New Angles

Growing up we all form our own opinions and ideologies depending on our surroundings, experiences and environments. We some times take for granted some parts of our lives and we don't even question why we do things a certain way. Sometimes we feel like we are all alone in this overpopulated world and other times we wish we heard something new and refreshing. Something that we hadn't though before or even something that challenges what we believe and what we think as right. It is well known however that only while challenging your own ideas, you can truly progress and evolve. That's exactly what our event will try to achieve. By exploring ideas and situations from new perspectives, our event will try to teach the audience to not just look life from one angle, but to always try to interpret and philosophize our experiences with balanced and new ways.

Speakers

Here are the TEDxSurreyUniversity2021 Speakers

Rebecca Weeks

TEDx talk title: "Make reporting safe to dismantle systemic rape culture"

Rebecca is a TeachFirst Ambassador and an accomplished trauma-informed teacher. She is the founder of an international charity called SEED Malawi which works to safeguard and enhance education in rural Malawi. She has spoken and written about issues such as challenging neo-colonial international development and intersectional feminism. Rebecca is passionate about challenging rape culture and runs ‘the.angrysurvivor’, a community which aims to break the stigma around sexual abuse and sexual violence.

Dr Michael Meir

TEDx talk title: "Every marriage can avoid divorce"

Cardiologist – Psychotherapist and Coach, License Mental Health Counsellor – New Yok. With 30 years of experience in the field of Human Potential Development. Focusing on relationships he is a Trainer of Trainers as a Psychotherapist, life and corporate coach, and motivational consultant. After experiencing the impact of this idea personally, he dedicated the rebirth of his career and help others understand the role of relationships in everything we do. He has helped thousands of clients implement this idea in their lives through individual counselling, couples counselling, group therapy, workshops, and from his writings. (Author of 3 books English and Spanish)

He is the Former Dean of Health Sciences and Technologies at TCI College, New York and He has also served as President, vice president and Senior Trainer in several corporation in the private sector and in governments. Michael has conducted Business Training Workshops for many Chambers of Commerce including the New York State Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and many private and governmental organizations.

Kimberly Olson

TEDx talk title: "Reclaiming social media through the authentic self"

Kimberly Olson is a self-made millionaire and the creator of The Goal Digger Girl, where she serves female entrepreneurs by teaching them simple systems and online strategies in sales and marketing. She has two PhDs in Natural Health and Holistic Nutrition, is the author of four books including best-sellers, The Goal Digger and Balance is B.S., has a top 50 rated podcast in marketing and travels nationally public speaking.

Winter Wheeler

TEDx talk title: "Mastering The Art Of The Uncomfortable Conversation"

Winter is a former top civil litigator who has made her niche as an expert mediator and arbitrator--one of the few millennial black females in her field. Winter is sought out for her unique, compassionate and successful style handling complex matters that involve a diverse range of cultures, including Spanish speaking clients.

Most recently, Winter was a senior attorney at a prominent midtown Atlanta law firm, and it’s this extensive body of experience she brings into her current mediation practice that makes her work stand out. A graduate of Georgetown University and Tulane Law School, Winter has always combined her passions for culture, diplomacy, and the law.

Winter is very active in the legal community including; a member of the National Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta--where she serves as the Co-Chair of its Membership Committee and member of the Long Term Planning Committee, the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, the Gate City Bar Association and the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She has been honoured by National Black Lawyers three times as Top 40, Under 40, as well as Top 100 for 2020, and serves on many boards including; the Women Lawyer Division, the Women in Dispute Resolution Committee, and the Georgetown Club of Metro Atlanta.

Winter is the co-author of the bestselling book, #Networked, which tells the story of how she developed a thriving mediation practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also spends her free time volunteering in her community, enjoying her husband and four children, and traveling back to Miami, Florida, USA as much as possible where she was raised. She is especially passionate about changing the face of mediation and arbitration, by bringing compassion and listening to the forefront, and placing the litigator and emotions at the center of the conversation.

Tor Abrams

TEDx talk title: "Why mental fitness is more important than your physical fitness"

Tor was diagnosed with social anxiety at the age of 16, and after psychotherapy had no impact, he took it upon himself to practice mental exercises to improve his mental wellbeing.
Having consistently applied these exercises for 10 years, he was able to turn public speaking into a strength, and he has since gone on to speak to audiences at some of the world’s largest institutions including Google, Barclays, Oxford and Cambridge University.
His idea worth spreading is that your “mental fitness is even more important than your physical fitness”, in which he will share some mental practices that he believes will be ingrained in our future education system. After all, you would follow a physical exercise routine, so why would you not follow a mental one?
In 2018, Tor conducted a research project into mental health for 16-25 year-old’s as part of his work as an Ambassador for the British Youth Council. In addition to his research, Tor has also been a School Governor (2018-19) as well as featured on TRT World’s roundtable debate: Is The Era Of The Dollar Coming To An End? (2017).

Perry Power

TEDx talk title: "Breaking your Silence"

Actor, writer and sexual abuse survivor, Perry Power influences change through powerful storytelling. Ranking up 2.3M likes and 125k followers on TikTok, his message of helping sexually abused survivors break their silence speaks to the hearts of many people all over the world. Perry co-runs a charity called We Rescue Kids, where they provide therapy and safe homes for children that have been rescued from sexual abuse and/or sex slavery. Perry's latest book, Breaking The Silence, reached the #1 spot on Amazon for Sexual Abuse and Mental Health. Perry has been seen on FOX, NBC, CBS, MTV, Sky and the Good Men Project. And is now working on his next project, which is 'Breaking The Silence' the movie, hoping that his story continues to impact the lives of those who need to hear it most.

Inês Contente

TEDx talk title: "The choice of being the CEO of your own happiness"

She is a second year International Business Management student at Surrey. Having grown up in Portugal and moved to England at 15, her last 6 years have been a time for extensive growth and development. From getting her first job at 16, learning the value of money to save up for a car, getting accepted to university, to getting involved in societies and putting herself out of her comfort zone.
What she thought were struggles are now some of her proudest achievements.
She is an ambitious individual aiming to make an impact, but most important of all become the happiest version of herself, while working towards her goals. She believes people’s version of happiness should not be what society dictates to be success.

Marc Caulfield

TEDx talk title: "is resilience always the answer?"

After 28 years in the Advertising business and struggling with his own mental health, Marc decided to make creating healthy workplaces his mission in work. Demolish the Wall was born to help organisations create environments and cultures which look after their people’s mental well-being, and where everybody’s voice can be heard and they can reach their full potential’. Marc is also an ambassador for The Youth Group and a Role Model on the InsideOut Leaderboard. Marc is a regular writer and speaker on all things Mental Health and business performance and is a TEDx speaker.

Meral Alizada

TEDx talk title: "The power of the Feminine"

Meral Alizada is a law student, Podcast Host and Poet.
She has debuted with her first poetry book ‘Rumi’s Daughter,’ documenting her journey towards soul liberation and embracing faith. Meral also writes as an opinion columnist, hosts a podcast called ‘Millennial Symphonies’ tackling the key socio-political issues of today.
Meral is an advocate for mental health, giving artistic expression and voice to her experiences of mental health struggle and ongoing recovery in her writing and directs a pro bono youth programme focusing on youth development, socio-psychological wellbeing and reconnecting with faith. As a polyglot, Meral considers herself to be a global patriot and recultivates the classical and ‘traditional’ beliefs of communitarianism; cooperative kinship and reimagining love and kindness to soothe the impact of a significantly self centric world.

Abhishek Sundar

TEDx talk title: "The fragility of Life"

Having been born in India, bred in the UAE, and educated in the UK - Abhishek Sundar is your quintessential global citizen. Throughout his time at Surrey, he has been a strong advocate of student welfare and has represented their interests at the upper echelons of the University's management. Besides voluntary work, he is equally interested in the intersection of finance and technology as he is strongly convinced by the far-reaching impact the former would have on the global financial system. On the personal front, he is a self-proclaimed food connoisseur and an adrenaline junkie.

Amna Saeed

TEDx talk title: “Are we at risk of another nuclear war?”

Amna is currently a student at the University of Surrey studying Psychology and has only recently delved into the world of public speaking. Throughout her childhood she was greatly involved in community projects which helped to massively improve her communication skills. Since then she has been a part of Surrey’s Islamic Society, Surrey’s Psychology Society and she was elected as her Psychology Course Rep. As a result of this, her communication and public speaking skills have improved even further. She has also gone on to start her own small business during the pandemic which encourages women to embrace their faith through modest attire.
The idea that Amna wants to share with the followers of TEDx is the daunting possibility of the next nuclear war, in which she’ll share the history of nuclear weapons, the implications they had years ago in comparison to the possible implications they would have today, and how we can create change in order to prevent history from repeating itself. It is a topic that has always interested her and she was inspired to delve deeper into the understanding of nuclear weapons and their effects on people. This led to her meeting the President of Kashmir in 2019 where she was able to have some of her questions on the matter answered.

Tricia Nelson

TEDx talk title: “I Can’t Stop Eating: Emotional Eating and the Hidden Cure for Food Cravings”

Tricia Nelson lost fifty pounds by identifying and healing the underlying causes of her emotional eating. Tricia has spent over thirty years researching the hidden causes of food addiction. Tricia is an Emotional Eating Expert and author of the #1 bestselling book, Heal Your Hunger, 7 Simple Steps to End Emotional Eating Now. She is also the host of the popular podcast, The Heal Your Hunger Show. Tricia certifies health coaches as Heal Your Hunger Emotional Eating Coaches so they can help their clients get better results by overcoming emotional eating. As a highly regarded speaker and coach, Tricia has spoken on over 100 stages and media venues worldwide.

TEDxSurreyUniversity team 2020/21

Curator, Speaker Team Leader & Social Media Officer, Andreas Kaisaris

Co-Curator, Harisan Jegatheesan

Operations Manager, Nathaniel Nelson-Wlliams