TEDxUCincinnati

Speakers

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

• Abhinav Shankar Visvesh

  Abhinav is a lifelong enthusiast of Carnatic music, a classical art form from South India, and has spent over twenty-five years exploring its rhythms, melodies, and stories. What began as a reluctant childhood pursuit blossomed into a personal journey of discovery, where each note, rāga, and tāla became a metaphor for life’s missing pieces. From early lessons in India to continuing his practice across continents, Abhinav has embraced persistence, presence, and passion over perfection.

• Ann Sojka

  Ann spent a decade as a Senior Account Executive in tech sales, managing some of the company’s biggest clients, before becoming a marketing professor. Along the way, she discovered that connection, adaptability, and confidence often matter more than experience or perfection and that no experience is ever truly wasted.

• Ashley Koff, RD

  Ashley is a registered dietitian, author, and founder of The Better Nutrition Program. With over 25 years of experience helping individuals and healthcare practitioners, she specializes in personalized nutrition that is practical, evidence-based, and tailored to each person’s unique needs. She also serves as Nutrition Course Director at UC Irvine’s Susan Samueli Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship, mentoring future healthcare leaders in applying science with empathy.

• Chamina Curtis

  Chamina draws on her personal journey of growth and reinvention following the loss of her husband, blending lived experience with her expertise in Organization Development. She explores how life’s hardest moments like grief, loss, and profound change, can become the foundation for transformation, resilience, and new beginnings.

• Donna Chrobot-Mason

  Donna is a Professor of Psychology and founding director of the Warren Bennis Leadership Institute at the University of Cincinnati, with over 30 years of experience in leadership development. She helps students and professionals uncover their potential, understand their unique role, and navigate the challenges that shape who they are.

• Jeff Bloomfield

  Jeff is a Cincinnati-based international keynote speaker, applied neuroscience researcher, author, and award-winning entrepreneur. For over 15 years, he has helped leaders and organizations understand how the brain forms beliefs that drive behavior, teaching people how to reframe their inner stories for greater purpose and connection. Jeff Bloomfield

• John Weidner, PhD

  Dr. Weidner serves as the Interim Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Cincinnati, where he provides strategic leadership for all academic colleges, the Graduate College, UC Online, and the university libraries. As UC’s chief academic officer, he oversees the resources and initiatives that fuel the university’s academic excellence, research innovation, and student success.

• Nicole Donnelly

  Nicole is a speaker, writer, and founder of Hello Moxie, where she empowers high-achieving professionals to break free from burnout, reclaim their voice, and lead with authenticity. Drawing on her personal journey and experience as an entrepreneur and strategist, she helps people transform ambition and adversity into courage, clarity, and creative leadership.