Sold-out TEDxLaSierraUniversity intrigues audience with wide-ranging topics

A backdrop of sleek, bright red and white TEDx branded signage and décor on the conference center stage featured the event theme, “True Possible.” The event’s speakers, noted below, covered wide-ranging topics under subthemes “Behind-the-Scenes,” “Beneath the Surface,” and “Revelation”:

• Amanda Beer, executive director of Wolf Connection – spoke about her organization’s wolf sanctuary and therapy programs in the Angeles National Forest offering empowering programs for youth, women and other groups. She described her own journey of learning and healing from the wolves; she talked about the sanctuary’s experiences with wolves named Willow and Mia, and the impact on a program participant. Beer emphasized the importance of staying connected to oneself and others as wolves do with each other, toward navigating life’s fears and difficulties authentically.

• Mia Ginaé Watkins, award-winning filmmaker, writer, public speaker -- she has worked in the video game industry for nearly a decade and is currently at Riot Games; recognized as one of She Plays Games’ Top 100 Women in Gaming in 2022.

• Lloyd Trueblood, La Sierra University marine invertebrate biologist – biology professor and National Science Foundation-funded researcher, he described his work shedding light on how key marine species respond to global change, including ocean warming and acidification. He described his expedition aboard an oceanographic ship named the Sally Ride and detailed the collection of deep-sea invertebrates. He stressed the need for continued research to understand and mitigate climage change effects.

• Marcus Norris, award-winning visual media composer, founder, South Side Symphony -- A composer for visual media, his many accolades include a recent BMI Film & TV Award for his score for AppleTV’s Lady in the Lake series starring Natalie Portman and directed by Alma Har’el. With a focus on community engagement, Norris has performed in concert halls and at major league sporting events. He discussed his creative process and the evolution of the South Side Symphony. He shared his approach to overcoming creative blocks which involves action and focusing on output rather than outcome, and the importance of creating from the heart.

• Bob Marshall, Riverside typewriter muse – Marshall, a master typewriter mechanic, Riverside native, and guardian of a vanishing craft, spoke about his early fascination with Leoardo da Vinci’s inventions, which sparked a lifelong interest in mechanics. His journey ranged from fixing BMX bikes and skateboards in high school to restoring vintage typewriters. An online community of typewriter enthusiasts assisted with this effort. During his talk he emphasized the intrinsic value of typewriters, the importance of preserving historical machinery. His typewriters, which have appeared in major public and entertainment events and media, including an Academy Awards video, were integrated into the stage design in Troesh Conference Center.

• Amber Jones, sports strategist – A lifelong advocate for women’s football, a former coach and semi-pro player, she is a co-founder of the Mile High Blaze in the Women’s Football Alliance. She discussed her journey in football, beginning in childhood, and touched on the lack of access in the 1970s for girls in sports. She talked about the co-ed flag football program she initiated which grew from 80 boys and eight girls to 12 teams with 30% female participation. She noted that today more than half a million girls and women play flag football in the U.S. with significant investment from the NFL, USA Football, and international federations. Jones emphasized the importance of creating pathways for girls in sports, from team participation to leadership.

• Mo Shirmohammadi, founder, Code Can Bridge – A Presidential Scholar studying Computer Science at the University of Southern California, he is the founder of Code Can Bridge, a nonprofit teaching coding to students with learning disabilities. His work has been featured in Forbes.

• Stephanie Cheng, Vice President, Head of International and Special Projects, Los Angeles Rams – Her talk was influenced by her role within the Rams organization overseeing the club's presence across seven Global Markets Program countries: Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. She leads all Rams international initiatives, including social media, influencer marketing, database marketing, merchandise, event activations, partnerships, and media rights. Her TEDxLaSierraUniversity talk centered on the NFL’s global expansion which in 2022 began targeting markets in Mexico, China and Australia and has since expanded to seven markets. The program includes cultural immersion, social media fan engagement, and youth flag football.

• Sophia Garcia, data-driven storyteller – A community strategist and GIS mapping pioneer dedicated to mapping a more equitable world, her career spans local government, social justice nonprofits, and the tech sector, including her recent role as the national lead for equity and GIS at the world’s largest mapping company. She discussed her journey from sustainability studies to a career in GIS and social justice mapping. Her talk described a project at the University of Missouri that led to national solidarity. She emphasized the role of mapping in redistricting efforts, especially in California where her team created a transparent map that sparked public involvement.

This year’s TEDxLaSierraUniversity theme “True Possible” wraps up a series of themes that began with the first event in 2014. La Sierra held five TEDxLaSierraUniversity programs between 2014 and 2019 under the titles respectively of “The Possible,” “The Other Things,” “It Starts with One,” “The Great UnDone,” and “Through it All.” The Covid-19 pandemic and other mitigating factors paused the production of TEDxLaSierraUniversity events over the past five years. 

“TEDxLaSierraU and the conference themes we have progressed through since 2014, are an expression of La Sierra University's mission of ‘To Seek, To Know, To Serve.’" – John Razzouk, TEDxOrganizer, Assistant Management and Marketing Professor

TED now recognizes TEDxLaSierraUniversity as Summit-Tier, the highest licensing tier available to TEDx events globally. “We are among the largest in attendance of any TEDx event in the state of any type, and one of the largest university-based ones,” said La Sierra business school alumnus John Razzouk, TEDxOrganizer and assistant professor of management and marketing. He has developed the TEDx programs each of its six years.

Under Razzouk's direction, TEDxLaSierraUniversity events are organized and carried out through a team of student assistants, many of whom posted about the impact of their involvement in their social media posts.

Noted Razzouk, “One of the most important things I learned back when I was a student at La Sierra University is that in our world all of us are teachers and all of us are students,” he said. “TEDxLaSierraU and the conference themes we have progressed through since 2014, are an expression of La Sierra University's mission of ‘To Seek, To Know, To Serve.’ At La Sierra University we challenge ourselves to make today about pushing beyond the perceived limits of our potential. What better place to engage together with our community to celebrate “The Possible” and connect through local voices towards real impact?”

Said John Thomas, dean of the Zapara School of Business, “The sixth TEDxLaSierraUniversity event, which attracted over 400 attendees, including more than 200 high school students, was truly inspiring. Our TEDx organizer, John Razzouk, meticulously assembled an exceptional group of speakers who challenged our perspectives and sparked innovative ideas. 

“This event served as a fitting culmination to the TEDxLaSierraUniversity series that commenced in 2014. I am immensely proud of our team for elevating our TEDx event to one of the finest in Southern California.” 

Breakout lunch sessions on May 8 included career readiness, a typewriter function and repair workshop, and other topics. One session involved students from Sacramento Adventist Academy practicing their public speaking skills in presentations at TEDxLaSierraUniversity for a class led by a La Sierra alumnus. 

During lunch, provided on site by local restaurant Chilitos Mexican Grill, several attendees talked about the presentations they liked most and what they learned.

Sam Dominguez, an alumnus of La Sierra University along with his wife, attended TEDxLaSierraUniversity where his son, Jacob, a Presidential Scholar and biology and pre-dental major at the university participated in a college and careers breakout session to describe his experiences as an honors program student.

“The audience of high schoolers and parents listened intently and asked insightful questions about a prospect at La Sierra University,” Dominguez said. “One thought that came to mind was how my mother would have felt on such a day.  She was a champion of Christian education. Her heart would have been filled with joy seeing the profound impact this event was creating on the lives of youth.

“She viewed every encounter [with neighborhood families] as an opportunity to “educate for eternity.” I was moved to see La Sierra employing this approach, hosting the community and providing a high-quality opportunity to learn about what is ‘Truly Possible’ at a Christian university,” he said.

Finley Moywaywa , a freshman at Sacramento Adventist Academy shared that her favorite TEDx talk so far that day was the presentation by Shirmohammadi on coding and its use to benefit those with learning disabilities. 

“I think it really shows that the kids who are so troubled, they just think different,” she said. “And I think it’s really not a disability, it’s a power. It’s a different way that they see the world.”

Her classmate, Noah van Wolferen, also an academy freshman, enjoyed the presentation by Trueblood on salps and other ocean life research.

“I thought it was really cool insight because like only 5% [of oceans] is explored,” he said, citing a statistic shared during Trueblood’s presentation.

Three other freshmen from Sacramento Adventist Academy––Meghan Lick, Maria Melo and Malia Janke––found the talks on marine biology and programming for neurodivergent individuals interesting. 

“The talk about marine biology was really interesting to me,” Lick said. “That caught my attention immediately. They’ve all been really interesting and opened my eyes with different types of speakers.”

Melo agreed with Lick regarding Trueblood’s talk on marine science. “I always liked marine biology so it was really opening,” she said.

“I think this is such a wonderful opportunity to see these well-trained speakers,” Janke added. “I really liked Mo’s talk about programming for people who have learning disabilities or neurodivergent people. I just like the event so far, it’s great.”

Marlene Maldonado, a junior at Norte Vista High School in Riverside who aims to be a physical therapist liked Jones’ talk on women in sports and her trajectory in flag football particularly struck a chord. 

“Amber Jones was my favorite,” Maldonado said, noting that all the TEDx speakers ultimately “tied back to a lesson––we just want to keep going because at the end there’s a goal that we have to learn.” 

Following Jones’ talk on the expansion of women’s flag football, Razzouk called onto the stage members of the La Sierra University women’s flag football team for a photo and recognition. The team was in the latter phases of its inaugural season which landed them in the NAIA Great Southwest Athletic Conference championship games in April, multiple awards and recognitions, including placing among the top 10 teams by the Rating Performance Index. 

After the event ended, flag football players from Norte Vista and La Sierra high schools as well as community school coordinators for those schools discussed the impact of Jones’ talk. The coordinators spearhead partnerships, facilitate family engagement and lead other supportive programming.

The students appreciated Jones’ message of empowerment and coordinators Jayme O’Rafferty and Lorena Morales highlighted the importance of such talks for their students’ personal growth and future aspirations.

Norte Vista high 11th grader Ana Garcia said, “hearing about how women, before they didn’t feel like they belonged and then they progressed into sports. They were able to be involved in it.

“It just felt powerful to know that women could be what they wanted.”

Giselle Locano, also in 11th grade said, “I thought it was inspiring and powerful how women are now capable of joining sports. As a woman I feel like it’s nice to hear that we could do stuff too and not just men.”

Lenny Hernandez from La Sierra High School noted, “I honestly thought it was pretty inspiring. It opened a lot of new concepts into my head like, ‘I can do this. I can accomplish whatever I put my head into.’”

In reflecting on Jones’ talk, Norte Vista High School Community School Coordinator O’Rafferty noted the impact of observing the flag football players’ trajectories. “[It] has been a really cool experience to see their personal growth, their commitment to sport, their toughness,” she said, noting the many injuries the flag football team incurred during its first couple of years. 

“To see how the sport has shaped them and made an inner toughness has been really cool,” she said.

“I think that seeing themselves represented and see that there’s been a legacy of people fighting for gender equality in sports for years. I do think that seeing someone who’s gone through these struggles and then seeing how things have changed over time to make it possible, it’s really cool for them to be able to see that.”

“I don’t think they’ve ever had this opportunity to hear from others, their journey and that they’re making history,” said Community School Coordinator Morales from La Sierra High School. “I just feel like this has been a very rewarding experience. Just the idea of making things possible, just having that empowerment and seeing people who did something great, and they [students] can too.”

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of discovering and spreading ideas, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. 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.)

About TED

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TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, but today it spans a multitude of worldwide communities and initiatives exploring everything from science and business to education, arts and global issues. In addition to the TED Talks curated from our annual conferences and published on TED.com, we produce original podcasts, short video series, animated educational lessons (TED-Ed) and TV programs that are translated into more than 100 languages and distributed via partnerships around the world. Each year, thousands of independently run TEDx events. Through the Audacious Project, TED has helped catalyze $6.6 billion in funding for projects that support bold solutions to the world's most urgent challenges — working to make the world more beautiful, sustainable and just. In 2020, TED launched Countdown, an initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and mobilize a movement for a net-zero future, and in 2023 TED launched TED Democracy to spark a new kind of conversation focused on realistic pathways towards a more vibrant and equitable future. View a full list of TED’s many programs and initiatives.