TEDxDDWomen
TED is a non-profit devoted to ideas worth sharing. They have groups and speakers came and share their stories, whether it’s about creating a safer environment for both Masaai and Lions or on the Power of Vulnerability. Eventually, individual groups wanted to host their own TED style talks, which led to the introduction of TEDx events. The TEDxDDWomen is hosted by a group of women in the Distillery District, Toronto. I found out about the TEDx event via Twitter and quickly filled out the application. The next day I heard back and found out that I had gotten into the event! I headed over to Airship 37 in the distillery district, the location for this years event. It was a gorgeous space with a pretty spectacular bus as part of the patio furniture. I got to know some of the other women in attendance and could tell from the vibe and conversation that these women (and men) will make waves in the world. Some of the people I met include Danielle The who is helping plan Devs Beyond Borders amongst various other projects. I also met Amanda who works at Rangle.io and is constantly blasting out some of the great things that Rangle is doing.
We eventually moved to the presentation area for the speakers, and were greeted by the incredible Jahmeelah Gamble. She was the Emcee for the event and did such a great job weaving the speakers together, helping embody the power and spirit of the women in the room.
Needless to say, the speakers were incredible. You could see how much preparation each speaker had put into their talks, as well as the number of rehearsals they must have done. It definitely paid off! Speaking to some of the women after the event, and one thing everyone said was how much they enjoyed listening to the talks. If the videos to some of these talks are ever released, I’ll link them in this post. For now, here’s a photo of the event organizers and speakers.
As usual, I tweeted out some of my favorite quotes from the speakers, and will be using them as a point of reference. (Disclaimer: these are slightly paraphrased). The first speaker, Jaeny Baik spoke about how she became the “New Face of Video for Women”, as a TV Host for CBC. I love how open she was about her journey getting into television, and focused to some extent on her feelings of insecurity as a non-white “perfect” woman being broadcasted. She insisted that we, as women, should “celebrate [our] insecurities, it’s part of being human”, and encouraged us to get involved with the online video revolution that is happening all over the world. She did a great job setting the tone for the rest of the days, as well as the caliber of speakers that were about to come up.
There were so many memorable speakers, here are just a few that I’d like to mention. Anita Li is an editor at Mashable, and recently founded and released The Other Wave which explores films and TV shows from a diverse perspective. Brenda Gallie is quite literally saving the lives of little children with her work that is heavily focused on retinoblastoma. Basma Hameed shared how she grew up with burns on her face, used tattoos as a way to hide the scars and turned this into a new business specifically designed to help people with scars rebuild their self confidence. Emily Wright shared how she went from attending a private school to the events that made her homeless and the numerous struggles she faced to get herself out of the homeless life.
At the end of the day, Jahmeelah asked the audience to share, in one word, how the talks had made us feel. The consensus was simple:
Inspiring. Empowering. Enchanting. Voice
Watching each speaker share their story and learning about the things that they have had to overcome is inspiring. The energy from their talks were empowering. The talks themselves, the performances where relevant, were mesmerizing and enchanting. Most importantly, each speaker reminded us that we have a voice and that our voice has the power to make waves and change the world around us.
Here are other fantastic quotes from the event.
Some women do it half assed and it’s not because they’re not good enough, it’s because they don’t think they’re good enough
If you have an idea, a big idea, and it doesn’t happen in a year don’t give up!
Let’s make #likeagirl mean something positive again
I am alive, and so are you
Speak so that that raised voice you hear at 2 am is you changing the world.
Your voice might come out in written word or a microphone… but you have a voice.
As part of any TEDxWomen event, we live streamed some of the talks that were happening at TEDWomen. The one I remember most fondly was done by Roxane Gay who talked about her book Bad Feminist which focuses on her personal experiences and has been a great read so far. Here’s a quote from the book:
I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying — trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.
The event was incredible. It was my first experience at any TED or TEDx event, and I definitely hope to go for many more in the future. I also highly recommend them to anyone else who is interested in going too.
