TEDxPasadena

Speakers

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

• Andrew Cornelius

  A former Management Consultant turned full-time comedian, Andrew lives at the intersection of business and performance. His stand-up has taken him from local U.S. clubs to international stages. He holds an MBA from Kellogg, proving live comedy and business pedigree are a powerful combination.

• Damon Garrison

  A seasoned educator with over 20 years shaping students and educators, Damon promotes character, leadership, and academic achievement. His work reflects a grounded perspective on resilience and growth through adversity.

• Dr. Jewel Jackson-Diallo

  A community builder, dancer, and choreographer with 30+ years in African and diasporic dance traditions, Dr. Jewel serves as Founder, CEO, and Artistic Director of African Soul International and the ASI Cultural Arts Center in L.A.'s Crenshaw community, providing cultural arts programming for inner-city youth and families. She believes culture heals, empowers, and belongs to everyone.

• Dr. Wendi McKenna

  As co-founder of Elevated Athlete Physical Therapy and Performance, Wendi helps young people and parents grow stronger through vision, trust, and courage. She blends neuroscience, movement, and mindset to help families move from pressure to purpose. She believes resilience is awareness, ownership, and the courage to keep showing up.

• EJ Egghart

  EJ is redefining how technology empowers the gaming and regulatory world. With a background as an auditor and consultant in highly regulated industries, she blends financial expertise, compliance insight, and bold innovation. When not driving regulatory innovation, she performs stand-up comedy as Recovering_TigerMom.

• Elizabeth Yang

  A UC Berkeley engineering graduate at 19, Elizabeth contributed to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and Raytheon before earning her JD/MBA and pivoting to law. A serial entrepreneur and author of six books, her story is defined by resilience - viewing every challenge as a blessing in disguise.

• Elizabeth Gaylynn Baker

  With over 30 years in entertainment, Elizabeth is best known as Mabel in the viral comedy Retirement House. She has also written and directed award-winning documentaries and authored Gifts of Gratitude. She resides in Los Angeles.

• Irel Del Valle

  Working in high-pressure clinical environments since 2014, Irel challenges the idea that care is "soft," reframing presence as a measurable performance behavior, Her message is simple: presence isn't extra - it IS the work.

• Jani McGuire

  For more than 30 years, Jani McGuire has helped people navigate change, relationships, and life's defining moments with greater awareness and curiosity. Through her work with teens, couples, parents, and communities, she has witnessed what becomes possible when people stop trying to fix themselves and get curious about their experience. She is the author of the forthcoming book Just Notice: A Practice of Paying Attention to What Is.

• Jennalyn Ponraj

  Jennalyn Ponraj began singing onstage at four and appeared on television by nine. Over two decades, she built a career spanning music, stage, film, and AAA video games. Her voice has been featured in campaigns for Nike, Taco Bell, Kohl's, Victoria's Secret, and other global brands. In 2025, she founded Delaire, focused on building human-centered voice design for artificial intelligence.

• Karlie Dean

  Karlie has over 15 years supporting visionary leaders and entrepreneurs. Through her practice, InnerFire, she blends depth psychology and somatic therapy to help creatives move from performing their potential to inhabiting it. She is also a dancer, poet, and women's empowerment community leader.

• Marcus K. Wilson

  Creator of the Harmonize the Mix® framework, Marcus helps people and organizations navigate change with clarity and confidence. By aligning people, processes, and technology, he teaches that change is not something we simply endure - it's something we learn to move with.

• Paulina Amador

  Paulina Amador is the founder of WEGeniusMinds, a Robbins-Madanes Life and Business Coaching Leader, TEDx speaker, bestselling author, host of the upcoming The Genius Zone Podcast, and creator of the groundbreaking documentary "EVOLUTION: The Genius Equation." With over 25 years of experience, she empowers entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and changemakers to unlock their genius, amplify their voice, scale their businesses, and create lasting impact. Her radical mission: helping vissionary leaders remember that genius was never something to earn - it's something they've always possessed.

• Sneha Villalva

  With more than two decades of professional writing experience including roles as executive speechwriter at UCLA and Pomona College, Sneha was named to MSN's Top 10 Leading Speakers to Follow in 2025. Her book "Cut to the Essence" releases Spring 2026. A Pasadena native, she makes her home in San Gabriel, California.

• Teena Marie Jackson

  With nearly two decades helping organizations bring clarity to complex problems, Teena's perspective on curiosity deepened while advocating for her son's rare kidney disease diagnosis - navigating systems that prioritized compliance over understanding. Today, she reframes curiosity as a protective force that uncovers truth and creates space for healing.