Theme: Courage

For 12.12.12 we have chosen the theme Courage. "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." - Sir Winston Churchill

No matter how you define courage, we all have moments when despite our greatest fears, we must find the courage continue to act. This year, TEDxPortofSpain has chosen to explore the theme courage. Join us on 12.12.12 as we explore the theme of “Courage”.

Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago
Eric Williams Plaza
Independence Square
Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago

Nzinga Job

Nzingha was born Nzinga Sibongile Job to Trinidadian parents in Nairobi, Kenya. She currently works as a full-time music and theatre arts teacher in Tobago. Nzingha has been acting, singing and dancing since the age of five and wrote her first screenplay at ten. Although she attributes “taking singing seriously” to the release of the Bryan Adams song “For You”, she, like most artists, lives on the edge of society - watching, observing, interpreting and translating life’s complexities into various forms of expression. Nzinga, is a poet, songwriter, educator, social observer, and actor. She is an artist.

Gervase Warener

E. Gervase Warner is the President and Group CEO of the Neal & Massy Group of Companies. Prior to and throughout his appointment in 2009, he also served as the Executive Chairman of the Group’s Energy & Industrial Gases Business Unit. In 2004, the year in which he joined the Neal & Massy Group, he was also appointed as a Director of Neal & Massy Holdings Limited.

Gillian Lucky

Gillian Lucky is an Attorney at Law who has in the past occupied the positions of Senior State Counsel at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions; Government Senator; Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Opposition Member of Parliament and a Temporary High Court Judge. Gillian is currently the Director of the Police Complaints Authority; a columnist with the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspaper; host of the television programme Just Gill and Principal of the Academy of Tertiary Studies (ATS).

Afra Raymond

Mr. Raymond is a Chartered Surveyor and Managing Director of Raymond & Pierre Limited. He holds a B.Sc. in Land Administration and is also a Professional Member of the RICS with specializations in Valuation, Planning & Development and Property Finance. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in January 2011

Verna St. Rose Greaves

Verna St. Rose Greaves is an experienced professional Social Worker, a long standing feminist, social activist, trade unionist, and Human Rights Advocate. A competent trainer, counsellor, facilitator and development worker she has worked, with government, local and international NGOs and agencies and as an independent consultant. She has done considerable work in the areas of child protection, human rights, social policy development, poverty alleviation, adoption and family services, gender and development, crime and violence in the society, HIV- AIDS, and prison reform.

Peter Weller

Dr. Peter Weller is a Clinical Psychologist whose current work is dedicated to training clinical psychologists and also to engaging men in exploring their concerns and partnering with women to achieve gender equality and social justice. The history of gender conversations in the Caribbean has primarily been one of women talking to women, and when men are involved they often perceive the process as preaching or punishment. Gender is too often understood to be a “woman thing". COURAGE is required to change this conversation. Dr. Weller is the President of The Caribbean Male Action Network - CariMAN.

Sunity Maharaj

Sunity Maharaj, the Managing Director of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies (LBIWI) and editor of The Trinidad and Tobago Review, is a media consultant, journalism lecturer and head of her own multi-media production company. The former editor-in-chief of the Trinidad Express, News Director of TV6 and Group Executive for Editorial & Content Development at One Caribbean Media, she coordinates the Caribbean Civilization required core course, in which Trinity-in-Trinidad partners with the LBIWI. This course includes lectures by leading Trinidad intellectuals, artists, and other figures as well as field trips to sites throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

Christopher Laird

Christopher Laird, has been a teacher, published the arts journal Kairi and ran a theatre in Port of Spain during the 1970s. He has produced over 300 documentaries, dramas and other video productions with Banyan Ltd. over the past 35 years garnering a score of national, regional and international awards.

Patrice Grell Yursik

"Patrice Grell Yursik is the founder of Afrobella®. According to some, she's the Godmother of Brown Beauty Blogging. Trinidadian-born writer Patrice Grell Yursik created Afrobella.com in 2006, to fill a void and to celebrate the inner and outer beauty of women all shades of beautiful. Her popular, award-winning blog shines a loving light on natural hair and the wonderfully wide range of gorgeous skin tones and sizes women come in.