TEDxChicago 2018

No Limits

On June 12, 2018, we examined the intrinsic contradiction of “No Limits.” It prompted us to say, “there are no limits to what we can do to more forward, innovate, inspire positive change, and evolve.” But it also forced us to question the issues in our world relating to a lack of limits (e.g., how we mistreat each other, how obsessed we are with technology/social media, how we can abuse food/alcohol/drugs).

Speaker Lineup

Dr. David Ansell

How Inequality Kills

David Ansell, MD, MPH is a physician, epidemiologist, health activist, and writer. He is the author of two books that highlight these inequities: County: Life, Death, and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital and The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills. MD, MPH is a physician, epidemiologist, health activist and writer.

Bill Bucklew

Failure is the Option

Bill recently formed the Not for Profit UnCorked Adventures who's the first event had Bill walking coast to coast across America in 67 days (40 miles per day) to raise awareness for Parkinson's disease, where he did over 40 television/media interviews. Both Bill and his father are living with Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Paige Leigh Baker-Braxton

LGBTQueering the Narrative of Sexual Violence

Paige Leigh Baker-Braxton, Psy.D. Dr Baker-Braxton spearheads the development, implementation, and evaluation of the first LGBTQ-specific sexual assault response program in the nation: in.power*. Dr. Baker-Braxton is also a Clinical Psychologist specializing in LGBT mental health and trauma Psy.D.was hired by Howard Brown Health to spearhead the development, implementation, and evaluation of the first LGBTQ-specific sexual assault response program in the nation: in.power*.

Candi Carter

Truth to be Told: Tell it Like it is

The truth is... nobody wants to tell the truth. And as the owner of a production company, Candi Carter often hears the white lies people tell to soften the blow of their words. But when we tell the truth responsibly, and with good intentions, everybody wins.

Moran Cerf

How our Brain Tells us What is Engaging

Moran Cerf is interested in what makes you interested. As a neuroscientist and business professor, he and his team have uncovered new ways to maximize audience engagement-by understanding how our brains behave and sync up when digesting interesting content. It's a neurological finding that could change the way we communicate, from education to politics.

Francie Arenson Dickman

Why my Father Teaches my Kids to Use a Phonebook: An Essay

Francie Arenson Dickman has been using her family as the source of writing material her whole life. Her personal essays have appeared in publications such as The Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Today Parents, Motherwell Magazine, Brain Child Magazine, among others.

Kyla Guru

Hacking a Solution to a Global Cybercrime

Kyla Guru is a 15-year-old high schooler and the founder/CEO of Bits N' Bytes Cybersecurity Education. She aspires to be a catalyst for global change. Kyla Guru is a 15-year-old high schooler and the founder/CEO of Bits N' Bytes Cybersecurity Education.

Dr. Jennifer Holmgren

Saving Our Planet by Recycling CO2

When anyone has said something can't be done, Jennifer has said: "watch me". From establishing the technical and commercial viability of sustainable aviation fuels and now recycled carbon to products, Dr. Holmgren's compassion and leadership inspire the Bioeconomy Sector to scale and succeed.

Dr. Mark Hyman

What You do With Your Fork Impacts Everything

Dr. Hyman is a practising family physician, an 11-time New York Times bestselling author speaker, educator and advocate in the field of Functional Medicine.

Tracy Palandjian

An Uncommon Bond for the Common Good

An accidental entrepreneur, Tracy Palandjian left the private sector to co-found Social Finance. The nonprofit is building a new model to finance social change, enlisting private capital and rallying uncommon partners around a common cause: results for our most vulnerable communities.

Rick Smolan

The Good Fight

A former Time, Life, and National Geographic photographer, Smolan is best known as the co-creator of the "Day in the Life" book series. His global photography projects, which feature the work of hundreds of the worlds leading photographers and combine creative storytelling with state-of-the-art technology, are regularly featured on the covers of prestigious publications around the globe including Fortune, Time, and GEO.

Rendel Solomon

Sharecropper to Shareholder

Rendel Solomon's great-grandparents were sharecroppers, picking cotton for meager wages. Just 68 years later, Rendel bought his 8-year-old niece shares in public companies, creating a new family legacy. Now, through his non-profit One Stock One Future, Rendel is on a mission to instill hope and turn 1 million underserved youth into empowered shareholders.

Performer Lineup

The JuJu Exchange Quartet

Jubilee

The JuJu Exchange will take you where anything is possible. Their explosive live show is a joyous exchange between band members and the audience. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community

Ashley Slim Stevenson

Ashley Slim Stevenson, also known as Slim Freedom, is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and street performer based in Chicago. For years she has displayed her talent in the subways of Chicago to support herself. Recently, her performances have gotten the attention of YouTubers who have filmed her songs in "The Tunnels," as Ashley refers to them.

Sparrow