TEDxSan Diego Studio

Speakers

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

• Amanda Black

  Community Leader. Speaker. Builder of Belonging and Disruptor

  Amanda Black is a serial entrepreneur, community strategist, and founder of The Solo Female Traveler Network—the largest women-only travel community in the world with over 600,000 members. She’s built multimillion-dollar brands, been featured in Forbes, Condé Nast Traveler, and Travel + Leisure, and led transformational retreats and international tours across 30+ countries. But her real work goes deeper than travel. Amanda designs intentional, connection-driven experiences—from remote villages to local backyards—where women feel safe enough to show up, be seen, and belong. She also teaches others how to create brave, community-centered spaces that spark lasting transformation. More at MeetAmandaBlack.com

• Angela Pennella

  Hug researcher, human connection leader, Encourager Inspirer, Thought Leader and Innovator.

  Achiever, Believer, Survivor, Angela is a woman who reaches for the stars and dreams BIG, no matter what curveball, or truck in her case, may hit her! Angela’s "Don’t Stop Believing" attitude helped her survive an almost deadly car accident in 2002 when a reckless driver hit her head-on. She suffered severe head trauma, had over 1,000 stitches to her face & body, in addition to a lacerated liver, punctured lung, and many other internal injuries. Drawing upon her physical and mental inner strength as a standout athlete (Division 1 college volleyball Captain), she found courage to fight through a year-long rehabilitation to survive the horrific event. Against all odds, she got back on her feet to build a very successful career in medical device sales and started a real estate business. After being given a second chance in life, she felt a responsibility to inspire others to make an impact on the way they live their life everyday! Inspirational Speaker & Coach. www.AchieverSyndrome.com

• Anna Crowe

  Personal growth, mindset

  Anna Crowe is a visionary entrepreneur, accomplished author, and CEO of Crowe PR, a three-time Inc. 5000 company. With a fearless mindset and relentless drive, she has transformed her immigrant journey into a story of industry leadership, innovation, and impact. www.anna-crowe.com

• Ari Pereira

  Leadership & Self-Mastery Coach, Emotional Intelligence Educator

  Ari Pereira is a leadership and self-mastery coach, speaker, and author who helps entrepreneurs, leaders, and high performers build resilience, prevent burnout, and achieve sustainable results. With an MBA and studies in Neuroscience, Mindfulness, and Positive Psychology, she blends academic expertise, corporate experience, Kung Fu discipline, and mind-body practices to enhance performance under pressure. Her journey from panic attacks to inner peace fuels her mission: helping others transform stress into focus, pressure into resilience, and chaos into calm. Ari created the AID framework and the Stress to Badass program, delivering practical tools and measurable outcomes in clarity, confidence, and high performance. Rooted in Brazil, shaped in the U.S., and inspired by Eastern practices, she brings an international perspective, guiding individuals and organizations worldwide to embody presence and create meaningful change. https://www.aripereira.com/ https://linktr.ee/Ari_Pereira/

• Catherine Hampel

  Leader, Innovator, Connector

  Catherine is a healthcare leader, connector, and storyteller with 20+ years of experience transforming complex systems in academic medicine. As Chief Administrative Officer for UCLA Psychiatry and a 2024 Presidential Leadership Scholar, she brings heart and strategy to every space she leads. She's held senior leadership roles at UCLA, UCSD, and UPMC, taught health policy and management at UCLA, Pitt, and Cal State San Marcos. She has degrees from Carnegie Mellon and UCLA, where she also completed an administrative fellowship. Her PLS project, Connecting Minds, is a peer support initiative for college-aged students navigating loneliness, trauma, or loss. Rooted in lived experience, it fosters healing, connection, and self-encouragement. A Pittsburgh native turned California girl, she enjoys weightlifting, running, and is a proud mom of two. She believes commitment isn't always about what you stand to gain, but sometimes what you're prepared to lose.

• Connie Bennett

  Author, Journalist & Coach

  Connie Bennett is a self-mocking, former sugar-and-carb addict, journalist, author of three books, transformational speaker, DreamBuilder Coach, health coach, life coach, and EFT (tapping) practitioner. After more than a decade of eating wholesome foods (with no sugar) and helping people worldwide kick sugar, Bennett suddenly blew her diet with ultra-processed carbs after a heartbreaking year helplessly watching cancer end her mother’s life. Within months after her loss, Bennett packed on 21 pounds, developed insulin resistance, and felt like a big fraud, because for years, she’d been speaking about sugar’s dangers. But hitting rock bottom ignited Bennett’s curiosity. For seven years, she dove into the research to discover why so many of us eat so badly, when junk foods most entice us, and how people can yank back their power, tune out temptation, and make healthier choices. Bennett is the author of I Blew My Diet! Now What?, Sugar Shock!, and Beyond Sugar Shock. www.connieb.com

• Daryl Goldberg

  Exploration, Transformation, Growth

  "Daryl Goldberg is a thought leader, filmmaker, and author, recognized for his ability to weave compelling narratives across mediums. His talk, God for Atheists: Finding the Benefits of Faith Beyond Belief, challenges conventional views on faith, demonstrating how its practices can enrich even the most skeptical among us. Daryl's literary accomplishments include the acclaimed [Life] Lessons Learned Diving, which blends scuba diving philosophy with psychological insights, and his debut book, First-Time Filmmaker F#^-ups,* a must-read for aspiring filmmakers. As a filmmaker, his credits span critically acclaimed feature films, large-format media, and award-winning short-form content, earning praise from Variety for his ""wryly hilarious, completely overboard, and unpredictable"" style. Through his books and thought leadership, he inspires others to explore the depths of their own potential. HappinessBeyondBelief.org

• David Suissa

  thought leader, writer, speaker

  Born in Morocco, David Suissa grew up in Montreal, graduated from McGill, started a marketing career at Procter and Gamble, moved into advertising, opened his own shop in LA that grew to 190 employees, sold the company to pivot to his first love: journalism. David, has been writing a weekly column for past 18 years at Jewish Journal and having the meaningful time of his life. jewishjournal.com

• Deborah Liu

  Tech Leader, Executive, Thought Leader, Author

  Deb Liu is a seasoned tech executive, author, and advocate for women in leadership. Most recently President and CEO of Ancestry, she previously spent over a decade at Meta, where she created Facebook Marketplace and led Facebook Pay, the mobile ad network, and the games business. She also held product leadership roles at PayPal and eBay. Deb serves on the boards of Intuit and Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering and is a seed investor and advisor to startups. She is the founder of Women in Product, a nonprofit with 30,000+ members, and a member of the Committee of 100 and Gold House’s A100 list of impactful Asian Americans. Deb holds a BSE from Duke and an MBA from Stanford. She is the author of Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work and shares weekly insights in her newsletter, Perspectives. She lives in California with her husband and three children. www.debliu.com

• Dr. Whitney McFadden

  Physician, Thought Leader

  Dr. Whitney McFadden started her career with deep admiration for her father, a passionate psychiatrist, and her mother, an astronomer who instilled in her a love for science. She delved into molecular and cell biology at University of California Berkeley and later pursued medical education to HHUCSD. Driven by a research passion, she completed psychiatry residency alongside a deep study of neuroscience, studying brain cells. After graduating, she worked at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Genetics with Dr. George Church studying genetics neurosciencr. she began to explore nutrition, hormone health, and treatments in the nervous system. She immersed herself in these fields not only for her personal healing, but also to make a profound impact on those around her. After seeing patients transform their own lives with these innovations, she saw a huge opportunity to share with those committed to living their life healthy, powerfully, and passionately. www.willowmindhealth.com

• Emily Bouchard

  Connector, Collaborator, Thought Leader

  Emily Bouchard is a social worker with over 20 years of experience as a family dynamics coach and consultant to successful leaders and wealthy business owners. With a passion for education and life-long learning, Emily is a fractional Chief Learning Officer to Family Offices. She understands the unique challenges families experience when it comes to love and money. She specializes in stepfamily dynamics, NextGen leadership and education, and family enterprise governance. The core values that are consistently woven into the fabric of Emily’s life and work are love, respect, collaboration, creativity, meaningful communication and life-long learning. She is grateful to live on 10 acres with 8 horses. Emily is passionate about having a positive impact on the lives of her clients, colleagues, family, and friends, and making connections that further the goals and dreams of those around her. https://emilybouchard.com

• Eric Hannah

  Emotional Resiliency Building

  Eric Hannah is the Founder and CEO of Ambassadors of Compassion. Ambassadors of Compassion is an evidence-based program to help solve the mental and emotional health crisis facing this generation. Over 100,000 students have taken the independently measured and proven programs that reduce anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts while increasing school and work engagement, academic performance, and workplace readiness. Eric was the starting place kicker at the University of Colorado and a member of the National Championship team. After an injury ended his career, he pursued his passion for film making. Eric’s first film Extreme Attitude was considered by the ski industry to be one the year’s best. Eric has directed and produced many movies and television shows including Meet me in Miami, ExtremeDays and Lombardi Honors, one of college football’s most prestige awards. His passion for youth led him to create Ambassadors of Compassion. Ambassadorsofcompassion.org

• Gregory Russell Benedikt

  Life & Leadership Coaching

  Gregory is on a mission to live a story worth telling while helping others do the same. He is an ICF-certified coach who specializes in helping people get the things that money can't buy. His coaching philosophy is centered around his belief that what we want most in life (happiness, meaning, fulfillment, purpose, and a sense of ALIVENESS) can't be bought. Rather, they come as a byproduct of having the courage to pursue our biggest dreams and live a life true to ourselves. He has dedicated his life to helping people transform their lives through taking BOLD action and a process he calls "Living a Story Worth Telling." https://gregoryrussellbenedikt.com/

• Hanalei Vierra PhD, MFT

  Men's Emotional Development

  Hanalei Vierra, PhD., MFT is an expert on men’s emotional health. He is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in private practice in San Diego, California, where he has specialized for over 30 years in teaching adult men how to become emotionally healthy partners in their intimate relationships…WITHOUT SACRIFICING THEIR MASCULINITY! Hanalei’s down-to-earth approach to 21st century masculinity focuses on helping men access the testicular fortitude necessary to free themselves from the prison of emotional ignorance that defines traditional toxic masculinity. He believes that men have been conditioned to associate “being manly” with hiding behind a “mask of masculinity” to show the world that we are not vulnerable to our very human experiences of fear, pain, anger, sadness, and shame. This keeps men functioning as emotionally immature boys in their adult relationships, and it also disconnects men from their authenticity, personal integrity, and self-respect. www.hanaleivierra.com

• James Van Praagh

  NY Times Best Selling Author - Spiritual Medium - Master Teacher

  World-renowned spiritual medium James Van Praagh has spent over 3 decades bridging the gap between the physical and spiritual worlds. As the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Talking to Heaven and a pioneer in the field of mediumship, James has appeared on television, radio, and stages across the globe, delivering detailed, evidential messages that have proven to millions that death is an illusion and love never dies. https://jvpschoolofmysticalarts.com/, https://vanpraagh.com/.

• Lowell Cohen

  Popcorntrepreneur, Farmers Market

  Lowell Cohen aka Popcorntrepreneur, is the Founder and CEO of Goldie Pops Gourmet Kraft Corn, a San Diego-based company specializing in handcrafted, gourmet popcorn made from healthy, quality ingredients. After a successful career in the clothing industry, Lowell retired and pursued his passion for creating the best popcorn on the market, leading to the establishment of Goldie Pops. His commitment to excellence has garnered acclaim, with Goldie Pops being featured on platforms like the "Pivot and Thrive" podcast. Connect with Lowell and Goldie Pops: • Website: goldiepops.com • Instagram: @goldiepopskraftcorn • Facebook: GOLDIEPOPS KRAFT CORN

• Meghan French Dunbar

  Author, Entrepreneur, and Workplace Strategist, Instigator

  Meghan French Dunbar is an author, entrepreneur, business journalist, and instigator whose work revolves around making business better for everyone. Her work has touched the lives of over a million people worldwide, including the first nationally distributed print magazine in the U.S. focusing on impact-driven business, Conscious Company Magazine. She writes for leading business outlets like Inc., Business Chief, and Forbes, and leads executive workshops for major brands like Coach, Kate Spade, Leonard Green, and Charter Next Generation. She lives in Boulder, CO, with her husband, Scott, and kiddos, Jack and Atty. You can find more about her at meghanfrenchdunbar.com

• Sarah Federman

  Associate Professor, Business Ethics, Corporate Accountability, Conflict Resolution

  Sarah Federman, PhD is the Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego. Federman authored the award-winning, Last Train to Auschwitz: The French National Railways and the Journal to Accountability and the award-winning Transformative Negotiation: Strategies for Everyday Change and Equitable Futures. She wrote about corporate histories for the Harvard Business Review and testified before the House of Representatives concerning the obligation of U.S. banks to address their slavery-complicit pasts. Her book on corporate reckoning will be published by MIT Press in 2026. Prior to this, she worked as an international advertising executive. www.sarahfederman.com

• Sarah Pachter

  Author, Speaker, Thought Leader

  Sarah Pachter is an award winning, sought after speaker and author who commands large audiences and draws a vibrant following with her dynamic and personal approach. She has lectured internationally for the past 18 years and is a keynote speaker for several conferences around the world. She has authored two books: Is it Ever Enough? & Small Choices Big Changes. She has been featured on podcasts, radio, and has multiple standing columns. Her articles are featured in numerous publications including the LA times. Many of her articles have reached record breaking numbers of readers and have been translated into several languages. Sarah Pachter is also the host of Starstruck with Sarah Pachter, a new Aish.com podcast, and a premier speaker for Torah Anytime. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and 5 children. sarahpachter.com