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).

Freud Playhouse, UCLA
UCLA Department of Theater, Film and Television
1220 Macgowan Hall
Los Angeles, California, 90025
United States

Alexa Meade + Jon Boogz

Alexa is famous for inventing a style of painting that transforms the 3-dimensional world of reality into what appears to be a 2-dimensional representation of itself. As artist-in-residence at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Alexa is pushing the boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration. Her perspective-bending artwork is a primary visual storytelling element in the short film Color of Reality. Jon seeks to push the evolution of what dance can be – sharing with audiences of all backgrounds an appreciation of the melding of art forms while inspiring and bringing awareness to social issues. Originally motivated to begin dancing by the painstaking choreography of Michael Jackson, Boogz embarked as a movement artist 15 years ago and soon thereafter was participating in dance competitions around the world. Since then he has choreographed work for numerous notable icons including ballet’s Mikhail Baryshnikov, Naomi Campbell, and Gloria Estefan.

Cal Fussman + Larry Merchant Interview

Cal is a writer for Esquire, GQ, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and The Washington Post Sunday Magazine. He has transformed oral history into an art form, conducting probing interviews with the icons who’ve shaped the last half-century of world history. He has spoken at companies ranging from Pixar to Apple Music and conferences that include Summit and PTTOW. His keynotes are based around The Art of the Interview and The Power of Connecting through Questions. Larry, a former sports columnist has covered some of the world’s top boxing events on television, served as special analyst, commentator and interviewer for HBO Sports’ presentations of “World Championship Boxing” and “HBO Pay-Per-View” from 1978-2012. Well-regarded for his no-hype style and his dramatic overviews of the fight scene, Merchant has covered the top boxing events of recent decades, including Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns, Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks, and Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad.

Abbie Boudreau

Abbie is an award-winning TV journalist whose dynamic lifestyle and celebrity reporting airs on ABC’s Good Morning America and Nightline. For the majority of her 15-year career in broadcast journalism she has worked as an investigative reporter, rapidly rising through the ranks from local news to CNN, and ultimately landing her dream job at ABC News where she remains today. The Emmy Award-winner has garnered national attention for her gutsy undercover investigations, which have led to multiple national and international policy changes. She has been honored with the National Headliner Award, a national Clarion Award, and the Livingston Award for international reporting.

Alexis Glick

Alexis is the chief executive officer of the GENYOUth Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing child health and wellness through improved nutrition and physical activity. Prior to her appointment as CEO, Alexis Glick was Vice President of Fox Business News, where she helped launch the largest cable news network in history and anchored “Money for Breakfast” and “The Opening Bell.” Glick has interviewed some of the world’s most recognized leaders and newsmakers across politics, business and sports, including President Barack Obama, Warren Buffett, Tiger Woods and more. She travels across the country speaking about a range of topics including the fate of the U.S. economy, the political climate in Washington, D.C. and her personal journey from running a business on Wall Street to covering hurricanes, super bowls, presidential elections, and the largest financial crisis of our lifetime.

Aloe Blacc

Aloe is a singer/songwriter who crossed over from the indie scene in 2010 with his hit single, “I Need a Dollar.” He subsequently released his major-label debut album Lift Your Spirit on XIX Recordings/Interscope Records where it debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album. The release followed his collaboration as vocalist and co-writer on Avicii’s 2013 track “Wake Me Up,” a song that hit the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as topping charts in more than 100 countries. Early this year, Aloe released “Let The Games Begin”, which he wrote and produced for the film Race, a Focus Features biopic about Olympic hero Jesse Owens. Also at that time he teamed up with Grammy award winning artist/producer Zedd to co-write and record the smash single, “Candyman,” used by M&M’s to commemorate their 75th Anniversary.

Art Bilger

Art is the founder and CEO of WorkingNation, a national not-for-profit campaign to educate the American public about the looming unemployment crisis in this country and to start a widespread movement to meet and overcome this unprecedented challenge. Art continues to be an active investor in early stage private companies engaged in activities where content is integrated with new technologies, with particular focus on online education, digital media, and data analytics. Prior career involvements included President and COO of New World Communications, a founding partner of Apollo Advisors, LP and EVP and Co-Head of Corporate Finance of Drexel Burnham Lambert. During his Drexel and Apollo years Art was actively involved with important media companies including Turner Broadcasting and CNN, Fox, MGM, Spelling Entertainment, Telemundo and others.

Brian David Johnson

The future is Brian David Johnson’s business. As a futurist he works with organizations to develop an actionable 10 -15 year vision and what it will feel like to live in the future. As an applied futurist Johnson has worked with governments, militaries, trade organizations, start-ups and multinational corporations to help envision their future and specify the steps needed to get there. He has contributed articles to publications like The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and Wired Magazine. Johnson holds over 30 patents and is the author of both science fiction and fact books. Johnson is currently a Futurist and Fellow at Frost and Sullivan and the Futurist in Residence at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination and a professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society.

Doug Manuel

Doug Manuel has been building bridges between Africa and the occident for more than 20 years. His latest project ‘Do You Speak Djembe?’ brings together a band of world-class African and international musicians in an innovative fusion of music and rhythm from different cultures. The public also perform, each audience member with a Djembe drum – these are the ingredients of a unique musical that has performed more than 100 concerts across Europe since 2014. A part of the proceeds of the show go to ‘Lighting Up Lives’ Doug’s initiative that brings solar energy to Abéné, a rural village in Senegal, West Africa. This unique interactive musical will debut their first show in the United States at TEDxHollywood.

Drew Kugler

Drew is a widely sought after Executive, Leadership and Collaboration Coach. With his practice now in its 4th decade, he has also been an invited guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and School of Law, The Stern Business school at NYU and The Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. Throughout the history of his work around the world, Drew is retained by dozens of organizations for his provocative mixture of candid insights and strategic optimism.

Hao Li

Hao is the chief executive officer and founder of Pinscreen, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California, and the Director of the Vision and Graphics Lab at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. Pinscreen is a Santa Monica-based startup in stealth mode and will be a new social media and communication platform with strong emphasis on augmented reality capabilities. He is ranked #1 in 2016 on the Top 10 Leaderboard of Computer Graphics research for the past five years by Microsoft Academic. Hao was also named a top 35 innovator under 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2013 and NextGen’s 10: Innovators under 40 by CSQ in 2014. Hao Li’s research aims at pushing the boundaries of 3D digitization of humans and developing computational frameworks that are accessible to anyone.

Jon Favreau

Jon is an actor, writer, producer and director of both independent and blockbuster films. He first established himself as a writer with the acclaimed comedy Swingers, which he also starred in and co-produced. Most recently, he directed and produced Disney’s live action box office smash The Jungle Book. As an integral part of the formation and expansion of the Marvel Universe, Favreau directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2, and served as an executive producer on Iron Man 3, The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. In addition to feature films, Favreau is currently working in the world of Virtual Reality. His latest project is Gnomes & Goblins, an interactive Virtual Reality experience set in the world of an enchanted forest.

Leslie McGuirk

Leslie is an internationally acclaimed designer, illustrator, children’s book author, astrologer and corporate speaker on the topic of creative thinking. Despite having no training in art, she launched her eco-friendly design company, McGuirk’s Quirks, in 1984 with a line of T-shirts, later building the iconic brand to include over 1,500 products sold worldwide. McGuirk also became a principle designer for the high-end Japanese department store, Takashimaya. Her design client list includes Panasonic, Asatsu, Mitsubishi, as well as the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, for which she designed the interior. She has written and illustrated over 20 children’s books published by Candlewick Press, Random House, Dutton’s Children’s Books, and Macmillan, with over two million copies sold worldwide. Her first adult non-fiction book, The Power Of Mercury, will be published by Harper Collins on September 13, 2016.

Marque Cornblatt

Marque is the founder & CEO of Aerial Sports League, a Telepresence Innovator, and a Conceptual Technology Researcher. He has been creating experimental media for years and has earned millions of followers and online viewers. Trained in auto racing, classical ballet, experimental media and disaster survival, he is cited as a pioneering robotics researcher, Marque created SPARKY, the earliest known telepresence prototype in the mid 1990’s. His award-winning art and robots have been exhibited at the SFMoMA, San Jose Museum of Art and The Tech Museum.

Matthew Belloni

Matthew is the Executive Editor of The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard. Belloni oversees The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard’s weekly print magazine, and its 24/7 news website. He also writes news and feature articles about the business of Hollywood, with an emphasis on the legal and financial aspects of the entertainment industry, and serves as editor of The Hollywood Reporter’s entertainment law blog, Hollywood Esq. Before joining The Hollywood Reporter, Belloni was a practicing attorney at an entertainment litigation firm in Los Angeles and served as a contributor to magazines including Esquire and Details. Belloni often appears as a commentator on television, including Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today, Entertainment Tonight, and Bloomberg’s Market Makers.

Niels Juul

Originating from Copenhagen advertising agencies, Niels has worked across the globe in building or turning around brands and companies. Niels was one of the founding partners of Von Dutch, a brand that in the early 2000’s pioneered gorilla and celebrity marketing, becoming a worldwide fashion, pop-culture and lifestyle phenomenon. Through his company NOFATEGO, Niels has in the last 10 years been involved in a number of brands and company recoveries, including a multi- Oscar winning international film company. Niels is an executive producer of “Silence”, Martin Scorsese’s next feature to be released in November starring Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield and is producing a number of upcoming Hollywood feature films. Niels is also developing a TV series “Selfie Sapiens” focusing on the influence of pop-culture in the new social media order.

Nolan Bushnell

Nolan founded Atari in 1972 and gave the world Pong, the first blockbuster videogame. Today his design credo—that games should be “easy to learn and difficult to master”—is inspiring a new generation of developers. A prolific entrepreneur, he has started more than 20 companies, including Catalyst Technologies, the first Silicon Valley incubator, and Etak, the first in-car navigation system—not to mention Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater. In the process, he pioneered many of the workplace innovations that have long made Silicon Valley a magnet for creative talent. Bushnell was the first and only person ever to hire Steve Jobs, which he details in his 2013 book, Finding the Next Steve Jobs. With his latest startup, BrainRush, he is intent on fixing education with software that uses gamification principles to “addict” students to learning. A biopic, tentatively titled Atari and slated to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way, is currently in preproduction.

Poppy Jamie

Poppy Jamie is an entrepreneur, Founder of 'Happy Not Perfect', and Co-Founder Pop and Suki. Poppy started her career at 19 years old when she became the youngest entertainment presenter at the UK’s largest news organization ITN . She was still studying politics at the London School of Economics during the time and since graduating. Now 26, she has hosted shows for ITV2, MTV international, Extra USA, TEDx and launched the very first talk show on Snapchat’s Discover, Pillow Talk with Poppy. She is launching an app alongside a book in January, Happy Not Perfect. The aim is to help as many people as possible with their emotional wellbeing and brain health. Poppy is also launching a direct to consumer accessories line along side her best friend Suki Waterhouse, Pop and Suki, in October.

Ryan Cummins

Ryan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Omaze, a charitable fundraising platform that partners with talent and brands to create once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Since launching in 2012, Omaze has partnered with the world’s biggest performers and influencers, from Bono to Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Lawrence, President Clinton, and more. It’s launched over 300 campaigns, raising millions from donors representing 175 countries. Ryan was an executive producer of “Decade of Difference”, the Clinton Foundation’s 10-year anniversary and globally-televised concert event. Prior to that he created Untitled Thinkers, a media property based on a series of intimate conversations filmed with over 120 Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners, MacArthur Geniuses, Pulitzers, Political Dignitaries and Internet Pioneers.

Ryan Horrigan

Ryan is the Chief Content Officer of Felix & Paul Studios, where he oversees content development, strategy and partnerships. Powered by industry-leading proprietary technology, the Emmy-winning cinematic virtual reality studio has a multiyear content deal with Facebook’s Oculus to produce original fiction and non-fiction virtual reality experiences and series. Previous works include the “Nomads” series, “Strangers with Patrick Watson,” adaptations of Cirque du Soleil’s “Kurios,” “Ka,” and “O,” Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic World: Apatosaurus,” and collaborations with President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, LeBron James, and Reese Witherspoon. Ryan began his career at CAA and Paramount before joining Fox/New Regency as a senior development and production executive, where he worked on film such as “12 Years a Slave,” and the upcoming “Assassin’s Creed.”

Sean Hill

Sean Hill is an award winning humanitarian & multidisciplinary artist with the mission statement of supporting "universal inner & outer peace in a realistic, fun, & passionate way." He has helped build two gender equal schools in Malawi, Africa and Dhangadhi, Nepal with other poets, actors, and artists who deeply care about global education. A SAG actor in award winning films while hosting college open mics and sharing spoken word poetry workshops at schools & events, he reminds students of the power of our voice, stories, and perspectives to enhance and awaken ourselves to empathy, honest dialogue, and solutions to every challenge in our world. He supports many positive conferences, fundraisers, & causes Doctors Without Borders, NARD, UN Women Dept. LA Chapter as a speaker, artist, & life loving human being.

Zachary Liberman

Zach is the founder of College-100 and a web entrepreneur. He left Berkeley during his senior year to found his first technology company. Since then, he has been a part of multiple web ventures and has advised both Democratic and Republican groups in forming youth outreach strategies. After touring campuses with his mentor, Ambassador Ed Perkins, Zach became interested in organizing student leaders. Zach assembled 20 student presidents from top universities to discuss the role young people could play in restoring civility. These conversations led him to found the College-100. While at the College-100, Zach interviewed over 500 World leaders including 100 Ambassadors, over a dozen Presidents and Prime Ministers, and Intelligence Directors from the USA, Israel, Pakistan, UK, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and others. He is the first person to host a dinner with the former head of the CIA, FBI, Saudi Intel, Mossad, and the former Chief Nuclear Negotiator of Iran.