Theme: Off Record

For 2015, TEDxPortofSpain we will bring ‘off stage’ conversations onto our stage with theme "Off Record".

"Off the record", is a figure of speech referring to conversations not intended to be shared publicly. They are the kinds of conversations that are often considered to be too "sensitive”. Conversations that we are too afraid to have or that we save for later. For 2015, we will celebrate our fifth anniversary with a daring theme - "Off Record".

Queens Hall Auditorium
1-3 St. Ann’s Road, St. Ann’s
Port of Spain, Port of Spain, 00000
Trinidad and Tobago

Afra Raymond

Managing Director of Raymond and Pierre Limited

Afra Raymond is a Professional Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Managing Director of Raymond and Pierre Limited. He is well-known for insightful commentary in press and broadcast media throughout the Caribbean. His special areas of interest include real estate, property development, land-use planning, property taxation, property financing and the 2009 bailout of the CL Financial group. Raymond is also a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute. He has written extensively on white collar crime, good governance, national development and financial matters, in particular, the CL Financial fiasco. Raymond is a transparency activist whose work can be found on www.afraraymond.wordpress.com.

Alexander Girvan

Student

Obsessed with how humans’ interaction with the environment shaped the growth and collapse of civilizations, Alexander was driven to pursue physical science. However, he soon realised that the physical sciences were losing the battle for sustainability to a much less ‘scientific’ field- Economics. Alexander saw opportunity: synergy not conflict could be sought between conservationists and economists alike. Alexander headed an evaluation of the importance of biodiversity to T&T’s socio-economic welfare and has presented his research to the UN Forum on Forests, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity initiative and at the Eco balance forum. Alexander believes that change, particularly in the way we manage our environment, is possible through a thoughtful re-examination of how we communicate available scientific knowledge on environmental issues.

Dylan Kerrigan

Lecturer in Anthropology and Political Sociology at the University of the West Indies

Dylan Kerrigan is a lecturer in Anthropology and Political Sociology at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. He is particularly concerned with power, the shifts that occur and how society adjusts or transforms as a result. Born to a Trinidadian mother and Scottish father in London, Dylan has made Trinidad his home for 15 of the last 20 years. He is the holder of a PhD from American University in Washington and a Masters from Goldsmiths College, University of London. He presently writes a regular opinion column for the Trinidad Guardian. His most recent published works include research on the relationship between white collar crime and everyday corruption in the national landscape. Dylan’s investigative writings have also been included in the collections, Gangs of the Caribbean and In the Fires of Hope, publications that explore historical changes in society.

Gareth Jenkins

Managing Partner of Abovegroup

Gareth Jenkins founded and is Managing Partner of Abovegroup, the region’s leading branding consultancy, and works extensively in the fields of branding, graphic design and communications strategy. After studying politics in the UK and working for about a decade in London, mainly in the financial sector, he discovered design and what has remained one of his core areas of interest – the world of identity. He’s a big believer in design and the collective responsibility of designers to develop better communities, societies and nations through their work. He started Show & Tell, Abovegroup’s highly successful series of talks; and co-founded HOME, the region’s first dedicated co-working space. He runs Picture House, a mobile classic cinema series; serves on the board of Plastikeep (Trinidad & Tobago’s largest environmental management company); and advises a number of start-ups on business and communications strategy.

Hulsie Bhaggan

Administrator/Clinical Director at the New Life Ministries Rehabilitation Centres

Hulsie has a long history of activism. As a final year University student, she led a national campaign against corruption in the construction of the Caroni Racing Complex. Soon after, she joined fellow villagers in Guayamare, Caroniand, for ten years, stopped works on the Uriah ButlerHighway until the residents were compensated and relocated. Hulsie moved her activism to Parliament upon her election in 1991. When formal representations failed, she led protest demonstrations. Hulsie mobilized the population on rising food prices, and championed a petition signed by 100,000 citizens: she fasted one week on the Parliament steps. When Central Trinidad was submerged in flood waters for several days, she acted on behalf of those affected, including the elderly marooned in their homes and children in make-shift beds in their ceilings. Hulsie blocked the Uriah ButlerHighway, was arrested and spent seven days in in solitary confinement.

Indrani Goradia

Founder of Indrani’s Light Foundation

Indrani Goradia is a founding member of a ground-breaking philanthropic and advocacy initiative aimed at catalyzing the next wave of philanthropists setting out to improve the health and rights of girls and women worldwide. She is in partnership with a global NGO called Population Services International (PSI). She is also the founder of Indrani’s Light Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to ending gender-based violence and empowering women around the world with tools to live healthy and meaningful lives. As a victim of violence in her childhood, it has driven her to work tirelessly to help others understand its devastating effects and lead empowerment trainings for girls and women in several countries around the world. She is a philanthropist, triathlete, marathoner and most of all a proud mother and wife.

Joseph Jay Williams

Computational cognitive scientist

Joseph Jay Williams is a scientist who investigates and improves how people learn by bridging psychology, education, and computer science. He is a Research Fellow at Harvard’s VPAL (Vice Provost for Advances in Learning) Research Group, where he works with the Computer Science department. He received his PhD from the Psychology department at University of California at Berkeley, and completed his postdoctoral research at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Joseph builds adaptive online technologies that automatically enhance and personalize how students learn. He does this by turning any online lesson or problem into adaptive "MOOClets", which are micro-laboratories that crowdsource and experiment with teachers’ and scientists’ ideas about teaching, using algorithms from artificial intelligence to discover which approaches work best for which students.

Judge Helen Whitener

Pierce County Superior Court Judge

Judge Helen Whitener was a former Washington State Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals Judge and a former pro-tem judge in Pierce County District Court and the City of Tacoma Municipal Court. She is very active locally, nationally and internationally in various community service activities. She speaks often on Human Rights, Access to Justice, and the rights and responsibility of the judiciary in ensuring the rights of all that appear before them to basic dignity and respect in judicial proceedings. Judge Whitener is a member of the International Association of Women Judges Association, the American Judge Association, the National Association of Women Judges, the Washington Courts Superior Court Judges Association and the Washington State Bar Association.

Marshall Davis Jones

Storyteller and poet

Marshall is a storyteller and poet with a distinctive style. Simon Sinek, Speaker, Best-Selling Author: Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last has described him as having “a rare gift for making us think, feel and realize things we never realized before all at the same time. His words flow smoothly and his meaning is deep. His poetry is a gift to all those who will listen.“

Nimah Muwakil-Zakuri

Curator of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago’s Money Museum and Art Collection

Nimah Muwakil-Zakuri.is currently the Curator of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago’s Money Museum and Art Collection. She is responsible for the museum which is the main outreach arm of the institution, its programming and development as well as the bank’s 50 year old art collection which was started in the 1960’s. Nimah graduated from Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba in 2007. As an IVLP alumnus in Cultural Heritage Preservation and a recent recipient of a Getty Fellowship, she attended the 2015 American Alliance of Museum’s Annual Conference and participated in the training sessions on Leadership in Museums with other curators from around the world. I.M.P.A.C.T (Independent Muslim Professional Acting Together) was co-founded in 2012 and the Trinidad and Tobago Alliance of Museums (TTAM) co-founded 2014 both by Nimah. Her deep interest in art and matters of heritage has enabled her introspection on her own unique history as a child of the “Jamaat” an

Vernelle Noel Noel

Ph.D. candidate in Design Computing at Penn State University

This adventurous young woman is the founder, creator, and editor of Architecture Caribbean, an online platform that highlighted and celebrated design in the region. She credits her early passion and sensibilities in design to renowned architect, Colin Laird, who mentored her for several years. Her work – influenced by cultural design practices in the Caribbean – has earned recognition at home and abroad, including an ideas2innovation award in 2014. Vernelle’s unique, multi-disciplinary approach allows for workable and creative advancements in craft and technology. Vernelle Noel is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Design Computing at Penn State University where she explores the merging of craft practices with computational methods and technologies. As a computational designer, architect, and research scientist, she has worked in the US, Singapore, and India.