2019 Speakers
MARK ANDERSON
My name is Mark Anderson. I’m a poet, and Spokane’s most recent poet laureate. I’ve been performing poetry and organizing poetry events in Spokane for over a decade. I’m one of the co-founders of the cult classic Broken Mic readings series, as well as several other events. I’ve traveled all across the country performing in coffee shops, schools, poetry slams, bars, parks, and basements.
KIANTHA DUNCAN
Kiantha is an avid writer, artist and philanthropist. In her profession she serves as a Program Officer at Empire Health Foundation. For over 20 years Kiantha has been recognized nationally as a community advocate, mobilizer and leader. As a former foster child having experienced traumatic Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Kiantha’s lived experience, passion and long standing commitment to leadership serve as drivers for both her personal and professional life. As a speaker, columnist, author and radio personality Kiantha enjoys helping others actualize their potential in the aftermath of having experienced trauma.
AVERY FRAZIER
Avery Frazier is an eighteen-year-old death enthusiast based in Billings, Montana. She has held a particular passion for all things morbid throughout her life and decided at a young age to pursue a career in mortuary science due to this. Her mission in life is to promote a death-positive outlook in each person she comes into contact with alongside acting as a political catalyst for more inclusive and liberal death legislation in the United States of America.
LINDA HUNT
Linda Lawrence Hunt is co-founder of the Krista Foundation for Global Citizenship, an award-winning author, and former professor and director of the Writing Program at Whitworth University. A graduate of the University of Washington, she earned her Ph.D. from Gonzaga University. As the mother of a 25-year-old daughter who was killed while volunteering in Bolivia, plus a two-time cancer survivor, she has a strong interest in exploring the inner resources that give people resilience, strength and purpose.
KARLI INGERSOLL
Karli Ingersoll is a Spokane native, a designer, artist and arts organizer. She co-owns The Bartlett and Lucky You Lounge and is a songwriter/musician in several local bands including Super Sparkle, Cathedral Pearls and her solo project Windoe. She’s worked the past six years as a Spokane Arts Commissioner and runs the blog Collect to encourage and bolster the local arts scene.
KIMBER LYBBERT
I am a National Board-certified teacher at Moses Lake High school, and my students keep telling me I need to write a book or give a TED talk. I don’t think this is because of who I am, but because of who they are. This year, their argumentative research projects answer the question: What is it like to be a member of the class of 2020? Topics range from the lack of mental health counseling to the emerging mercantile nature of teen sexuality. Their stories reach down inside your core, draw the contents of your chest up through your sinus cavity, and lodge the debris somewhere behind your prefrontal cortex. They are beautiful and powerful and broken and patched together in ways that allow the best light of humanity to shine through them.
ERIN LYDON
Erin is an investor, strategist, keynote speaker and coach. Much of her working life was spent in Chicago, first as a fundraising executive and then as a private banker at JPMorgan. She received her undergraduate degree in English Literature and French from Bates College and her MBA in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. More recently, she served as an independent corporate director for a technology company based in Denver, and for a privately-held brain health company in Chicago.
Erin speaks to corporate and non-profit audiences on business topics including “Equal Pay for Equal Work: Trends, Legislation and Best Practices,” “Confidence: Tales and Techniques to Disrupt Your Status Quo,” “Disrupt the Pay Gap: Groupthink Hurts Equal Pay,” and “10 Things Your MBA Won’t Teach You.” She teaches Global Strategic Management in Whitworth University’s MBA program and helped establish Whitworth’s Leadership360 Speaker Series.
For the past six years, Erin has coached North Idaho XC, a Jr. Olympic team comprised of 30 elite youth runners including 13 All-Americans. Erin grew up in Maine. She currently lives near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
BENJAMIN MAIXNER
Benjamin is a Spokane native living in Los Angeles. He is a board-certified behavior analyst providing behavioral and organizational consulting. He currently serves as the Director of Programs at Exceptional Minds, a vocational program training adults with autism to work in visual effects and animation. The program has afforded these artists the opportunity to work on projects such as Black Panther, Avengers: End Game, Star Wars, and Game of Thrones to name a few. He has nearly finished his PhD (ABD) in applied behavior analysis but has been working in the field of autism for 15 years. Benjamin has seen first-hand the struggles that individuals with autism and their families have faced exiting the educational system and transitioning into the workforce. He is committed to making a difference for this population by trying to create opportunities for meaningful participation in the workforce and society more broadly.
ABBY MILLER
Abby Miller is a consultant specializing in developing effective, nutritious school meal programs for rural communities throughout Eastern Washington. As a registered dietitian, she focuses her work on educating faculties and students alike on everything from scratch cooking skills to the nutritional importance of fresh produce. As a mother of two young girls, she is passionate about child nutrition education and the important role that food has in the social, emotional, mental, and physical development of children.
TOM MUELLER
NICOLETTE OCHELTREE
My name is Nicolette Ocheltree and I’m a philosopher from Spokane, Washington. I went to college at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and graduate school at Columbia University in New York. When I am not working on my new book, I am probably talking someone’s ear off about current affairs or spending time with my bearded dragon and chickens.
RYAN OELRICH
Ryan Oelrich is an artist, advocate, and community builder. He serves as the Executive Director of Priority Spokane, a nationally recognized collective impact organization, and he’s a Culture of Health Fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He was awarded the Peirone Prize for service in 2016, and he’s received congressional recognition for his work on poverty and homelessness issues. Oelrich built a Hobbit house which serves as the office for his consulting business, and he’s founded 3 nonprofits focused on youth development. He’s an advocate for healthy communities and increased collaboration. This is Ryan’s 2nd TEDx talk, and he’s proudly married to Robert Thompson who’s also presenting at this year’s TEDx Spokane event.”
CARLA SHAYMAN
Carla Shayman was born and raised in southwest Florida where she was active in gymnastics and other sports growing up. She obtained a Bachelor’s of Science in Health with a minor in Exercise Science from the University of North Florida and then received a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Northeastern University in Boston. Carla now works as a physical therapist with a board certification in orthopedics. She has had a lifelong passion for staying physically active and loves spreading that passion to others. She is committed to showing others how to use movement as medicine and incorporate physical activity and stretching into their daily lives.
ROBERT THOMPSON
2019 Salon Gallery
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- John Tomkowiak, 2017 Speaker Alumnus, at TEDxSpokane Salon at Indaba
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- Q&A with 2017 speaker John Tomkowiak at TEDxSpokane Salon #1, June 26.
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- Alan Chatham, 2015 speaker at Salon #2, August 21.
2018 Event Gallery
Tickets & Map
TICKETS NOT POSTED 2020 EVENT
TEDxSpokane 2020 will be at the Bing Crosby Theater
Come early. Doors open at 8:30am on day of the show.
BE PART OF THE FUTURE OF TEDxSPOKANE.
Welcome to TEDxSpokane. We invite you to collaborate with us in creating a community of idea sharing and inspiration. This is how we change the world— one idea at a time. This high-energy daylong event will feature shared ideas and entertaining presentations citizens of the Inland Empire and beyond.
This October marks our sixth live event and it will originate from the historic Bing Crosby Theater in downtown Spokane. Our 2016 event was sold out, attended by 400 people and videos have been viewed by over a quarter of a million people online.
We believe that sharing ideas can change attitudes, lives and ultimately our world. TEDxSpokane is part of a growing phenomenon known as TED. TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to sharing ideas. It started in 1984 as a conference of people seeking to share their knowledge in the worlds of technology, entertainment and design. TED now conducts live conferences featuring some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers. Videos from those conferences are available online and more than a billion people have viewed and grown intellectually as a result.
Those of us in the Pacific Northwest and Spokane have great ideas as well. That’s why we created TEDxSpokane and all of the activities involved with the nonprofit organization. Each year our volunteer organizers seek to find and give a stage to people in our community and others with great ideas. And each year, we connect with the international TED community and host viewing events to give national and international ideas a chance to be seen and heard on our local stage. We invite you to be part of TEDxSpokane.
JAMIE TENDER
TEDxSpokane, Founder and Licensee
BE PART OF SOMETHING MEANINGFUL.
We’re reaching out to a select group of organizations that are committed to the power of ideas and asking them to partner to help make TEDxSpokane activities possible.
We aren’t interested in selling ad space, our goal is to create lasting partnerships with organizations that want to be part of and add depth to the TEDxSpokane experience. Our presenters address some of humanity’s toughest challenges offering answers through innovation, enterprise and optimism. We seek to highlight local and regional ideas that inspire people to change their lives, their communities, and their world. Your partnership will help make this great event possible.
Join our community of thinkers, and benefit from an individually tailored partnership.
Patrick Ream
TEDxSpokane, Business Development
Download
The TEDxSpokane mobile app is designed to help you connect to other TEDx enthusiasts and the event.
Stay connected with TEDxSpokane after the event, too, as we host a variety of related events like Salons and Meet Ups.
Organizers
JAMIE TENDER
Jamie Tender is the Head of School for Saint George’s, in charge of school advancement, teaching and learning, faculty and administration. As the Founder of TEDxSpokane, Jamie oversees all operations for the annual event, which began in 2011. He also serves as a speaker coach for several speakers each year. Each independently organized TEDxSpokane is Saint George’s gift to the community, bringing together thought leaders from throughout the country, while highlighting Inland Northwest’s connection to TED. Jamie has been with Saint Georges School since 2003, elevating the non-sectarian, independent school to a K-12 leader in providing International Baccalaureate education to students from the Inland Northwest, Asia and Europe. He holds a BA in Economics from Denison University and an MA in Sports Administration from Georgia State University. Jamie and his wife Elizabeth have a son playing hoops for the University of Redlands, a daughter modeling for IMG and another daughter gracing the halls of Saint George’s.
GRACE LEAF
Grace Leaf’s affiliation with TEDxSpokane began in 2012, when she served as its Emcee and a speaker coach. This is her second and last year serving as Curator, responsible for selecting the speakers and producing the live program. Grace also licensed TEDxCCS in 2013, serving as Curator at the Community Colleges of Spokane (CCS), only the second community college in the country to do a TEDx event. Grace holds a BA in Communication from Washington State University and an MA in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. As the Director of Human Resources for CCS, she holds two globally recognized HR certifications–the SPHR and SHRM-SCP. Grace is the parent of a Saint Georges alum and a former Parent Association officer.
MIKE POUTIATINE
Mike Poutiatine is a university professor and educational consultant in Spokane. Mike has worked on every TEDx Spokane since we started doing them – Mike is a founding Board member of Northwest x Talks, the non-profit founded to support TEDx Spokane. In the photo – I am the one on the left.
CHARLIE WOLFF
Charlie Wolff works in business development for the City of Spokane, and a Saint George’s alum, organizes community engagement projects for TEDxSpokane. Charlie is committed to mobilizing the residents of Spokane and the region around ideas shared at TEDxSpokane events.
This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED.