We’re so excited about the range of “Human” talks that are going to happen on the York Theatre stage on September 16th!

If the first round of speakers piqued your interest, wait til you hear who we have in store for you next…

Dr. Saber Miresmailli
3 Words to Describe Me: Peace Through Food
Favourite TED Talk: Sir Ken Robinson, Do Schools kill Creativity?

Dr. Saber Miresmailli is an award-winning biologist, entrepreneur, startup CEO and a foodist. Saber’s mission in life is to change the way we produce and protect our food. He received his Ph.D in Plant Science from the University of British Columbia and conducted his post-doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He studied plant signalling and behavior for well over a decade and published several articles and book chapters. Saber received the Award of Excellence in Innovation in Agriculture from the BC Investment Agriculture Foundation and the Award of Innovation Excellence from the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. He also collaborated with the Bill & Melinda Gates’ Foundation to help farmers in West Africa.

Tru Wilson
3 Words to Describe Me: Truth, acceptance, celebration
Favourite TED Talk: Geena Rocero, Why I Must Come Out

Tru Wilson is an articulate fourteen-year old transgender advocate from Ladner, BC. Tru first made headlines in 2014 when her family filed a human rights complaint against her local Catholic School for not supporting her transition. In response, the CISVA became one of the first Catholic school boards in North America to develop a policy to support gender expression.

Tru and her family went on to participate in a 2015 Vancouver Parks Board transgender awareness campaign. The same year Tru was recognized by Vancouver Magazine as one of the city's 50 most powerful and influential people.

In 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau personally acknowledged Tru for her advocacy in his welcome speech to the visiting Royals. And in 2017 Tru was named “Sexual Health Champion” by Vancouver's Options for Sexual Health. Tru is currently an ambassador for Big Love Ball and Out in Schools, and continues to share her story to both educate and inspire others.

Max Richter
3 Words to Describe Me: Designing Healthy Buildings
Favourite TED Talk: Jamie Oliver, Teach Every Child About Food

Max is a Senior Architect and Associate in the Vancouver office of Perkins+Will. Since joining the firm in 2010, he has worked on a number of the firm’s most innovative projects, including the VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre, which is the first building in Vancouver to earn Petal certification for the Living Building Challenge, and the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, which was designed to be ‘net positive’ in seven different ways.

Max regularly speaks and writes about sustainable design and healthy materials, and he recently co-authored an article on integrating academic research into the architectural design process.

Meharoona Ghani
3 Words to Describe Me: Inspire, cultivate, build
Favourite TED Talk: Brené Brown, The Power of Vulnerability

Meharoona Ghani holds a Master of Arts degree in Gender and International Development with a speciality in gender analysis and race theory from the University of Sussex, Institute of Development Studies.

After a 20-year B.C. provincial government career, she launched M. Ghani Consulting. Today, she wears many hats: a Community Engagement and Diversity Specialist, Spoken Word Artist, and Educator with M. Ghani Consulting; a Manager with the North Shore Multicultural Society; and a published writer working on her forthcoming book: “Letters to Rumi” – an autobiographical account about identity and belonging.

Jodie Ortega
3 Words to Describe Me: Social Narrative Disrupter
Favourite TED Talk: Monica Lewinsky, The Price of Shame

Jodie Ortega has taken childhood trauma and intergenerational cultural shame and turned it into a powerful tool for disrupting the damaging social narrative and belief systems that contribute to rape culture and the culture of shame. She uses a distinctive brand of storytelling characterized by rap and spoken word and she has taken that performance to Victor Walk, TEDxRenfrewCollingwood, and PechaKucha as well as to various educational and community settings.

She believes that in sharing our stories, we create community and in empowering our children, we raise children that will tell. Jodie is committed to encouraging parents to engage in continuing dialogue around body autonomy with their children to help remove the stigma of cultural silence around sexual violence. She was also a nominee in the 2016 Courage to Come Back Awards (Social Adversity category).

Jodie is a champion for survivors of sexual trauma and is committed to shining a light, not only on sexual and social injustice, but also the stories of triumph, like her own.