Get a front-row seat to the diverse minds of the most forward-thinking innovators in Sonoma, and hear how they are learning from the past, refining our present, and looking ahead to the future. Our 2025 lineup of speakers will be announced soon!
Reclaiming the Power of "I"
Talking Across the Divide
The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Do
The Heart of It
Ask: The Time is Now
Does Film Survive AI?
Paying It Forward and Back
How to Murder Your Mediocrity
The Great Diffusion
Griot Music of West Africa
Three Strikes Justice
Friendship 101
Bridging Divides for a More Courageous Democracy
Brooke Deterline
Daniela Fernandez
The Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Do
Cal Fussman
Connecting Through the Greats
Dawn Gross
Ask: The Time is Now
Quinn Halleck
Does Film Survive AI?
Luz Hernandez
Paying It Forward and Back
Guy Kawasaki
How to Murder Your Mediocrity
Alex Lazarow
The Great Diffusion
Jess Nichol
Three Strikes Injustice
Steve Pile AND Jali Bakary Konteh
Griot Music of West Africa
The Amazing Power of Awe
Jonah Paquette
Moving Beyond Boundaries
Diana Elizabeth Jordan
Burning Man: Art on Fire
Jennifer Raiser
The Future of AI
Peter Graf
Let Go and Collaborate
Gary Hirsch
Music is US
Santa Rosa Youth Symphony Orchestra
The $200 That Could Save Your Life
Tara Jasper
Protecting Earth: An Astronaut’s Perspective
Rusty Schweickart
Native Hands, Native Lands
Melissa Nelson
Fostering Differences on Common Ground
Larkin O’Leary
The Gaming Connection
Angela Roseboro
Our speaker curation committee will be accepting applications for 2025 beginning in August 2024.
Please note that due to TED policies and regulations, personal growth coaches will not be considered.
Lawrence Beamen is a bass baritone classical vocalist, songwriter, producer, and composer who began singing in a small church in Mississippi. At age 16, after moving to California, he was asked to sing for civil rights icon Rosa Parks. One year later, he performed for Pope John Paul II in Vatican City. Lawrence has performed for many notable individuals and organizations including former SF Mayor Willie Brown, the San Francisco 49ers, the San Francisco Giants, President Bill Clinton and the Billy Graham Crusades. Lawrence was a Top 5 Finalist on the NBC TV show America’s Got Talent and has collaborated with Grammy award-winning producers and music industry greats including Andrae’ Crouch, Patti LaBelle, BET Bobby Jones, and Chuckii Booker. Lawrence is involved in social justice causes and runs Fitted, a textile company.
As Founder & CEO of Courageous Leadership, LLC, Brooke Deterline and her colleagues use evidence-based tools to help people and teams act with ethical courage and ingenuity under pressure. Brooke’s proven methodologies support teams to address complex challenges together.
Building on her experience as the Founding Corporate Director of the Heroic Imagination Project, with Phil Zimbardo, PhD, Brooke combines social and cognitive behavioral psychology with neuroscience to access our natural compassion and wisdom. (See: TEDx Talk.)
Concerned about the polarized political climate, Brooke and colleagues and advisors from across the political landscape formed Courageous Democracy. The programs help people decrease distress, reach across divides and collaborate on shared goals. (See: HuffPo The United States of Anxiety.)
Previously, Brooke co-founded a San Francisco-based consulting firm, focusing on leadership candor and credibility. A trained mediator and former journalist, Brooke has been published in SmartMoney, Huffington Post, and the Greater Good. Her work has been featured in places like the New York Times and Oprah magazine.
Brooke has helped people and teams at leading organizations, such as Pfizer, GE, the Hewlett Foundation, Microsoft, Google, the Australian government, MIT, Kaiser Permanente, the Center for Domestic Peace, Columbia Medical Center, BMW, the Omidyar Group and Rotary International.
Daniela Fernandez is a visionary nonprofit leader and entrepreneur, whose life’s mission is to restore the health of the ocean. At the age of 19, she founded Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) in her dorm room at Georgetown University after attending a United Nations meeting on climate change and realizing she was the only young person in the room. Since 2014, Daniela has catapulted SOA into the global spotlight – creating the world’s largest network of young Ocean Leaders, with hubs in 165 countries, and launching the world’s first Ocean Solutions Accelerator to identify, accelerate and scale the most promising ocean innovation startups in the world.
Daniela is a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur and has been recognized for her work by former U.S. Secretary, John Kerry, U.S. President, Bill Clinton and E.U. Commissioner, Karmenu Vella.
Cal Fussman is a New York Times best selling author, storyteller, writer-at-large for Esquire Magazine and host of the BIG Questions with Cal Fussman podcast. As a writer for Esquire, GQ, and the Washington Post Sunday Magazine, Cal transformed the act of asking questions into an art form and conducted probing interviews with many of the influencers and icons that have shaped the last half century including: Mohamed Ali, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Serena Williams, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, John Wooden, Bruce Springsteen and hundreds more.
Cal is well known as the lead interviewer for Esquire’s column, “What I Have Learned”, in which people with extraordinary lives share their wisdom. Some of the “What I Have Learned” columns have been reissued in two books titled The Meaning of Life.
Hospice and Palliative Medicine Physician, Author, Podcaster and Magic Wand Bearer, Dr. Dawn Gross (aka Dr. AsYouWish) aims to transform the taboo around talking about death and inspire each of us to discover what is uniquely essential to us and to talk about it with the people we love. She is a hospice and palliative medicine physician at UCSF and medical director of ANX Hospice, as well as the creator of the podcast, Dying To Talk. Instead of being seen as the grim reaper, Dr. Gross thinks of herself as a fairy godmother making final wishes come true. When she asks patients what would they do with a magic wand, their answers are never “just give me more time.” She captures their true stories in her new book, Heart Sounds. https://drasyouwish.
Quinn Halleck is a Hollywood director and thought-leader at the forefront of the AI-powered revolution in audio-visual media. His newest short-film “Sigma_001”, whose teaser was screened at the 2023 Marché du Film in Cannes, is about a sentient AI being. The film, which utilized AI from ideation to distribution, sets a new model for how independent filmmakers can unlock the tools once reserved for the studio system by employing AI as a collaborator across all aspects of the workflow.
Skilled in both narrative and documentary genres, Quinn received mentorship from director/producer Michael Bay, known for his work in films like “Armageddon,” “Transformers,” and “Pearl Harbor.” Since his association with Bay, Quinn has produced documentaries alongside notable figures such as Mark Wahlberg, DJ Khaled, and Jeremy Irons.
Luz Hernandez grew up in Santa Rosa after immigrating from Mexico in 2006. Luz benefited from the 10,000 Degrees program and many people who supported her throughout high school. She recognized that mentoring students working for the 10,000 Degrees program could make a significant difference. She has helped many students change the trajectory of their lives through her work.
Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist for Canva, is a Silicon Valley marketing specialist, venture capitalist and best selling author of fifteen books including Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media and Enchantment. Guy is also the creator and host of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast, which features inspiring interviews with leaders, icons and iconoclasts from around the world.
Guy is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was formerly the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. Guy has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Alexandre Lazarow is a global venture capitalist that has spent his career working at the intersection of investing, innovation and economic development in the public, private and social sectors. He is Managing Partner of Fluent Ventures and was previously a Partner with Cathay Innovation, a Paris-based firm with $5B Assets Under Management (AUM) that invests across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
Alex is the author of Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs – from Delhi to Detroit – Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley (Harvard Business Review Press). Out-Innovate has been translated to Korean, Chinese and Spanish. Alex is a Senior Contributor with Forbes and his writing has been featured in publications such as the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, McKinsey Quarterly, Venture Beat and Entrepreneur Magazine. Alex is also the author of the newsletter 99%Tech.
West African Griot Musical Entertainment
Jali Bakary Konteh is a kora master, carrying on Gambia’s rich kora tradition, which is passed on from father to son. Born into a legendary lineage of West African griots (a class of West African traveling poets, musicians and storytellers who maintain oral history traditions) Jali is the grandson of the legendary Alhaji Bai Konte, the first Gambian griot to bring kora music to the world audience. Jali has performed extensively throughout West and North Africa, UK and the rest of Europe. Jali Bakary brings his own personal touch and innovations to traditional songs with unique melodic and rhythmic arrangements. He performs solo, as well as with his own band, Minyanta, and Balimaya Project – a new 16 piece collective who fuse West-African folkloric music and jazz. Jali Bakary released his debut album, Konteh Kunda, in 2010 and currently lives in London.
Steve Pile is a Sonoma County singer, songwriter, guitarist and educator whose music is influenced by strands of Americana, jazz, delta blues and African rhythms. Steve traveled to West Africa and studied music with the Konteh family in Gambia, where he and Jali co-founded the Konteh Kunda School of Music in 2008. In Spring 2024, their friendship will reach a new milestone as Jali travels to the US to play a number of shows with Steve and be a guest teacher at Sonoma Country Day School, where Steve has been teaching music for many years.
Jess Nichol is a survivor of the high profile kidnapping and murder of her sister, Polly Klaas. The public outrage around her sister’s case was used to pass the Three Strikes law, in Polly’s name, which increased mass incarceration in the US. After almost three decades, in 2020, Jess decided to start speaking out against punitive policies like Three Strikes, and joined the movement of survivors advocating for restorative justice, equity, and healing in their communities. Along with her sister Annie, Jess has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and Elle Magazine. Jess and Annie also co-host a podcast called A New Legacy where they interview policy experts and survivor leaders from communities most impacted by crime and mass incarceration.
Alongside her advocacy efforts, Jess is also a facilitator and teacher of communication and leadership.
Mark Shapiro, MD is a practicing Hospitalist working at Providence Medical Group-Northern California. He is also the creator and host of Explore The Space, a popular podcast that brings those who provide healthcare and those who seek healthcare closer together through conversation. The show examines the interface between healthcare and society with experts, looking at a wide spectrum of topics including gun violence, gender equity, climate change, disaster management and advocacy.
Dr. Shapiro is also a published author, most recently co-authoring “Preventing Gun Violence: Catalyzing Action” in the Journal of Hospital Medicine and “Covid-19 CV Matrix” published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is an active and informed voice on social media and can be followed on X at @ETSshow, Instagram @explorethespaceshow and LinkedIn.