TEDxSarasota

Speakers

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

• Betsy Golden Kellem

  Author and Historian

  Betsy Golden Kellem is a scholar of the unusual. She is the author of Jumping Through Hoops: Performing Gender in the Nineteenth Century Circus, and her entertainment history work has appeared in venues including The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The Public Domain Review, Smithsonian, Atlas Obscura, and Slate. Betsy is an Emmy and Telly award winner for her Showman’s Shorts video series on P. T. Barnum and writes on pop culture for JSTOR Daily and history.com. If you ask nicely, she will juggle knives for you.

• Catherine Karow

  Cybersecurity Architect

  Catherine “Cat” Karow is a cybersecurity architect and founder of ZoraSafe. She began her career in public education IT before leading identity and access management for the University of Florida’s HiPerGator supercomputer, building its restricted data onboarding process as it scaled into one of the top five supercomputers in the world. An early Hack The Box beta cohort member - back when access required exploitation - she later led technical initiatives for Apple, the Department of Transportation, and the White House. After scammers targeted her mother using legally purchased personal data, Cat turned her focus to investigating the data broker industry. Her forthcoming book, SOLD: The Hidden Industry That Sells Your Data - and Shapes Your Life, explores how America’s surveillance-commerce system was constructed - and who it leaves exposed.

• Dan Waugh

  TEDxSarasota Organizer

  Dan Waugh began his career in software development. Chances are you’ve used his work in the past week without even knowing it. Today, he is Principal Product Manager at IBM, helping organizations turn AI ideas into production-ready solutions. With more than two decades in technology and product leadership, Dan holds multiple patents, has published on cloud innovation, and will someday learn to play guitar. Previously, he taught adult education at Wake Technical Community College, guiding learners as they built digital skills from scratch. He also volunteered as a roadie for the Chapel Hill High School Marching Tigers, supporting logistics and parade floats. A father of three, avid mountain biker, and creative tinkerer, Dan brings curiosity and community spirit to everything he does.

• Katie Trowbridge

  Award-winning Educator and Leadership Strategist

  Katie Trowbridge is an award-winning educator, TEDx speaker, leadership strategist, and CEO of Curiosity 2 Create, with more than two decades of experience helping people think more deeply and lead more boldly. A former marketing director turned high school English teacher, she brings a rare blend of corporate, educational, and nonprofit leadership experience to her work. After spending 23 years in the classroom, Katie saw firsthand how curiosity, creative thinking, and psychological safety drive engagement and growth. School leaders - and later business leaders - began asking how her approach could be applied beyond education, forming the foundation of her leadership philosophy that the business world has much to learn from great teachers. Katie is the creator of the trademarked CREATE Method™, a practical framework used to transform teams and organizations into environments where curiosity, collaboration, and problem-solving thrive. She is the author of multiple books.

• Kostya Kimlat

  Magician, Speaker, Entrepreneur

  Kostya Kimlat is a professional magician best known for fooling Penn & Teller on their hit TV show “Fool Us.” He has performed in more than 200 cities across five continents and teaches organizations around the world about perception, communication, and human connection.

• Kristen Cusato

  Storyteller, Communicator, and Advocate

  Kristen Cusato is a storyteller, communicator, and advocate who believes that sharing our stories can change lives. Kristen spent more than two decades in television news as an anchor/reporter in Connecticut, San Diego, Texas, and upstate New York. Her career took a profound turn more than 15 years ago when her mother was diagnosed with Lewy Body dementia. A new purpose and profession was born: teaching caregivers the language of dementia. Today, Kristen collaborates with researchers, caregivers, and people living with all forms of the disease to help them feel empowered. She has authored chapters in two Chicken Soup for the Soul caregiving books and hosts an award-winning podcast. Kristen is equally passionate about helping others find and use their voice, by coaching TEDx speakers in San Diego and Connecticut, and guiding others in shaping their personal stories.

• Marsha Wulff

  Impact Investor

  Marsha Wulff is an American impact investor who focuses on tech-driven innovations. She has helped build seven multi-billion-dollar companies - three American-led and four African-led - across multiple sectors and continents. Having lived and worked on six continents, she brings a deeply global perspective shaped by decades of building businesses and mentoring leaders worldwide. Her life experiences - spanning scarcity and abundance, mobility and physical limitation - have informed her belief in collaborative leadership, passionate teams, and investment strategies that balance profit with long-term impact. Since the late 1990s, Marsha and her team have pioneered seed stage venture capital in Africa to empower large-scale economic transformation. They are part of an evolving investor ecosystem that supports the next generation of aspiring founders.

• Martha LaGuardia-Kotite

  US Coast Guard Captain

  Captain Martha LaGuardia-Kotite US Coast Guard (retired) spent her life in, on or near the ocean. She is one of the first female officers to serve aboard two Coast Guard cutters, patrolling the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and the Caribbean Sea, leading all-male crews and teams through numerous disasters during her decades long military career. Her awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, six Commendation Medals, three Achievement Medals, and numerous service and team accolades. An award-winning author of So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Saving Lives Defying Death (used by Kevin Costner for his role in the movie The Guardian) and two other books. She built a robust second career as a keynote speaker and coach, inspiring current and future leaders on how to be bold, first and authentic to achieve their biggest dreams.

• Norman Dorsch

  TEDxSarasota Organizer

  Norman Dorsch has had a lifelong connection to Sarasota, spending parts of his childhood in the area before moving here permanently in 2021. As Global Product Manager for IBM X-Force with more than a decade of experience, he shapes cybersecurity strategies that help organizations protect what matters most. After attending a TEDx event in early 2025, Norman was inspired to bring that same spirit of ideas and connection back to Sarasota. He founded Endear Collective with Dan and Rob to launch TEDxSarasota, reviving the event for the first time in over a decade. A certified private pilot, Norman recharges through flying and time outdoors with his wife, son, and their dog. The backyard alligator does NOT count as a household member (yet).

• Rene Roberts

  Castle Connolly Top Doctor

  Dr. Rene Roberts is a Castle Connolly Top Doctor, board-certified Family Medicine physician, and keynote speaker on a mission to reform who gets to heal. Rejected 50 times from medical schools during the application process, Dr. Roberts knows what it means to be a "medical misfit." Rather than accepting defeat, she used rejection to fuel her advocacy for changing the rigid, test-score-driven admissions system that overlooks empathy, resilience, and lived experience. With nearly 14 years of clinical experience, Dr. Roberts currently serves underserved communities on Chicago’s south side and has become a trusted voice. She mentors aspiring physicians and champions a more inclusive approach to medical education. We will all need a healer at some point in our lives - and that reality makes Dr. Roberts' question all the more critical. In "Who Gets to Heal?", she challenges us to rethink how we select the next generation of doctors - because who gets to heal determines who gets healed.

• Renee Exelbert

  Licensed Psychologist and Certified Elite Personal Trainer

  Dr. Renee Exelbert earned her B.S. from Cornell University and her M.A. and Ph.D from New York University. Renee’s career began as a psychologist working with children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer. Then, she became a cancer patient herself. That experience changed everything. It deepened her understanding of the mind-body connection in a way no textbook could. It led her to found the Metamorphosis Center for Psychological and Physical Change, where she integrates psychotherapy and exercise to help people harness mental and physical resilience to overcome adversity. Renee also developed Visual Emotional Kinetics, a method that combines positive thoughts, visualization and movement to help people break through obstacles and enhance performance. She personally embraced this philosophy when she became a bodybuilding competitor, reclaiming control of her body after cancer. Renee’s work has been featured in Thrive Global, Good Housekeeping, The New York Post, and Runners’ World.

• Shaquem Griffin

  First One-handed NFL Linebacker in History

  Shaquem Griffin, the first one-handed former NFL linebacker in history, played four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins before retiring in 2022. Now a sought-after motivational speaker, he has inspired D1 Power 4 programs, pro teams, Fortune 500 companies, and more, around the world. He serves as an Advisor for a Venture Capitol, BIG12 Alumni Counsel Member, and startup advisor. Co-founder of Consumer Launch Pad and Y.O.U. Adapt, he is also an award-winning athlete, author of Inseparable, and creator of The Locker Room Playbook Curriculum.