Joe believes that upholding the tenets of representative democracy is a cornerstone to building more sustainable, equitable and resilient communities.
He is passionate about solving global challenges. Joe has a wealth of experience in the law, arts, and technology having served as president and CEO of Atlanta’s Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center and as a senior litigation partner at King & Spalding.
In 2012, he was appointed chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. Today, he continues to make an impact as a professor of international affairs.
Active in the community, he chairs the boards of the Fulton County Arts Council, which awards over $1 million annually in support of the arts, and the Georgia Foreign Trade Zone.
Atlanta magazine named him to the Atlanta 500 in 2019 and in 2020 he was awarded the Honorary Alumni Award by Georgia Tech.
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A dreamer and maker, Gerry envisions a world where we perceive robots as empowering rather than threatening.
His fascination with robotics and autonomous vehicles was sparked by a 2006 documentary about the DARPA Grand Challenge featuring self-driving cars. While pursuing his undergraduate degree at Duke University, Gerry co-led the Duke Electric Vehicles team that broke the Guinness Book of World Records for vehicle fuel efficiency in 2018 and 2019.
Gerry is a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing where he studies artist-robot collaboration. He has also authored several publications in the fields of robot art, optimal control, and agricultural robotics.
Sydney Scherr is a renowned jewelry designer and educator who is dedicating her life to ending the re-trafficking of children.
Over the last three decades, Sydney was a sought-after jewelry designer creating award-winning, museum quality pieces for appreciative clients from her studio and teaching college-level jewelry design.
But a chance encounter during her seven-year stint living and teaching jewelry design in Malaysia changed everything. While vacationing in Cambodia, Sydney met the two girls and their mom who sparked her interest in joining the fight against human trafficking.
She is the founder of The Alchemy Design Project, a program that seeks to end the re-trafficking of children in the commercial sex trade by equipping survivors with skills that will help them achieve financial independence when they are reintegrated into the community.
Report – Global estimates of modern slavery: forced labour and forced marriage
U.S. Department of State 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report
Isabel González Whitaker believes engaging civically is not only a right, it is every citizen’s responsibility.
She is a dynamic storyteller with a successful journalism and media career spanning over two decades. From covering the fashion runways of Paris and Milan to exploring the cultures of South America and Asia, Isabel has interviewed some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey, and Beyoncé, as well as political figures like former President Bill Clinton.
Her mother’s sudden death when Isabel was 35 years old set her on a transformative journey from civics neophyte to evangelist. Today, she is the chief operating officer of All in Together, a nonprofit dedicated to equipping voting-age American women with action-oriented, nonpartisan civic education so that they may realize their full potential as leaders shaping our nation.
Legislative Advocacy Cheatsheet
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Dr. Anthony Law’s ground-breaking research is forging a new frontier in laryngeal cancer detection and treatment.
A board certified head and neck surgeon with broad experience in mathematical modeling and computational models, Anthony’s research and clinical interests converge with his focus on applying machine learning to characterize and categorize diseases of the voice box. His vision is to make voice a biomarker for disease.
Anthony is a member of the Emory Voice Center team where he treats patients with disorders involving voice, airway, and swallowing using a wide array of techniques ranging from open surgery, endoscopic minimally invasive surgery, and laser surgery.
He also holds a faculty position at Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology.
Susan Cohen is a leading scholar on entrepreneurship and innovation and one of the foremost experts on startup accelerators. Her work explores how entrepreneurs and corporate managers can navigate technological transitions and create new markets.
An award-winning faculty member at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, Susan’s research has been published in top academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal and featured by the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist.
Susan is a sought-after speaker regularly presenting at conferences in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and across the U.S. She began her career in product and brand strategy and was a member of Priceline’s founding team.
New research evaluates design of startup accelerators
Andrew McConnell believes the keys to living well in a chaotic world lay in the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism.
He is the CEO of Rented.com, a company that helps property owners maximize their rental income and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of “Get Out of My Head: Creating Modern Clarity with Stoic Wisdom.” In the book, Andrew illustrates how Stoic principles helped him navigate the peaks and valleys of his entrepreneurial journey and his experiences as a management consultant working with some of the world’s largest enterprises.
Andrew is a contributor to Forbes, Inc., and Huffington Post and also pays it forward as an advisor to early-stage technology companies.
Get Out of My Head: Creating Modern Clarity with Stoic Wisdom
On this International Women’s Day, we feature TED Talks that challenge our longstanding beliefs about gender.
Drawing on history, research, and their own personal stories, they explore the complexities of gender in our society and the beliefs we’ve come to accept as the norm. More importantly, these talks help us examine the influence these beliefs have on our actions and the policies that could shape future generations.
In this TEDxEustace talk given in 2012, novelist Chimamanda Ngozie Adichi describes the strong grip of gender on leadership. We encourage women to not “overdo” their ambition, to dampen their own success, and to cherish marriage and caregiving above all. In a similar vein, we encourage men to value power and material access, and we congratulate them in their caregiving. Rather than viewing ourselves through lenses of “femininity” and “masculinity”, Chimamanda challenges the audience to prioritize our unique skills and interests, strive to embrace them, and let them guide us in our leadership.
Despite advances in attitudes toward gender equality, we still have work to do creating a culture that fully supports women.
Deepa Narayan is a social scientist, author and co-author of multiple books including “Chup: Breaking The Silence About India’s Women.” In her 2019 TED Talk given in India, she unpacks the seven beliefs that impact the the happiness, success, and wellbeing of women and girls. By repeating and upholding these beliefs, particularly as we raise our daughters, we position them for powerlessness, dependence, and disappointment in the future. A girl who is discouraged from outspokenness, for example, might hesitate to make strong decisions as an adult. In a similar vein, a girl who is praised for consistent flexibility, might grow to prioritize others’ needs over her own. To create real opportunities for women, society should first support their pursuit of those opportunities.
Despite advancements in education and income equality, we still maintain certain standards for “good women”— from their demeanor, to their appearance, to their relationships, and beyond. What practices are we unconsciously engaging in that reinforce this double standard? What can we be doing to challenge, and ultimately, change our beliefs at their core?
American international lawyer and public policy expert Anne-Marie Slaughter’s TED Talk at TEDGlobal 2013 amplified and built on her provocative 2012 article, “”Why women still can’t have it all.” In this equally compelling talk, she shifts the work-family narrative from just a woman’s challenge to one that is to be resolved by both partners in a domestic partnership. She posits that caregiving and breadwinning are reinforcing of each other and offers intriguing examples of countries that achieve better work-life balance because they value both without assigning gender roles and invest accordingly.
The work culture, policies, and social norms we’ve created still largely reflect gender roles of the past. To achieve more equality for both women and men, we should shift our norms, re-evaluate our culture, and invest in the family as a societal building block.
From watching talks with her family to joining her college’s chapter, TED and TEDx are an integral part of Sophie Désert’s life and have been since she was a child.
In a recent interview with TEDxAtlanta’s Storytelling Team, she shared what it’s like being part of a TEDx team — and provide insight into the past year working within the TEDxAtlanta team.
Sophie Désert: My parents! We would always watch TED and TEDx videos. [As for how I got involved], it was really random. The first time I went to a TEDx meeting was because one of my friends invited me to go with him. I’ve stayed involved ever since! It’s just a really nice community to be a part of. You get to meet lots of cool people whether it’s on the [volunteer] team, the speakers, partners. Everyone’s always really helpful, and it’s always a good time.
SD: When I was involved in TEDxSurreyUniversity, it was the first time I was leading such a big organization.
I remember it being a very stressful year, managing a whole team…Then, when the event ended, you could feel the pressure kind of releasing. We were on stage with all of the volunteers taking pictures at the end, and some of the volunteers left and came back with a bouquet of flowers for me. I had no idea they were going to do that, and it felt amazing! It was really tough, and sometimes I felt like I wasn’t doing as well as I thought I would. But, the fact that they really appreciated what I did and got me that surprise gift at the end of the event really meant a lot.
With TEDxAtlanta, one of the highlights so far was my first speaker mixer. Before the event, we have a little party with drinks and a buffet. It’s a time when the volunteers get to meet the speakers and the coaches. It was all the people working on the event, from different sides that had never met each other, coming together, and it was a really fun night that I’m actually looking forward to again this year.
SD: I would say ‘pressure’ as the first word because it is a bit stressful. Sometimes, there’s a lot going on and a reputation to uphold.
But it’s also, I would say, ‘engaging.’ It’s difficult to be half-in and half-out. When you’re in, you’re in, and you want to do the best you can. And if you can’t, that’s okay. You can just join another time when you have more time to commit. And then ‘rewarding’ because of that feeling at the end of the event once everything happened and we can just relax and celebrate.
SD: People are surprised that it’s all volunteers because it’s so big. People are doing this for free; it’s 100% volunteer powered. It’s actually really easy to join.
Someone recently joined the team and was like, ‘I’ve always been interested in TED, but I never knew it was this easy to join a TEDx.’ All you have to do is show a bit of commitment and skills that could be used in event planning and production.
SD: Jill Bolte Taylor’s, “My Stroke of Insight.” It’s one of the most famous ones. It’s about a neuroscientist who describes herself having a stroke. She was doing all of this research on having a stroke and then she actually had one, so she was kind of studying herself. That’s the most impactful one.
SD: My favorite one I usually go back to is about teaching girls bravery rather than perfection — especially in the STEM industry. I think it’s just really powerful, and it’s a new perspective. It’s about having more women in the science and engineering fields, making sure we’re not putting too much pressure on people, and making it accessible for everyone.
SD: I think it’s being able to catch those out-of-the-ordinary things that jump out and say, ‘Oh, there’s a story behind that. There’s something to share.’
Everywhere I go, I’m like ‘How could I include this in TED or in TEDx?’ Or, anytime I meet someone and they have an interesting story, I’m like ‘This could be a nice TED talk or TEDx talk!’
SD: Definitely both! Especially professionally because I have a similar relationship with Jacqui, my TEDxAtlanta ‘manager,’ as I do with my manager at work.
They both teach me how to be a better leader to my own team [and] a better communicator. So, it does teach me a lot. Not only how to lead a team but also how to find the leaders within the team and help them grow and keep that loop going. We’re all helping each other. Building each other up to our full potential. That’s something that I’ve learned over the years and especially through TEDx.
SD: Being part of a great team and having loads of volunteer socials!
It’s not all just work, work, work…I’ve made really good friends on the team that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. So, join for the people. Join for that rewarding feeling at the end of each event and seeing happy audience members. It’s just a feel-good moment.
TEDx Skoll Conversations is a partnership of TEDx, the Skoll Foundation and The Wellbeing Project. Over the course of 2022, the partnership sought to surface new ideas on mental and physical wellness from TEDx groups across the globe.
Continuing the high standard of curation, three TEDxAtlantaWomen speaker alumnae were among the 15 showcased. The other TEDx groups selected to participate include Brazil’s TEDxSãoPaulo, TEDxKapiti located in the Southern Hemisphere, Denver’s TEDxMileHigh and TEDxUTAustin of Austin, Texas.
Check this for more about TEDx Skoll Conversations and the complete compendium of TEDx ideas on wellbeing.
