TEDxBloomington :
The Really Big Questions
04/17/2021
Watch all talks here
The Access Code | Ant Blair
Pain: How to Work With Negatives to Make a Positive | Aaron Harris
How to reclaim your genius level of creativity | Monika Herzig
Make Zoom more human, humane, effective and inclusive | Luci Englert McKean
Can humor save your life? The bravest thing youâve never done | Lisa David Olson
How should you respond when you hear a PEEP? | Malissa Sanon
To lead the human pack, think like a dog trainer | Rosemarie Williams
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree | James Wilkerson
Our Esteemed Speakers
Ant Blair
Title of Talk : The Access Code
Ant went from the mean streets of Flint Michigan, to Main Street USA, to Wall St. His story is the access code to unlock the promises of America for African American, Black, and Brown people. Ant helps people overcome the coercive persuasion of racism. He specializes in middle childhood education and organizing communities to act. Learn more at AntBlair.com Ant helps people overcome the coercive persuasion of racism. He specializes in middle childhood education and organizing communities to act.
Aaron Harris
Title of Talk : Pain: How to Work With Negatives to Make a Positive
Aaron Harris, is a creator, collaborator, connector. Born and raised in west end of Louisville, KY and spending summers and the later part of his youth in the east end, specifically Fort Hill. Aaron is no foe to adversity. Ranging from his tough upbringing; environments having to navigate as a youth; run-ins with law enforcement; underachievement as a student; capped by the murder of his older brother Alex on Oct. 9th of 2009. Spiraling out of control, not knowing how to deal with the emotions of losing a sibling, Aaron was arrested months later in Feb. of 2010 during his junior year at Murray State University. For the next two years, Aaron navigated probation, while putting forth efforts to a create a much-needed lifestyle change. Eleven years after the death of his older sibling, Aaron is now a seasoned educator. With an expertise in areas such as admission & orientation; student success; mentoring; diversity initiatives; career development; teaching courses, Aaron has spent the last 7 years navigating higher education in various roles. Aaron is the definition of making something out of nothing or as he would like to say âhe got it out the mud!â This is the story of how to take pain, work with negatives to make a positive!
Monika Herzig
Title of Talk : How to reclaim your genius level of creativity
Indiana University Senior Lecturer, Dr. Monika Herzig is the author of âDavid Baker â A Legacy in Musicâ (IU Press), and Experiencing Chick Corea: A Listenerâs Companion (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017). She is also the chair of the research committee for the Jazz Education Network and editor of JAZZ (Jazz Education in Research and Practice, IU Press). As a jazz pianist she has toured the world, opened for acts such as Power of Tower, Sting, Yes and her music has won DownBeat Magazine Awards and is featured on NPR and JazzWeek. Her awards include a 1994 Down Beat Magazine Award for Best Original Song, a Jazz Journalist Association Hero 2015 award, as well as grants from the NEA, the Indiana Arts Commission, MEIEA, Jazz Tours, the US Embassy among others. Monika is a CASIO Artist.
Luci Englert McKean
Title of Talk : Make Zoom more human, humane, effective and inclusive
Luci Englert McKean is co-editor of two books (and two more in-progress) of protocols designed to help groups grow trust, address dilemmas, and avoid âquick fixesâ while still accomplishing more in short bursts of time. She is Director of NSRF Virtual Learning, Assistant Director of the National School Reform Faculty, and an International Facilitator/Trainer and Coach. Luci also works as an independent consultant and speaker, reaching out to education and non-education audiences on these topics. As the former licensee and curator for TEDxBloomington, Luci has coached more than 60 speakers for the stage and loves sharing from stages herself! Even more, she loves introducing groups to protocols so they can experience these structures firsthand and viscerally know the power of âgoing slow to go fast.â
Lisa David Olson
Title of Talk : Can humor save your life? The bravest thing youâve never done
Lisa David Olson is a business humorist and speaker who delivers high-energy presentations that invite audiences to think creatively and choose the lighter side of life. Audiences benefit from the practical strategies they can utilize personally and professionally. Olson ran and performed in a comedy troupe for two decades and continues to use improvisation in speaking and workshops. She is an author, a podcaster, creative consultant and âpermissionistâ who helps people find the fun. Olsonâs mantra is to âDare yourself daily.â
Malissa Sanon
Title of Talk : How should you respond when you hear a PEEP?
As a first-generation Haitian American scholar, Malissa has been through challenges that she encountered in her personal life, academic and professional careers. Her journey has molded and shaped her to become self-reliant, resilient, studious, and passionate agent of transformative goals. Malissaâs personal mantra is âThis is Bigger Than Myself.â In November of 2020, she successfully defended her dissertation that seeks to better understand mental health issues within the Black community, particularly among Black college men. Malissa knew that her dedication to research in mental health would help her community, as well as the students she interacts with in her professional pursuits, immensely. Her dissertation âIf You Canât Make A Sound, Make A Peep: A Narrative Inquiry of the Lived Collegiate Experiences of Black Male Students Who Dealt with Suicide Ideationâ focuses on Black men and their mental health, how they choose to get help, resources and support they deemed to be the most helpful.
Rosemarie Williams
Title of Talk : To lead the human pack, think like a dog trainer
Rosemarie R Williams is a non-verbal communication expert whose books inspire self-confidence, leadership, and advancement in personal and professional lives. She is a renowned dog trainer and dog behavior consultant. Thanks to her dog training proficiencies Rosemarie has exceptional insights on non-verbal communication skills that have the power to change lives. She has developed a unique training method that helped thousands of professional working dog teams and private pet owners to lead their packs both canine and human with non verbal language and confidence. She wants you to Embrace Your Power with her fun, engaging and memorable training methods.
James Wilkerson
Title of Talk : Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
James Wilkerson is a native of New Albany, Indiana. He holds his Masters degree in communication from Bellarmine University and his Bachelors degree and Juris Doctorate from the University of Louisville. In 2016, he founded Greek Law; a program that allowed him to give lectures on sexual assault prevention and consent at various fraternity and sorority chapters in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Alabama. Since then, Greek Law has grown into a nonprofit organization that educates middle school, high school, and college students alike. In 2020, Wilkerson began writing for the âI Taught the Lawâ online legal journal. There he founded a column called âThe Title IX Guyâ which examines sexual assault in a legal lens. In addition, he also writes a column in the Louisville Eccentric Observer Magazine, also called âThe Title IX Guyâ which analysis sexual assault issues on a local level. Wilkerson is the author of the book âThe Title IX Guy: Several Short Essays on Rape Culture, Masculinity (the good kind and the bad kind), and Other Things We Should Be Talking About. He was named one of Louisville Business Firstâs 20 âPeople You Should Know in Lawâ in 2020, and is a two time Spirit of Service award winner at the University of Louisville.
What is TEDx? â In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.Our event is called TEDxBloomington, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxBloomington event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED. https://www.ted.com/tedx
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