Theme: Humanity Reimagined

TED2025 Braindate: Where Minions Meet Marvel

Slopes are closed and you want to feed your curiosity with tastiness? Join TEDxVail for an exclusive review of carefully curated TED2025 Talks for Coloradoans. Cut through the noise and discover clarity in this year of transformation.

First-timer or faithful follower? Our evening series serves up thought-provoking ideas with delectable dining—an intellectual feast when your mind needs it most.

Experience those electric goosebump moments, forge unexpected friendships, and ride the wave of inspiration that lingers long after the lights dim.

Review what happened at TED 2025 by being one of the lucky few to be participating in TEDxVailLive: Humanity Reimagined—where awe meets insight in the heart of Vail Valley.

How are we reimagining humanity?
Session 1: Inside Out
Xiye Bastida
Scott Loarie iNaturalist
Clip: Shackle
Gabriel Whaley
Jennifer Wallace
WE Flow Together Like Water
Jeffrey Reed

Session 2: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Clip: OK Go – "Love"
Carole Cadwalladr
Clip: Jungle – "Let's Go Back"
Hamish McKenzie
Clip: Lawrence – "Whatcha Want (acoustic-ish)"
Deja Foxx
Clip: Ideas are Like Fish – David Lynch
Bradley Tusk
Clip: Coldplay – "We Pray"

Session 1: Inside Out
Xiye Bastida started organizing Fridays For Future climate strikes during her student days, culminating in the 2019 youth-led march in New York City, which drew more than 300,000 participants. Honoring her roots in the Otomi-Toltec Indigenous community in central Mexico, she champions Indigenous knowledge as a climate solution and continues to rally young people from the Global South to join the movement. In 2020, she cofounded the Re-Earth Initiative, which focuses on providing resources and knowledge to frontline communities. She is an ambassador to the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions.

After years of studying the impact of climate change on ecosystems around the world, Scott Loarie left academia to found iNaturalist, a nonprofit that connects millions of people with nature. The platform fuels scientific breakthroughs and environmental action by inviting individuals to participate in vital research and thus contribute to what has become one of the world’s largest biodiversity databases. In 2024, Loarie received the prestigious Heinz Award for the Environment in recognition of iNaturalist's transformative impact on science and conservation.

After dropping out of West Point, Gabriel Whaley started making art in 2013 under the name Miscellaneous Mischief. His work went viral, and in 2016 he founded MSCHF, a company that creates, hacks and subverts objects and systems that define culture. Notable works include the "Jesus shoes" (customized Air Max 97s whose soles contained holy water from the River Jordan ... leading to a lawsuit from Nike), an app that recommends stocks to buy based on your astrological sign and a browser extension that helps users get away with watching Netflix at work.

Through research and compelling storytelling, journalist and author Jennifer Wallace examines the hidden forces shaping modern life, from the crisis of meaning in achievement culture to the essential role of mattering in personal, workplace and societal health. The cofounder of the nonprofit Mattering Movement and a New York Times-bestselling author, her books include Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It and the forthcoming Mattering: A Solution to the Crises of Our Times.

Linguist and software engineer Jeffrey T. Reed is a research affiliate for the Cry Wolf Project, a bioacoustics study of wolf communication in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. After earning a PhD involving dead languages and computational linguistics, he spent three decades in tech before rekindling his childhood passion for animal communication. Today, he leverages AI to decode how wolves and other wildlife use sound.

Session 2: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Carole Cadwalladr’s courageous journalism probes the nexus of politics and Silicon Valley power. A longtime feature writer for the UK's Guardian and Observer, she now explores "How to Survive the Broligarchy" in her Substack newsletter. Her reporting has won a Polk Award and the Orwell Prize for political journalism; she was also a Pulitzer finalist for National Reporting in 2019 with the New York Times, investigating Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the misuse of data in the Brexit referendum and the 2016 US presidential election.

As Substack's cofounder and chief writing officer, former journalist Hamish McKenzie helps independent writers and creators build their own subscription-powered media empires. He previously worked as lead writer for Tesla, which led to his book Insane Mode: How Elon Musk’s Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil.

A trailblazing activist and content creator, Deja Foxx is the founder of GenZ Girl Gang, a digital collective redefining sisterhood for the digital age. Her work is informed by her personal journey: overcoming homelessness as a teen and being the first in her family to attend college. At 19, she became one of history's youngest presidential campaign strategists, advising Kamala Harris and speaking on youth issues at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. She serves on the board of directors of the Sustainable Media Center.

A political strategist turned tech entrepreneur, Bradley Tusk has used his experiences in government and business to instigate change across multiple sectors. (One notable success: running the campaign to legalize Uber.) His family's Tusk Philanthropies aims to bring mobile voting to all US elections and also funds and runs campaigns for universal school breakfast, closing illegal weed shops and banning brokers' fees for rental apartments, among other issues. He teaches at Columbia Business School and owns an independent bookstore and podcast studio on New York's Lower East Side.

TEDxVail uncovers and spreads ideas that spark imagination, embrace possibility and catalyze impact. Two important core principles guiding TEDxVail’s curation are:

At TEDxVail, Everyone Belongs
We believe great ideas come from everywhere and belong to everyone. That's why TEDxVail brings together diverse voices from all walks of life to share bold ideas on our stages. Stick around after the talks! We love when conversations continue, with everyone listening and sharing perspectives respectfully. No heated arguments here—just thoughtful Colorado-friendly discussions that help us all see new possibilities together.

Come as you are. Bring your unique viewpoint. Let's imagine finer futures, together.

Space is quite intimately limited. First registered, first served.

WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER!

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