Theme: 12th Annual TEDxMarin / ONLINE Broadcast

This year, TEDxMarin continues its tradition of bringing our community together, exploring this moment in history, and what the future may bring. And, as we emerge from Covid’s worst, we’re trying something different. Speakers listed at TEDxMarin.org

While we were not yet ready to pack into a live indoor theater for the Talks, we’re turning our 12th-anniversary show into a hybrid event mixing a little of the old with a little of the new: An online broadcast for the Talks and then the following week an in-person Community Gathering/After Party.

TEDxMarin Headquarters/offices
Bolinas Rd
Fairfax, California, 94930
United States

Brian Kiley

Brian Kiley has appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman” a whopping seven times, four times on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and twelve times on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”. He performs regularly at clubs in L.A. He has been a staff writer for Conan O’Brien since 1994 and is currently the head monologue writer. He has been nominated for 16 Emmy Awards and he is the winner of the 2007 Emmy Award for Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series. Much to his surprise, he was even featured in the New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle. (He has never completed said puzzle.)He has had a recurring role on the Cartoon Network’s “Delocated” and has been on “The Bonnie Hunt Show”, “Comedy Central Presents”, “Dr. Katz Professional Therapist”, “The CBS Morning Show”, “Spotlight Café”, “Caroline’s Comedy Hour”, “Comedy On The Road”, the Showtime Comedy Club network, the TBS Conan writer’s special and “An Evening at the Improv”. More info at https://www.dontkeepyourdayjob.com/episodes/brian-kiley

Hollis Belger

A California native and senior at Redwood High School, Hollis Belger is a fundraiser, philanthropy advocate, public speaker, and researcher. At the age of nine, Hollis founded Juggling for Jude, a soccer juggling fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In addition to raising more than $500,000 so far, she has raised awareness worldwide about the hospital and the fight against pediatric cancer. Hollis speaks to students and athletes around the Bay Area, encouraging them to find causes they care about and to make use of passions, talents, and interests as avenues for giving. She also advocates for adult and community efforts to support and help develop purpose in young people, through education, mentorship, and networking. Hollis has partnered with a number of major corporations as part of their social impact outreach and is currently working with the renowned market researcher, Dr. Howard Moskowitz, using his artificial intelligence technology to support St. Jude market research. Hollis has won a number of international, national, and regional awards for service, including the Diana Award, the Prudential Spirit of Community Award, the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award, the President’s Volunteer Service Award (Gold), the US Soccer SheBelieves Hero Award, the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Gate Chapter Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy, and the Carson Scholar Award. Recently named as one of People Magazine’s Teens Changing the World, Hollis has been featured in countless TV and print news outlets, as well as in Sports Illustrated Kids Magazine, A Mighty Girl, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, 60Second Docs, and many more. Outside of her fundraising, research, and public speaking, Hollis is an avid dancer and instructor at Roco Dance in Mill Valley, with a specialty in hip hop. She also enjoys spending time with her friends, her family, and her two small dogs. More info at https://jugglingforjude.com

Jal Mehta

Jal Mehta is Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A sociologist by training, his work focuses on how to remake the industrial-era school system into a modern learning organization that creates purpose and passion for both students and adults. He is the author, most recently, with Sarah Fine, of In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School. Jal is the co-director of the Deeper Learning Dozen, a community of practice of 12 districts across the United States and Canada that are seeking to remake themselves for the future. Jal works with teachers, schools, districts, and states in the United States and around the world, seeking to cull wisdom from leading practitioners and share it with the field. Jal is also the proud recipient of the Morningstar Teaching Award at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. More info at https://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/jal-mehta

Jennifer Golbeck

Jen Golbeck is a world leader in social media research and science communication. She began studying social media from the moment it emerged on the web a decade ago, and is one of the world's foremost experts in the field. Her research has influenced industry, government and the military. She is a pioneer in the field of social data analytics, discovering people's hidden attributes from their online behavior, and a leader in creating human-friendly security and privacy systems. Her TED Talk, "The Curly Fry Conundrum", was named one of the most powerful talks of 2014 by TED. In addition to her work as a professor at the University of Maryland, she writes for top online news organizations, including Slate and The Atlantic, and appears frequently on NPR and commercial talk radio. Jen received an AB in Economics and an SB and SM in Computer Science at the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is an expert on social media, artificial intelligence, and malicious online behavior which keeps her mucking around in the nasty bits of the internet. More info http://jengolbeck.com/index.html

Jenny Kleeman

Jenny Kleeman is a journalist, broadcaster and documentary-maker who has traveled the world finding extraordinary characters to turn into film, print and audio. She writes for the Guardian, The Times, the Sunday Times and Tortoise. She has reported for BBC One's Panorama, Channel 4's Dispatches and VICE News Tonight on HBO, as well as making 13 films from across the globe for Channel 4's Unreported World. She is the host of the Immaculate Deception podcast, and the weekend Breakfast show on Times Radio. Her first book, Sex Robots & Vegan Meat, was published in 2020. More info at https://www.jennykleeman.com

Katherine Ellison

Katherine Ellison won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting two years after surviving an $11 million libel lawsuit for a careless reporting error. Her roller-coaster career is an extreme example of what can happen when you have ADHD. Katherine has more than 30 years of wide-ranging experience in digging for facts, framing messages, and producing vivid prose. From 1984-99, Ellison reported for Knight Ridder Newspapers, winning several awards including a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Since then, she has authored, co-authored, and ghost-written ten books and worked as a communication consultant and speechwriter for clients including Bill Gates, major Silicon Valley investors, the Ford, Packard, and Irvine foundations and Cater Communications. She was diagnosed with the ADHD at age 48, on the heels of her elder son’s diagnosis at age 9, and frequently writes and speaks publicly about the disorder. Her most recent book is the ADHD coming-of-age memoir, “Mothers and Murderers: A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession…and Second Chances.” More info at https://katherineellison.com

Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School. (The Roy Furman chair is in honor of this extraordinary alumnus.) Prior to rejoining the Harvard faculty, where he was the Berkman Professor of Law until 2000, Lessig was a professor at Stanford Law School, where he founded the school’s Center for Internet and Society, and at the University of Chicago. Lessig clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. He serves on the Board of the AXA Research Fund, and is an Emeritus member of the board at Creative Commons. Lessig is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Association, and has received numerous awards, including the Free Software Foundation’s Freedom Award, Fastcase 50 Award. In 2002, he was named one of Scientific American’s Top 50 Visionaries. Lessig holds a BA in economics and a BS in management from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in philosophy from Cambridge, and a JD from Yale. More info at https://lessig.org

Lenice Smith

Lenice was born in Flint, Michigan and raised in Dayton, Ohio; a true Midwesterner. After graduating from Eastern Michigan University she moved to California and received her MBA from Golden Gate University. Her career spanned 18 years in the healthcare arena supporting older adults and families through the continuum of needed care. As a community-minded advocate and nonprofit leader, she continues to support underserved populations ensuring that those in need are served. She is currently the Public Member for the Marin IJ Editorial Board, Advisory Council member and writer for North Bay Woman’s Magazine and Board Member for the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce. In between these various commitments, she is also a speaker and mentor for students in the Barowsky School of Business at Dominican University. Lenice has a bi-racial son from her first marriage, who she guides through the pitfalls of race relations/racial challenges, ensuring he understands his value as a biracial child. In 2014, Lenice met her current partner, Franco Meoli, who has two sons. They are faced with all the normal challenges of raising three boys, along with navigating a blended family in a time fraught with racial tension in our country. Perhaps the best path to erase the lines of prejudice and ignorance is by dulling the lines of color into a blended palette of humanity… Links to https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenicesmith/

Moogega Cooper

A real life “Guardian of the Galaxy,” Dr. Moogega (pronounced Moo-ji-gae) Cooper holds the awesome responsibility of keeping the red planet safe from any of the Earth’s contaminants. Moo is the planetary protection lead of the famed NASA 2020 Mars mission—with its widely-viewed landing on February 18, 2021. Her work is integral to the ongoing mission to discern whether Mars could be habitable for humans without harming what’s already there—a job she has been working up to for most of her life. After graduating from high school at 16, Cooper studied physics as an undergraduate, received a master's degree and went on to earn her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at 24 years old with a dissertation on spacecraft materials. Moogega is a recipient of several awards, including the NASA Early Career Public Achievement Medal, the Charles Elachi Award for Exceptional Early Career Achievement, and JPL Voyager Awards for Technical Leadership. Info https://www.moogega.com

Rosanna Arquette

Many people know Rosanna Arquette as an American actress, film director and film producer. Fewer people know she has been an engaged activist for decades on many of the biggest cultural issues of our times. Rosanna Lisa Arquette was born in New York City to a show business family. She was the first-born child of five in the third generation of the Arquette acting clan. Her grandfather Cliff Arquette played “Charley Weaver” on The Jack Paar Show and was a regular on the original Hollywood Squares. Her father, character actor Lewis Arquette, was well known as “J.D. Pickett” on The Waltons. Her siblings Patricia Arquette, David Arquette, Alexis Arquette and Richmond Arquette all followed her into the family tradition as accomplished working actors. She began acting as a child while growing up in a bohemian atmosphere of gypsy-like travel and communes. Her mother, Mardi, was a poet, political activist and therapist who deeply influenced Rosanna’s compassionate world-view. More info at https://www.rosannaarquette.com/about

Scott Weidensaul

Scott, a world-renowned ornithologist and active field researcher, has spent some 40 years observing and advocating for the protection of birds. His writing career began in 1978 with a weekly natural history column in the local newspaper, the Pottsville Republican in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, where he grew up. In later years he wrote long-running columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Harrisburg Patriot-News. Weidensaul has written more than 30 books, including his widely acclaimed Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds (North Point 1999), which was a finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize. His newest book, A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds (W.W. Norton, U.S.; Picador, U.K.) is a New York Times bestseller. Weidensaul's writing has appeared in dozens of publications, including Audubon, Living Bird, Bird Watcher's Digest and National Wildlife, among many others. He lectures widely on conservation and nature, and directs ornithological programs for National Audubon's famed Hog Island Center on the coast of Maine. He is a co-director of Project Owlnet, a collaborative effort among 125 banding and research stations across North America studying owl migration, and for more than 25 years he has directed a major effort to study the movements of northern saw-whet owls, one of the smallest and least-understood raptors in North America. Weidensaul co-founded Project SNOWstorm, which uses cutting-edge tracking technology to study snowy owls, and is a founder of the Critical Connections project, which is tracking the migration of birds that breed on National Park lands in Alaska. He is also part of a continental effort to understand the rapid evolution, by several species of western hummingbirds, of a new migratory route and wintering range in the East. He co-founded the Northeast Motus Collaboration, which is creating a network of nearly 150 automated telemetry receivers across the mid-Atlantic region and New England to track the movements of bats, insects and small birds. Scott Weidensaul is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society. He and his wife Amy now live in the northern Appalachians of New Hampshire. More info http://www.scottweidensaul.com

Victor Wang

Victor Wang is the CEO of Stockpile, the leading online brokerage for new investors of every kind. He is also the founder of The Stockpile Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing financial awareness and advancing knowledge of financial planning and investing to marginalized communities and at-risk youth. Victor assumed the position of Stockpile CEO in 2019 and founded the Stockpile Foundation in 2021. He currently leads the vision, direction, and growth of Stockpile to provide financial opportunity for those who are disenfranchised and disengaged from their financial future. With more than 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, Victor has a proven track record of building and leading teams to a shared vision, and has worked with numerous financial and consumer brands including Wells Fargo Bank, American Express, Nike, LEGO, Indian Motorcycle, and Jamba Juice. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from the University of Southern California. For More info visit https://www.stockpile.com