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).

Judy K. Jolliffe Theatre
359 S Kalamazoo Mall
Second Floor
Kalamazoo, Michigan, 49007
United States

Chris Singel

Chris Singel is a self-proclaimed “AI Optimist” who blends humor, wit, and a healthy dose of realism in his approach to the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence. With a knack for turning potentially daunting concepts into relatable and even entertaining discussions, Chris encourages audiences to rethink their relationship with work in the age of automation. Drawing from personal experiences and historical anecdotes, he presents AI not as a threat but as a tool for liberating us from mundane tasks, allowing more time for creativity, connection, and the pursuit of what truly matters in life. His talks are a refreshing mix of light-hearted storytelling and insightful observations, designed to make you laugh, think, and maybe even reconsider your career path. Chris used AI to write this.

Dann & Tara Sytsma

Dann and Tara Sytsma blend their professional backgrounds in sales, training, and management with their improv theatre training to bring you Improv Effects, an applied improv coaching firm. Improv Effects has worked with over 150 different companies, many of which appear on the Fortune 500 list. Their inclusive facilitation style allows them to introduce improv skills and concepts in an accessible, non-threatening way. Dann has been performing improvisational theatre since 1997. His formal improv training includes studying at the esteemed Improv Olympic (iO) and Second City in Chicago. He has worked with – and tutored – some of the top improv performers in Southwest Michigan. Dann’s professional history is in chemistry, including method development & validation, business development, and college instruction. He is also the owner of Crawlspace Comedy Theatre and the founder of Crawlspace Eviction, Kalamazoo's premier improv troupe. Tara's improv background spans the years since 2003. She performs with Kalamazoo's premiere improv troupe Crawlspace Eviction and is the Director of Education for Crawlspace Comedy Theatre. Tara instructs the Level 1 adult improv course. Tara's professional background outside of improv is in education, both in the areas of biology and the arts. She also supervised education staff in after-school programming.

Heather Ratliff

I have spent my adult life pondering one fundamental question: “What helps us care for ourselves so we feel good?” I’ve funneled this obsession into my career as a nurse, health coach, and certified functional medicine practitioner and helped over 1000 clients feel better over the last decade. I’m also a scientist (Bachelors in Biology, Purdue University Masters in Science, Indiana University) and trained in public policy (Masters in Public Administration, Indiana University). I’ve lived my whole adult life in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with my nerdy librarian husband who rides his bike everywhere. I have three cats, and I hate to brag, but I’m really good at playing with them.

Jill Terwilliger

Jill Terwilliger is a hospice grief counselor with previous careers as a mental health advocate, parish minister, hospice chaplain, restorative justice facilitator, artist, and life coach. Jill’s dad died when she was 20. This experience opened a capacity in her to be with others through death, dying, and grief processes. Her family jokes that she can find the dark side of most any topic, but for Jill, grief is the root of joy.

Josh Hilgart

Josh Hilgart founded the Kalamazoo Defender and served as executive director until 2024. He holds a BA from Shimer College and a JD from Michigan State University College of Law. Josh has been pulling for the neglected, marginalized and oppressed throughout his professional life, in both Washington, DC and in Kalamazoo. While in Washington, Josh held pivotal roles in the coalition working on voting rights and voter protection, helping develop the Election Protection program while employed by the progressive People For the American Way. He also helped develop public resources on federal judicial nominees under consideration by the U.S. Senate, some used within the U.S. Senate’s confirmation hearings. While at People For the American Way, Josh was recruited by the U.S. office for the international Friends of the Earth—the world’s largest environmental network— where he subsequently organized campaigns on federal climate legislation, trained delegates to climate negotiations, boosted fundraising, and helped the broader global network build out their strategic plan. After returning to Kalamazoo with his wife, Heather Hilgart, Josh took a position with Legal Aid of Western Michigan, representing impoverished individuals facing eviction, spousal abuse, collection agencies, denial of benefits, and other legal issues that disproportionately affect the poor. By providing direct legal services to the underserved, Josh came to understand the life of poverty and trauma much better than his prior work could convey. Our systems were failing to serve those for whom they were built and, in many cases, imposing further trauma and shame upon those already overloaded by those burdens. Those lessons were at the forefront of Josh’s mind when the State of Michigan agreed to put new resources into indigent criminal defense, and Kalamazoo County decided to channel those resources into a non-profit delivery model for those services. In 2018, Josh began organizing a coalition of experts and activists to create just such a non-profit that could not only deliver the most organized, high-quality public defense services in the state, but with wraparound services provided by local organizations with years of experience working with the very same populations. Kalamazoo Defender has subsequently become an example of how indigent defense models can organize themselves for the best returns for their clients. Josh and Heather live in the City of Kalamazoo with their dog, cat, and three chickens.

Kristy Sidlar

I received a heart transplant in March of 2021. After living with a progressive heart disease for 22 years and ultimately going into advanced heart failure, I realized many of the things I did for my overall wellness could benefit other people. I wrote an Amazon best seller, Change of Heart: My Journey of Transplantation, Revelation, and Transformation, and am a wellness and motivational speaker who talks to civic groups, professional associations, non-profit organizations, wellness retreats, and corporations, including General Motors Financial, Kelly Services, and Nike. I’ve been advocating for women’s heart health for over 20 years. I serve on the board of the American Heart Association (chair from 2019 to 2021), and I am currently the chair of Go Red for Women Circle of Red. My full-time corporate job is as a workforce solutions consultant for Magnit; I am a 30+-year staffing and recruiting professional.

Michelle S. Johnson

Michelle S. Johnson, serves as a public scholar in the fields of Black history, literature and cultural production and applies her background in cultural studies programs and classroom environments to community and the physical environment through transformative application of the humanities. Johnson has executed extensive work on securing and promoting spaces where socially marginalized people can express their autonomous and authentic selves. As co-founder and former executive director of Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, a cultural non- profit in Kalamazoo and founder of Playgrown, Johnson has facilitated and participated in interdisciplinary culture centered development and experiences. Cofounder of The Institute of Public Scholarship, Johnson engages Space, Place, and Insistence on the ground in the fields of Black History, Environmental Culture, Oral Testimony, Literature, and Cultural Production. Johnson’s formal education includes a BA in Humanities from Michigan State University in English, Philosophy, Psychology, and Women’s Studies and a PhD in American Culture in African American Literature, 19th Century American Literature and Environmental History. Centering the power of telling story, Johnson consults on Black and Queer history projects that document the people, narratives, and places of Black autonomy and Queer autonomies, and researches, writes, curates, develops exhibits, performs, and lectures for academic and public settings. Johnson’s publications include “Tell ‘Em What We Did!’: Choosing and Building Black Space in the Midwest, in Black in the Middle, Rooster, a short story in Midnight and Indigo, Black Shapings of Freedom and Emancipation Celebrations in Saginaw, Michigan, 1839–1915, The Middle West Review and Greens, Once Removed, in Gravy Quarterly. Co-founder of the Institute of Public Scholarship in the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, Johnson was named a 2021 Rubinger Fellow to establish The Cultural Land Stewardship.

Raymond Gant

Raymond Gant is a 1984 graduate of Ferris State University’s College of Business. He majored in Business Administration, and upon graduation was hired by the University as a management intern. His career journey at Ferris led him to establish the Office of Minority Student Support Services and later serve as special assistant to the president. Gant later became principal at Mildred C. Wells Academy in Benton Harbor, and then became vice president of Marketing and Communications with The Leona Group and was promoted to regional vice president. Throughout his career, Gant has received more than 100 awards and recognitions, including the Distinguished Staff Award and Social Justice Award at Ferris State University. In the community, he is known for supporting the development of youth and being a voice on issues associated with homelessness in the city of Kalamazoo. While at Ferris he served as an advisor to a host of fraternal organizations, in addition to conducting hundreds of diversity training sessions to staff and students. Gant is also the founder of the former South East Michigan Black Alumni Association, which has evolved now into the Ferris Black Alumni Association. He is the author of Leading Shadows, a historical and pictorial analysis of minority student involvement at Ferris.

Toni Will

Toni Will has 25 years of work experience in leadership, starting in banking and now serving as the General Manager and Governor for the Kalamazoo Wings, a men’s AA professional hockey team in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the past 9 years and counting. Toni is the first female GM to serve on the Executive Committee for the Board of Governors in the ECHL and the first female GM for the Kalamazoo Wings, a 50-year franchise. Toni launched her lifestyle coaching business - Mindfulness Elevated - in 2021, helping others find freedom from substances and reaching fitness and nutrition goals. She launched Toni Will Coaching, which offers professional development coaching for those looking to disrupt their mid-life career rut or become an entrepreneur. She is passionate about helping emerging leaders break through their own glass ceiling.

Tony Rubleski

Tony is currently the president of Mind Capture Group which he founded in 2005. Based in Grand Haven, Michigan he’s a bestselling author and creator of the Mind Capture Bootcamp now in its 13th year. He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan at Bronson Hospital in the Summer of 72’ and graduated from Western Michigan University in 1994 with a degree in Marketing. He is the author of nine books in the Mind Capture book series which has spawned multiple bestsellers in various business and coaching categories with Amazon.com. The acclaimed series has received many endorsements from a wide range of leaders in marketing, sales, psychology to academia and multiple New York Times bestselling authors. His work has been featured in various media outlets ranging from Toastmasters International Magazine, The Detroit Free Press, the FOX TV network, ABC, NBC, to CNN Radio, NPR and Entrepreneur Magazine Radio. In addition, he has also served as a Faculty member with the U.S Chamber of Commerce and CEO Space International.