Kirsty De Garis

Agnostic, Brainstormer, Concerned citizen, Explorer, Journalist, Parent, Writer/Editor

Born in Sydney, educated in Sydney and London, I worked at The Observer newspaper for several years before moving back to Australia & working on The Australians at War Film Archive - an oral and visual history of 2000+ war veterans from a variety of conflicts. I then directed my own feature documentary about Vanity Fair special correspondent Dominick Dunne, which did the festival circuit, was released in cinemas + seen on lots of telly screens around the world. I’m a multi-channel producer, working with words (spoken and written), screen content and live events. I love the details: my business is called marginalia because for me, beauty is found in the margins and the little details. I've worked with TEDxSydney since 2012.

Educating girls. Preserving marine life. Planting trees.

The first TED talk I watched was (yes, cliche) Jill Bolte Taylor and it blew my mind as I've had a long-standing interest in neuroplasticity and I absolutely LOVE how she links her experience of a stroke with a priceless Idea Worth Spreading. I attended the first TEDxSydney (2010) as a member of the audience and began working with TEDxSydney in 2012.

Recalling numbers accurately: dates, phone numbers, fields in a spreadsheet. This may sound intensely boring and essentially it is, but every now and then my peculiar skill surprises me and can be astonishingly useful.