Past TEDx event

TEDxMAHE

Took placeOctober 11, 2026
LocationManipal, karnataka, Karnataka, India
FormatUniversity
At its heart, TEDxMAHE is a space where different people, ideas, and perspectives come together. It’s about listening to stories that make you pause, question what you know, and see things a little differently. Sometimes, the most interesting connections are the ones we don’t notice at first. This year, TEDxMAHE takes that idea a little further, looking at the stories, moments, and connections that exist just beyond what we see. This year’s theme - Out of focus Out of Fous lives in the lag between experiencing a connection and finally seeing it. It's the invisible thread that moved us before we noticed, the echo of a word still travelling through someone else's life, the story sitting just out of frame, the ripple from a small act we'll never trace to its end. It's the wrong turn that was the path all along, the threshold we cross without knowing we're leaving, the wall between what we understand and what we haven't yet dared imagine, the door that opens only because another already did and the person underneath the label, once the label stops talking.

Speakers

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

  • Daniel J Samuel

    Fitness influencer and digital creator

    Daniel J. Samuel is a Bengaluru-based digital creator and fitness influencer known for building an audience through social media content. His Instagram presence, @danieljsamuel_, has a substantial following, with third-party creator analytics reporting a follower base of more than 200,000 in 2026. His work uses digital media to communicate fitness, lifestyle and personal development content to a broad online audience. His career represents the growing role of social media creators in shaping conversations around fitness, physical activity, lifestyle and self-improvement.

  • Divya Hegde

    Climate activist and founder of Baeru

    Divya Hegde is the founder of Baeru, an ocean-waste recovery venture working at the intersection of marine plastic, technology and coastal livelihoods. Her work connects environmental sustainability with livelihood opportunities for coastal communities. A Northwestern University alumna and former Google employee, Hegde combines experience in technology and entrepreneurship with a focus on environmental and community-based impact. She has also been recognised as an Acumen Fellow, and her work has received recognition from organisations including UN Women and UNESCO.

  • Nikkitha Shanker

    Entrepreneur and Co-founder / CEO of SuperBryn

    Nikkitha Shanker is a technology entrepreneur and the Co-founder and CEO of SuperBryn, a company working on reliability infrastructure for voice-AI systems. Her work focuses on the challenges that arise when artificial intelligence moves beyond controlled demonstrations and interacts with real users. These include issues such as accents, interruptions, latency, evaluation and other real-world complexities. Her work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, product development and human-computer interaction. She brings an entrepreneurial perspective to understanding not only what AI can accomplish, but also the less visible work required to make AI systems reliable and useful in practice.

  • Smita Sahay

    Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Usawa Literary Review

    Smita Sahay is a writer, poet, editor and educator and the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Usawa Literary Review, an independent feminist literary publication founded in 2018 with Lavanya Shanbhogue-Arvind. Usawa publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, translations, book reviews and interviews, with particular attention to writing by and about underrepresented communities. Sahay has also contributed to international literary projects and publications and has taught creative writing at Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. Through her editorial work, she has helped create a platform for voices and perspectives that can remain underrepresented in mainstream literary spaces.

Organizing team