“My seven year old self learnt to tell people what I thought they wanted to hear. By the age of eight I’d convinced the other kids that my hair was made of sponge… because being black it couldn’t be made of ‘hair’.”

Through her own personal story and the hair-raising experiences of other women and girls, Mena Fombo’s TEDxBristol talk is a witty, yet compelling and sometimes dark exploration of the objectification of black women. Its an issue she has spent a lifetime experiencing and exploring, with both a political and creative lens.

Mena is the driving force behind the international campaign “No. You Cannot Touch My Hair” which has attracted contributions from people across the UK and around the world. Over half the respondents said they had their hair touched on a monthly basis by people they’d never met before. 18% said it happened every week. The vast majority described the touching as intrusive, invasive and unwelcome. 90% of those responding identified as female, and the majority were black or of mixed race origin. Some said it felt like being petted in a zoo. Mena says: “We are not animals in zoos — #DONTTOUCH”.
Mena Fombo describes herself as a British Nigerian Bristolian through and through! She is a purposeful coach, facilitator, motivational speaker, consultant and activist with a background working in the arts, the voluntary sector and educational establishments across Europe, the USA, Africa and South Asia.

She is also the founder of The OJiJi Purple Project, a Bristol based non-profit that campaigns for equality, focusing on working with black women and girls through everyday activism, connecting communities and creativity. She is the curator of Bristol’s first Black Girls
Convention.

As a confident, black woman, who has overcome a lifetime of adversity and personal experiences of injustice, she has carved out a role for herself as a creative activist, working tirelessly to support the political, social and economic equality of black people and women. She is passionate about social change, the development of people, values-based leadership and creating powerful learning experiences. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

Herman Chinery-Hesse is a software engineer by profession, although his early training was Industrial / Manufacturing technology. Twenty years ago, he co-founded the SOFTtribe Limited, which became the leading software house in Ghana and possibly West Africa. Hermans current venture Black Star line (BSL), seeks to financially empower rural Africans via e-commerce via their webmall (www.shopafric53.com) as well as their proprietary novel, global payment system and related technology, which serves as the platform for their «African liberty cards/credits» (ALC). Herman has won a number of awards including «Outstanding Ghanaian Professional» and «Distinguished Alumnus Award» from the Texas State Alumni Association and Texas State University-San Marcos, USA. He is the first and currently only African recipient of the award. He was a speaker TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania. The BBC describes him as «Ghanas Bill Gates» and he is widely viewed as an African technology giant. Herman believes that «If Africa misses the current global IT boat and participation in resultant new economy, there may never again be another opportunity for rapid wealth creation on the continent». He is smart, dedicated and passionate about Africa.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

Marathon runner and charity fundraiser Ben Smith reveals how he overcame the effects of bullying and found both happiness and his identity through extreme physical endeavour and by undertaking the 401 Challenge.

On the 1st September 2015 I Ben began the most challenging and rewarding experiences of his life.

He started a ‘World Record’ attempt which will saw him run 401 marathons in 401 consecutive days around 309 different locations of the UK mainland. The challenge aimed to raise both awareness of the issues of bullying in our society along with £250,000 for two amazing charities dedicated to tackling bullying. The two charities are called ‘Stonewall’ and ‘Kidscape’. Both these charities work tirelessly to support award winning initiatives which really get to the heart of bullying in our UK schools and society in all its forms.

The £250,000 raised through generous donations from UK business’ and the public will help support both these charities carry on the amazing work they do.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

You learn many things in school, but learning how to learn is often forgotten. Neuroscientist and 4 time Guinness World Record Holder for Memory Dr. Boris Nikolai Konrad believes in a World, where students are passionate about learning and believe memorization is fun and easy. In his TEDtalk he answers the question «How does memory work?» and explains how to improve memory by using your brain the way it is meant to be used. Dr. Boris Nikolai Konrad is a Guinness World Record holder for memory, a neuroscientist, an author, and an international expert on memory improvement. He teaches memory techniques anyone can employ to achieve outstanding memory performances. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

Can you quickly create real understanding in your brain at will? Here Mattias teaches you a new approach that immediately speeds up your learning abilities, far beyond plain memorizing. He also shows you some of his own skills and vaccinates you on the spot against the dreaded Teflon Brain Syndrome. You will also learn an enhanced way of reading that works for all kinds of texts and helps your brain to take in lots of new information fast.

Mattias Ribbing is an official Grandmaster of Memory, a published author of three books and a public speaker. He has a passion for helping people optimize their learning abilities through situation based brain training. Mattias has been invited to speak at Harvard Business School, Ericsson, Karolinska Institutet and many other places where he not only demonstrates his own unique skills live, but more importantly gives effective tools that everyone can use to to quickly become an expert in any field of knowledge.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

When a gang lord told novelist Ryan Gattis to cut to the chase, he did. Surprising to the Chapman University professor was that the command was also a gift that released his creativity and helped guide him to the completion of his acclaimed novel about the Los Angeles riots of 1992, All Involved: A Novel of the 1992 L.A. Riots.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Gattis is also the author of novels Kung Fu High School and Roo Kickkick

Предприниматель, Экономист, Политолог.
Советник Премьер-министра Республики Казахстан.

Окончил Казахский Государственный Университет им. С.М. Кирова г. Алматы, Магистр университета штата Миннесота.

В разное время: основатель и председатель Совета Директоров ОАО Компания ФудМастер», президент Frontier Mining Ltd, председатель правления АО «Каспий Нефть», один из основателей и президент Международного IT Университета, Университета Международного Бизнеса (г.Алматы).

He started a wearable technology company called Digital Dudz that combined smartphones playing a video with clothing. Mark left NASA to grow the business for 2 years and after selling Digital Dudz to a company in the UK, he has recently decided to return to his Engineering roots.

Mark Rober is a YouTuber and former NASA Engineer turned Inventor/Entrepreneur. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from BYU and Masters from USC. He worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 9 years, 7 of which were spent working on the Curiosity Rover which is now on Mars. In 2011, he uploaded his Halloween costume to YouTube that featured 2 iPads using a FaceTime chat so it looked like he had a hole in his body. The video went viral overnight with 3M views and he decided to start posting monthly videos about creativity, science and design and now has over 77M total views and 350k subscribers.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

Rose Lounsbury shares how to move towards a minimalist lifestyle and how it has improved her life. Rose Lounsbury is a minimalism coach, speaker, and author of the Amazon bestseller Less: Minimalism for Real. After blogging about her personal journey toward a minimalist lifestyle, Rose, a former middle school teacher, was inspired to help others live better lives with less stuff. Rose spends her days writing, coaching her clients and online students to stuff-free freedom, and soaking up the moments with her husband and their wild triplets. Rose is a regular guest on
Fox News Good Day Columbus and has been featured on National Public Radio, Good Morning Cincinnati, and Living Dayton. She calls lovely Dayton home. You can connect with her online at roselounsbury.com or @roselounsbury on Instagram and Facebook. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

Shirzad Chamine shows Stanford students how his research on positive intelligence can help them achieve their full potential for professional success and personal fulfillment.

Professor Shirzad Chamine is author of the New York Times bestseller Positive Intelligence. His work exposes 10 well-disguised mental saboteurs and shares how to defeat them. According to Chamine, «positive intelligence» measures the percentage of time our mind serves us as opposed to sabotaging us. While IQ and EQ (emotional intelligence) contribute to our maximum potential, it is PQ that determines how much of that potential we actually achieve. Chamine is chairman emeritus of CTI, the largest coachtraining organization in the world. Chamine has coached hundreds of CEOs and their executive teams. Before running CTI, he was the CEO of an enterprise software company. His background includes PhD studies in neuroscience in addition to a BA in psychology, an MS in electrical engineering and an MBA from Stanford.