Sakshi Jain is a social entrepreneur, fundraiser and artist. She is currently focussed on solutions that enable older adults to live with purpose, prosperity, and joy. At TEDx Atlanta, she is a member of the core team, leading events that are relevant and meaningful to the city’s diverse communities. She moved to Atlanta in 2024 and is always up for long walks with iced coffee (shout out to the Beltline!), trying anything creative, and the conversations that happen along the way.
I love that TEDx makes knowledge more accessible and ideas more contextualized for audiences who will find those ideas most relevant to them. When I learned about TEDx Atlanta, I knew that I had to reach out!
Ed Yong’s TED talk Zombie Roaches and Other Parasite Tales has got to be one of the most delightful and pun-tastic Talks on the TED platform. Ed packs a punch with his theme, but he really nails the storytelling and humor so well that I remember parts of his Talk, down to the pauses, years later. His Talk had me adding ‘parasites making crickets jump into swimming pools’ to my search history, and he made me appreciate and rethink nature, even at its wildest.
Fun, thoughtful, curious.
That has to be the 2025 Pollinator Census, where we were terribly rained out. It didn’t stop us from showing up for the folks who joined the count, and it definitely did not stop us from having fun while learning about the amazing work pollinators do to keep our ecosystem running and the gardeners who help them thrive. I also learned that the most appropriate reaction to meeting a bee was not, in fact, to screech, but to simply allow it to fly away and do its thing. Look out for the 2026 Pollinator Census in a few months!
The annual mainstage event is not all we do! Our programming includes multiple curated, smaller-scale events and experiences throughout the year. These are great to meet people in the Atlanta community and see how you can actually contribute your time and skills, before deciding if you want to commit to volunteering for a longer period.
Another way to get involved is by partnering with us to bring a unique experience–or even experiment–to Atlanta. In just the last year, we have hosted an adventure at Chantelle Rytter’s parade studio, a panel on sustainability and innovation in fashion, participated in the Southeast Pollinator Census, and enabled skills-based volunteering with five impactful Atlanta area non-profits.
TEDx has helped me see sides of Atlanta I probably would not have discovered on my own. I’ve got to be in some really cool rooms and meet people who are obsessed with, and excel at, their craft. I love that at every event, I meet people from diverse walks of life–people who have come together for no reason other than their curiosity and intent. I have met people who are attending their first TEDxAtlanta event, and people who are attending their 15th, simply because we make sure that our programming is unique.
For new experiences, to learn about how the world works, and meet fantastic people!
Interested in volunteering with us and getting immersed in all things Atlanta? Complete the form at the bottom of this link: https://www.tedxatlanta.com/volunteer/
