TEDxClemsonU

Speakers

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

• Chad Gill

  Chad Gill is a business coach with more than 20 years of experience in commercial construction, where he developed a deep understanding of the challenges leaders face in traditional industries. His work now focuses on helping companies improve productivity and reduce burnout by aligning people with their strengths, embracing effective delegation, and integrating tools like remote assistance, automation, and AI. Passionate about helping young professionals navigate change with confidence, Chad brings a practical and forward-looking perspective on leadership, work, and transformation.

• Charlie Kurth

  Charlie Kurth is a Professor of Philosophy at Clemson University, where his research focuses on the role emotions play in shaping our lives and decisions. He is particularly interested in how so-called “negative” emotions like anxiety and shame can provide insight into our values and guide us toward better choices. Before entering academia, Charlie worked as an investment banker on Wall Street, a path he ultimately left to pursue a deeper understanding of the good life. He is the author of several books, including Bang Bang Crash, a memoir that explores his transition from finance to philosophy.

• Gugu Selela

  Gugu Selela is a lecturer in the department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Clemson University. Her research is focused on intersectional feminism, black and afro feminism, and women's leadership.

• Hannah Folau

  Hannah Folau is a former student-athlete from Georgetown University whose experiences balancing athletics, academics, work, and post-graduate pressure shaped her perspective on burnout, boundaries, and mental health. Now after her Masters in Tanzania, she's a career woman and podcaster... life looks different for Hannah! Having lived through the demands of high performance culture, she now speaks about the importance of rest, balance, and resisting the societal pressure to constantly do more. Her message encourages young adults to redefine success in a way that values well-being as much as achievement.

• Janis Palma

  Janis Palma is a retired English-Spanish federally certified judiciary interpreter who spent more than four decades in the profession and continues to work on a freelance basis. After earning a master’s degree in legal studies from Arizona State University in retirement, she began pursuing a Ph.D. in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design at Clemson University. Janis is passionate about lifelong learning and encouraging people of all ages to reject limiting expectations and pursue the dreams they thought had passed them by.

• Jenny Presgraves

  Jenny Presgraves is the Director of Professional Development and Well-Being for the graduate school at Clemson University, where she supports students through some of the most transformative periods of their academic and personal lives. Her work focuses on helping individuals navigate uncertainty, build resilience, and cultivate meaningful growth. With a strong interest in curiosity as a driver of learning and well-being, Jenny has explored research across multiple disciplines and recently taught an Honors seminar centered on the power of curiosity. Through her work and teaching, she encourages others to embrace uncertainty, ask better questions, and approach life with a mindset of exploration and discovery.

• Jimmy Vickery

  Jimmy Vickery is a South Carolina-based manufacturing leader whose career path has been anything but traditional. After serving in the Navy’s nuclear program and working aboard a nuclear submarine, he brought the discipline, resilience, and problem-solving skills he developed in the military into the manufacturing world, where he has spent decades growing into leadership. Drawing from lived experience rather than theory, Jimmy speaks candidly about personal growth, overcoming limitations, and building success without a perfect roadmap.

• José Sagarnaga

  José Sagarnaga is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Clemson University, originally from Mexico. His work focuses on corporate social responsibility, servant leadership, and the global impact of business on society. His career journey took an unexpected turn during graduate school when a single article introduced him to the world of microfinance. That moment led him to work with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, shaping his commitment to using business as a tool for meaningful change. Now, he teaches many courses to foster that same change in others, leading study abroad opportunities and leadership initiatives globally.

• Josiah Sullivan

  Josiah Sullivan is a student at Clemson University with a passion for storytelling, writing, and leadership. Josiah found his voice through debate and oratory, competing nationwide and earning recognition for his work. He now serves on the Emerging Leaders Council for the Steamboat Institute, is an alumnus of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation for Debate, and writes as a journalist for The College Fix. Through his work, he encourages others to transform adversity into purpose and pursue their goals with determination.

• Luigi Boccuto

  Dr. Luigi Boccuto is a clinical geneticist, interesting in autism spectrum disorder and related conditions, such as Phelan-McDermid syndrome, hereditary cancer, overgrowth syndromes and intellectual disability. He is currently employed as Faculty Member of the School of Nursing at Clemson University. He has worked as Research Scientist at the Greenwood Genetic Center and as Chief Scientific Officer for STALICLA,SA (Geneva, Switzerland). He has been working on pathogenic mechanisms and metabolic profiling of several genetic conditions, in particular, he has been involved with Phelan-McDermid syndrome since 2007,

• Racquel Collier

  After leaving a successful career as a DJ, Racquel is learning to find the invisible thread of her life; the thing that binds her passions together. Now as President of Caliber Real Estate, Racquel focuses on creating meaningful third places for people to feel connected. Learn how to find your third place and your invisible string from her talk.

• Tessa Byer

  Tessa Tompkins Byer is learning to navigate labels placed on her, and taking control of them as an adult and mother. Tessa explores the four hardest labels to overcome for herself and rediscovers what they mean for herself, on her own terms.