reduces your appetite.”

Dillan’s TED talk will focus around the basic but essential tenet of maximizing your potential. He will discuss how to identify obstacles and overcome them, moving from aspiration to action. Dillan emphasizes that we shouldn’t limit ourselves in any aspect of our lives and to consider that everything we do affects everything else. Even he continues to practice his own form of work-life balance on a daily basis.  Using some of his own uplifting stories, Dillan will share how everyone can establish more self-awareness and better work-life balance to be happier in the long-run. Dillan’s own life is a testament to work-life balance, as he continuously practices setting his own schedule, managing his own clients and practices what he preaches: the art of self-efficacy and self-care.  

(Image courtesy of Greentown Labs) 

Emily Reichert, an Arizona native with a PhD in physical chemistry and an MBA from MIT, is the CEO of Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech incubator in the United States.  

Today I had the chance to speak with Emily at the Greentown Lab headquarters. Within an unassuming brick warehouse, the inside of Greentown Labs, fittingly bright green and teal, is abuzz with employees deep in concentration or striding purposefully about the premise. “This place was 33,000 square feet of empty concrete when we first started renting it,” Emily says, motioning against a backdrop of some 30 Greentown Labs sponsor logos. Although the space retains a warehouse feel, it’s hard to imagine it empty.  It’s as though the employees had jumped to work as soon as the paint was dry and the tables set up.

There are 40 companies based out of Greenhouse Labs at the moment, ranging from traditional solar and wind power technologies to technologies that use resources more efficiently. During my visit at Greentown Labs, I got the opportunity to wear some sexy lab goggles and tour the facilities to see some current projects. (I use the word “see” as a somewhat superfluous verb here given that most of what I see requires extensive explanation.) During the tour I find that energy is being investigated in nearly every manner possible - in the air, the water, the weather, on train tracks, and more! Near the kitchenette, there are plants growing above a fish tank.  These are actually part of another project where the nutrient-rich fish-water is pumped up into a plant tank under light mimicking the sun, and the growing plants filter the water back down into the fish tank. I suddenly get the eerie feeling that I’m actually in a spaceship in outer space and have to glance around the corner outside the warehouse windows (Somerville, reassuringly, is still there).

Currently, Emily is preparing Greentown Labs for Demo Day, which she describes as a combination celebration of the hard work Greentown Labs members have put in and an opportunity for them to showcase their work to investors, strategic partners, and the greater Boston community. (October 29th, everyone!) Members typically stay with Greentown Labs for around 20 months, so another large part of the work revolves around helping graduating companies move on and onboarding new ones. “Our members are always step number one of everything we’re working on,” Emily explains. “Cultivating that community is something we’re always working on. Then you get down to the next level which is the operations and logistics side of things.”

(Image courtesy of Greentown Labs) 

The power of community will also be the center of her upcoming talk. “It’s much harder to do what you’re doing if you’re all off on your own; if there’s no support system, no way to share costs, no way to feel like you’re part of something bigger...you see that by the fact that these startups and Greentown Labs have raised over 100 million dollars and have created hundreds and hundreds of jobs, all in a period where people have said that ‘clean technology is dead.’ Somehow our startups are totally bucking that trend and I think it’s a case study for the community that we’ve built here.”

Although she’s had a full schedule this summer with Greentown Labs and her garden at home (“tomatoes, herbs, kale, collards, snap peas,” she elaborates), Emily also loves traveling to exotic locations - recently, she’s visited Brazil, Russia, the Balkans, and Greenland.  In addition, she enjoys being outside, hiking, and cycling.

As for why she chose to work in clean energy? After 21 years of school (yikes!) she was looking for that place where she’d find that “jump-out-of-bed and run-to-work every morning” feeling. “And yes,” she confirms, “I’ve found it.”

(Image courtesy of Northwestern University)

Hannah Chung is the co-founder of Sproutel, and the founder of Jerry the Bear; an interactive learning companion which makes learning about health fun for kids. She is also the co-founder of Design for America, an organization that helps students solve problems through design thinking. She is a 2012 graduate of Northwestern and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

When it comes to complex problems, Hannah has always taken the interdisciplinary approach, blending her creative mind with her engineering skill-set to find a solution. According to Hannah, “By introducing design thinking you can learn how to work with different resources; it really gives another avenue to change.”

This analytical and creative mindset sparked her idea to start Design for America when she was only a freshman in college. This organization challenges students on interdisciplinary teams to apply human-centered design to solve an area of local and social problems. Projects like Luna Lights and her very own invention: Jerry the Bear.

In 2009 she competed in the “DiabetesMine Design Challenge”. That year the prompt was: “how can you help the lives of people living with diabetes?”. She solved this problem like she would with any problem: design thinking. Jerry the Bear came out of this challenge, as this bear helped to teach children how to be healthy and manage their diabetes through play.

“I believe that that healthcare should be focused on behavior formation rather than behavior modification. By using play, healthcare is really humanized.”

(Image curiosity of Northwestern University)

Healthcare and health education are important to Hannah, because she sees solutions in a problem ridden field. “One out of three kids don’t exercise. This shows how much health education is lacking.” She adds that healthcare doesn’t need to be driven by fear. A lot of children who have diabetes, for example, are frustrated by their disease. Hannah wants them to be able to celebrate their disease and learn about taking care of themselves through play.

Another reason healthcare is at the top of Hannah’s list of problems to solve: it hits close to home. Her grandparents passed away from a heart attack due to this disease and her dad got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in his 40’s. When her dad was diagnosed, his goal was to get off all of his diabetes medications, and she watched him completely change his diet and lifestyle. Within 2 months of his changes her dad lost 50 pounds. She said, “I had changed my diet too in order to support my dad’s efforts. Looking at how my dad changed his life, I really saw how health can touch so many people.”

When Hannah is not problem solving, you’ll find her in a coffee shop drinking a cold brew doodling in her notebook. Recently she took a 250,000 mile road trip up to Prince Edward Island in Canada and gushed about how “overwhelmingly awesome the views” were.

Hannah is excited to share her idea at this year’s TedxSomerville. To see Hannah and our other incredible speakers buy your tickets today! 

(Image courtesy of Parkour Generations Americas)

As a relative noob when it comes to parkour, my conversation with TEDxSomerville speaker Blake Evitt, Director of Parkour Generations America, covered a great deal of ground. Not the least of which was: what is parkour anyway?

Parkour is a unique and powerful tool that can be used to re-imagine the way that we think about "fitness" and play, as well as reshape the ways that we engage with our everyday urban environment.

My own exposure to parkour is pretty media driven: There’s an opening to a recent James Bond film, the parkour episode of The Office, and a few commercials that sum up my entire experience. But after 30 minutes with Blake, I learned that the media portrayal of parkour barely scratches the surface of this very complex art. Which is one of the reasons blake was motivated to practice parkour and lead PGA.

“Our goal is to show that there's something deeper - a spirit a play and involvement in the movement, and that it's accessible to everyone.” Blake says.

And, Blake continues, it is that “play and involvement in the movement,” is a key focus, and what sets it apart from what most of us are used to seeing in movies and TV: Parkour is not about brute strength - it’s about experimentation and strategy.

“People ask me all the time ‘Can you do a backflip?’ and I'd rather they ask me why it is I do parkour. The answer is: The spiritual and philosophical element of it. It's overcoming fear and creating and overcoming obstacles in various ways. Backflips not that impressive a skill. Can you jump between two rails? That's impressive! Controlling the fear? That's impressive!”

When asked what he’d be doing if Parkour was not in his life, Blake said that he’d still be interested in the travel aspect of his sport. “Parkour allows me to travel, meet new communities, and explore, so even if I left Parkour I’d still continue on with that aspect of it.”

Having no idea how terrified I am of doing any sort of jump/flip/etc over concrete, Blake invited me to take a parkour class with him. I will say, that it sounded like an awesome idea, and hopefully some of you who get inspired by his talk will be joining me in the near future.

TedxSomerville Tickets are now on sale! Buy your tickets here to hear more from Blake and our other speakers September 27th at Tufts

(Jesa Damora pictured right with her husband at the Cocktail Throw down event at Assembly Row. Photo cred: Shred Photography)

Jesa Damora is the Arts Wrangler for TEDxSomerville in charge of curating the art and creative event development and execution. She is also an artist and the founder of FunnelCake Marketing, a business out of Artisan’s Asylum that helps artists launch and sustain careers in the arts. She has provided long time support to Somerville Open Studios and recently co-launched a weekly show on culture and the arts for Somerville’s Community Access Television.

It is really difficult for me to put into words all that Jesa encompasses. She is a talented  artist, expert marketer, successful entrepreneur, and on top of all that she has a great sense of humor. She is also probably the only person I know who can pull off carrying a fish purse (yes, you read that right).

About four years ago Jesa used her art expertise, marketing and business skills to open up FunnelCake Marketing, a consultancy that helps artists get the word out about what they do. In a typical month, she meets around 200 people in the arts and helps them network their goals. She also helps a slightly smaller number of clients to brand themselves and develop and market their businesses; and provides publicity and assistance to arts organizations. She has given workshops and panels in both Brooklyn and the Boston area on topics ranging from crowd-sourced funding to intellectual property to merchandising-- this was her fifth year donating classes to Somerville Open Studios. She has also recently signed on as business advisor to an MIT start-up connecting makers, artisans, and artists with clients.

This will be Jesa’s second year as Arts Wrangler for TedxSomerville. She started with the organization last year when her friend Jesse Buckley, fellow Somervillian and media producer, asked her if she wanted to be an arts wrangler! (She literally wrangles amazing pieces of art.) Without hesitation she said yes, even though it was a mere six weeks before the event and no art had yet been secured. So she got to work interviewing over 150 artists while strategizing how to fit art around Brooklyn Boulders’ rock climbing gym.

(photo cred: Brooklyn Boulders Somerville)

When I asked Jesa about her “vision” of what art will be included in this year’s event she said “I want to have art that questions what you are looking at; encounters that aren’t clear or obvious. Art that people can continue to discover over time, art that surprises and makes you look differently at things you thought you knew.” She and her team of seven other amazing volunteers are looking for artists who are seeing the world in new and unexpected ways. Jesa said she is most excited for “people interacting with the art and most importantly laughing at themselves and the world”. Right now, she is scouring the Boston area for people “who Are The Art”, who can show up, intervene, amaze, and be awesome.

TEDxSomerville 2015 takes place on September 27th. For updates including when tickets go on sale, sign up for our email list . For the complete line up of speakers please visit our website.

We are still accepting artists for this event! Find out more here. 

Dr. Kristin J. Lieb, an Associate Professor of Marketing Communication at Emerson College. Prior to Emerson, Lieb worked in the music industry, including posts with Atomic Pop and Newbury Comics Interactive. She also worked as a researcher for Harvard Business School and as a freelance writer for Billboard and Rolling Stone. Her first book, Gender, Branding, and The Modern Music Industry: The Social Construction of Female Popular Music Stars, was published with Routledge in 2013.

Hello TEDophiles (is that a thing? Maybe it is TEDers like Star Trek? Let’s move on), my name is Patrick Hellen, one of the co-hosts for the upcoming TEDxSomerville Conference!

*Thunderous Applause*

I’ve been tasked with reaching out to our crew of interesting and inspiring speakers, to interrupt them from doing the incredibly amazing things they do, to answer questions and listen to me attempt to make jokes. To their credit, they all tolerated me long enough to put some words on paper to give you, our audience of TEDdies (?) a glimpse into the why of their worlds. Next up, Kristin J. Lieb.

Kristin gave me some great insight on her love of music, her upcoming book, and how it all ties together for her TED Talk. Also? Her idea for a super group of Joan Jett like rockers? Count. Me. In.

Kristin, can you describe for the readers what you do?

I’m a marketing professor with a specialization in branding. I teach about how brands are built, and how they develop and change in culture. My focus is on people as brands in the entertainment industry. I study how and why these people and their personal brands are constructed and managed in different ways throughout their brand and career life cycles. I explore patterns in representation, and how to support the ones we like and how to change the conversation on those we find wanting or problematic. I am motivated by hearing the way young women frame the notion of “power,” and trying to broaden that so they see they can be powerful for reasons other than appearance or sex appeal.

Can you give us a quick overview of your talk?

I’m going to discuss representations of women in contemporary entertainment, and thus contemporary society, and how I see them affecting everyone, particularly young people in my classes.

I will discuss what’s wrong with these representations, why people should care, and what we can do about it. In particular, I will focus on socially responsible brand management, what that really means when applied to managing people, and how branding can be used to promote not only products and services, but also society-changing ideas and movements.

I think it's important for people to embrace the idea that marketing is not inherently evil, but rather can be used to do much more than sell sneakers, cars, or jeans. Effective marketing by effective brands can change the cultural discussions we have, which changes what people know about, and care about. (Just think about Caitlyn Jenner as a recent example.) It can literally change, or in some cases, save, lives. So it’s important that we have marketers who care about selling new ideas through the well-established, multifaceted marketing machine in the United States because ideas can be far more powerful in people’s lives than things.

Why do you want to give a TED talk?

Ultimately, I hope my ideas might change people’s thinking in some small way, even if it’s just by making one person in the audience aware of some of the issues my work reveals.

What is on your to-do list this week?

Editing two book chapters: --One about the “Bey-Z” family brand, and the other about Elliott Smith’s Roman Candle.

Working on a branding and identity project for Emerson College

Applying for a grant in hope of going to New Zealand sometime next year

Running last-minute errands for an upcoming trip to London, which I am taking in large part so I can pet owls at a bar that caters to people like me who would be thrilled by such an opportunity.

Editor’s note: I will fly, anywhere, right now, to pet an owl.

What is one thing you wish people would ask you more?

Have you heard about this amazing all-female-rock band that has the swagger of a modern-day Joan Jett, the critical acclaim of the White Stripes and the Black Keys, and is doing gender in an interesting way that demonstrates modern liberation and autonomy (e.g., not just routinized male-gaze courting displays of hypersexualization, submission, and other varied forms of power negation)?

I would like to be asked that question continuously, until there are so many bands like this that the question becomes annoying and overwhelming.

What’s on your playlist lately?

I am listening to Heatmiser’s Mic City Sons and Elliott Smith’s Roman Candle compulsively. The last four months have been all about Elliott Smith. I think my cat might jump out the window to save herself.

If you had all the time in the world, what would you study, learn how to do, read about more or new profession would you explore?

If I had all the time in the world to study or think about anything, I would be studying and thinking about exactly what I am studying and thinking about now. That’s why I do what I do. I already had my kid fantasy career – writing for music magazines – but now I am living my adult fantasy in teaching and writing about things that genuinely interest me. I’m doing pretty much exactly what I want to be doing.

Editor’s note: BEST ANSWER EVER

What’s one thing you do when no one else is looking? Hobby, habit, etc

Rock my ab wheel. I just got one for home this week, and I’m wearing it out. It's an enjoyable challenge, pushing yourself to your absolute limit without falling on your face. Is that some sort of metaphor?

Thanks Kristin! We can’t wait to see you at TEDxSomerville  in September. In the meantime I’m going to go back to listening to a lot more Elliott Smith on your recommendation.