COMPILED BY JENNA WALTER/EXECUTIVE THEME EDITOR, CHARLOTTE LEVY/EDITOR
TEDxManhattanBeach highlighted twelve speakers in the auditorium and hosted various organizations and companies’ advertisement booths in the Mustang Mall at Mira Costa on Nov. 5 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The event opened with an acrobatic act by “The Positive Impact Movement”, a group that performed on America’s Got Talent. The four members in the group suffer from various injuries, but have continued intense training to spread their positive message.
“It was a delightful, inspiring, educational, interesting, and fun day,” said attendee Nancy Arnold. “Plus, it was extremely well organized.”
The first speaker was Rob DeCou, who spoke about his journey as a triathlete. In 2020, he took on the challenge of completing the Uberman, a 556-mile triathlon. DeCou described his struggles during the swimming portion of the event, but managed to emerge as the seventh person ever to complete the Uberman while raising money for human trafficking awareness.
“I admire all the speakers and performances TEDx decided to host this year,” TEDx volunteer Ella Interian said. “The entirety of the audience was engaged and eager to learn more about whoever was speaking.”
Next, Lyn Stoler discussed her views as a climate optimist. She develops positive solutions to the climate crisis, rather than taking a negative and fearful approach. She created a center for climate solutions at UCLA and an organization called Parachute, which investigates how climate solutions can help better our lives.
“I met lots of new people with interesting perspectives to share,” said senior and representative for the Work Safari booth, Grace Stuart. “I was inspired by the speakers’ stories and insights.”
Then, Josh Brost explored the 3D printing technology utilized in his job as Vice President of Business Development at Relativity Space. This new method has revolutionized rocket-making, and he discussed this as an example to illustrate that dreams can become reality.
“I hope that people are inspired to dream bigger and to be willing to take some risks in their career,” Brost said. “I also hope that people realize that failure is part of learning.”
Costa Junior, Raci Levine shared her challenging battle with anxiety. She learned to channel her anxiety into her passion, writing, and she has since become the editor for the Features section of La Vista. Levine said that anxiety is a universal experience and that she was not alone.
“TEDx was a wonderful event full of compelling presentations,” added Brost. “I enjoyed the expo as well and was particularly excited that I had the chance to meet members of the 3D printing club.”
At intermission, attendees were allowed to view various booths at the expo center. Afterwards, Grettel Fournel led a salsa dance demonstration. She showed the basic steps and educated everyone on the history of the salsa dance.
“I found the Mira Costa High School robotics team’s exhibit really inspiring because they had clearly grown into a successful team performing engineering design almost at a college level,” said Achinthya Poduval, President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers at UCLA.
Environmental educator, Tashanda Giles-Jones, discussed the importance of viewing things through an eco-lens, through the context of a connected Earth. According to Giles-Jones, humans need to reclaim their childlike optimism and recalibrate their senses to reduce the limitations we set for ourselves.
“I was very inspired by Tashanda Giles-Jones,” Arnold said. “She had so much love and enthusiasm for her work, and showed how educators can really make a difference.”
Then, Rich Keller described his marketing concept that he developed: using a single word to describe something or someone. He applied this method to major brands and now coaches his clients through the process of coming up with their word, to help them embrace their identities.
“TEDx is important, as it exposes people, of all ages, to so many new, interesting things that they might not otherwise have advantage of,” said Arnold.
Following a second intermission, Debi Gutierrez spoke about the challenge of balancing her life as a mom and comedian. She frequently performs as a keynote speaker, motivational comedian, and has even starred on television shows like Clean House and A Place of Our Own.
“I also really enjoyed Gutierrez’s presentation because of the balance of humor and information that was included,” Interian said. “She reminds me a lot of my mom which is why I found her so interesting.”
“The Passing Zone” performed a comedy-juggling act. The group, composed of John Wee and Owen Morse, has previously performed on America’s Got Talent, The Tonight Show, and at the White House. They work with many comedians, including David Spade and Weird Al Yankovic, and hold four Guinness World Records.
“The juggling act was definitely the most entertaining performance all day,” Interian said. “I even looked them up on google after the event to learn more about them.”
Dante Simonetti discussed the advances that have been made by UCLA Institute for Carbon Management. As the associate director for technology translation, he studies reaction chemistry and engineering, hoping to reduce the carbon footprint of industrial processes and energy generation. His most recent projects, SeaChange, x/44, and EPOCH, attempt to remove carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater, the air, and in concrete.
“Simonetti’s speech was especially interesting because of his efforts to decrease climate change,” Interian said. “I think it’s super important where we live to be more mindful about things like [our carbon footprint.]”
Finally, Bernhard Zünkeler founded the ESMoA and the artist collective, Freeters. He originally worked as a business attorney, but has discovered his passion for art. He lives in both California and also Germany where he focuses on urban landscapes. Zünkeler is an author of a book series and starred in the recent documentary, Art is a State of Mind.
“After listening to Bernhard’s presentation about the El Segundo art museum, I felt inspired to visit their booth and paint something space related on the provided notecard,” Interian said. “It was nice talking to the women hosting booth and getting more information about the art museum.”
According to Interian, the TEDx event was super engaging and the uniqueness of each speaker/performer was what made the event memorable. She says that the audience was actively participating for all 7 hours of the event and idk add.
“I really enjoyed my time [working] at TEDx,” said Stuart. “From a business perspective, we made many important connections that will help us expand in the near future.
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