TEDxSalem

Ideas worth spreading

announcement

Creativity for all: Meet TEDxSalem speaker Laura Mack

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Laura Mack

Art makes the impos­si­ble pos­si­ble.

Salem artist Lau­ra Mack bridged the gap between Trump and Hillary sup­port­ers even if it was just on can­vas. She start­ed with pho­tographs of scream­ing pro­test­ers and then redrew the faces in char­coal, soft­en­ing their eyes, clos­ing their mouths.

“I tried to turn these angry pro­test­ers into thought­ful lis­ten­ers,” she said, “bring­ing us to the table to lis­ten to each oth­er.”

She hopes peo­ple see that it’s pos­si­ble to find com­mon ground. Mack doesn’t have much time for her art these days as a moth­er of two, col­lege instruc­tor and art advo­cate, but she does spend a lot of time think­ing about the cre­ative process.

The abil­i­ty to see things and solve prob­lems in a new way is not just for artists, she said. It’s a vital skill for every­one.

That thought inspired her to cre­ate a class at Chemeke­ta Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege that fos­ters the cre­ative process. Most of her stu­dents don’t con­sid­er them­selves artists.

Art is one of the tools she uses to teach, but it’s not the only one. Stu­dents also do improv, cre­ate lists, per­form, make books and invent. One time she asked stu­dents to pick two objects, such as a bench and a con­vey­er belt, and think up 50 inven­tions.

“After about nine,” she said, “things start to get inter­est­ing.”

“We’ve been trained to get one right answer,” she said, “instead of stick­ing with it and com­ing up with a bet­ter idea.”

That process of being inspired, ask­ing ques­tions, tak­ing time, incu­bat­ing ideas and refin­ing leads to bet­ter ideas whether that’s in com­put­er sci­ence or psy­chol­o­gy, she said.

But many col­lege stu­dents strug­gle at first because they haven’t thought this way since ele­men­tary school, she said. As an art advo­cate, Mack devel­ops pro­grams that will keep the cre­ative process in schools through col­lege.

“Cre­ativ­i­ty needs to be main­tained from a very young age,” she said. “We don’t want to wait until col­lege.”

When she’s not teach­ing or cre­at­ing, Mack hangs out with her two boys, hus­band and their new pup­py Vad­er as in Darth Vad­er.

“It’s an iron­ic name because he’s incred­i­bly sweet,” she said.

She also vol­un­teers at her son’s school, offer­ing art class­es. That expe­ri­ence inspired anoth­er pro­gram meant to fos­ter the cre­ative spark. Hear more about Mack’s vision to keep that spark going in Salem-Keiz­er schools and in class­rooms around the world at TEDxSalem V.

Get your tickets for TEDxSalem V

TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Pur­chase tick­ets here. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Brad Burge has an ‘idea worth spreading’ for a solution to help with PTSD

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Brad BurgeTEDxSalem is proud to announce anoth­er sur­prise speak­er for our Jan­u­ary 6, 2018, event “Through the Look­ing Glass.”

A few months ago, Brad Burge returned from Burn­ing Man, the tem­po­rary city of artists and cre­ators in the Neva­da desert. He was there vol­un­teer­ing for the Zen­do Project, a group that sup­ports peo­ple who are hav­ing dif­fi­cult episodes with psy­che­delics or oth­er drugs.

Brad is Direc­tor of Strate­gic Com­mu­ni­ca­tions for the Mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary Asso­ci­a­tion for Psy­che­del­ic Stud­ies (MAPS), an asso­ci­a­tion that rethinks the role of psy­che­del­ic drugs in our soci­ety. The Zen­do Project falls in line with the first part of MAPS’ mis­sion: edu­cate and reduce harm.

“We don’t call it a bad trip,” Brad said, “because every psy­che­del­ic event brings up infor­ma­tion that needs to be dealt with. The Zen­do Project has found that they can pro­vide sup­port in a way that offers the best out­come pos­si­ble.”

Tra­di­tion­al respons­es of police or med­ical per­son­nel, while well mean­ing, he said, can make a bad trip worse. Those respons­es don’t allow a per­son to fin­ish pro­cess­ing the thoughts and mem­o­ries that have come up. At Zen­do Project, in con­cert with law enforce­ment and med­ical staff, they sit with the per­son, offer sup­port and lis­ten until they are safe to return to their friends. Brad reports that the ser­vice is so suc­cess­ful that Burn­ing Man is plan­ning for a sec­ond Zen­do Project facil­i­ty next year.

The sec­ond part of MAPS’ mis­sion is to pro­vide research into new ways of treat­ing psy­chi­atric dis­or­ders with psy­che­del­ic drugs. Rather than being counter-cul­ture, MAPS works with­in the sys­tem to explore the legit­i­mate ben­e­fits psy­che­del­ic drugs may have in treat­ing men­tal health.

Brad describes the results they are see­ing in their work with PTSD as “real­ly promis­ing.” So promis­ing that the FDA grant­ed them break­through ther­a­py des­ig­na­tion, which means pre­lim­i­nary clin­i­cal evi­dence indi­cates that the drug may demon­strate sub­stan­tial improve­ment over exist­ing ther­a­pies. They are now mov­ing into phase III of clin­i­cal tri­als.

Brad’s per­son­al sto­ry brought him to MAPS while he was work­ing on his doc­tor­ate at UC San Diego. After study­ing both psy­chol­o­gy and com­mu­ni­ca­tions at Stan­ford, Brad’s mas­ter’s research on psy­che­delics inter­sect­ed with his own jour­ney of men­tal ill­ness.

He had been on lithi­um for near­ly 11 years when he had his first expe­ri­ence on a psy­che­del­ic drug. Brad’s train­ing and edu­ca­tion on the evils of psy­che­delics stood in sharp con­trast to his expe­ri­ence.

“For my whole life I had been raised to believe that men­tal health phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals work like keys in a lock… that I was some­how bro­ken and need­ed to be fixed… For the first time in my life I felt like I could be a whole per­son… I felt like I had been miss­ing out on oppor­tu­ni­ties to grow.”

Brad’s per­son­al expe­ri­ence of the impact that ther­a­peu­ti­cal­ly guid­ed psy­che­delics could have has moti­vat­ed him to edu­cate peo­ple about the pol­i­tics of drugs in our soci­ety and to pro­mote the legal research of the ben­e­fits that these drugs can have.

Come to TEDxSalem and hear the rest of Brad’s sto­ry as he offers us a glimpse into an unex­pect­ed future for psy­chi­a­try in Amer­i­ca.

Speak­er: Brad Burge

Pets: “My part­ner has a pet, a beau­ti­ful lit­tle cat, Maho, that is very talk­a­tive, and I have effec­tive­ly adopt­ed her.”

Favorite Movie: “Sci-fi always works. I am super into imag­in­ing what the future holds.”

Favorite Book: “Dune”

Favorite Music: Grate­ful Dead or glitchy tech­no. Brad also con­firms lis­ten­ing to Alaba­ma 3 “for sure.”

Favorite Food: Sala­mi. “Because it keeps for a long time out of the fridge.”

Favorite Drink: Guaya­ki Yer­ba Mate

Hob­bies: Big time back­pack­er: “I just got back from a 45-mile hike through Sequoia and King’s Canyon in Cal­i­for­nia Sier­ra. I hope to find some back­pack­ing or hik­ing while I am in Port­land.”

Get your tickets for TEDxSalem V

TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Pur­chase tick­ets here. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Join us Nov. 2 for TEDxSalemWomen

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Join us for an evening of ideas worth spread­ing as TEDxSalem­Women hosts a screen­ing of TED­Women 2017: Bridges, which takes place Nov. 1–3 in New Orleans, LA.

“This event will give peo­ple an oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence TED on the big screen while learn­ing more about our local TEDx activ­i­ties, which includes the inau­gur­al TEDxYouth@Salem on Nov. 11 and TEDxSalem on Jan. 6,” said co-orga­niz­er Car­lee Wright.

“We have always want­ed to branch out and expand our reach through dif­fer­ent TEDx events so we can car­ry on the con­ver­sa­tion through­out the year,” said co-orga­niz­er Bri­an Hart. “And host­ing a screen­ing of TED­Women is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for us to do just that.”

We will host two screen­ings: Ses­sion 2: Design (5:30 p.m.) and Ses­sion 3: Con­nect (7:45 p.m.)

TEDxSalem­Women is a free, tick­et­ed event. All atten­dees must reg­is­ter for a free tick­et for each ses­sion. For guar­an­teed seat­ing, each tick­et hold­er must check in 15 min­utes pri­or to the event.

**Please note: This event is a screen­ing of the TED­Women event in New Orleans. There will be no live speak­ers.**

TEDWomen Session 2: Design

Host­ed by Alaa Mura­bit, this ses­sion fea­tures:
Wendy Suzu­ki — Neu­ro­sci­en­tist and author
John Cary — Design ambas­sador
Sarah Amiri — Sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy strate­gist
Nadine Hachach-Haram — Sur­geon, entre­pre­neur
Aman­da Phing­bod­hipakkiya — Design­er, STEM advo­cate
Anush­ka Naik­naware — Sci­en­tist
Dean­na Van Buren — Activist, archi­tect, artist
Asali DeVan Eccle­si­astes — Com­mu­ni­ty ser­vant

Get your tick­ets for the 5:30 p.m. ses­sion here.

TEDWomen Session 3: Connect

Host­ed by Jean Oel­wang and Chris Wad­dell, this ses­sion fea­tures:
Deb­o­rah Willis — Cura­tor and pho­tog­ra­ph­er
Hank Willis Thomas — Artist
Azim N. Khamisa — Author, peace activist
Ples Felix — Peace activist
Winona Guo — Social entre­pre­neur, stu­dent activist
Priya Vulchi — Social entre­pre­neur, stu­dent activist
Tiffany Kagure Mugo — Cura­tor, blog­ger, media con­sul­tant
Siphumeze Khun­dayi — Pho­tog­ra­ph­er, the­atre-mak­er and per­former
Felice Belle — Poet, play­wright, pop cul­ture enthu­si­ast
Jen­nifer Mur­phy — Writer, per­former, pri­vate inves­ti­ga­tor
Joan Blades — Domes­tic peace advo­cate
John Gable — Tech­nol­o­gist, activist
Jean Oel­wang — Part­ner­ship and sys­tems archi­tect
Chris Wad­dell — Speak­er, writer, advo­cate, adven­tur­er

Get your tick­ets for the 7:45 p.m. ses­sion here.

 

TEDxSalem­Women is made pos­si­ble thanks to the sup­port of:
Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion for Uni­ver­si­ty Women, Salem (OR) Branch
Janine Ellis
Tap­root Lounge & Cafe
Salem Cin­e­ma

Evelin Dacker: Let’s talk about sex, bay-bee!

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Dr. Evelin Dack­er wants to talk about sex, and she’s not afraid of your hang-ups because she is in it for your health.

“I feel like if peo­ple are going to black­list me because I’m talk­ing about sex, that’s OK,” says Evelin, “because some­body has to do it.”

Evelin, pro­nounced “Ev-uh-LEEN,” is a doc­tor of fam­i­ly med­i­cine and the own­er of VIDA Inte­gra­tive Med­i­cine and Behav­ioral Health. Born in Cal­i­for­nia and raised in New York, Dack­er attend­ed school at Case West­ern Reserve Uni­ver­si­ty in Cleve­land, Ohio. She moved to Salem 21 years ago, when she came to work for NW Human Ser­vices at the West Salem Clin­ic doing com­mu­ni­ty med­i­cine (Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine and Obstet­rics).

Sex is a large part of holis­tic human health, says the 52-year-old, but very few are will­ing to even acknowl­edge it. Dack­er is though, and she’s ready to get your atten­tion.

“I’m a loud­mouth,” she says. “I’m not scared to have a con­ver­sa­tion with peo­ple about it.”

The sta­tus quo is not get­ting it done, she says. With­out frank and open dia­logue, the risk of dis­ease and abuse only increase. That’s why talk­ing about sex with her patients is part of her inte­gra­tive care.

This isn’t the first time she’s been out­spo­ken, either. It’s part of her per­son­al­i­ty. Dack­er was a mem­ber of the Cher­ry City Der­by Girls (now Cher­ry City Roller Der­by) from 2009–2011, where she was apt­ly called “Dr. Smack’r.”

And now, cre­at­ing a “sex-pos­i­tive cul­ture” is her mis­sion.

“Even if I just stop one or two peo­ple” from suf­fer­ing, she says, “then I’ve done my job.”

Speak­er: Evelin Dack­er

Name Pro­nounced: “Ev-uh-LEEN”

Favorite Movie: Heat, and also The Shel­ter­ing Sky; dra­mas that pro­voke thought. “I like to go deep with things.”

Favorite Book: The Unbear­able Light­ness of Being, by Milan Kun­dera

Favorite Music: 1980s new wave, alter­na­tive and jazz; also EDM, Bol­ly­wood and Latin danc­ing music.

Get your tickets for TEDxSalem V

TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag that takes place Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Pur­chase tick­ets here. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Kaydee Kreitlow: Sanctuary amidst skyscrapers

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“Sanc­tu­ary is a state of mind,” says Kaydee Kre­it­low from behind a lat­te dur­ing a Sun­day after­noon rush at Archive Cof­fee & Bar.

“But the built envi­ron­ment can either encour­age or dis­cour­age that.”

Amid the bus­tle and noise of bused tables, the 34-year-old Salem res­i­dent and licensed archi­tect recalls a moment dur­ing her trav­els in Europe when she says she found her sanc­tu­ary, at an urban renew­al project in the Nether­lands called Silo­dam.

A for­mer run-down dam and silo in an indus­tri­al area, the site had been repur­posed and restored as for­ward-think­ing liv­ing spaces ris­ing direct­ly above the waters of the Ams­ter­dam har­bor. It was not a typ­i­cal place to find seren­i­ty, she says, but sit­ting alone there on a deck and tak­ing in the sights, some­thing moved her.

“I had this moment of pure joy and hap­pi­ness for being there in this spot,” she says. “There was nobody around, it was just me and the build­ing and the water.”

Knowl­edge of archi­tec­ture can help dis­cov­er sanc­tu­ary in non-tra­di­tion­al places in the built envi­ron­ment, accord­ing to Kre­it­low, and cre­ate it our­selves in our own sur­round­ings.

For Kre­it­low, who grad­u­at­ed from Pratt Insti­tute in 2006, archi­tec­ture has always been a pas­sion. Hav­ing grown up in a geo­des­ic dome in Beaver­ton, she has always had an eye for what’s pos­si­ble with cre­ative lay­out and design, she says. She jokes that when she trav­els, all her pho­tos are of build­ings.

“The way that I look at the world is dif­fer­ent from most peo­ple,” she says. “When I’m in a space, I appre­ci­ate the lay­out of the space, think­ing of how some­thing could have been done dif­fer­ent­ly.”

Accord­ing to Kre­it­low, archi­tec­ture has a unique abil­i­ty to influ­ence our sense of peace.

Dur­ing her trav­els, Kre­it­low spent a few months in Rome where she would wan­der the streets of the ancient city, using a famous Giambat­tista Nol­li engraved map from 1748 as a guide.

“Rome is a city of 500 church­es,” she says. “Almost from any street you’re in, you’re going to see anoth­er church.”

It was a pro­found expe­ri­ence, she says, sens­ing the seren­i­ty radi­at­ing out­ward from the foun­tains and ancient edi­fices.

From the streets of the Eter­nal City to a Salem alley­way, even to a sin­gle bath­room stall, says Kre­it­low, sanc­tu­ary can be made any­where.

“It’s going to be dif­fer­ent for every­one,” she says, but there are a few spe­cif­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics all sanc­tu­ar­ies pos­sess.“Sanc­tu­ary is a time and a moment where you’re very much in the present.”

“You can get that in any city.”

Speak­er: Kaydee Kre­it­low

Pro­fes­sion: Licensed archi­tect

Pet: How­land, Ger­man Shep­herd / Retriev­er mix

Hob­bies: Draw­ing, sewing, DIY

Favorite Movie: Robin Hood: Men in Tights — “If you’re watch­ing it and you’re not pay­ing atten­tion, you miss some of the humor. I like that.” Also Rata­touille.

Favorite Music: Alter­na­tive, tech­no and ambi­ent music, includ­ing the music of Eman­ci­pa­tor – “I’m the kind of per­son who needs back­ground music all the time. It helps me focus.”

Favorite Book: The Foun­tain­head, by Ayn Rand — “It reminds me to always do my best… I can sep­a­rate the ide­al­ism of Howard Roarke (the book’s pro­tag­o­nist) from the one-per­cent phi­los­o­phy.”

Favorite Meal: The roast­ed Whiskey Riv­er salmon and gar­lic mashed pota­toes at the Best Lit­tle Road­house in Salem

Favorite Drink: The moji­to by Giles at the Hos­tel Tevere in Ver­mont

Get your tickets for TEDxSalem V

TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag that takes place Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Pur­chase tick­ets here. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.

Meet the team…

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Since its incep­tion in 2013, it’s been go, go, go for TEDxSalem. And our team dili­gent­ly work­ing behind the scenes to pull all the pieces togeth­er, has nev­er received an offi­cial introduction…until now. We are proud to intro­duce the peo­ple behind the cur­tain, the vol­un­teers who ded­i­cate their hours and exper­tise to make TEDxSalem an inspir­ing, com­mu­ni­ty-engag­ing event for all, year after year.

Brian Hart

Role: Co-cura­tor

Favorite TED talk: Can­dy Chang: Before I die I want to …

Bri­an is one half of the cura­to­r­i­al team for TEDxSalem.

“I’ve always been a fan of TED, even before I knew what it was,” said Bri­an. “Then Car­lee and I did our first inter­ac­tive art project togeth­er from start to fin­ish, a Before I Die wall that was based on a TED talk and the entire expe­ri­ence changed my life. It trig­gered some­thing inside of me, I thought, there is some­thing to this TED thing. We should look into doing one here in Salem, just then our friend Mark Pow­ers was host­ing what is now TEDxMt­Hood, we asked to join their vol­un­teer com­mit­tee, but was grant­ed a license before we even starter there… the rest is his­to­ry.”

His favorite part lead­ing up to the main event are the 1001 small details that make the TEDxSalem expe­ri­ence spe­cial for our atten­dees. Dur­ing the event, it’s all about watch­ing our speak­ers and per­form­ers do their thing, reflect­ing on how much their talk has grown, as well as watch­ing our atten­dees and see­ing their eyes light up as they soak it all in.

Day job: Video Pro­duc­er for Allied Video Pro­duc­tions

Laughs at: Life

Known for: Prob­a­bly bit­ing off more than most can chew.

Inspired by: Every­thing all around me, art, nature, music, friends, fam­i­ly and myself.

Hob­bies: This one thing called TEDx. Also on the board of the Salem Pro­gres­sive Film Series, Pres­i­dent of the Mox­ie Ini­tia­tive, radio pro­duc­er for Cool Sheets, social stuff for RiverCi­ty Rock Star Acad­e­my, all forms of art and your aver­age all around friend­ly Salem com­mu­ni­ty activist.  

Fatal weak­ness: Ice cream!

Favorite Movie(s): Impos­si­ble to answer some of my favorite direc­tors are Hitch­cock, Scors­ese, Kubrick, Taran­ti­no, Smith, Rodriguez, Cop­po­la, and a bunch of oth­ers.

Favorite Author: Tim Fer­riss changes the way I look at myself and the world the most often.

If you had a super­pow­er, what would it be? All of Super­man’s pow­ers that’s all, that’s just one right?

What do you want to be when you grow up? I nev­er want to grow up! I only want to do what I am already doing, stay curi­ous, appre­ci­ate the won­der­ful life I have and all of my friends and fam­i­ly that are a part of it.

What col­or would you be in the cray­on box and why? BLUE!! You’ll soon find out why!

Carlee Wright

Carlee Wright

Role: Co-cura­tor

Favorite TED talk: Ron Fin­ley: A gueril­la gar­den­er in South Cen­tral LA

Car­lee is one half of the cura­to­r­i­al team for TEDxSalem. Her favorite part lead­ing up to TEDxSalem’s main event is watch­ing the pieces come togeth­er.

“As the team works with the speak­ers and the speak­ers become more con­fi­dent with their talks, as the theme devel­ops and the event pro­duc­tion comes togeth­er, it’s a puz­zle of abstract pieces care­ful­ly being craft­ed, con­nect­ed cre­at­ing this unique, lay­ered expe­ri­ence that changes every year,” she said.

Dur­ing the event, it’s all about the ener­gy. “Watch­ing peo­ple’s reac­tion to the var­i­ous talks and enter­tain­ment and then see­ing them engage with activ­i­ties and peo­ple dur­ing the breaks, it cre­ates this con­ta­gious, radi­at­ing ener­gy that fills me with hap­pi­ness. I love see­ing how peo­ple — strangers — con­nect over these com­mon inter­ests, goals, and inspi­ra­tions,” she said.

Day Job: Writer, design­er, artist

Laughs at: My daugh­ter’s wit

Known for: Crown Roy­al fash­ion and what’s hap­pen­ing in Salem.

Inspired by: Every­thing — seri­ous­ly, that is not a gen­er­al­iza­tion. I can find inspi­ra­tion in all 🙂

Hob­bies: Can work­ing be a hob­by? Is TEDxSalem my hob­by?

Favorite food and why? Late­ly, home­made blend­ed cof­fee. I can’t get enough of that stuff. Cof­fee is food, right?

Favorite Music: Frank Turn­er

If you had a super­pow­er, what would it be? I used to think I want­ed to stop time, but I would­n’t actu­al­ly want to age and have the world around me not age. So.… I just want to know all the things. I want the abil­i­ty to read some­thing quick­ly and to under­stand and remem­ber it.

I secret­ly wish I was: A super­hero (see above ;))

What col­or would you be in the cray­on box and why? Blue…always blue…It’s rich, deep and expres­sive and the base for so many oth­er beau­ti­ful colours.

What do you want to be when you grow up? ALL THE THINGS!!! (although maybe I’m nev­er grow­ing up and I will just be all the things any­way)

Carmen Armendariz

Role: Speak­er Liai­son, Pre­sen­ta­tion Coor­di­na­tor

Favorite TED talk: IWAN BAAN: Inge­nious homes in unex­pect­ed places

Car­men has been involved with TEDxSalem for five years, first as the Pow­er­Point Pre­sen­ta­tion Coor­di­na­tor and more recent­ly tak­ing on a larg­er role as a speak­er liai­son, too. A Fis­cal Ana­lyst for OHA/Health Sys­tems Divi­sion by day, Carmen’s appre­ci­a­tion for com­mu­ni­ty togeth­er inspired her to get involved with TEDxSalem. Her favorite part lead­ing up to the event is how every­one works togeth­er.

“It gets crazy busy but it feels more like hang­ing out with fam­i­ly instead of work­ing. I enjoy that,” she said. And dur­ing the main event, it’s all about see­ing every­one’s hard work, from the speak­ers to the vol­un­teers, come to fruition.

Laughs at: The stu­pid things that come out of peo­ple’s mouths. It’s hilar­i­ous some­times! LOL

Known for: My cat and dog aller­gies.

Inspired by: The moon, the sun, the sky and nature inspire me. No mat­ter what they endure.

Hob­bies: I like to recy­cle bro­ken jew­el­ry and watch­es. I take them apart and cre­ate new jew­el­ry pieces.

Favorite emo­ji: 😲

Fatal weak­ness: My chil­dren. If any­thing were to hap­pen to them I would die.

Favorite food and why: Thai food. The spices. The aro­ma. The taste. Yum­my!

Favorite TV: The Walk­ing Dead. What? It could hap­pen!

Favorite Movie(s): Action: The Raid; Romance: Sense and Sen­si­bil­i­ty; SyFy: Blade Run­ner; Dra­ma: Gran Tori­no; For­eign: Old Boy

Favorite Music: Mex­i­cana Regional/Ranchera, Sal­sa and Clas­sic Rock

I secret­ly wish I was: liv­ing in Italy run­ning my own lit­tle ris­torante 🌸💜🌸

What do you want to be when you grow up? World trav­el­er.

Carole Astley

Carole Astley

Role: Speak­er Liai­son

Favorite TED Talk: Joe Smith: How to use a paper tow­el

When Car­ole was approached five years ago to be part of the TEDxSalem core team, she jumped at the chance and has­n’t looked back since. “I’ve been a fan of TED talks for years and this was a great way to be involved with my com­mu­ni­ty by help­ing put on the local event,” she said. Her favorite part lead­ing up the main event is “get­ting to hang out super cre­ative and smart peo­ple — our speak­ers and plan­ning team!” Dur­ing the event, it’s all about help­ing the speak­ers stay calm before they go on stage.

Day Job: Direc­tor, Indus­try Ser­vices of Trav­el Oregon/Oregon Tourism Com­mis­sion

Favorite ’90s jam: This was hard, so many great ones to choose from, I’ll say Bare Naked Ladies ‘One Week’ 

Laughs at: My 7 year old — he’s hilar­i­ous

Known for: Know­ing some­one every­where I go

Favorite Emo­ji: Right now I am using the jazz hands smi­ley face a lot

Favorite Food: Scal­lops. Because they taste so good and you rarely see them on menus!

Favorite TV: Gilmore Girls

If you had a super­pow­er, what would it be? To not have to sleep so I could get ALL the things done I want to!

Christopher David

Role: Speak­er Liai­son and Sto­ry­teller

New to the TEDxSalem team, Chris jumped in and took on two jobs as a speak­er liai­son and a sto­ry­teller. While he has want­ed to get involved for some time, com­plet­ing his grad­u­ate degree took up any free time to spare.

“This year I final­ly have time to par­tic­i­pate and so I asked if I could be con­sid­ered wor­thy to get involved. Good news,” he said. His favorite part so far as been spend­ing time with the team mem­bers, speaker’s hob­nob­bing and talk­ing shop. If he had a super­pow­er, it would be the abil­i­ty to com­plete yard-work with the wave of his hand.

Day job: Behav­ior Analyst/Family Ther­a­pist

Favorite ’90s jam: My favorite 90’s jam would have to be the Pearl Jam.

Laughs at: Pun­ning and Dad humor.

Known for: I have a deep com­mit­ment to com­mu­ni­ty and car­ing for peo­ple.

Fatal weak­ness: Red­heads

Favorite food and why: Hot sand­wich­es (espe­cial­ly if they have Lamb).

Favorite TV: Arrest­ed Devel­op­ment

Favorite Authors: Kurt Von­negut or Dou­glas Adams

Heather Coakley

Role: Registration/Ticketing 

Favorite TED Talk: Ken Robin­son: Do Schools Kill Cre­ativ­i­ty

She’s a self-pro­claimed nerd about logis­tics so it’s no won­der why Heather is the queen of reg­is­tra­tion and tick­et­ing for TEDxSalem. “I can’t help but get excit­ed about ways to make check-in and reg­is­tra­tion a bet­ter expe­ri­ence each year,” she said. Heather’s been watch­ing videos on TED.com since 2010 and had the plea­sure of work­ing with peo­ple who active­ly involve TED talks into their work and teach­ings, so when the oppor­tu­ni­ty to help with TEDxSalem was pre­sent­ed, she could­n’t turn it down. (Thank good­ness for us, too!) Her favorite part of the event, oth­er than nerd­ing out over stream­lin­ing reg­is­tra­tion, is learn­ing about the the pas­sion of oth­ers. “I always feel so incred­i­bly inspired.”

Day Job: Prop­er­ty Man­ag­er

Laughs at: Cat Memes

Inspired by: Peo­ple who want to leave things bet­ter than they found them.

Hob­bies: I play roller der­by and I vol­un­teer for the Wom­en’s Flat Track Der­by Asso­ci­a­tion to help put on the annu­al inter­na­tion­al play­offs and cham­pi­onship.

Favorite emo­ji: Anchor

Fatal weak­ness: I’m actu­al­ly incred­i­bly lazy… but I find that it helps me to find faster/easier ways of doing things.

Favorite food: Apple Cider Donuts… they always remind me of my favorite sea­son

Favorite movies: Lady and the Tramp & Lit­tle Miss Sun­shine

Jay Shenai

Jay Shenai

Role: Speak­er Liai­son and Sto­ry­teller

Favorite TED talk: Kelsey Juliana: Youth as Solu­tion­ar­ies

Jay came to TEDxSalem as a sto­ry­teller, but has tak­en on an active role as a speak­er liai­son over time. His favorite things lead­ing up to the main event is work­ing with and get­ting to know our grow­ing speak­er fam­i­ly. Day of, it’s all about the inspi­ra­tion. When not work­ing as a con­struc­tion man­ag­er (his day job), you can find him train­ing for what he wants to be when he grows up: Vin Diesel.

Day Job: Con­struc­tion Man­ag­er

Favorite ‘90s jam: On advice of coun­sel, I respect­ful­ly decline to answer in accor­dance with the 5th amend­ment pro­tec­tions against self-incrim­i­na­tion

Laughs at: On advice of coun­sel, I respect­ful­ly decline to answer in accor­dance with the 5th amend­ment pro­tec­tions against self-incrim­i­na­tion

Known for: Play­ing musi­cal instru­ments

Inspired by: Our TED speak­ers

Hob­bies: TEDxSalem, row­ing, writ­ing

Favorite emo­ji: All of ’em, bless those lit­tle bas­tards

Favorite TV: Vizio Smart­Cast M‑Series Ultra HD 75″ — $2,499 best bang for the buck

Favorite Movie(s): Sec­ond half of Wyatt Earp, First half of Lord of the Rings Return of the King

Favorite Music: Guns ‘N’ Ros­es

Favorite Author: Joseph Con­rad

Jillian Thayer

Role: Speak­er Liai­son

Favorite TED talk: Sarah Kay: If I should have a daugh­ter … “I saw this talk short­ly after I attend­ed my first spo­ken word event. It’s not a tra­di­tion­al TED Talk, but I real­ly con­nect­ed with it.”

Although she’s a more recent addi­tion to the TEDxSalem team, Jil­lian is no stranger to TED. “I was involved with TEDxShang­hai and I just fell in love with it,” she said. Her favorite parts of a TED event are watch­ing the ideas and talks take shape and see­ing peo­ple inspired by new ideas.

Day job: Man­age­ment Con­sul­tant with Mainz Brady Group.

Laughs at: Sil­ly sil­ly humor

Known for: Always will­ing to take a leap, try new things, and stretch my lim­its

Inspired by: See­ing peo­ple over­come their fears and do things that tru­ly take courage

Hob­bies: ALL THE ROLLER DERBY!

Favorite emo­ji: 😳

Fatal weak­ness: Cheese

What do you want to be when you grow up? A pro­fes­sor

Karen Holman

Karen Holman

Role: Speak­er Liai­son

Favorite TED talk: Tsher­ing Tob­gay: This coun­try isn’t just car­bon neu­tral — it’s car­bon neg­a­tive

Karen Hol­man is the sec­ond speak­er turn team mem­ber to join the TEDxSalem fam­i­ly. A long­time sup­port­er, Karen vol­un­teered to run a recess activ­i­ty at TEDxSalem III, spoke at TEDxSalem IV and has become a speak­er liai­son for TEDxSalem V.

She got involved because TEDxSalem is a rare com­bi­na­tion of things she can’t live with­out: cre­ativ­i­ty, enthu­si­as­tic intel­lec­tu­al­ism, art, and emo­tion.

“It push­es bound­aries in both an exter­nal sense—with talks that are thought-pro­vok­ing, have soci­etal ram­i­fi­ca­tions, and encour­age discussion—as well as spark­ing inter­nal con­tem­pla­tion. Many of the talks chal­lenge us to grap­ple with our own inner strug­gles, if we are open to it. I have often described TEDxSalem as THE #1 pre­mier annu­al event in Salem in terms of its pro­fes­sion­al­ism and the event-plan­ning prowess that clear­ly goes into it each year,” she said.

Day job: Chem­istry Pro­fes­sor at Willamette Uni­ver­si­ty

Known for: …some say it’s for start­ing KMUZ.  Oth­ers don’t know about KMUZ but they know I’m a chem­istry pro­fes­sor. Oth­ers don’t know about either one of those, but they know I play gui­tar and sing in punk bands.  And every­one else just knows me for being Grif­fin the Corgi’s mom. But besides all that stuff, I am known for being opti­mistic and tena­cious.

Inspired by: Peo­ple who cre­ate some­thing far-reach­ing or beau­ti­ful out of very lit­tle resources. When they have so much pas­sion for it that they have to do it, no mat­ter what, even if it’s near­ly impos­si­ble. I love see­ing oth­ers that have ded­i­ca­tion to make the world a hap­pi­er and more com­pas­sion­ate place for all of us.  It makes me want to try hard­er to do the same.

Hob­bies: Two bands, three radio shows on KMUZ, walk­ing in nature, kayak­ing and trav­el­ing

Favorite Movie(s): I have seen the orig­i­nal Star Wars close to 75 times and the Empire Strikes Back is a close sec­ond to that.

Favorite Music: I love any music that has deep feel­ings asso­ci­at­ed with it and that is cre­at­ed authen­ti­cal­ly by the artist.  Those feel­ings can be extreme­ly ener­getic and pas­sion­ate, tran­quil and ethe­re­al, or any­where in between. As a result, I love a lot of dif­fer­ent kinds of music and what I choose to lis­ten to at any giv­en moment depends on my mood and what I’m doing.  I think the only kind of music that I don’t enjoy are songs that are grat­ing or that feel con­trived.

Kathryn Cellerini Moore, aka KMoo

Role: TEDxSalem Artist-in-Res­i­dence Coor­di­na­tor

After hold­ing the posi­tion as TEDxSalem Artist-in-Res­i­dence for 2017, Kathryn has tak­en charge in the coor­di­na­tion role men­tor­ing the 2018 AIR. It’s quite fit­ting for the cre­ative who takes on the titles: Artist | Oppor­tu­ni­ty Mak­er | Co-Con­spir­a­tor of Awe­some­sauce for her “day job.” Her favorite part lead­ing up to the event is meet­ing the new TEDx fam­i­ly mem­bers. Of course, dur­ing the event, she appre­ci­ates see­ing a great design set the tone of the stage and room. Admit­ted­ly, she’s biased.

Favorite ’90s jam: Rasp­ber­ry 🤣

Laughs at: Real­ly dry humor!

Inspired by: Badass peo­ple inspire me.

Hob­bies: What do you do in your “free” time? No such thing as free time!

Favorite emo­ji: Cats, of course!

Fatal weak­ness: My hus­band. Yep!

Favorite food and why: Tru­ly depends on my mood each day. I love great food!

Favorite TV: Dr. Who, Sher­lock, The Grand Tour.

Favorite Movie: Howl’s Mov­ing Cas­tle

Favorite Author: Basi­cal­ly authors who write books for kids.

I secret­ly wish I was: able to run real­ly fast. Real­ly real­ly fast. Like across the state of Ore­gon in an hour fast.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I don’t plan to grow up. Ever.

Keith Seckel

Role: Host

Favorite TED talk: Joe Smith: How to use a paper tow­el

Kei­th Seck­el has been involved with TEDxSalem since our inau­gur­al event.

“First: I had an idea worth spread­ing. Then: I want­ed to stay con­nect­ed to see­ing oth­ers share/spread their ideas!” he said.

His favorite part of TEDxSalem lead­ing up to the main event is get­ting to know the speak­ers and a big-pic­ture feel for the over­all vibe. Dur­ing the main event, it’s about see­ing it all come togeth­er — see­ing so many light bulbs show up over peo­ple’s heads, and then see­ing them con­nect with oth­ers.

Day Job: Home Hos­pice RN

Laughs at: Kit­tens run­ning side­ways.

Known for: Com­pas­sion and con­nec­tion.

Hob­bies: Endurance run­ning.

Favorite emo­ji: 🍁

Favorite food: Piz­za. It has it all!

Favorite author: Stephen King

What do you want to be when you grow up? Hap­py. (Hat tip to John lennon)

Michael Hernandez

Michael Hernandez

Role: Cre­ative Director/Designer

Favorite TED talk: Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDxKC

Michael’s been a TED Talk fan for many moons. Although a first timer to TEDxSalem, he brings a wealth of infor­ma­tion on design and brand­ing. Lead­ing up to the main event, his favorite part is help­ing to design pre­mi­um cohe­sive brand­ing and a inspir­ing expe­ri­ence. But when it comes to day of the event, it’s all about the talks. “You want to see all the speak­ers shine,” he said.

Day job: Design Con­sul­tan­cy Owner/Creative Direc­tor + Art Gallery Owner/Director/Curator

Favorite ’90s jam: Ride “Vapour Trail”

Hob­bies: Surf­ing and beach­comb­ing.

Favorite food and why? Buf­fa­lo Wings and Shoe­string French Fries. Heat & Salt.

Favorite Movie: Stand by Me

Favorite Music: Loud.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A big kid.

What col­or would you be in the cray­on box and why? Black. It’s clear­ly the best col­or out there. Best wardrobes are most­ly black.

Mindie Metka

Role: Speak­er liai­son and in-kind dona­tions coor­di­na­tor (pre­vi­ous Vol­un­teer Coor­di­na­tor)

Favorite TED talk: Brain mag­ic: Kei­th Bar­ry

Mindie’s involve­ment with TEDxSalem began on day one, first as Vol­un­teer Coor­di­na­tor, then adding In-Kind Dona­tions Coor­di­na­tor to her plate. She’s an exam­ple of “just ask,” as she was asked to help out and hasn’t been able to turn away since. Today, she con­tin­ues coor­di­nat­ing in-kind dona­tions and also serves as a speak­er liai­son. A women’s health nurse prac­ti­tion­er by day, Mindie’s favorite pre-event part is all the wran­gling that gets done. Day of the event, it’s the recess ses­sions.

Favorite ’90s jam: Jump Around

Laughs at: Any­thing sil­ly, love to laugh!

Favorite emo­ji: 🤣

Favorite Music: Any­thing but coun­try

I secret­ly wish I was: able to trav­el into space

What col­or would you be in the cray­on box and why? Cerulean, reminds me of the ocean

What do you want to be when you grow up? Still search­ing for that

Favorite food and why? All foods! My trip to New York City is all based on the food places we are going!

If you had a super­pow­er, what would it be? Have super speed like the flash

Sean Swearingen

Role: Speak­er Liai­son

Favorite TED talk: Dan Pink: The puz­zle of moti­va­tion

Sean played the role of host for the inau­gur­al TEDxSalem in 2013. “I made the move from roller der­by announc­er to TEDx on-stage host,” he said. Soon after tran­si­tion to the role of speak­er liai­son. His favorite part lead­ing up to the main event are the core team inter­ac­tions. Day of, it’s the chem­istry. “No mat­ter how involved you are lead­ing up to the event it’s always a sur­prise find­ing out how all that chem­istry is going to work out dur­ing the event,” he said.

Day Job: Super­vi­sor

Inspired by: The pur­suit of excel­lence.

Hob­bies: What do you do in your “free” time? I’m a video game fan.

Fatal weak­ness: Deli­cious nachos can make me weak in the knees.

Favorite Movie(s): Do or do not, there is only Star Wars.

Stefanie Knowlton

Role: Sto­ry­teller

Friends con­vinced Ste­fanie to join the TEDxSalem team as a sto­ry­teller three years ago. With her jour­nal­ist back­ground, it was the per­fect way for her to give back, espe­cial­ly since one of her favorite aspects of the event is get­ting to know the speak­ers and shar­ing their sto­ries. Dur­ing the event she loves the ener­gy of the crowd. “Every­one is engaged and ready to expe­ri­ence some­thing new,” she said.

Day Job: Run the library at Har­ritt Ele­men­tary

Favorite ‘90s jam: “Undone: the sweater song”

Laughs at: Mon­ty Python

Known for/inspired by/hobby: Danc­ing (I am an award-win­ning bel­ly­dancer.)

Favorite Emo­ji: 💃

Favorite food/Fatal weak­ness: Choco­late. It needs no expla­na­tion.

If you had a super­pow­er, what would it be? I would love to fly.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A pub­lished author some­day

What col­or would you be in the cray­on box and why? Fuch­sia, because that’s my favorite col­or right now.

Saerom England

Role: Uhm­mm, depends on the day?

Saerom has been involved with TEDxSalem since it’s incep­tion in 2013. Her favorite part lead­ing up to the event is see­ing the speak­ers’ talk shape up into the best talk they can give. Dur­ing the main event, it’s feel­ing the ah-ha moments and brain stim­u­la­tion in the room all around her. She got involved because the val­ue TEDxSalem brings to our com­mu­ni­ty and the world.

Day job: Deputy press sec­re­tary for Gov­er­nor Kate Brown

Favorite ’90s jam: Des­tiny’s Child, TLC, Mari­ah Carey … I’m a ’90s kid.

Laughs at: Fart nois­es. Does­n’t get old.

What col­or would you be in the cray­on box and why? Mossy green, because it’s calm­ing with per­son­al­i­ty.

Get your tickets for TEDxSalem V

TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag that takes place Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Ear­ly bird tick­ets are on sale now. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.