TEDxLeiria International School Youth

Speakers

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

• Aleksandra Nikolaeva

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Aleksandra, 14 year old student, shares a touching story about friendship, reflecting on how relationships can quietly change or end.

• Alexandra Almeida

  Executive, investor, business strategist, and guest professor at Business Schools

  Executive, investor, and business strategist, Alexandra de Almeida brings 20 years of experience transforming organizations and anticipating global trends. As CEO, she led a family-owned company from €6M to €60M, scaling teams and expanding operations to 35 countries. Today, Alexandra supports leaders and organizations on their business transformation journeys, combining strategic sophistication with innovative management solutions, enhanced by Artificial Intelligence. A guest professor at leading business schools, she is passionate about teaching, believing that it is through teaching that she learns the most. Her work integrates human, environmental, and economic impact into an innovative and sustainable vision of the future, using adversity as a catalyst for growth and evolution.

• Alexandra Araújo

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Thirteen-year-old Alexandra invites us to rethink how we see our bodies.

• Ana Marques

  Psychology Graduate & Forensic Clinical Psychology Intern at ForYourMind

  Ana Marques, 24, from Leiria, holds a degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Forensic Clinical Psychology from the University of Coimbra. She is currently completing her professional internship for admission to the Portuguese Psychologists Association at ForYourMind, where she works with children, adolescents, and adults.

• Anastasiia Ishmeneva

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Anastasiia, who is 15 years old, explores the topic of sleep and its impact on our lives.

• Arianna Temmerman

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Arianna, 14, is a student who explores the idea that running helped shape what it means to be human.

• Audrey Higgo

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Audrey Higgo, 14, shares her TEDx talk "Humor" and explores why it matters in everyday life.

• Carlota Neto

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Carlota, 14, is a reflective and thoughtful student who is not afraid to explore complex emotions and personal experiences.

• Elene Dreher

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Elene, 15, explores how beauty standards have evolved over centuries and the powerful impact they have on our lives.

• Emmanuelle Hartmann

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Emmanuelle, 14 going on 15, shares a personal story in her talk I’m Glad I Never Met My Grandpa. She reflects on family relationships and the feeling of not quite fitting in, as she struggles with questions of identity and belonging.

• Fabiano Cruz

  Co-Founder and CEO of AENVO Natural Interaction

  Fabiano Cruz is Co-Founder and CEO of AENVO Natural Interaction (EMEA), a Portuguese-Brazilian conversational AI startup focused on natural interaction, voice biometric authentication, and integration with digital payment methods such as MB Way and Pix. At AENVO, he leads product strategy, positioning, and the design of customer experience journeys, working directly on the development of AI agents for customer service, process automation, and relationship marketing across sectors such as banking, insurance, the public sector, and utilities. With over 20 years of experience, he has built a multidisciplinary career in marketing, innovation, and digital transformation. Prior to AENVO, he was CEO of ALOT, a digital strategy and martech agency within Grupo Deal. He holds postgraduate degrees in Neuroscience and Behavior and in Data Science, an MBA in Strategic and Economic Business Management, and a degree in Advertising and Marketing

• Francisco Arga Lima

  Legal consultant at Pax Legal

  As former President of ELSA — the European Law Students' Association — he managed the international board, partnerships, and a network of over 60.000 members across 43 national groups. Through his career, Francisco has lived in Brussels, Luxembourg and Poland, and travelled all over Europe while engaging with diverse cultures, learning firsthand how openness to different life experiences enriches us all. Today, Francisco is a legal consultant, having advised companies across the healthcare, fintech, and AI sectors, and lectures on postgraduate programs related to law and tech, trying to bridge the gap between very complex technologies and an often seen rigid and demanding legal framework.

• João Bogalho

  Chief People Officer at LEADZAI

  João holds a degree and a postgraduate qualification in Strategic Human Resources Management from ISLA Lisboa. He is the Chief People Officer at LEADZAI, with five years of leadership in people management within the startup. He has also been a Human Resources Consultant at OSCAR for over four years. He combines his passion for sharing knowledge with academic involvement, coordinating two postgraduate programs at Instituto Piaget—Human Resources and Social Economy—since 2020. With over 10 years of experience as an HR consultant across multiple sectors, he has contributed to projects such as the development of the HR Management Model for Sport Lisboa e Benfica. He has also worked with companies like Novabase during its IPO phase. A passionate speaker, he thrives on sharing experiences and exchanging ideas.

• João Maria Pereira

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  João, 13, presents a talk about something very simple that happens to everyone. He explains how people often pick up their phone to check one thing and somehow end up scrolling for much longer than intended, a pattern he calls "The Scroll Trap".

• Kira Potiiuk

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Kira, 14, is a confident student who shares a personal story in her talk "Anxiety Can Dictate Our Lives".

• Madalena Guerra

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Madalena, 13, is a student who deeply values friendship and family, believing that the strongest connections are what carry us through life’s most difficult moments.

• Manuel Justo

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Manuel, 13 years old, has been playing football for 10 years. He's passionate about sports and about never giving up.

• Maria Burpee

  Entrepreneur, Marketing Consultant, and Startup Coach | Venture Partner at Transatlantic Highway Ventures

  Maria Burpee is an American living in Portugal. She has lived in three countries and is currently raising three curious, adventurous kids in Leiria. For work, she's an entrepreneur, marketing consultant, and startup coach, also a Venture Partner at Transatlantic Highway Ventures. But her favorite and most important work is raising humans who are resilient, empathetic, hard-working, and endlessly curious about the world. Maria believes the same traits that make a great startup founder also make a great kid: the courage to ask "why," the humility to challenge your own assumptions, and the imagination to keep wondering "what if?"

• Mariana Laranjeira

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  At just 13 years old, Mariana brings both honesty and humour to the stage as she explores a struggle we all know too well: procrastination. Proudly calling herself the “queen of procrastination,” she reflects on the constant inner battle between motivation and delay.

• Marta Bastos dos Santos

  Coordinator of the EDP Group’s Global Volunteering Program | EDP’s representative in the governing bodies of GRACE | Ambassador for SDG 4 and One Young World

  Marta Bastos dos Santos was born in Lisbon in 1985. She holds a Law degree (2008), as well as a Postgraduate Degree in Law of Public Companies and Markets (2014) and a Postgraduate Degree in Law of Economics and Social Investment (2017). She began her professional career in 2008 at EDP, S.A., where she worked as a lawyer in the General Secretariat and Legal Department until December 2021, with a particular focus on Corporate Law and Corporate Governance, Compliance, and Foundations. During this period, she also participated in onboarding sessions for new employees, as well as in several training programs developed by the company, particularly in Leadership, Effective Communication, Emotional Intelligence, Applied Creativity, and Strategy. Accustomed to organizing various volunteer initiatives on a personal basis, she has always taken part in numerous volunteering activities within the EDP Group since the launch of its Program.

• Qianxun Yang

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Qianxun Yang, 12, is a passionate reader especially interested in fiction and how it influences the brain.

• Shazeen Mazari

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Shazeen, 13, shares her perspective in her talk "Question Your Religion". She talks about how beliefs are often inherited and on the role fear can play in shaping faith.

• Sónia Fernandes

  Founder and CEO of Pista Mágica | Social entrepreneur, Consultant, Lecturer, and Trainer.

  Sónia Fernandes is a social entrepreneur, consultant, lecturer, and trainer. Founder and CEO of Pista Mágica – Volunteering & Innovation. Author of several books and manuals in the field of volunteering. Creator of the CADEI capacity-building methodology for volunteer management (Capacity Building, Diagnosis, Experimentation, Impact). She holds a degree in Anthropology and a Master’s in Humanitarian Action, Cooperation, and Development. She has developed international volunteering experience and skills in countries such as the USA, Mozambique, Timor-Leste, and Togo, in addition to over 30 years of volunteering work at the national level. She has worked with humanitarian organizations, the United Nations, and the European Union. As a trainer, lecturer, and consultant, she has reached thousands of volunteers, students, and professionals.

• Stefani Cheng

  Form 8 Student @ Leiria International School

  Fourteen-year-old Stefani shares her personal feelings in her talk, "I’ve Tried So Hard: Why Do I Still Feel Like I’m Falling Behind?"

• Vítor Ferreira

  PhD from Lisbon University in Entrepreneurship & Innovation | Associate professor of Polytechnic Institute of Leiria

  Vítor Hugo Ferreira holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the University of Lisbon (ISEG), with research focused on innovation dynamics and regional catching up. He was Executive Director of Leiria Business School in Portugal until 2020 and is currently an associate professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. He has also collaborated with several European business schools. Since his Master’s degree, which focused on Portugal vs. China: Strategies, Competences and Innovation, he has worked as a consultant in entrepreneurship and innovation projects for various companies and business associations, and has also delivered courses for business owners. He has co-led several major studies, including a comparison of the Portuguese and Chinese mould industries, an assessment of educational needs in the Leiria region, and an evaluation of a hydrogen-based industry in South Africa. He is the author of numerous scientific publications.