Theme: Unlocked Potential

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

TDCJ Huntsville/Walls Unit
815 12th St
Huntsville, TX, Texas, 77840
United States

Bob Alexander

Director of Forensics

Bob Alexander is an Associate Professor and Director of Debate at Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City, Louisiana. Alexander holds a Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Communication. He is a former collegiate All-American debater, and has coached multiple national champions in speech and debate competitions. He lives in Bossier City, LA with his wife, Leslie, and their son, Bobby. Bob is one of two godfathers to Emilie Gibson. During the Summer of 2016, Emilie began to have headaches when she did flip-turns as a swimmer. After visiting a neurologist, an MRI was ordered and performed on September 9th. A mass was found and within hours Emilie was rushed to a local hospital where the family was told she had a Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). The Gibsons have two mottos – For Emilie, “Just Keep Swimming”… For the family, “Never tell us the odds”.

David M.

Incarcerated student

David M. knows the consequences of poor thinking and bad choices. He suffered from several debilitating accidents which took him down a path of recovery starting with being bedridden, moving to a wheelchair, crutches, and a cane before he fully recovered. The one thing he still suffered from was his failure to think, and allowing himself to be controlled by his addiction to prescription medications, which helped take him from being a veteran and respected business owner to being a prisoner in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Huntsville “The Walls” Unit. David studied the law and was a member of the Lee College Huntsville Unit Debate Team which won the inaugural George Beto Invitational Debate against Texas A&M. Upon release, David has been offered multiple posiitons as a paralegal researcher at various law firms. He looks forward to a life of better choices and using what he has learned from speech and debate.

Katharine Hodgdon

Media Studies Scholar

Katharine Hodgdon is a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M Department of Communication and has also earned a Graduate Certificate of Entrepreneurship from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M. She has taught classes in public speaking, communication technology skills, and negotiations, and also helped to coach three different collegiate speech and debate teams. Katharine’s main research interests are in interdependence between competing stakeholders in an industry, primarily focusing on the video game industry. Her research on live-streaming has been featured in the video game trade journal Kotaku, and will also be featured in an upcoming documentary from Anthem Sports & Entertainment.

LC Ricke

Nonprofit animal rescue director

LC is the founder and director of Reggie's Friends. Reggie’s Friends was founded in 2014 both out of a love for helping dogs and the realities of living in a city with an estimated 1.2 million homeless animals - dubbed Stray Dog City by some. Instead of just wanting to do something, she took the social media presence of her dog, Reggie to raise the funds necessary to start the 501c3 animal rescue. Since its founding, Reggie's Friends has placed over 500 dogs into loving forever homes around the US and into parts of Canada. Reggie's Friends focuses its efforts on dogs that many others would leave behind, including bully breeds, dogs from fighting confiscations, cruelty and abuse cases, and severe medical cases. We live and love by the hashtag Street Life To Sweet Life.

Srividya Ramasubramanian

Associate Professor of Media Studies, Texas A&M University

Srividya “Srivi” Ramasubramanian is an award-winning professor, media psychologist, diversity educator, and nonprofit co-founder. Over the last 15 years, she has studied about media stereotyping, cultural diversity, and positive storytelling. Her research examines how race and gender portrayals in popular culture shape everyday attitudes. Her work shows that media narratives can serve as powerful tools to reduce implicit biases and promote positive intergroup relations. Her contributions were recognized with the Outstanding Researcher of the Year by the National Association for Media Literacy Education in 2017. Srivi Ramasubramanian is Associate Professor of Communication and Associate Dean for Climate & Inclusion at Texas A&M University. She is also Co-founder of Media Rise, a global alliance for media educators, creative media professionals, activists, and artists committed to promoting meaningful media. Her work has been featured in the Huffington Post, National Public Radio, Dall

Steve Goode

Mental Health Professional

Steve Goode is a man who wears many hats, and takes pride in each one. First and foremost, he wears the hat of husband happily for 27 years. He has two children and 5 grandchildren, in which each of those require separate hats. He wears the hat of educator on many levels. He is a pastor of a church in the oldest town in Texas. He has developed programs for the patients of Rusk State Hospital. He is a guest lecturer 3 times a semester at Stephen F. Austin State University in the Crisis Communication class. Steve just does not want to share knowledge, but he wants to change minds and attitudes. He does this by admitting he is an ex-substance abuser, who has a chapter written in Reverse Mentoring titled “Return From Substance Abuse, Rehabilitated into Life.”