The path to adulthood is, at times, a rough one. These talks offer words of comfort and heaps of advice for those moments when life feels way too overwhelming.

At the Royal Institution in 1991, Richard Dawkins asks us to look at our universe with new eyes. Packed with big questions and illuminating visuals, this memorable journey through the history of life magnifies the splendor of evolution and our place in it.

Whether it’s grades and test scores, cushy jobs or big salaries, our ideas of “success” tend to be incredibly narrow and often start incredibly early. Julie Lythcott-Haims is a New York Times bestselling author and former Dean of Freshmen at Stanford, and she is dedicated to helping people reconsider what really makes a happy, “successful” adult...

Faith Jegede tells the moving and funny story of growing up with her two brothers, both autistic -- and both extraordinary. In this talk from the TED Talent Search, she reminds us to pursue a life beyond what is normal.

Actor Thandiwe Newton tells the story of finding her "otherness" -- first, as a child growing up in two distinct cultures, and then as an actor playing with many different selves. A warm, wise talk, fresh from the stage at TEDGlobal 2011.

In an ode to the neighborhood that raised and inspired her, 2024 National Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco performs her stirring poem that explores the experience of growing up in the Bronx; highlighting the true colors of her community and the meaning of home and belonging.

What does it take to build a national movement? In a captivating conversation with TEDWomen curator Pat Mitchell, Marian Wright Edelman reflects on her path to founding the Children's Defense Fund in 1973 -- from the early influence of growing up in the segregated American South to her activism with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- and shares how g...

Growing up in the US in predominantly white communities, Canwen Xu struggled to reconcile her American and her Chinese identities. She explains the unique ways that racial bias affects Asian Americans — and shares how she has learned to embrace all of the different parts of her background.

Growing up in Poland under communist rule, artist Agnieszka Pilat has always found hope and freedom in technology. Accompanied onstage by the infamous quadruped robot Spot, she explains why humanity is like a collective parent to AI, making the case that machines are our legacy — and warning us not to let techno-pessimism turn into a self-fulfil...

Growing up means facing new challenges -- but for some kids, uncertain situations lead to anxiety that parents often seek to soothe. Psychologist Anne Marie Albano explains how constantly rushing to fix a child's problems can perpetuate a lifelong cycle of dependence and resentment -- and shares why a healthy dose of risk helps kids cultivate la...

As actress Nicole Maines points out, we all unwittingly play supporting roles in each others' life stories -- for better or worse. With charm and aplomb, she shares her experience growing up as a trans youth, emphasizing the big and small ways community acceptance can affect the course of a deeply personal journey.

For children growing up in refugee camps, education is a powerful tool of liberation. In this inspiring talk, Makhtoum Abdalla, displaced as a child in Sudan and now living with his family in the Otash camp in Darfur, shares his biggest dream: to ensure all children are educated and taught the skills needed to become "captains of their destiny."

Delali Bright shares her personal story of how growing up in West Africa, she was bullied and marginalized for being skinny. Her family worried about her, put her on diets, and found her embarrassing and shameful. Then, she moved to the U.S. in her 30s, where she was suddenly seen as beautiful! Through her story, Delali illuminates the importanc...

For months Uma Adwani struggled to make a living in a new city, until she was hired to teach a subject she loathed most: math. Growing up Adwani despised the subject, but as she developed lesson plans for her class, she began to fall in love with its magic, poetry and symmetry. In this talk, Adwani shares the secret wisdom she's found hidden in ...

Growing up in the public eye, multi-hyphenate creator Bryce Dallas Howard experienced the familiar pressure to share her life with the world on social media. But with her mother's steadfast guidance, Howard learned to set personal boundaries and savor the beauty of private moments. In this personal talk, she draws on three generations of family ...

Growing up as a comic book fan, artist Shawn Martinbrough rarely saw people of color depicted positively (or at all) in the stories he loved. So he headed over to New York Comic Con to wrangle himself his first assignment for Marvel Comics. Now, as a successful artist who has worked on "Black Panther" and "Hellboy," he shares the importance of d...

As the child of an Afghan mother and Pakistani father raised in Norway, Deeyah Khan knows what it's like to be a young person stuck between your community and your country. In this powerful, emotional talk, the filmmaker unearths the rejection and isolation felt by many Muslim kids growing up in the West -- and the deadly consequences of not emb...

It's true: talking about menstruation makes many people uncomfortable. And that taboo has consequences: in India, three out of every 10 girls don't even know what menstruation is at the time of their first period, and restrictive customs related to periods inflict psychological damage on young girls. Growing up with this taboo herself, Aditi Gup...

Growing up tinkering in his father's workshop, Robin Hooker always had a space to reimagine the world -- to modulate, mashup, remix and repair things. As an adult, he realized not everyone has access to a space where they can safely experiment. Hooker argues for democratizing access to public, shared workshops, commonly called "makerspaces," tha...

Fatmata Binta’s experience growing up in war-torn, food-scarce Sierra Leone inspired her lifelong passion for uniting people through food. As an advocate for Indigenous food systems, she celebrates the wisdom of rural African women’s culinary techniques through her nomadic restaurant, Dine On A Mat, which invites people to partake in and preserv...

How can Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace? Palestinian peacemaker Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli peacemaker Maoz Inon discuss the immeasurable tragedies they've experienced growing up in the region — and how they choose reconciliation over revenge, again and again. With a fierce belief in a better future, they talk about conflict, safety, find...

Growing up in England, Pico Iyer was taught that the point of a game was to win. Now, some 50 years later, he's realized that competition can be "more like an act of love." In this charming, subtly profound talk, he explores what regular games of ping-pong in his neighborhood in Japan have revealed about the riddle of winning -- and shows why no...

Growing up, Saul Perlmutter just wanted to know how the world worked. In 2011, he was part of the Nobel Prize-winning team that discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe. Saul and Adam talk about how science and knowledge evolve, what surprising emotions come with discovery, and why the combination of individual humility and collecti...

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee thought her country was "the best on the planet." It wasn't until the famine of the 90s that she began to wonder. She escaped the country at 14, to begin a life in hiding, as a refugee in China. Hers is a harrowing, personal tale of survival and hope -- and a powerful reminder of those who face ...

Nearly fifteen percent of the world's population lives with a disability, yet this massive chunk of humanity is still routinely excluded from opportunities. Sharing her experience growing up with an autistic sister, disability inclusion advocate Meghan Hussey illuminates the path towards an inclusive future in four steps, and it starts with an a...

Buying cheap clothing online can be satisfying, but it comes with not-so-hidden environmental costs. When designer Diarra Bousso was growing up in Senegal, her family bought and created new outfits for longevity rather than on impulse — an intention she carries forth in her fashion tech brand. Outlining three sustainable principles, including cr...

Michael Tubbs is the youngest mayor in American history to represent a city with more than 100,000 people -- and his policies are sparking national conversations. In this rousing talk, he shares how growing up amid poverty and violence in Stockton, California shaped his bold vision for change and his commitment to govern as a neighbor, not a pol...

Artist and poet Cleo Wade recites a moving poem about being an advocate for love and acceptance in a time when both seem in short supply. Woven between stories of people at the beginning and end of their lives, she shares some truths about growing up (and speaking up) and reflects on the wisdom of a life well-lived, leaving us with a simple yet ...

Believe it or not, it's often difficult to get people to claim abandoned funds, whether from a forgotten savings account, an uncashed check or a long-ago refund. Why is this? Unclaimed funds manager Monica Johnson posits that, as a society, we have been sucked into a throwaway culture, where we'd rather toss aside what's ours rather than deal wi...

Dasha Navalnaya is the daughter of Alexey Navalny, the politician and leader of the Russian opposition to Vladimir Putin. Sharing the story of her father's poisoning, persecution and imprisonment, she details what it was like growing up under the watchful eye of government surveillance as her father led a decade-long investigation into the corru...