TEDxManhattan

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Joel Berg

  Joel Berg is leading the anti-hunger movement in America. He is Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is also author of All You Can Eat: How Hungry Is America?, the definitive and most well-reviewed book on American hunger in the last decade. A nationally recognized thought leader and media spokesman, Joel is frequently sought after for high-profile speaking and media engagements. In the last year alone, Joel has been featured on television shows such as The Daily Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Fox Business News, the Melissa Harris Perry Show, Politics Nation with Al Sharpton, Inside City Hall on NY1, All in With Chris Hayes, and in leading national print outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall St. Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, The Huffington Post, The Nation, and many more. Joel spends much of his time touring the country educating people from California to Maine on how we can work together towards a more equitable society. Currently, the Coalition Against Hunger operates a national VISTA program operating in 30 states.

• Dana Cowin

  Dana Cowin, Food & Wine’s editor in chief since 1995, is one of America’s foremost authorities on food, wine, style and design. Cowin oversees the Food & Wine brand, including a monthly magazine with a circulation of 925,000; digital products including the website foodandwine.com as well as the digital-only FWx for millennials, mobile applications, tablet editions and a books division, which publishes Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes, the Food & Wine Wine Guide, Food & Wine Cocktails and several other titles. She holds the title of Chief Talent Scout for Chefs Club USA, a restaurant group that features the dishes of Food & Wine Best New Chefs. Under her leadership, the award-winning magazine has attracted an audience of more than eight million readers in print who have a passionate, adventurous approach to cooking, drinking, entertaining, eating out and traveling. She shares her eating and drinking adventures on Twitter and Instagram @fwscout.

• Debra Eschmeyer

  Debra Eschmeyer is the White House Executive Director of Let’s Move! and Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy. Eschmeyer leads the First Lady’s work to help America raise a healthier generation of kids and advises on food and nutrition issues. A dedicated and tireless champion for children’s health, Eschmeyer created public-private partnerships to collaborate with diverse stakeholders to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity and food insecurity. Eschmeyer co-founded FoodCorps, a national AmeriCorps service program that places emerging leaders into schools in limited-resource communities for a year of public service. Throughout the year, FoodCorps service members teach hands-on lessons about food and nutrition; build and tend school gardens, teach cooking lessons; and help change what’s on school lunch trays, giving kids healthy food. In her role as Vice President of External Affairs, Eschmeyer helped build FoodCorps into a 182 member corps serving in 16 states and DC that supports the National School Lunch Program’s healthier guidelines ensuring kids eat the healthy school food on their trays, and lays the essential groundwork for children to build lasting relationships with healthy food.

• Robert Graham

  Robert E. Graham, MD, MPH, ABIHM, FACP is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Integrative and Holistic Medicine. He received his medical degree from the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, NY and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Lenox Hospital in New York, NY. Currently, he is the Director of Resident Research, and the Director of Integrative Health in the Department of Internal Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, where he also maintains his integrative medicine clinical practice. Dr. Graham has been an innovator and leader in the field of Integrative Medicine for nearly ten years. He has developed an innovative cooking/nutrition program to provide residents with the skills they need to model healthy cooking and eating behaviors to their patients. Since June 2013, Dr. Graham has also been working on “Victory Greens”, the first educational and edible rooftop garden. The Lenox Hill Hospital cafeteria has been eating the fruits of his labor. He has appeared on NBC Today Show, Fox 5 News, ABC Eyewitness News, CBS News, NY1 and is regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, WebMD and other publications.

• Henry Hargreaves

  Henry Hargreaves is a New York City based photographer and artist whose work has regularly been covered by the media and represented at the Venice Biennale and at Art Basel. Henry was born and raised in New Zealand with a passion both for photography and for good food and wine. As luck would have it his first career was in front of the camera as a model for many of the big fashion houses. He was able to travel the world, discover great cuisines (quality not quantity in that line of business) and work with photography icons such as Stephen Meisel, Mario Testino and Richard Avedon. Drawn to New York City, its arts and culinary scene he set up his studio and pursued his dream to be a photographer. As they say, “the artist needs to eat” and he became a bartender at the downtown institution Schillers Liquor Bar. While there he became interested in how customers interacted with food and how their choices say a lot about them as people. He decided to fuse these two worlds and represent visually what he was experiencing every day at the restaurant and in my culinary explorations. In his projects Henry uses photography to move beyond the short shelf life and immediate pleasure of food to explore the broader meaning of how we interact with this fundamental building block of life and culture.

• Kendra Kimbirauskas

  Kendra grew up on a pasture-based dairy farm in the Midwest. After earning her degrees from Michigan State University, she became a community organizer for the Sierra Club, helping communities threatened by factory farms. Kendra’s community organizing work took her to rural communities in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota before she moved to Oregon in 2003. Kendra took a brief hiatus from anti-factory farm organizing and worked on political campaigns for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. In 2005, Kendra founded the group, Friends of Family Farmers, an Oregon-based non-profit that organized to oppose Threemile Canyon Farms, a 55,000-head dairy factory outside of Boardman, Oregon. In 2006, she began consulting work for the GRACE Factory Farming Project and started a small farm in Colton, Oregon. Kendra later joined the Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (SRAP), and in 2012, she became Chief Executive Officer of SRAP. Kendra and her husband currently farm 70 acres in Scio, Oregon where they breed and raise heritage breeds of pigs, chickens, and turkeys.

• Nikiko Masumoto

  Nikiko Masumoto is a farmer, artist, and creator. Born in the Central Valley of California, Nikiko spent her childhood slurping over-ripe peaches on the Masumoto Family Farm (an 80-acre organic farm in Del Rey, CA). She has never missed a summer harvest. Before returning to farm side by side with her father, Nikiko earned a BA in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a MA in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin. Her passion for arts and activism is woven with her love of the land and dreams of a sustainable future. Her first book (co-authored with David Mas and Marcy Masumoto) The Perfect Peach (Ten Speed Press, 2013) was chosen by USA Today as a top 10 cookbook for the summer and Oprah’s top 5 cookbooks. Most of her time is spent in the fields, and when she’s not there, she’s often facilitating storytelling workshops or serving as a community leader.

• Michele Merkel

  Michele Merkel is co-director of Food & Water Justice, the legal arm of Food & Water Watch. Food & Water Justice uses the court system to advocate for positive change and provides legal support for Food & Water Watch’s mission to ensure that the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. Michele was formerly the Chesapeake Regional Coordinator for Waterkeeper Alliance. At Waterkeeper, Michele helped to develop and implement the campaigns of eighteen Waterkeeper programs that protect the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays. Prior to joining the Waterkeeper, Michele was co-founder and Senior Counsel of the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP). At EIP, she was responsible for developing and implementing legal campaigns under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, focusing on industrial livestock production and municipal sewage issues. Michele previously served as an attorney in the Enforcement Division of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, where she worked closely with the Department of Justice to develop and bring actions for violations of federal environmental laws. Prior to joining EPA, Michele was General Counsel for Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. In addition to her work at Food & Water Watch, Michele is on the Board of Directors of Tulane Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic and is the President of the Board for the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.

• Danny Meyer

  Danny Meyer is the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, which includes Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, Shake Shack, The Modern, Maialino, Untitled, North End Grill, Union Square Events, and Hospitality Quotient, a learning and consulting business. Danny, his restaurants and chefs have earned an unprecedented 25 James Beard Awards. Danny’s first business book, Setting the Table (HarperCollins, 2006), a New York Times bestseller, examines the power of hospitality in restaurants, business and life. An active national leader in the fight against hunger, Danny has long served on the boards of Share Our Strength and City Harvest. He is equally active in civic affairs, serving on the boards of NYC & Co, Union Square Partnership, and the Madison Square Park Conservancy.

• Danielle Nierenberg

  Danielle Nierenberg is President of Food Tank and an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world, and innovations in sustainable agriculture. Danielle spent two years traveling to more than 35 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America meeting with farmers and farmers’ groups, scientists and researchers, policymakers and government leaders, students and academics, and journalists collecting their thoughts on what’s working to help alleviate hunger and poverty, while also protecting the environment. Her knowledge of global agriculture issues has been cited widely in more than 8,000 major print and broadcast outlets worldwide including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, BBC, the Guardian (UK), Le Monde, the Mail and Guardian (South Africa), the East African (Kenya), TIME magazine, Reuters, Agence France Presse, Voice of America, the Times of India, the Sydney Morning Herald, and other major publications.

• Ali Partovi

  Ali Partovi has been described by the San Jose Mercury News as one of “Silicon Valley’s top angel investors,” having been on the ground floor of both Facebook and Dropbox. Shortly after graduating from Harvard, he co-founded LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft for $265mm). Partovi later co-founded iLike (acquired by MySpace). Partovi’s investments have also included: Zappos, OPOWER, Thumbtack, and Airbnb. Ali co-founded non-profit Code.org, which promotes Computer Science education and hosts the worldwide “Hour of Code.” He serves on the board of FoodCorps, a non-profit that deploys volunteers to improve food sourcing & education in schools. He is a passionate advocate of sustainable food systems, and has invested in ventures like BrightFarms and Farmigo, as well as real estate fund Farmland LP to scale more resource-efficient farming techniques.

• Stephen Reily

  Stephen Reily is an attorney, entrepreneur, and civic leader whose philanthropic energy has focused in recent years on building the local food economy in Louisville and a more sustainable future for Kentucky’s farmers. In 2011 he founded Seed Capital Kentucky, a non-profit whose projects have included commissioning the first-ever formal evaluation of local demand for regional food; organizing annual events (including the single largest viewing party for TedXManhattan) for the local food movement to convene and share knowledge; sponsoring Kiva Zip loans to farmers and food processors; celebrating farmer heroes at the Kentucky State Fair; and providing technical assistance grants to regional farmers. Seed Capital KY is now focused on building the 24-acre West Louisville Foodport. He served on the board of Grasshoppers Distribution, a local food hub that operated from 2007-2013, and is a founding board member of the Local Food Association, the first national trade association for the local food industry. Stephen is Chairman of the Greater Louisville Project, an independent civic indicator project. An arts patron and collector, he serves on the boards of the Creative Capital Foundation and the New Museum.

• Stephen Ritz

  Stephen Ritz is a South Bronx educator who believes that students shouldn’t have to leave their community to live, learn, and earn in a better one. Self-proclaimed CEO – Chief Eternal Optimist – of Bronx County, Stephen has moved generations of students into spheres of personal and academic successes they have never imagined while reclaiming and rebuilding the Bronx. Stephen’s extended student and community family have grown more than 30,000 pounds of vegetables in the Bronx while generating extraordinary academic performance. Affectionately known as America’s Favorite Teacher and The Pied Piper of Peas, Stephen is the Founder of Green Bronx Machine and is now focusing his energy and attention upon building the National Health and Wellness Center at PS 55, a national prototype STEM facility complete with an indoor vertical farm producing 100 bags of groceries per week and adult workforce development center. His students recently hosted White House Chef Bill Yosses and Clinton Foundation Global Ambassador Reed Alexander cooking vegetables they grew in school. Just named a Top Ten Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize, Stephen’s additional accolades include meeting Pope Francis, a 2014 Greenius Award, 2014 Green Difference Award, 2013 Latin Trends Award, ABC Above and Beyond Award, Chevrolet / General Motors National Green Educator Award, USS Intrepid Hometown Hero Award, NYC Chancellor’s Award and various others. Dressed in a home-made bow tie and always chanting Si Se Puede!, Stephen is the oldest sixth grader you’ll ever meet. His work has been featured by the US State Department, in major media nationally and internationally and he’s the first to tell you, he’s just getting started!

• Stefanie Sacks

  Stefanie Sacks, MS, CNS, CDN is a culinary nutritionist, author, radio show host, educator, speaker and consultant. She works hands-on with individuals and groups in transition to a healthier way of eating. Sacks has been studying food and healing for 25 years, has her Masters of Science in nutrition from Columbia University, is a Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Dietitian Nutritionist and is a graduate of The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. Her teaching experience includes serving as faculty at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health as well as Food As Medicine, the universally acclaimed professional training program. She is currently a preceptor for Columbia University’s Dietetic Internship program and was an adjunct professor in the graduate nutrition program at the University of Bridgeport. Sacks has also inspired many through workshops at Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Center, various resort spas, wellness centers and schools around the country. Stefanie’s book, What the Fork Are You Eating? An Action Plan for Your Pantry and Plate (Tarcher/Penguin Random House) ) is available wherever books are sold. She also contributed to three books including The Thriving Child by Erica Reid, Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr and Power Up by Dr. Woodson Merrell and Kathy Merrell. She is a sought-after guest expert on local and national programs and her print and online media contributions are extensive from Prevention, Harper’s Bazaar, O Magazine and Teen Vogue to The Huffington Post, Alternet and Healthy Eats by The Food Network.

• Anim Steel

  Anim Steel is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Real Food Challenge, a campaign to re-direct $1 billion of college food purchases towards local, fair, and sustainable sources within 10 years. Prior to Real Food Challenge, Anim led national initiatives at The Food Project in Boston and was a consultant with Economic Development Assistance Consortium. Anim holds a B.A. in Astrophysics and History from Williams College and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the recipient of a Prime Mover Fellowship for movement-building and an Echoing Green award for social entrepreneurship. Born in Ghana, Anim grew up in both West Africa and Washington, DC.

• Shen Tong

  Shen Tong is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, foodie, social activist, writer/poet, and film buff. One of Newsweek’s People of the Year in 1989, Shen Tong was an organizer of the democracy movement in 1989 that occupied Tiananmen Square while he was at Beijing University. After his exile to the US, he finished his undergraduate degree at Brandeis University, and went on to study in PhD programs at Boston University and Harvard University. Mr. Shen became an entrepreneur in the 1990s, founding or co-founding B&B Media and VFinity among other ventures in the past two decades. Founded on the belief that the future of food is now, FOOD-X is on a mission to scale change throughout our food system. This first-of-its-kind, food-business accelerator empowers early-stage food companies through funding, opportunity, and a deep mentor network of food and business experts.

• Marcel Van Ooyen

  Marcel Van Ooyen is the Executive Director of GrowNYC and former Legislative Director for the New York City Council. Mr. Van Ooyen took leadership of GrowNYC in 2006. Over the last 10 years at Marcel’s initiating, GrowNYC has vastly expanded its efforts with new initiatives including: Fresh Food Box, Youthmarket Farm Stands, Learn It Grow It Eat It education program anchored in the South Bronx as well as NYC’s first all local food hub: Greenmarket Co. GrowNYC’s Food Stamp in the Farmers’ Market initiative is considered a National model, with $1,000,000 in EBT sales in 2013. By responding to a diverse community and ramping up efforts, affordable, healthy, fresh food is getting into the hands that need it most across the city. Marcel has also spearheaded the development of new programs in response to needs in our city, including Grow to Learn NYC: Citywide School Gardens Initiative, a public public-private partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC created to inspire, promote and facilitate the creation of sustainable school gardens in every New York City public school. Marcel earned degrees in Social Ecology from the University of California Irvine and from the Seattle University School of Law specializing in Environmental Law. After graduating from law school, he worked for the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council in Washington State, where he conducted the environmental review of proposed power plants. As Legislative Director for the City Council, he wrote and ensured the adoption of more than 30 environmental laws, including the city’s landmark green buildings legislation, lead bill, clean air codes, recycling requirements, environmental purchasing laws, and many more.

• DJ Cavem Moetavation

  International recording artist and 2014 Music Educator Award Grammy Nominee DJ Cavem Moetavation is an O.G. (organic gardener), emcee, DJ, midwife, vegan chef, educator, founder of Going Green Living Bling, founder of Eco-HipHop and award-winning activist. Recently featured in Oprah Magazine, Stanford Medical, and Yes! Magazine for his award-winning album which is a curriculum entitled, “The Produce Section”, and for his TEDx Talk on Food Justice. “The Produce Section” is used in many schools, as it introduces the topics of Food Justice and Organic Gardening. His new single entitled, “Hybrid Lex”, sparks the subject around air pollution. His next album, entitled “Eco-Twerk”, expected to release spring 2015, is a continuation of the curriculum, and introduces the topics of environmental issues such as mineral extraction, and promotes holistic mind-body entrepreneurialism. Dj Cavem (Ietef Vita) is the original organic gardener for The Growhaus, where his mother Ashara is one of its founders, (who has now founded The Hub in Oakland. His eldest daughter, Hashaqueena “Queenie” Earth, 12, (just featured on Nick News w/ Linda Ellerbee for an episode on animal testing) is a beekeeper. In addition to his partnership with The Growhaus, he is the founder of Going Green Living Bling, who just completed a 4 week, The Produce Section summer camp, educating 200 inner-city children on the topics to include urban/ancient agriculture, farming, fresh food access, organic gardening, hip hop yoga, and plant based eating. In his final project, he produced a music video, Brown Rice and Broccoli, which was a direct response (in the most healthiest ways of course) to the recent mainstream hit, Hot Cheetos and Takis. He is co-author of the upcoming book Damn Near Raw- The Freshest Vegan Cookbook Ever. Upcoming appearances include, Green Festival LA, TEDxManhattan, Raw Living Expo, and the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals).

• Alkemia Earth

  As an artist of life, visionary, raw vegan chef, healer, organic gardener, speaker, yogini, educator, alchemist, plant-based nutritionist, DJ and mother of five, Arasia “Alkemia” Earth has been applying her methods of mind/body wellness for nearly two decades. Questioning ingredients in her food, she began studying chemical additives and preservatives and their side effects on the human body and mind through human, plant, and mineral biology. As a DJ, Alkemia demonstrates her understanding and unique perspective of cymatics, manifesting how frequency and vibration create the structures of matter and life. As a healer, Alkemia facilitates the process of mind/body restoration through her mastery of usui reiki and the domancic method of bioenergy healing, in partnership with raw foods, herbology, and alchemy; she has helped many restore their health and wellness. Currently Alkemia travels nationally to educate, demonstrate, lecture, and perform alongside her husband, international eco hip hop artist/educator DJ Cavem Moetavation. Her recent appearances include TEDx Mile High, Raw Living Expo, International Association of Culinary Professionals Conference, Green Festival L.A., Hollywood Film Festival, and Jubilee Yoga Festival. Many are anticipating her and her husband’s upcoming recipe book, Damn Near Raw, to be released in 2015.