5 TEDxTalks Lessons

This Friday,I will be attending TEDxRexburg and I am so excited! To help you understand how cool it is that I was selected, only 100 people were invited to attend. I have had a few people ask me what this event is, so I thought what a perfect blog topic, then 5 of my personal favorite TED talks. 

Taken straight from Wikipedia:
  “TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences run by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan "Ideas Worth Spreading". TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event; the annual conference series began in 1990.TED's early emphasis was technology and design, consistent with its Silicon Valley origins, but it has since broadened its focus to include talks on many scientific, cultural and academic topics.”

Some will argue that TED is a liberal point of view,  However, I am confident that anyone can find a talk that they would enjoy; each topic is unique and can open the door to the listener on a different way of think.There are talks even given to children BY children. Not every talk has caught my attention, but here are 5 that have (links will be included for your viewing pleasure, along with pictures of the speaker taken straight from the  TED website)!

    1.       “Want to be an activist? Start with your toys” - McKenna Pope
                This talk was given in 2013. At the time Mckenna was 14 years and when she was 13 she convinced Hasbro, to change the way they marketed a popular toy, the Easy Bake Oven.
You might ask “Why would this girl do this?” Well it was for her little brother! He wanted to be a chef and using the easy bake oven would be his starting point, but with the target audience being girls, this little boy was discouraged. She decided to make a change. To find out more, click the link to see the process McKenna took to have her voice heard.
                What I love about this talk is McKenna’s spunk and fearlessness.  Before T. Swift made it cool, McKenna boldly proclaims: HATERS GONNA HATE. 


2.       “If I should have a daughter…” – Sarah Kay

                If you have never heard about spoken word poetry, well look no further, here is your crash course. Sarah Kay has a passion in educating others about the importance of expressing yourself and even shares some of her work including, “B” and “Hiroshima”. I have looked her up on YouTube before and she is very talented.
                She founded Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry as a literacy and empowerment tool. Through Project VOICE, performances and workshops are done in schools and communities around the world to encourage people to engage in creativity. She uses her experience with VOICE to give an example of how she reaches a young girl.
                Before this talk, I had never heard of Spoken Word Poetry.  I did see the popular 90's movie, “She’s All That” and that poetry performance was weird. Sarah is funny and personable, a real person, someone you would want to meet up with at a park.  After you listen to this talk, you will want to write your own poem!

    3. “Why we have too few women leaders” – Sheryl Sandberg
                Sheryl Sandberg, single handily, changed my opinion when it came to feminism and women’s issues. Before I assumed every woman who said she was a feminist was a "femi-nazi". Sheryl is an amazing woman who is not afraid to talk about women’s issues in the work place and even how men are affected. After I listened to her talk, I read her book “Lean In”, which is an expansion of her talk. What I love about Sheryl is that she expresses it is okay to be a stay at home mom and its okay to be a  working mom. She is a successful woman being the COO of Facebook, a wife, and a mom of a daughter and a son.
                Her talk inspires me to be the best woman I can be and not let the world intimated me. She discusses how women hold themselves back because of our failure and we need to help build one another up. It’s a unique way to look at feminism issues, because it a world issue. Along with this talk and her book, I would encourage you to check out “Lean In’s” current project: #LeanInTogether


4. "I am a son of a terrorist. Here's how I chose peace" - Zak Ebrahim 

 I heard this talk Fall 2014 Semester at BYU-Idaho in my "Terrorism and National Security Class" (a personal favorite class). What is unique about this talk, is it really puts a face to a family of a terrorist. Zak Ebrahim does not focus on terrorism or justify his father's actions, but talks about his (Zak) choice on how to live his own life. Just because we are born in certain circumstances, we determine what our future is. His courage to stand up and tell his mom he will not have a prejudice or hatred against others is very admirable, but what was surprising is how his mother agreed with him.
I also feel like this is an important talk because of what kind of world we live in. Before 9/11 I feel like not a lot of people knew or understood the Middle East and the Islam. And I  feel like this because I never knew what a Muslim was until 9/11 and then I was taught to be fearful of them and I did "other" them. I assume that I am not the only person to feel like this, but we do see a growing prejudice and hatred for the Islam community and we assume every Islam is a terrorist or capable of becoming one, however, they aren't. This is a talk that can help anyone begin to break stereotypes against the Islam and Middle East community. 

Picking #5 was really difficult because I love so many TED talks, especially the ones that address women's issues. I know I needed to show variety in this  post to show what TED has to offer. With that said #5 is something we do not discuss, but we should!

5. "What I learned in jail as a kid"- Ismael Nazario

 Before he was 18, Ismael spent 400 days on Rikers Island, a jail complex in New York, and 300 of those days were spent in solitary confinement. What I like about this talk is the eagerness in helping young people. When I hear of a young person being convicted and sent to jail, my first thought is, "What a waste" and instead of building and teaching these young people, we are throwing them away to rot. I understand what they do was wrong and there are consequences for our actions.
I think it is perfect when Ismael says, "Jails are actually suppose to rehabilitate a person, not cause him or her to become angry, frustrated, and feel more hopeless." He mentions about discharge plans and how correctional officers can be used to mentor young people; Build them up, don't prepare them for the next crime. Currently, Ismael works for Fortune Society, an organization that assists in helping people to reentry society after prison. 

I hope you enjoy these talks and take time in finding some talks that you enjoy. Let me know what you think about these and if you find any, please share!