Theme: LEVEL UP!

Empower. Connect. Build.
Our goal is to highlight the unique and creative lives of this diverse neighborhood and show how their experiences connect to national and global narratives and solutions.
Get your tickets https://www.tedxklb.org/

Lincoln Theater
769 E Long St
Columbus, Ohio, 43203
United States

Brandy Wells

Brandy shares a personal story of how a 8 year old girl who felt abandonment begin her healing process because of the birth of her own daughters as an adult. She challenges the ideas and practices of generations before her, to show up for her younger self all while being conscious enough to raise daughters intentionally. The 8 year old girl as an adult makes amends with her younger self and encourages the audience to do the same!

Christopher Brown

Men often ignore warning signs for common health issues. Often they ignore these signs at their on peril or disability. Dr. Brown gives a story of the the danger of ignoring health signs through the use of a story and an analogy to a ticking bomb.

Christopher Hearn

Society has conditioned us to mold our lives around the ideas of achievement and failure, but why? Christopher Hearn explores the way our sense of self-worth is impacted - and often controlled - by these constructs. In his talk, he imagines an alternate reality free of these confines, and the secret powers that could come with it.

Donja Thomas

Dr. Donja Thomas is a passionate educator, activist, writer, scholar and Black studies curriculum developer. She is committed to establishing learning spaces that promote the importance of employing curricular practices rooted in the Black experience. In this inspiring and enlightening talk, Dr. Thomas, who describes her students as superheroes and herself as a super teacher, shares insights on how Black cultural consciousness provides everyone, no matter one's race or cultural background, the tools to unleash superpowers needed to bring greater awareness and freedom to humanity.

Fetch Ami!

Fetch Ami! Is a group of independent artists who come together to present their love of dance, inspired form the African Diaspora. Fetch - means Dance in the language of Wolof, the local language in Senegal, West Africa. Ami - means Friends in the language of French. Dance Friends- Fetch Ami!

Hannah Mason-Macklin

From museum-insiders to blockbuster films to grassroots activism, many people are questioning the colonial foundation of museums, and what role museums should play in our society today. In this talk, Hannah Mason-Macklin shares a new initiative used to decenter whiteness and western values in a recent exhibition of West African objects from the 19th and 20th centuries. Through honest acknowledge and genuine collaboration, museums can become spaces of healing, connection, and progress.

Julialynne Walker

From Columbus, Ohio Julialynne Walker has over 30 years experience working with movements for social change in Africa and the Americas, beginning with the civil rights movement, continuing with African liberation struggles and is still engaged in consolidating the Pan African Movement. Julialynne’s experience is with community, public and private sector organizations - domestic and international - managing projects and providing strategic planning and guidance in the areas of social development, change management (gender, diversity and inclusion), public policy and the African Diaspora in countries on three continents and the Caribbean. Julialynne is passionate about the connections between healthy food, growing healthy food and marketing healthy food, especially within traditionally African-American communities as an outgrowth of her international public health and African Diaspora work. She is currently the Certified Market Manager Assistant for the Ohio Farmers Market Network, market manager for the Bronzeville Growers Market and manager of the Bethany Bronzeville Community Garden which services the 14 year old Community Lunch Program at Bethany Presbyterian Church. She has facilitated a seven month course in urban farming sponsored by USDA/Farm Services Agency that addressed the existence of food deserts in Central Ohio and serves as a mentor to area gardeners. She also owns an online travel service, Crossing Cultures Travel and Tours, www.crossingculturestravelandtours.com/ and lectures/serves as a consultant on issues of the African Diaspora and urban farming to colleges and the community. Julialynne’s local community activities include serving on the board of the Columbus Landmarks Foundation and the advisory committees for the Columbus Africentric Early College (only preK-12 school with an Africentric focus) and Columbus African-American Digital Collection for the Columbus Metropolitan Library. She is an active member of the Greater Columbus Growing Coalition and OEFFA (Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association) and attended the 2018 Black Urban Gardeners and Farmers Convention. Julialynne has a B.A. (Black Studies) from the College of Wooster and a J.D. from Northwestern University.

Khadija Garrison Adams

We approach the abortion debate as both a settled and taboo topic. We know what we know about it, what we feel about it, and we know why. What if much of what we know about the debate is wrong? In a personally transparent and historically insightful talk, former missionary, master storyteller and Black breastfeeding champion Khadija Garrison Adams talks about the ways that fear of pregnancy impacts people who aren't unmarried young adults, unpacks how our understanding of the pro-life movement is based on a faulty version of its history and how it's origin story is ripe for building a third way in the conversation - a way that could be led by a group ignored by pro-life and pro-choice champions - The Black Church.

Marshall L. Shorts

Marshall Shorts talk explores where our ideas around Blackness, branding, design, and community collide. His talk challenges us to use level up our understanding of branding identities and the role it has played in shaping the stories we tell about ourselves and others throughout history.

Ojala Aní Mwalimu

Ojala Ani Mwalimu is an educator and international experiential learning expert who leads African-American and Afro-Latin youth to Ghana on study abroad programs. This dynamic talk reveals stories, statistics, and observations about the urgently needed transformative power that travel to Africa has for black youth.

Omar Durrani

Omar Durrani MBA known as Mister Omar by his students all across the world is a master story teller who learned to play chess from watching 2 kids play before mastering the English language at the age of 7. Mister Omar talks of his journey from learning the game to becoming a skilled state chess champion and eventually an inspiring Chess teacher and mentor. His Yellow Springs Kings won #1 H.S chess team 2 years in a row 2018 and 2019 at the Queen City Classic.

Regina Alhassan

There is an egregious assumption that Black people are not philanthropic. In fact, the opposite is true. Research continues to prove that African Americans are the most charitable group of people in the country. Could philanthropy be genetic? We know black don’t crack. Do we know black gives back?

Renee Dion

Columbus-based singer and songwriter https://reneedion.com/site/