Theme: Amplified

TEDxJHU: Amplified features inspiring speakers from the greater Baltimore area in a variety of fields.

Glass Pavilion
3400 N Charles St
Baltimore, Maryland, 21218
United States

D. Watkins

Author

Dwight Watkins is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Beast Side, The Cook Up, Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised, and We Speak for Ourselves. He is Editor at Large for Salon. He has been featured in the HBO documentary The Slow Hustle and is a writer on We Own the City, an HBO miniseries from David Simon. Mr. Watkins' work has been published in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and other publications. He is a college lecturer at the University of Baltimore and holds a Master's in Education from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Baltimore. His past awards include the BMe Genius Grant for dynamic Black leaders, the City Lit Dambach Award for Service to the Literary Arts, the Maryland Library Association's William Wilson Maryland Author Award, and the Ford's Men of Courage award for Black male storytellers.

David Linden

Professor of Neuroscience

Dr. Linden is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where is laboratory studies the cellular basis of memory storage, recovery of function after brain injury, and other topics regarding brain function. He has a longstanding interest in scientific communication and is famous for making his work more accessible and understandable for those not in the field. He has served many years as the Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology and is also the author of three bestselling books on the biology of behavior for a general audience. His most recent book is Unique: The Science of Human Individuality (Basic Books, 2020). He has appeared on the TED Radio Hour, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, as well as many other media outlets.

Hannah Brancato

Artist, Educator

Hannah Brancato is an artist and educator based in Baltimore. Her art practice is grounded in collective storytelling, and the creation of public rituals to bring people’s stories together. Brancato is dedicated to mobilizing visual culture to uproot and resist white supremacy and rape culture. She is co-founder of FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, an art/organizing collective that produces creative interventions to create a culture of consent. She is faculty at Maryland Institute College of Art, Towson, and UMBC. She was a FORCE collective member from 2010-2020 where she was a recipient of the 2016 Sondheim Prize. She was also a 2015 OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow. In Fall 2021 she was a Studio Resident at VisArts, culminating in the solo exhibition "Inheritance of White Silence," a socially engaged project investigating ways to resist white supremacy culture. Hannah is currently working to document the integral role of art in social justice work.

Legacy Forte

Activist

Legacy Forte, a 22 year old Baltimore Native, found their voice at their alma mater, Baltimore City College. They have been active in LGBTQ Youth Advocacy since as early as 2014 and has served as a founder in the creation of youth groups such as Youth Against Oppression, SOMOS, and most recently BMORE BLXCK. After Mayor Scott was elected, they were appointed to his Youth Recreation Transition Team and shortly thereafter began working as the Administrative Coordinator for FreeState Justice. They are a Certified Critical Medical Needs Program Navigator and HIV Testing & Linkage to Care Counselor. Coupled with being a certified Youth Mental Health Navigator, they dedicate a lot of their time and energy to better not only themselves but the community and world around them.

Melanie Shimano

Educator, Researcher, Entrepreneur

Melanie Shimano is a research fellow at the Harvard Project on Workforce interested in exploring the relationships between postsecondary educational institutions and employer systems to best support learners in achieving sustainable, meaningful, and equitable careers that meet the evolving needs of the 21st century workforce. Melanie previously taught at Johns Hopkins University, in addition to having run K-12 STEM and community engagement programming in Baltimore. She also worked as a data analyst for the Baltimore City government, and led a boutique startup. She was even named recently as one of Forbes 30 Under 30, Baltimore's 40 Under 40, and Maryland's Leading Women for her outstanding work with technology and workforce educational programming in the Baltimore area. Melanie holds an M.Ed from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as well as both an MS in Engineering Management and a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.