TEDxDirigo

Speakers

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

• Alexa McGovern

  Alexa McGovern is the founder and CEO of Dirigo Sea Farm, a Maine-based materials company pioneering seaweed-derived bioplastics. She is part of a new wave of entrepreneurs proving that seaweed isn’t just a crop of the future—it’s a powerful economic engine for coastal communities and a scalable solution to the plastics crisis. After becoming a mother and navigating her own cancer diagnosis within the same year, Alexa became even more determined to build a company that redefines how materials are made and who benefits from them. Today, she is working to unlock the potential of Maine’s seaweed industry while making the East Coast a hub for materials manufacturing—creating jobs, new markets, and growth rooted in resilience and innovation.

• Angelikah Fahray & the Serious Life Band

  Angelikah Fahray is a Portland-based alternative R&B and soft rock artist whose music lives at the intersection of vulnerability and connection. She has performed at State Theatre, Merrill Auditorium, and brought her sound beyond Maine to Flourish Festival in New Brunswick, Canada. She has shared stages with artists like Madison McFerrin, Kitoko, and The Garifuna Collective. Her latest Album release “The EX Files,” highlights the singer songwriter in ways that have gained fans across South America, Europe, and Africa, connecting with listeners who resonate with her courage to feel deeply in the midst of heartbreak. She creates for the dreamers, introverts, and the inner world builders—people crafting their own realities through art, sensitivity, and imagination.

• Aris Ayala Cruz

  Aris is the principal of Lincoln Middle School in Portland, Maine, where they have led a full transformation centered on equity and student success. Their career in education began in Chicago, where they grew up, and took them to Boston for their first leadership role before bringing their vision to Portland. Today, Aris is working to ensure every student, especially those historically underserved, has access to the high-quality education they deserve. Beyond students, they are also elevating the next generation of leaders through coaching and mentoring, building a culture of resilience and excellence across their community.

• Beetle Samuel Rooke-Dutton

  Beetle Samuel Rooke-Dutton is an author, speaker, and community organizer whose work bridges art, youth advocacy, and culture. Originally from California and now based in Maine, he creates safe, welcoming spaces for young people while using writing and performance to spark dialogue about change and resilience. His debut poetry collection, Deer, Silent and Open-Eyed, explores the concept of flux through images of natural decomposition, fish, fruit, and roadkill, as mirrors for transformation in human life. Today, Beetle continues to deepen his engagement with language, culture, and the outdoors, weaving them into a practice that redefines how communities connect and grow.

• Dan Melnick

  Dan Melnick is a musician and music business executive from Maine. He is currently General Manager at Bandcamp, an online music platform where artists and labels sell their music directly to fans. Previously he was part of the original team of Reverb, the world's largest marketplace for musical instruments, leading the engineering and product teams until it was acquired by Etsy in 2019. He believes in the transformative power of music.

• Ian-Khara Ellasante

  Ian-Khara Ellasante is a Black, queer, gender-infinite poet, parent, and cultural studies scholar whose work moves across the intersections of identity, history, and imagination. Their poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, earning recognition as a Cave Canem fellow, recipient of the New Millennium Award for Poetry, and finalist for the 2024 National Poetry Series. Today, Ian-Khara teaches at Bates College, located on the occupied and unceded lands of the Wabanaki peoples, the People of the Dawnland, where they continue to explore how literature can both honor lineage and create new futures.

• Kendra Eubanks

  Kendra Eubanks is a senior at Windham High School and the founder and President of the school’s Black Student Union. What began her freshman year as an idea with three friends has grown into a vital space for students of color in the district to share experiences, learn from one another, and build community. Now in her second term as president, Kendra continues to shape the BSU’s impact while also contributing to other parts of school life through the Civil Rights Team, Volleyball, and Track and Field. Leadership has been central to Kendra’s journey. She has attended and presented at regional leadership summits, including the New England Youth Identity Summit and Seeds of Peace, experiences that have fueled her growth as both a student and a changemaker.

• Maine Inside Out Creative Ensemble

  MIO’s Creative Ensemble is a group of staff and Lewiston community artists using theater to explore themes connected to our identities, life experiences and the world in which we exist together. Maine Inside Out connects us through play, dialogue and the transformative power of art. These experiences help connect us across boundaries and dissolve the separation between audience and actor, supporting us to move and change together. “Broken Clock” is an original play about incarceration, gun violence, grief, family, trust, and time. Chasing your mom’s car down the street… being given your first gun… finding brotherhood in the streets… fighting for a loved one to come home from prison… These are a few of the moments from “Broken Clock” expressed through theater, poetry, music, and dance.

• Subcircle

  Scott McPheeters (he/him) is an interdisciplinary dance artist, educator, and co-director of arts non-profit, Subcircle – a Biddeford, Maine based dance company, arts presenting organization, and artist residency. His own creative work, has been showcased in Philadelphia, PA., Oakland, CA., San Francisco, CA., Durham, NC., and Washington DC and explores themes of belonging and queer ecology. Subcircle is a Biddeford-based arts non-profit with a mission to enhance the availability and diversity of performing arts programming in Southern Maine. Founded in 1999, by Niki and Jorge Cousineau, Subcircle’s creative work transforms theatrical and site-specific spaces, merging dance, sound, set design, lighting and film. Whether site-specific or performance for the stage, the work aims to convey to audience and performer alike – an inseparability of performance from environment.

• Sue Van Hook

  Sue Van Hook is a mycologist, naturalist, and healer who has spent over 50 years studying fungi and their power to transform industries. Ki is the Foundress and CEO of MycoBuoys LLC, a Maine-based company replacing toxic plastic aquaculture floats with 100% biodegradable buoys made from hemp and fungal mycelium. A former land conservation leader and biology professor, Sue has dedicated kin career to restoring ecosystems while creating sustainable tools for the future of ocean health.

• Taffy Fields

  Taffy Field has built her life at the intersection of sustainability, education, and community, from raising a family on an organic farm and co-founding a natural foods store to teaching energy-efficient design and high school English. Her path took a profound turn when her husband Eliot chose to access Maine’s Death With Dignity Act, a decision that reshaped her understanding of agency, resilience, and love. Today, Taffy works to protect Maine’s law and advocate for similar legislation nationwide, helping ensure others can face life’s end with dignity and choice.