Youth Inspiring Youth. Youth Inspiring Columbus. Youth Inspiring the World.
Theme: The Future Revealed.

333 W. Broad St.
Columbus, 43215
United States

Jordan Edelheit

Jordan Edelheit is currently studying Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, but more importantly is a social entrepreneur. She is the founder and organizer of TEDxOhioStateUniversity and recently organized a TEDx event at a venue quite different than a university setting. Being a co-organizer of TEDxMarionCorrectional, she spent the past five months journeying to and from prison, making a positive impact within the incarceration system. Her unique combination of time spent traveling abroad, and ironically, the many visits to prison has helped inspire her positive outlook and experience what it means to live a purposeful life. Her newest project, The Driven (www.TheDriven.weebly.com), took her on an adventure around the country which she is excited to share with the attendees at TEDxYouth@Columbus today!

Sarah Naguib

Sarah is seventeen years old and is currently a senior in high school at Columbus School For Girls. She is a first-generation Egyptian-American and has recently developed a huge passion for helping the people of her home country. Outside of her homework, Sarah has achieved her black belt in Tae Kwon Do, she is involved with her school’s theater productions, she is the cofounder of her school’s literary magazine, and she is an active blogger. In her free time, she loves to bike, bake, and read. In the future, Sarah plans to go to college and double major in biochemistry and international relations with the hopes of eventually going to law school or medical school.

John Weiler

In past years, John has failed many times and know he will continue to do so in the future because it’s how they learn. He has also been on a small team that was awarded first place for a national case study competition conducted by an investment banking firm in New York, co-founded an investment firm while at Ohio State, and have done business development for and with multiple start ups. John goals in life are aligned with creating innovative business, meeting interesting/inspiring people, and continuing to learn everyday. Growing up with the Internet and technology it has lent itself to countless possibilities and positive experiences in their life and they have a passion to share those with people. John are currently working on a pretty cool concept with some awesome people!

Jeremy Meizlish

Jeremy is a recent graduate of Capital University with a B.A. in English and minors in communications and psychology. He comes from a family of entrepreneurs and attorneys and has started three companies in recent years with his business partner John Weiler. Jeremy is passionate about history and inspired by the people he reads about; Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin and Steve Jobs to name a few. He believes we can learn from our past and evolve to create an even greater future and he wants to live everyday playing a part in creating that future. Jeremy’s ultimate goal in life is to leave a positive energy on this world that is felt long after his body has returned to the Earth. He is currently working on an exciting new non-profit platform that aims to change the way we donate forever!

Demi Wetzel

Demi has an obsession with saying yes to just about everything. This usually means unique opportunities, spontaneous invites, & even jobs. “What do you do?” is her most confusing question to answer, but one she enjoys attempting to answer. Her passion for social media was just the beginning of her love for all things Internet and innovation. Demi can talk for hours, days, and weeks about her experience at Startup Weekend. She apologizes in advance! Some have called her crazy but she prefers the words, “passionate and driven with minimal amounts of sleep.” Demi is currently Executive Editor of Inkable.co and Social Strategist for New Ink. Time management is a constant struggle but iced soy caramel macchiatos seem to work magic. She doesn’t have an exact dream job or plan for the future because ten years ago she wanted to be an actress. Now, Demi strives to help connect people to technology and tweet what happens.

Vivek Chhabria

Vivek Chhabria is an ambitious, tennis playing, family oriented, Apple fanatic, life loving student at The Ohio State University. He is currently pursuing engineering as a major, but also spends time working out, servicing as the community service chair at his residence hall, and enjoying the college experience. Vivek loves to meet new people, enjoys attending the Ohio State football games every Saturday as a proud Buckeye, and wants to someday start his own charity foundation. During Vivek’s senior year of high school he started a dance marathon to raise money to fight pediatric cancer through BuckeyeThon, the largest student philanthropy group at Ohio State. The event impacted his school community, made a huge difference on the lives of many, and allowed Vivek to grow as an individual. He is extremely passionate about the cause of ending pediatric cancer, and hopes someday he will no longer need to fundraise for the cure.

Ben Kompa

Ben is a senior at Upper Arlington High School, but spends his days taking classes at THE Ohio State University. In addition to playing Bridge, throwing discus, and hanging out with friends, he works in the Sadee Lab of Pharmacogenomics at OSU. There, he was introduced to the possibilities of gene sequencing and personalized medicine, and began conceiving of a world where everyone had individually tailored treatments. In the future, Ben hopes to pursue a degree in biochemistry and continue to conduct research at the crossroads of medicine and public policy.

Spencer Channell

Spencer Channell is a freshman at Olentangy Orange High School. He has studied piano and music for seven years and currently music directs at Shanahan Middle School. He has performed in pit bands around Columbus for various theatres and musicals including several shows at the Riffe Center. He has participated in the Columbus Youth Jazz Workshop and is currently enrolled in AP Music Theory. His main musical interests include composition (mainly film scoring), arrangement and performance. He also loves teaching and sharing his musical ideas. In addition, he is an aspiring filmmaker and devout YouTuber. He is thrilled and honored to be a speaker at the TEDx Youth Conference.

Mitzi Eppley

Mitzi Eppley is a seventeen year old senior in the Mosaic Program, and a pre-professional student at BalletMet Academy. Additionally, Mitzi enjoys lifting her voice in song, coating melodies from the piano and losing herself in poetry. Despite her unconventional scholastic history – homeschool to public high school to peso at cscc to Mosaic – she is eager to begin her college career. Dream school: Boston Conservatory, BFA in dance.

Jakob Michaels

Jakob Michaels, Born in Ashland, Kentucky and raised in Delaware, Ohio is a 20 year old Hypnotist and Mentalist in the corporate and college circuits. After a series of events shook Jakob’s world, he began learning how to reprogram the mind which lead to rapid change in his life and a desire to teach the lessons to others through his demonstrations while making new discoveries about how to create success. Today, Jakob aspires to travel across the globe demonstrating the skills he has developed and teach them to others who both through personal coaching as well as corporate entertaining and trainings to standing ovations followed by thunderous applause. He has performed in various venues including Comfest Columbus and continues to speak and entertain full time. More information on Jakob, including live video demonstrations as well as his personal blog can be found at www.Doormanofperception.com.

Brian Breitsch

ry not to be a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. – Albert Einstein Brian Breitsch is a Miami University undergrad studying Computer Engineering and Mathematics. While he loves exploring the theory and applications behind his disciplines, his true passion has always been to create and perform music. He enjoys writing songs to play with his two triplet brothers, and also dabbles in electronic music composition. The work he presents on new musical interfaces originated from his participation in the Summer At The Edge internship program under the AFRL’s DiscoveryLab. In line with these sorts of technologies, Brian has a deep interest in the broad study of human-machine interaction and its applications in the areas of human computation and human-machine synergy. You can follow a diverse range of projects and endeavors by him and his two triplet brothers at www.clusteringdynamics.net.

Megan Holstein

Megan Holstein's typical day is wake up, go to school, come home, and message people halfway across the world working to make apps for her autistic little brother, Jason. Megan started Pufferfish Software when she was 15, producing some of he first quality apps for autistic children across the world. Now 17, her experiences starting a business have taught her things she would have never learned at school. Starting a company at such a young age was a difficult experience, from nervousness working with adults to struggling to find acceptance with her friends. Megan is a senior at dublin Coffman high school, taking business classes both in the school and with BYU online. She hopes to continue to create better apps for both special needs and typical children across the world, to help them grow into all they can be.

Dan Stover

Hardly saying “no” to a challenge put before him, Dan has tried to not only overcome odd challenges like speed-eating, but also himself and his fears. Graduating from The Ohio State University in 2009, receiving two social science degrees, Dan has dabbled in everything from blogging to being an on-air radio personality and loves giving back to the Columbus community. If he had to choose between talking and listening, he’d probably choose listening; however, he likes to consider himself a storyteller, too. Dan is an executive coach and consultant for Integrated Leadership Systems, based out of Westerville, Ohio.

Zach Friedman

Born in Cincinnati and raised 6 years in Caracas, Venezuela, Zach has spent the majority of his life in Ohio with a few stints to over 15 different countries. A perpetual student of the world, Zach has always had a curiosity and compulsion to question authority, which has led to a healthy disrespect for conformity. He will graduate from The Ohio State University in December with a Degree in Creativity, Innovation, and Consumer Insights (a degree he concocted himself). A passionate cook, amateur professor, surfer, snowboarded, and adventurer, Zach spends his time with many different groups of people coming up with various ideas and theories. He is a builder, not an operator; someone who strives to create things for the sheer joy of seeing an idea come to fruition. Zach has a fascination with all things related to sustainability and innovation, and hopes to use his passion for understanding consumers’ behavior to change the way we think about creating and consuming products. Zach hopes to someday move close to the waves or mountains, and keep living by his motto: To Live a Life Intentionally To Do a Deed Done Right To Dream a Dream Worth Dreaming To Give no Grievance Life

Jaren Dorman

After discovering at age two that making marks on paper was fun, Jaren began drawing and designing, and completed his first series of car models based upon his own make of vehicle, including brand and logo imaging, by age seven. While attending Saturday Morning Art Classes at CCAD, his interests expanded to include architecture, transportation design and industrial design. Jaren is an advocate of a forward thinking philosophy, and promotes the education of design thinking in middle, and highschools. He is a Junior at Olentangy Orange HS, a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol, and is an avid listener of trance/eclectic electronic music.