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).

Livingston Student Center
84 Joyce Kilmer Ave
Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854
United States

Aaron Kheifets

Aaron Kheifets is a comedian, writer and director. Credits include Comedy Central, Night of the Living with Kurt Braunohler, the Onion News Network, Bonnaroo, SXSW, and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. He’s also written for McSweeney’s, the Wall Street Journal, MTV, College Humor TV, and the cult phenomenon Mortified. Still, his finest moment was becoming a finalist for Playboy’s Mustache of the Year. He also got a PhD in Cognitive Science from Rutgers University.

Anand Patel

Keeping true to his dreams, Anand decided to open Hidden Grounds in 2013 as a way of breaking the state of constant. After three years of operating a successful business, Anand is in the constant chase of discovering untapped potential personally and professionally. As an undying passion, he dreams of starting a non-profit organization to facilitate homelessness in securing the basic necessities of life. What he hopes to achieve through his business is the ability to constantly make his passion into a reality. Raised in India, Anand moved to United States when he was 14. He earned degrees in computer information systems and knowledge strategy from University of Houston and Columbia University.

Colleen Georges

A recovering catastrophizer, Georges took off her gray-colored glasses 15 years ago and began re-scripting her once dreary, disempowered self-story. Her own perspective shifting journey from anxiety to gratitude ignited her work teaching and coaching others in how to rewrite negatives into positives. Through her teaching, coaching, community wellness groups, speaking, and writing, Georges shares a core message—we control how we view and act in our worlds. We can choose to leave behind shame-fueled, worry-driven, auto-piloted narratives, and instead script self-compassionate, hopeful, purpose-directed adventures. Georges is a Rutgers University Lecturer in counseling and women’s leadership, as well as a three-time Rutgers alum, earning her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Psychology. She runs a Positive Psychology life and career coaching practice, blogs for Huffington Post, and is currently writing her first solely authored book, Seeing All The Good.

Liz Wessel

As a student at UPenn, Liz had observed peers who struggled to find relevant work during the school year. Later, as a Google employee, she saw that even the largest, most well-known companies struggle to find key hires. Liz wanted to fix this problem through tech. With smarter filtering and a focus on quality over quantity, the two sides of the marketplace would finally match up. So, 18 months ago, Liz quit her job at Google to start WayUp, recently named by CNN as one of the 30 most innovative companies changing the world in 2015, with her co-founder, JJ Fliegelman. Today, they’ve got 35+ employees and the site is currently getting 1 out of 3 users hired. Liz hopes that one day WayUp will land every student their first job.

Nouran Shehata

From a young age, there were only two things that truly excited Nouran: technology and storytime. When she discovered the intersection of her two loves through a friend’s film and photography class, her world changed dramatically. She was fascinated by the mechanics involved with the art, and so she began to immerse herself further into the world of digital storytelling. Nouran went on to compete in her University’s ‘Changemakers Challenge’ in which she sought to convince others of the power digital storytelling has to change the world for the better. She was then awarded a grant to launch her dream media project---a project she entitled The Woahjabi Project, which uses the art of digital storytelling through film, art, and photography to promote positive images of accomplished as well as everyday minority women. Nouran will be graduating from the Rutgers Business School this coming May. Her ultimate goal is to disrupt the media industry. One powerful, well-told story at a time.

Tara Kousha

Tara Kousha is a storyteller and life coach bringing mindfulness and balance back to the work place, schools and communities. Previously a graduate of Rutgers University and Douglass College (where she studied English Literature and Economics),Tara currently works at Google on their International Education team. Five years ago she founded Your Voice, a non-profit designed to provide world class training, coaching and life design resources to underserved communities. Her passion lies in studying mindfulness, balance and the impact both have on creativity, results and happiness.

Tom Gill

Tom Gill spent many years of his life in despair, trapped by the throes of addiction to substances. Through a series of revelations and willingness to accept outside help to overcome his struggles, Tom was able to overcome these impediments and is now on the road to success. He attributes his change to outside help and escaping his own thoughts by reaching a hand out to those struggling. He hopes to offer others a way out by sharing his experience. Still a thrill seeker, Tom has now channeled his energies into positive things. What was once the insatiable drive to become intoxicated has morphed into a love of extreme sports. From the very first time he leaped off of a 40 foot cliff into the sea below, his passion is only limited by the need to exercise proper caution. He is still an avid cliff diver and now a skydiver-in-training, and plans to become a certified wingsuit flyer in due time.