TEDxLaSierraUniversity

Speakers

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

• Amanda Beer

  Student of the Wolves and Land

  Amanda is the Executive Director of Wolf Connection and began her journey with the organization as a volunteer in 2015. Prior to becoming a student of the wolves and land, Amanda earned her PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a licensed psychologist and has been facilitating healing and empowerment experiences for over 20 years. She is the former Director of Programs at Wolf Connection, and has collaborated with the wolves and a team of incredible humans to develop and implement curriculum including programs for youth empowerment and women veterans. She is honored to share the teachings of the wolves, and to witness the liberation that occurs when humans connect with their unique truths as strands of a collective song, recognizing that we too have the power to howl…and heal…as one.

• Amber Jones

  Sports Strategist

  Amber Jones is a veteran sports strategist with 30 years of experience advancing the athletic landscape from the sidelines to the replay booth. Her career is rooted in educational leadership, including as an Athletic Director and teacher launching competitive sports programs and immersive events. A lifelong advocate for women’s football, Amber has coached at the youth, varsity, and semi-pro levels. She was a semi-pro player and a co-founder of the Mile High Blaze in the Women’s Football Alliance. Her recent professional development includes Global Sport Marketing at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and dual certifications in NIL Personal Branding and Compliance. She holds a B.A. in Kinesiology from the University of Northern Colorado and an M.S. in Sport Management from California Lutheran University. Recognized as the 2016 GLSEN Educator of the Year, she is now focused on the historic LA28 debut of flag football , and securing professional pathways for female athletes worldwide.

• Bob Marshall

  Typewriter Muse

  Bob Marshall is Riverside’s Typewriter Muse - a master typewriter mechanic, and guardian of a vanishing craft. Born and raised in Riverside, Marshall has spent his life working with machines and developing an uncommon ability to understand how things function at their most fundamental level. He founded Typewriter Muse in 2020, building it into one of the few remaining professional typewriter repair shops in the country. Before turning his focus to typewriters, Marshall raced motorcycles. That chapter of his life inspired American Road Runner, a book, audiobook, and podcast documenting his experiences riding and racing custom choppers across America. While he enjoyed the speed and risk of racing, Marshall often jokes that there is no chance of falling off a typewriter at seventy-five miles per hour. Today, Marshall’s passion project is the resurrection of antique typewriters helping to ensure that a rare mechanical marvel survives.

• Lloyd Trueblood

  Marine Invertebrate Physiologist

  Lloyd Trueblood, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biology at La Sierra University in Riverside, California, where he leads research and teaching in marine invertebrate physiology. Dr. Trueblood studies how ocean organisms survive and thrive under changing and extreme environmental conditions - particularly focusing on oxygen and carbon dioxide stress in cephalopods like octopus and pelagic tunicates called salps. His work sheds light on how key marine species respond to global change, including ocean warming and acidification. His research has earned support from the National Science Foundation and has taken him and his students on multiple oceanographic expeditions, exploring the biological processes that influence the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle. Trueblood integrates undergraduate students directly into hands-on research experiences - preparing the next generation of scientists to confront pressing environmental challenges.

• Marcus Norris

  Composer

  Dr. Marcus Norris’s childhood foray into music came through producing rap beats on pirated software, installed on a Windows 98 computer that he Macgyvered together from spare parts. He came to composing concert music later and transferred that same imagination to writing music of all kinds. Marcus most recently composed the score for the hit Netflix series BANDI, becoming the top watched non-english show globally on the platform for the week following its release. His cross-genre mastery resulted in Beyoncé asking Marcus to orchestrate several songs for her and 50-piece orchestra as part of her 2023 Dubai return to live performance. Marcus founded South Side Symphony in 2020, which he describes as "like if Quincy Jones grew up on 90s R&B and Rap." He has been commissioned by the LA Phil, Juilliard, the Atlanta Opera, New World Symphony, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, the CYSO, Long Beach Opera, and many more.

• Mia Ginaé Watkins

  Change Agent, Connector, Entrepreneur

  Mia Ginaé Watkins is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and public speaker. She has worked in the video game industry for nearly a decade, focusing on creative operations and project management. She is currently at Riot Games and was recognized as one of She Plays Games’ Top 100 Women in Gaming in 2022. Before Riot, she worked at PlayStation for six years, growing from a video editor to a communications project manager. Previously, she served as the Community Development Director for the Black in Gaming Foundation, where she produced panels, mixers, and game jams both nationally and internationally. She is the founder and creative producer of her event consulting business, The Mighty Hostess. She is currently working on an epic fantasy novel. Creativity, empathy, and storytelling are the core of everything she does and what she plans to do next.

• Mo Shirmohammadi

  Founder

  Mo Shirmohammadi is a Presidential Scholar studying Computer Science at the University of Southern California and the founder of Code Can Bridge, a nonprofit teaching coding to students with learning disabilities. What started as a personal mission to help students who had been told they "weren't cut out for coding" has grown into a movement challenging how we think about tech education and human potential. Mo discovered that students who struggled with traditional text based programming often excelled when taught through visual and block based methods. Some didn't just catch up to their peers but outperformed them, particularly in pattern recognition and creative problem solving. This insight reshaped his understanding of talent, teaching, and the hidden filters embedded in how we educate.

• Sophia Garcia

  GIS Pioneer + Community Strategist

  Sophia Garcia is a community strategist and GIS pioneer dedicated to mapping a more equitable world. Her career spans local government, social justice nonprofits, and the tech sector, including her recent role as the national lead for Equity and GIS at the world’s largest mapping company. A specialist in "data-driven storytelling," Sophia was instrumental in implementing California’s Fair Maps Act and co-created the first-ever Equity track at the world’s largest GIS conference. She currently serves on the board of the Bakersfield City Community Land Trust and volunteers with Latino Outdoors. A firm believer that community voices belong in every dataset, Sophia is just as comfortable navigating complex policy as she is guiding rafts down the Kern River.

• Stephanie Cheng

  Sports Management Leader

  Stephanie Cheng is VP/Head of International and Special Projects at the Los Angeles Rams, overseeing the club's presence across seven Global Markets Program countries: Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, China, Japan, South Korea, and the UAE. She leads Rams international initiatives, including social media, database marketing, merchandise, event activations, partnerships, and media rights, and has served as team liaison for major construction projects, including the Rams Village development. Prior to joining the Rams in 2016, Stephanie was SVP of Marketing Services at Premier Partnerships, specializing in sponsorship and naming rights valuations for clients including the Atlanta Falcons, Portland Trail Blazers, and Dolby Theatre. Earlier, she lived and worked abroad in Doha for the Asian Games Organizing Committee and was a Freeman Fellow based in Hong Kong. A native of Southern California, Stephanie earned a B.S. in International Business from USC Marshall School of Business.