2024 Speaker Reveal

TEDxUT Austin prides itself on bringing the best minds on stage every year, and 2024’s conference will be no exception. As you all know, we’ll be presenting our theme Mosaic. And what do you need to create a mosaic?... Pieces! So it is our honor to introduce the pieces aka speakers for our 2024 Mosaic Conference:

Merlin Tuttle

Merlin Tuttle is an ecologist, wildlife photographer, and conservationist who has studied bats and championed their preservation for 60 years and continues a full-time schedule. He is globally known through his scientific discoveries, media appearances, popular articles, and photographs of bats. His work has been featured in expositions from Harvard University to the British Museum and in numerous feature articles that include the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and National Geographic.

He founded Bat Conservation International (BCI), an organization devoted to research, education, and conservation of bats, in 1982. Under his leadership, BCI emphasized broad collaboration that balanced both human and wildlife needs and became a model for positive solutions to conservation challenges. When Tuttle retired in 2009 from nearly 30 years of service as its Executive Director, BCI employed 32 biologists, educators, and administrators, supported by 11,000 members in 60 countries. BCI gained permanent protection for many of the world’s largest remaining bat populations, sponsored research to document the vital ecological and economic roles of bats, trained hundreds of wildlife managers in bat research and conservation techniques, and vastly improved the public’s perception of bats. He founded Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation (www.MerlinTuttle.org) in 2014 in support of his many continuing conservation activities, entirely independent of his original organization.

Melody Afkami

Passionate about sharing the life-changing power of dance–– CEO and founder of Melody DanceFit, Melody Afkami has pioneered a new class experience that transcends traditional fitness and dance. Notorious for her humorous and inspirational message to focus on the mental release of dance, Melody's online community has now reached millions. Melody DanceFit was the first dance fitness brand in Austin to rent out local concert venues and bars in lieu of the traditional studio. What started out as a small ten person class quickly grew into events of a hundred plus people–– selling out venues all over town. From her disco-lit classes to flashmobs around the city, Melody has cultivated a following that is hooked to her message of self-acceptance, joy and transformation. With an emphasis on women empowerment and philanthropy, her company, since its founding, donates to the international nonprofit Dress For Success.

Afkami has been named ClassPass "Instructor Of The Year" four consecutive years, has taught for international conferences and festivals, including SXSW and ACL, and she's also worked with companies such as Lululemon, Facebook, Bumble, and Google. Melody's life mission is to take the intimidation out of dance to help people unlock their power within, and her viral YouTube video 'Havana' boasting over 40 million views certainly proves that.

Nihad Siamdoust

Nahid Siamdoust has been writing about Iran as an academic and journalist for over twenty years. She is an assistant professor of media and Middle East studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of Soundtrack of the Revolution: The Politics of Music in Iran (Stanford, 2017). Nahid earned her Ph.D. from the University of Oxford, was the Yarshater Postdoctoral Associate in Iranian Studies at Yale University, and a visiting professor in the anthropology of religion at Harvard Divinity School’s Women’s Studies in Religion Program.

Previously, she was an Iran correspondent for Time Magazine and a Middle East correspondent for Al Jazeera International. Her recent commentaries have appeared in The New York Times, New Lines Magazine, Foreign Policy, BBC, and NPR. In 2023, she launched the podcast series “Woman, Life, Freedom: All in on Iran,” which captures and archives important knowledge on the 2022/23 uprising. She is currently working on her second book project, which examines publics and the politics of joy in Islamic Iran.

Bavu Blakes

Bavu Blakes is a Scholar Emcee at the forefront of merging Hip Hop, education, and spirituality. As an award-winning middle school Humanities instructor and founder of the Hip Hop Grew Up educational agency, he crafts keynote speeches, interactive learning sessions, and multimedia projects. Rejecting traditional notions of education, Bavu advocates for a more dynamic approach, aiming to revolutionize learning as part of what he calls the "Netflix of education." With a decade of experience designing and delivering professional learning experiences, Bavu is renowned for his innovative incorporation of theatrical, musical, and lyrical elements into teaching. His academic research on student-driven assemblies has been recognized at national conferences and published by prestigious presses.

Originally drawn to Austin, Texas, for journalism, Bavu found fame as a regional rap artist, making history as the first emcee in the city to have a song on daytime commercial radio. His musical prowess, with collaborations with Grammy-winning producers like Adrian Quesada and Gary Clark Jr., earned him recognition, including "Bavu Blakes Day" declared by Austin Mayor Steve Adler in 2015. Blakes serves his wife, Dr. Tifani Jones Blakes, and their two children. He and his 12-year-old son co-authored El's Mirror, a picture book and reflective tool for families, parents, mentors, leaders, and educators of children.

Kareem El-Ghayesh

Kareem El-Ghayesh, originally from Cairo, Egypt, cultivated his love for cooking from a young age, inspired by family gatherings and time spent in the kitchen with his mother. Despite pursuing a career in banking after graduating from Cairo University in 2009, his passion for food persisted. A transformative trip to Austin in 2012 fueled his obsession with barbecue, prompting him to experiment with smoking meats back home. This journey eventually led him to leave banking behind in 2016 and settle permanently in Austin, Texas, where he immersed himself in the city's vibrant culinary scene.

Enrolling in culinary school at Austin Community College and gaining experience at various establishments including Kerlin BBQ, Valentina’s, Lamberts, and Salt & Time, El-Ghayesh honed his skills while infusing his Egyptian heritage into his cooking. After years of hosting private dinners and pop-ups, he realized his dream in October 2022 with the opening of KG BBQ, blending traditional Texas barbecue with Egyptian flavors in dishes like his signature brisket rice bowl.

Kathy Terry

Kathy is a native Texan and made Austin her home after finishing her undergrad at the University of Texas. She is an entrepreneur, starting her first business while she was in her 20s, working as a contract case manager on high-profile patent infringement lawsuits for various national law firms. In 2005, she joined forces with her husband and started P. Terry’s Burger Stand. As the first restaurant in Austin to offer all-natural beef and chicken along with fresh-cut French fries, P. Terry’s quickly established its presence as a socially and health-conscious fast-food alternative. Today there are thirty-one P. Terry’s locations all in the Central Texas area.

Kathy is also a philanthropist, activist, and world traveler. She has spent the last 30 years traveling the world visiting over 70 countries learning firsthand that our humanity unites us in a way more than class, race, religion, or any other classification can do. She volunteers locally as well as globally including her work with the Nobel Women’s initiative traveling with Nobel Laureates to support grassroots activists fighting for peace, justice, and equality, and closer to home with HeartGift by supporting children and their families from all over the world who come to Austin for live-saving heart surgery.

Kathy lives in Austin Texas with her husband and their two children, Kate, and Caroline.

Caroline Rose

Caroline Rose, a nationally recognized public speaker, and motivational storyteller delivers compelling stories from her three separate battles with her highly aggressive, incurable stage IV cancer. Caroline understands the universal struggles that come with trying to live life to the fullest, even in the face of fear and uncertainty and is passionate about helping people to recognize the beauty of life, even in the darkest moments.

Today, Caroline is enjoying her thirteenth year of living cancer-free. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, and enjoys life as a wife and a mom to her two teenage children and two four-legged fur babies. Caroline travels the country, speaking to approximately 10,000 to 15,000 people yearly. Her message of hope resonates universally, especially today. The world is craving hope, and Caroline is happy to be the one to provide it.

Richard Reddick

Dr. Richard J. Reddick is the inaugural Senior Vice Provost and the Dean, of the Undergraduate College at The University of Texas at Austin. He comes to this position after serving the last several years as inaugural associate dean for equity, community engagement, and outreach for the College of Education at the university and serving as professor in the Program in Higher Education Leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP) at the university. He has served as the assistant director of the Plan II Honors Program in the College of Liberal Arts, a faculty member by courtesy in the Department for African and African Diaspora Studies, the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, and a fellow at the Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis.

In spring 2018, Dr. Reddick was appointed as a visiting associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the faculty co-chair for the Institute for Educational Management (IEM) at Harvard University and teaches in the Institute for Management Leadership in Education. Dr. Reddick is an award-winning teacher and scholar; most recently receiving the 2021-2022 President’s Award for Global Learning (PAGL). Dr. Reddick earned his Bachelor of Arts from UT Austin in Plan II Liberal Arts Honors, and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Heather Morgan

Recently named one of the Top 50 Women in Global Cinema, Dr. Heather Morgan has spent her career putting the principles of Industrial-Organizational psychology to work within all facets of the entertainment industry. Having spent over a decade in executive roles with some of the industry’s most prominent theatrical exhibition companies, her expertise spans leadership development, operational excellence, content acquisition, strategic partnerships and business development. She has been featured in numerous publications and podcasts including Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Boxoffice Magazine, Celluloid Junkie, Ticket to Ride, Exploring Potential, and more.

She is currently serving as Chief of Staff & Strategy with Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas as well as President of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, making her the first female to hold the position in the charity’s 80-plus year history.

Watch our Mosaic of amazing people and ideas come to life this March 23, 2024!

Tickets for our conference go on sale Friday, February 23, 2024, @ 12 PM CST.

Stay ConnecTED!

Fatima Salazar