TEDxJacksonville 2023 is Oct. 14 at WJCT Studios

Anthropologist Alexa Hagerty, Australian composer Neil Moore and former Duval County Schools Superintendent Diana Greene are among the speakers for TEDxJacksonville 2023.

The 11th annual conference, entitled “Human/Nature,” is scheduled for Oct. 14 at WJCT Studios, 100 Festival Park Ave. Tickets are $135 for general admission and $70 for students. They are available online here.

The conference includes lunch, coffee and snacks during breaks.

The event will have 10 speakers and three music and artistic guests. It will feature experts in artificial intelligence and education, neurobiology and technology, resilience and human connection. 

The conference is 11 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. followed by an Afterglow party, also at WJCT. Event check-in begins at 10:30 a.m. 

“We’re also thankful to return to WJCT Studios — the location of the first TEDxJacksonville conference in 2013 — and to present such incredible musical performances to our audience,” co-organizer and executive producer Jeanmarie Grimsley said in a news release.

Hope McMath will host the conference for the ninth consecutive year. 

The speakers:

Caryn Antonini, Greenwich, Connecticut: Antonini speaks five languages and has appeared on CNN, Headline News, ABC, FOX, CBS and NBC as a language and culture expert. The culinary ambassador says we owe it to our communities and ourselves to both honor the language of food and preserve the critical cultural stories it conveys.

Iva Ballou, Jacksonville: Ballou is the community development manager for Smile Train, a motivational speaker, cleft confidence coach, and a facial difference advocate who seeks to increase awareness and education for the facial difference community. She also is a co-host of the Love Meets Joy podcast.

Matthew Chang, Jacksonville Beach: Chang is a champion for the adoption of “cobotics” — or collaborative robots — and has personally led the engineering teams that have developed the largest cobotic systems in the world. 

Anne Coglianese, Jacksonville: Coglianese is the chief resilience officer for the city of Jacksonville. Previously she served as the Coastal Resilience Manager for the city of New Orleans, where she implemented nature-based solutions to sea-level rise and coastal land loss.

Christi Gendron, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Gendron is a neurobiologist researching the neural underpinnings of how sensory perception impacts physiology and lifespan in fruit flies and believes her findings could have important implications for our own health and longevity. 

Diana Greene, Jacksonville: The former superintendent of Duval County Public Schools is the winner of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents’ Florida Superintendent of the Year award and the 2022 Star Superintendent of the Year award.

Alexa Hagerty, Toulouse, France: Hagerty is an anthropologist researching human rights and technology, with a focus on artificial intelligence systems. She is the author of “Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains.”

Neil Moore, Los Angeles: The Australian pianist and composer is the founder of Simply Music, an international music education organization. By providing the brain with the critical neurological nutrition of musicianship, Moore believes we can discover and reconnect to our innate creative capability and prepare ourselves for the complex and challenging future we face.

Nadine Salem, Jacksonville: A former CIA analyst and global strategy advisor, Nadine has found that engaging with strangers develops empathy, courage and new perspectives — if we remain open to the lessons they bring.

Colah B. Tawkin, Atlanta: Tawkin is the creator/voice of the Black in the Garden podcast and the Underground Arborist. She works to foster a deeper connection with plants and nature, and to ignite a sense of pride and resilience within the Black community.

Performers:

95 South: Mike Mike (Michael Phillips) and Daddy Black (Carlos Spencer), originally from Jacksonville, are still touring with the hip-hop band, known for its 1993 hit, “Whoot There It Is”

Jesabel: The musician, songwriter and recording artist didn’t start performing until she was 27. She “blends folk and pop with a dash of country roots and the sprinkle of soulful patina only a life well-lived provides.”

Taryn “LoveReigns” Wharwood: LoveReigns is the co-founder of the longest running open mic in Jacksonville, The Cypher Open Mic Poetry and Soul.

TEDxJacksonville says it “exists to open minds with inspired ideas.” For more information, visit TEDxJacksonville.com.