Theme: Showing Up

Our inaugural TEDxGraceStreetWomen event took place in Richmond, VA at the Grace Street Theater.
December 8th
9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Full speaker roster of 13 speakers and one performance.

Watch for our talks to be posted on our website www.tedxgracestreetwomen.com
Photos are up on our Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedxgracestreetwomen/
#tedxgracestwmn

Grace Street Theater
934 W Grace Street
Richmond, Virginia, 23284
United States

Angie Hilliker Ph.D

Biologist

Dr. Angie Hilliker, is an associate professor at the University of Richmond (UR), with a particular interest in the properties of yeast. Hilliker teaches genetics and molecular biology within the Biology Department and the science of brewing for UR's Beer Brewing Certificate program. Hillliker's research lab focuses on how cells control their genetic information to make the resources needed for life. She uses yeast as a model for cells because no one complains when you mutate them, but they are surprisingly similar to humans in some ways. Her research with yeast has led to new forays into the science of brewing and winemaking. Her work at the University of Richmond allows her to explore the world through the lens of biology while discovering something new to add to our collective knowledge. Being able to do this research with undergraduates means she is surrounded by enthusiastic learners and helping to shape the next generation of scientific thinkers.

Anne Moss Rogers

Blogger | Advocate

The benefit of hindsight is a valuable tool, if only we could use it to see what’s ahead instead of what has passed. When Anne Moss Rogers began to grapple with her son's death by suicide, little did she know her journey would help others working through their experiences as well. With Rogers’ background in marketing and media, she realized how she could cast a spotlight on the taboo topics that triggered her family's loss -- mental illness and addiction. Her widely-followed blog, Emotionally Naked, led Rogers to mobilize an online network to aid others as they pursue information, resources and support for themselves and their families - all in the hopes that her blog will be a beacon for people seeking information about destructive behaviors.

Archana Pathak Ph.D

Racial Justice Activist

Dr. Archana A. Pathak is a scholar activist committed to visioning, creating, and sustaining an inclusive and just world. She frames her work around the stories that we tell, and are told, about identity and privilege. Our era’s conversations about identity, power and privilege challenge the foundation on which so many have built their understanding of the world. Dr. Pathak’s academic and community work addresses and combats racism, religious intolerance/Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia through interfaith and social justice practices. Her integrated approach explores how we can be the change we wish to see in the world by fully exploring the ways in which critical self-reflexivity begins and centers a journey of transformative social change. Dr. Pathak is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University teaching in the Department of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies. She is also a Senior Faculty Specialist in VCU’s Division for Inclusive Excellence.

Crystal Monee Hall

Performer

Crystal Monee Hall is an accomplished singer-songwriter, with a varied career including roles on Broadway (“RENT”), sold-out tours with acclaimed musicians Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead), Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) and also a guest appearance on the HBO comedy-drama "High Maintenance." She released her debut album, “River Train”, in 2012 and followed with an EP, "Three Days In Nashville” in 2013. Her new solo EP, ""If You Breathe"", was released in 2017. Seamlessly blending Hall’s love for world, blues, jazz, soul and contemporary R&B, the release was called 'riveting' by Billboard Magazine. Crystal continues to be a key part of high-profile music moments, from singing alongside Kesha as part of her powerful 2018 Grammy Awards performance in support of the #TimesUp movement, to supporting Mariah Carey's Christmas residency at New York's Beacon Theater, and performing alongside Kanye West and Chance The Rapper during their debut performance of "Ultralight Beam" on Saturday Night Live.

Hollee Freeman Ph.D

Educator

Dr. Hollee Freeman is the Executive Director of the MathScience Innovation Center in Richmond, VA. She is a National Board Certified Teacher and has worked as an elementary teacher, district math coach, national mathematics trainer, educational researcher, curriculum writer, and professor. In her capacity as Field Director for the Boston Teacher Residency for over 10 years, Freeman was instrumental in developing content, policies and practices for in-service teachers and their mentors. Freeman has authored numerous book chapters and articles focused on STEM, educational reform, gender, and educational equity in the US and abroad. Freeman earned a Ph.D in Educational Administration from Boston College, an M.S. in Special Education from Bank Street College of Education, and a B.A. in Psychology/Elementary Education from Columbia University in NY. She is a graduate of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leaders and Leadership Metro Richmond.

Janice Omadeke

Change Maker | Entrepreneur

Janice Omadeke is pushing the ladder down so that the next young tech professional can climb to the top. She has benefited from mentors in her life and career, and wants to install a process for more women and minorities to prosper. Omadeke is the Founder and CEO of The Mentor Method, an enterprise platform helping technology companies increase their inclusion and retention of diverse talent. Her company won Capital Factory’s $100K Women in Tech Challenge and has been featured in The Washington Business Journal and Entrepreneur Magazine, among other awards and spotlights. She was selected to attend The White House Summit on Building the Tech Workforce of Tomorrow, and in 2017 was a top 10 finalist in Rent the Runway Foundation’s Project Entrepreneur contest. She earned a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from Longwood University.

Jobie Hill

Preservation Architect

Jobie Hill believes that there is no substitute for the real-life experience of standing in historic spaces–slave houses. A licensed preservation architect, Hill founded an independent project titled, “Saving Slave Houses.” She is data mining information and evidence pertinent to all known slave houses including ex-slave narratives, recorded by the Federal Writer’s Project in the 1930’s, and applying her interdisciplinary research, examining dwellings of enslaved African Americans in order to explore the influence these houses had on their inhabitants. She has recorded, documented, and researched countless sites throughout the US, with a four-year focus on locations in Virginia while serving as the Preservation Architect and Mulberry Row Project Manager at Monticello. Her fieldwork drives her belief that one can only gain true perspective from personally engaging with irreplaceable pieces of history and through documentation we can ensure that they are not lost forever.

Julia Torres Barden

Artist | Advocate

How does one channel life lessons learned from traumatic experiences? Are we born creative, or do traumatic experiences make us artists? For Julia Torres Barden, she chose to channel her traumatic experiences and her PTSD diagnosis into art and advocacy work. An accomplished author and photojournalist whose photos have appeared in USA Today and other media outlets, Barden became a fierce advocate for other trauma survivors after she identified, processed, and came to terms with her own childhood trauma. In turn, she felt compelled to help others process theirs, too. She advocates for fellow victims of rape, trauma survivors, citizens affected by 9/11, and those who score high on the A.C.E. (Adverse Childhood Experiences) index. Her memoir, “NEWYORICANGIRL...Surviving my Spanglish Life,” led to a collaboration with the Latin Ballet of Virginia to bring her story to the stage.

Kati Hornung

Equal Rights Advocate

Kati Hornung is the campaign manager for the state-wide, nonpartisan, grassroots VAratifyERA campaign to ensure Virginia is the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Her passion on the topic stems from her own life’s experiences and the interest of her two daughters in achieving constitutional equality. As a campaign manager Hornung leverages; her professional background (accounting/finance, software coding, and consulting), her relationships with a wide variety of Virginians, and a deeper understanding of historical context gained while homeschooling her daughters.

Katie Amin

Community Advocate | Firefighter

Katie Amin moved from Jerusalem to the U.S. with her family at the formidable age of 13. Her first year in America was also her first year in high school. She struggled to fit in and to find her passion – that is, until she ventured out into the world of Emergency Services. Amin began to volunteer at a local rescue squad and quickly became a certified Emergency Medical Technician. Eventually, she felt the need to do more for her community. Amin became a firefighter— one the few female Muslim, Arab-American firefighters in the country. She was the only female in a class of 19 other male recruits. Throughout her journey she has learned how to overcome obstacles, both physical and cultural biases, in a male dominated firehouse, all while proudly wearing her hijab and contributing to her community with dedication and persistence.

Keyanna Conner Ph.D

Secretary of Administration, Commonwealth of Virginia

Dr. Keyanna Conner serves as Secretary of Administration for the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is part of a commission to embrace a new claim on history in Virginia - the Women’s Monument at the Virginia State Capitol. The monument will bring to life 12 bronze statues honoring women from Virginia’s history, and include a wall with the names of 400 prominent Virginia women. In her role, Secretary Conner is also responsible for overseeing Virginia’s Department of General Services, Department of Human Resource Management, Department of Elections, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, and the Compensation Board. Before being inspired to get involved with politics, Secretary Conner pursued her love of chemistry and earned her Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015. During that time, she took on both topics simultaneously, due to feeling passionate about the changes she saw during her work for the Obama campaign in 2008.

Kim Drew Wright

Community Activist

Many people have their own story of a hero's journey. For Kim Drew Wright, author and activist, her's started when she was compelled by her community to get involved after the 2016 election. As founder of a grassroots organization, Liberal Women of Chesterfield County & Beyond (LWCC), Wright focused on connecting and educating citizens to be active in their own governement. The LWCC organization has garnered national and international attention for Chesterfield County since its launch. Wright works tirelessly to support the LWCC, all while contending with her own personal and family challenges; her breast cancer diagnosis and her daughter's diagnosis with Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS). As Wright would say, "we have to do what we have to do"-- a mantra that helps keep her going through tough times.

Lindsey Averill

Feminists | Filmmakers

Two highly accomplished, fierce feminists chose to collaborate on a documentary that challenges the narrative of fat bias. Both Lindsey Averill and Viridiana Lieberman are filmmakers, academics, writers, foodies-their interest lists are endless. From 2005 to 2016 Lindsey Averill worked as a college professor teaching women's studies, literature and writing courses. The focus of Averill's work is feminism, fat civil rights and the representation of fat bodies in popular culture. Averill is generally a public intellectual type who has dedicated her life to ending the hateful relationships people have with their bodies. Lieberman's focus is primarily on filmmaking. She is currently wrapping up directing a feature documentary which follows a badass women's tackle football team through their 2018 season. Both Averill and Lieberman are vocal proponents for changing the national conversation about body image so the focus is on the very real issue of unchecked bias and systemic prejudice.

Seun Adigun, D.C.

Olympic Athlete | Global Ambassador

Dr. Seun Adigun, a first-generation Nigerian raised in Chicago, rose to sports stardom early on as a multi-talented high school athlete. She then showed the world how brightly she could shine at the London 2012 Olympic Games, representing Team Nigeria and picking up many accolades along the way on the African continent. Adigun hung up her spikes after the 2012 London Olympic Games, but that isn’t where it ended for her sports career. She bravely pursued the challenge of breaking into winter sports and soon became the first African Bobsled driver to qualify and lead a team from Nigeria to the Winter Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang. By the age of 30 she had earned; a B.S. in Kinesiology (University of Houston, 2009), a M.Ed in Physical Education (University of Houston, 2011), a M.S. in Exercise and Health Sciences (University of Houston, Clear Lake 2017), a B.S. in Human Biology (Texas Chiropractic College, 2017), and a Doctorate of Chiropractic (Texas Chiropractic College, 2017).

Viridiana Lieberman

Feminists | Filmmakers

Two highly accomplished, fierce feminists chose to collaborate on a documentary that challenges the narrative of fat bias. Both Lindsey Averill and Viridiana Lieberman are filmmakers, academics, writers, foodies-their interest lists are endless. From 2005 to 2016 Lindsey Averill worked as a college professor teaching women's studies, literature and writing courses. The focus of Averill's work is feminism, fat civil rights and the representation of fat bodies in popular culture. Averill is generally a public intellectual type who has dedicated her life to ending the hateful relationships people have with their bodies. Lieberman's focus is primarily on filmmaking. She is currently wrapping up directing a feature documentary which follows a badass women's tackle football team through their 2018 season. Both Averill and Lieberman are vocal proponents for changing the national conversation about body image so the focus is on the very real issue of unchecked bias and systemic prejudice.