TEDxAsheville

Speakers

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

• Allegra Huston

  "Allegra Huston is a pioneer of ""imaginative intelligence"": the inner network, fueled by imagination, that generates our sense of self. In an era when AI has created a crisis of intelligence, Allegra argues that our most valuable personal intelligence is based not on logic and knowledge, but on our uniquely human capacities of imagination, awe, aesthetic appreciation, and intuition. As the co-founder of the Imaginative Storm writing method, Allegra has spent over 20 years developing a corrective to the dominance of the rational mind. Formerly Editorial Director of the publisher Weidenfeld & Nicolson and author of six books including the acclaimed memoir Love Child, Allegra has written for Vogue, The Times, and Newsweek, and is currently at work on a book about imaginative intelligence. She continues to lead Imaginative Storm writing workshops, teaching writers how to access the visceral, intuitive intelligence that is the engine of human creativity."

• Ashley Berger

  Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, Ashley believes that dinner parties can change the world. As the founder and creative voice behind Sweetpea Lifestyle, she’s spent 18 years inspiring people to gather around the table through simple recipes, easy hosting tips, and the art of meaningful connection. Her TEDxAsheville talk, “Dinner Parties Can Change the World,” invites audiences to see hospitality as a hopeful, healing act that brings people together in powerful ways. Through her website, social media, and Substack, Ashley shares her signature blend of charm, warmth, and Southern soul — helping others create spaces where community can flourish. She reminds us that hospitality isn’t about perfection; it’s about presence.

• David Huff

  "David Huff is a strategist, photographer, and conservationist based in Asheville, North Carolina. He is the founder of Corporate Craft, a consulting practice that helps leaders and organizations navigate complexity with clarity, alignment, and shared purpose. He also founded the George Masa Foundation, which inspires young people to engage with and protect the natural world through photography and storytelling. David serves on the board of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and is an active member of the Carolina Mountain Club, where he maintains a section of the Appalachian Trail. His award-winning photography has been featured in national and regional publications, and his work often explores the connection between people, place, and responsibility. Through his writing and speaking, including his TEDx talk “We Are Trail Magic,” David encourages a simple idea: communities function when people choose to participate."

• George Hope Johnson

  George Johnson is a college freshman studying political science and human rights. He came out as transgender at 10 years old and has been living his true life as a male since. Having been given access to gender affirming care in his teens, closely before it was banned in his state, he aims to protect other young trans people through activism and telling his story with public speaking. Along with giving speeches, George gives 1-on-1 coaching to Speech and Debate students across the country. He is studying human rights to become a politician dedicated to helping marginalized groups.

• Jay Hill

  Jay is a software engineering leader interested in how people and systems shape one another. He builds software for a living and community for connection, organizing PechaKucha Night, local tech meetups and justice-forward civic projects that bridge gaps and make things work a little better. He takes systems seriously, but not always himself. Jay lives in Asheville, NC with his family and a collection of half-finished projects.

• Jenn Maer

  Jenn Maer is a designer, creative director, writer, and friendship ambassador.

• Jennifer Jane Pickering

  Jennifer Pickering is a visionary cultural leader, creative placemaker, consultant and global connector who believes we can all “Live Life Like a Festival”—the title of her upcoming book launching this fall at Lake Eden Retreat. As founder of LEAF Global Arts, originally Lake Eden Arts Festival (1995), she transformed her childhood home for 30 years into a gathering place where music, culture, and community connect. Under her leadership, LEAF welcomed 40,000 artists from 117 nations, inspiring over 600,000 people and 89,000 youth worldwide. She continues designing cultural experiences and dreams of welcoming an artist from every country.

• Justin Jones-Fosu

  Justin Jones-Fosu is a workplace researcher, speaker, and author helping people create better work and more meaningful lives, without needing a motivational poster in the breakroom. He is the author of Stop Chasing, Start Creating, a business fable exploring mindset, resilience, and meaningful work, and I Respectfully Disagree, a guide to navigating difficult conversations without losing relationships (or your sanity). Justin is also the author of the Meaningful Work in America National Study, research examining what drives meaning, fulfillment, and engagement in today’s workplace. Through his company, Work. Meaningful., he has partnered with organizations such as Toyota and Adidas to strengthen leadership, culture, and connection. A dual citizen of Ghana and the United States, Justin serves as Chair of the Board of the Work Meaningful Foundation, supporting educational initiatives in under-resourced communities in Ghana. He brings a global perspective to conversations about purpose, belonging, and human-centered leadership.

• Lisa Raleigh, PhD

  Lisa serves as Executive Director of RiverLink, a 40-year conservation leader advancing the environmental and economic vitality of Western North Carolina’s French Broad River and its watershed—for everyone. Trained as a geologist and hydrologist, she pairs scientific expertise with decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, public engagement, and fundraising. A natural bridge between science and storytelling, Lisa brings people together around a shared vision for a healthier, more resilient river corridor. Her work champions environmental stewardship, flood resilience, and sustainable economic growth—guiding communities forward in a rapidly changing, post-Helene landscape.

• Maiysha Clairborne MD

  Dr. Maiysha Clairborne is an integrative physician and communication architect whose work sits at the intersection of trauma, neuroscience, and psychology. She works with clinicians, leaders, and organizations to create psychologically safe, trust‑centered cultures through coaching, workshops, and consulting, providing practical tools for navigating conflict, repair, and crucial conversations. A two‑time TEDx Asheville speaker, author, and podcast host, she shows leaders how our past experiences live in our present conversations—and how a single moment of awareness can change both.

• Meghan O'Malley

  "Meghan O'Malley is a former licensed therapist turned coach, speaker and facilitator whose work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, somatic healing and spiritual intelligence. With over two decades of experience sitting with people in their most uncertain, messy and transformative moments, Meghan has developed a deeply practical and compassionate approach to navigating change — one that honors both the science of the nervous system and the creative intelligence of something a bit more mysterious and difficult to name. As the co-author of Unstuck Yourself: Thrive Beyond Burnout & Discover Your True Purpose, Meghan brings years of experience, clinical credibility and the hard-earned wisdom of personal experience to her work. She is known for making complex neuroscience accessible, for her disarming honesty, and for creating spaces where people feel genuinely less alone in the undeniable messiness of being authentically human."

• Sekou Coleman

  Sekou Coleman is a cultural strategist, organizer, and lifelong storyteller whose work is rooted in the ancestral traditions of the Mandé djeli, keepers of story, memory, lineage, and truth. With more than 30 years in nonprofit leadership, creative placemaking, and grassroots organizing, he helps communities hold memory and decision-making power by turning lived experience into strategy, strategy into systems, and systems into stories that preserve authorship and strengthen community ownership. Across coalitions, cultural initiatives, public processes, and story-based communications, his work centers marginalized voices, strengthens belonging, and builds long-term community power. His TEDx talk is an extension of that calling: using story to make hidden histories visible, elevate resident wisdom, and show what becomes possible when communities lead their own repair.