Theme: Rethink Innovation

TEDxLogan Circle is reimagining how we thrive as innovators. Serving global thought leaders in Washington, D.C., our 2024 theme, “Rethink Innovation,” highlights innovators empowering their communities and revolutionizing industries by finding creative ways to intersect two or even multiple sectors together. Disruptive technologies like AI, evolutions around flexible work and sustainability, and more are changing how we work and thrive. In today’s quickly-evolving world, innovators must find new solutions to solve complex world problems. We’re looking to highlight innovators from diverse paths who have found unique solutions or learnings by activating across multiple sectors, industries, or skill sets. We want to hear your story, discuss your ideas, and amplify your mission.

By partnering with local organizations and community leaders, we look forward to growing a safe haven where D.C.-based innovators can rethink, reflect, and reimagine how we thrive together.

Join us for TEDxLoganCircle to reimagine what we do across industries to better the world.

Madison Hotel
1177 15th Street, NW
Washington DC, District of Columbia, 20005
United States

Andrew Lunstad

CTO, Terradepth

A technology leader with over 25 years of experience, Andrew has started or worked in startups in online banking, video gaming, mobile applications, and cybersecurity. He has also worked at established software and hardware companies including SAAS, industrial automation and networking, including Cisco Systems, where he was part of the launch team to create the world’s fastest router.

Christopher Chin

Founder & CEO, The Hidden Speaker

While working in the tech industry, Chris saw extremely talented colleagues struggle to get the opportunities they deserved because they couldn’t present, tell a story, and speak with confidence. He decided to make it his mission to close that communication gap. Now he works as Founder & CEO of The Hidden Speaker, a training consultancy that puts tech professionals on the path to confident communication. In a poetic full circle, he used to work at Fortune 500 companies - now he trains technical teams at those companies and around the world with highly specialized communication workshops. As a speaker, coach, and trainer, his work has helped thousands demonstrate leadership through communication, and he is passionate about convincing every introverted, techie out there that they, too, can bring out their hidden speaker.

Evelyn Chou

Sr. Product Manager in Data & AI, Insightsoftware

Evelyn is a connector and technologist with over 10 years of experience across diverse industries like Marketplace, MarTech, and EdTech. She is passionate about helping others navigate the workplace, gain professional clarity, and foster inclusive spaces. Evelyn is a regular speaker at national technology conferences, where she shares her authentic voice and ideas to drive innovation. Growing up, Evelyn dreamed of becoming a TEDx speaker to share her personal journey of adapting to socioeconomic changes, pathfinding across industries, and turning setbacks into learning opportunities. Aligned with the TEDx theme of "rethinking innovation", Evelyn has continuously reinvented herself and transformed those around her, as she believes innovation does not happen in isolation.

Jeanie Chang

Founder and CEO, Noona's Noonchi

Jeanie is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional. She is an accomplished international speaker, providing keynotes and offers workshops for corporations, community organizations, and colleges addressing the intersectionality of mental health and identity, DEIB and psychological safety, as well as education about topics such as burnout, resilience, mindfulness, stress, and mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, and suicidality. She serves as a subject matter expert on mental health for media outlets around the world.

Jessica Childress

Chief Executive Dreamer, Juris Prudence LLC

Ms. Childress is the managing attorney and founder of the Childress Firm PLLC, an employment law firm. Ms. Childress is also the founder of Juris Prudence LLC, a children's educational content company that offers books and educational programming teaching children about leadership and law through the eyes of fictional 11-year-old lawyer, Juris P. Prudence. She has received several honors, including the National Bar Association’s 2018 Young Lawyer of the Year Award and the Washington Bar Association’s 2017-2018 Young Lawyer of the Year Award. Ms. Childress has been named to the 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 D.C. Super Lawyers Rising Stars lists. Ms. Childress is a graduate of the Aspen Institute’s Justice and Society program. She serves as a contributor for Arianna Huffington’s international media outlet, Thrive Global. She has been featured in numerous publications, including Good Morning America, Forbes, Essence, the Huffington Post, Success, Entrepreneur, and Newsweek.

Joseph Santora

Facilities Operations Project Manager, Architect of the Capitol

Joseph, a Maryland resident, brings a wealth of experience from his extensive travels and distinguished career. He has contributed to prominent organizations such as the Architect of the Capitol, Meridian International, Transurban USA, Key School, Raytheon Nuclear, and Detroit Edison. With a unique background that seamlessly blends architecture, environment, and space, Joseph is adept at engaging diverse audiences. His insights illuminate how these elements can inspire and shape the imagination and activities within them. Joseph is eager to share a preview of his enlightening talk.

Kristin Malek

Director of Business Diversity, CDW

Kristin Malek serves as the Director of Business Diversity at CDW. In this role, Malek has firmly established an innovative business diversity strategy that aligns with CDW’s core values. As the architect of CDW’s diverse supply chain with more than 1100+ suppliers, Malek ensures CDW’s continued investment in diversity, equality, and inclusion within their businesses. She is responsible for the firm’s total spend with diverse partners that in 2022 alone reached more than $3Billion. Under Kristin’s leadership, CDW was inducted into the prestigious Billion Dollar Roundtable and was named a Supplier Diversity Excellence Champion by Gartner. Malek is a member of the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC), an advisory board member for Chicago Blend, and serves as Vice Chair of the Chicago Minority Supplier Diversity Council. Malek is mother to two young girls and fosters their curiosity, independence and education but most of all grit and a will to succeed.

Margaux Masson-Forsythe

Director of Machine Learning, Surgical Data Science Collective

As the Director of Machine Learning at Surgical Data Science Collective (SDSC), a non-profit startup that is utilizing computer vision to improve surgical skills, Masson-Forsythe is passionate about applying technology to make a positive impact. With a background in computer science and expertise in machine learning, she has dedicated my career to optimizing algorithms that can automate and streamline complex processes. Her work involves leading research focused on utilizing video data from surgeries to develop tools that can provide surgeons with immediate feedback and insights on their performance. This is a critical area of need, as surgical training is currently very limited and physicians often rely on feedback solely from their mentors.

Rami Amin

Director, Innovation and Global Insights, Visa Inc.

Rami is the Director of Innovation at Visa, and a Fellow of the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute. With a mission to uplift everyone, everywhere, his work brings together insights from innovation, product design, government policy, and social impact to re-imagine how fintech can support financial inclusion and advance economic development. Prior to joining Visa he led several initiatives at The World Bank, helping governments accelerate digital transformation objectives. He co-led the Bank’s Secretariat for Mainstreaming Digital and Disruptive Technologies, managed its thought leadership series on digital development, and served on several working groups including the UN-Interagency WG on AI, GlobalPolicy.AI, and the Global Forum on Law, Justice, and Development. He earned a PhD / DPhil from Oxford, an MPP from Harvard, and was an International Affairs Fellow at Princeton.

Sarah Yourgrau

CEO & Founder, Common Ground Studios

As a Social Anthropologist (M.A.), Emmy-winning social impact producer and founder of Common Ground Studios, storytelling isn’t just “what I do”, but the only way I know how to experience and interact with the world. Over the past 15 years, my work has taken me into the Central American jungle, Hollywood studio lots, indigenous reservations, suburban high-schools, Appalachian coal-mines, SNL writers rooms, Wyoming cowboy conventions, the floor of the United Nations and quinceañera’s in the Bronx. As a second-generation American, Jewish-Uniterian Universalist who attended Catholic high school (but prayed to the gods of theater!) I have seen intimately the power of “belief” to either co-create or co-destroy the constructions of possible realities. And those beliefs have all been fed through the consumption of and commitment to a story.

Serin Oh

Artist, Singer Songwriter

During her time at Berklee College of Music, Serin Oh discovered her love for songwriting whilst also rediscovering her faith and Korean roots. She found her love for nonprofit space and the power of uniting communities based on the description that often made them a minority in society, the title that made them a secret outcast. This led her to on a search for a sound and process that would allow people to become curious about their identity by creativity. The artist, actor, and LLC owner, Serin Oh is currently based in Cincinnati Ohio.

Whitney Ellenby

Founder, Autism Ambassadors

Whitney is a former US DOJ Disability Rights Attorney, author of the award-winning nonfiction book "Autism Uncensored: Pulling Back the Curtain" (2018), and mother of a 22-year-old son with autism. She is an Autism Spectrum expert who has contributed to numerous media outlets, including The Washington Post, Newsweek, and PBS News. She was honored to be selected as a “Local Hero” by Congressman Jamie Raskin. Additionally, she is the founder of "Autism Ambassadors," a charitable venture through which she has organized exclusive recreational events for 15 years, benefiting over 1,000 families impacted by autism in the DMV area.