In this empowering talk, Rachel LaForce unveils "The Lightning Method," a transformative four-step framework designed to help individuals identify and disrupt self-defeating patterns. Drawing from her personal journey - from chaos and addiction to clarity and purpose - Rachel illustrates how conscious choices break limiting cycles. She offers actionable strategies to cultivate self-awareness, rebuild self trust, and how to align your daily decisions for a purposeful life. With a magnetic presence both onstage and online, Rachel LaForce is a nationally recognized Comedian, Thought Leader, and Media Entrepreneur. She helps dreamers, leaders, and everyday humans live and lead with purpose. As co-founder of Skewed Orbit Studios and host of The Rachel LaForce Show (a spiritual podcast from a comedian, because healing is hilarious) she blends humor, radical honesty, and actionable insights to build authentic communities across platforms. Her viral series - including Unsolicited Advice and Millennial Trauma - have garnered millions of views and a following of over 80,000. A former Second City performer with television credits like HBO and Hulu, Rachel now leads a multi-platform media company reaching over 1.5 million, while championing growth, creativity, and conscious leadership in the digital age. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

In ihrem TEDx Talk zeigt die 13-jährige Mia Uhlir, wie Lesen unser Gehirn, unsere Empathie und unser Selbstverständnis verändert – und warum jedes Buch eine Einladung ist, uns selbst neu zu entdecken. Mia Uhlir ist 13 Jahre alt und lebt mit ihrem Bruder und ihren Eltern in Oberösterreich. Schon ganz früh hat sie die Liebe zum Lesen entdeckt. Außerdem hält sich Mia gern in der Natur auf und singt für ihr Leben gern. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Vito è studente-lavoratore in Discipline delle Arti Visive, racconta come a 33 anni abbia sfidato le proprie convinzioni limitanti e deciso di “ricominciare” l’università, dimostrando che non è mai troppo tardi per reinventarsi, crescere e riscrivere la propria storia. Vito Petrone è uno studente e designer con oltre 15 anni di esperienza nel settore creativo, ma la sua storia va oltre la carriera. A 33 anni, ha deciso di riprendere il suo cammino verso la crescita personale, iscrivendosi al corso di laurea in *Discipline delle Arti Visive, della Musica e dello Spettacolo* presso l’Università di Salerno. Ora, al terzo anno, ha superato aspettative e sfide, dimostrando che l’età non è un limite all’apprendimento. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Fatima racconta la sua esperienza di adozione per sfidare i pregiudizi: attraverso il suo primo ricordo, le emozioni provate, gli stereotipi superati e la scelta consapevole dell’amore quotidiano, dimostra che la famiglia si costruisce con cura e sostegno, non con il DNA. Oltre il cognome, l’adozione diventa un atto di profondo affetto e speranza, non una “seconda scelta”. Fatima nasce nel 1998 a Skaciai, un piccolo villaggio della Lituania, e cresce in un orfanotrofio, dove affronta traumi e difficoltà. Ma la sua forza interiore non si spezza. A soli 8 anni, la sua vita prende una svolta: viene adottata da una famiglia italiana ad Agropoli, dove, nonostante le sfide di adattamento e il bullismo, riesce a costruire una nuova vita grazie all'amore e al sostegno della sua nuova famiglia.Oggi, laureanda in biologia e impegnata nella ricerca, Fatima è anche fondatrice di AdoptLife, il primo magazine italiano dedicato all’adozione e all'affido. Su TikTok e Instagram condivide la sua storia per sensibilizzare sull'importanza dell'adozione e per offrire supporto a chi ha vissuto esperienze simili.Con il suo messaggio, Fatima ci ricorda che ogni bambino merita una famiglia amorevole e che, con il giusto supporto, è possibile superare le avversità più grandi. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

With nearly two decades of experience as an emergency physician, Dr. Sara Krzyzaniak shares why no technology can match the empathy, judgment, and connection doctors bring to their patients. Now leading the emergency medicine residency program at Stanford, she reflects on moments at the bedside, where life’s most uncertain and vulnerable situations reveal the irreplaceable value of human care. Dr. Sara Krzyzaniak is an emergency physician at Stanford with nearly two decades of experience. In addition to caring for patients, she leads the emergency medicine residency program, teaches medical students and residents, and conducts research on gender equity, struggling learners, and innovative approaches to teaching and assessment. She values the breadth of a career in academic medicine, but the moments that have shaped her most profoundly are those at the bedside: holding space for patients and families during life’s most vulnerable, uncertain, and often heartbreaking moments. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Quantum physicist and engineer Andrey Sushko shares how his team at WindBorne Systems is closing critical gaps in global atmospheric data with long-duration balloons and AI-driven analysis. Driven by a passion for challenging assumptions and stretching the limits of what's physically possible, Andrey reveals how creative engineering and smarter data are transforming the science of predicting our planet’s most complex systems. Andrey Sushko, PhD, is a hands-on engineer with a physics background who sees his career as identifying what the laws of physics allow, and then finding the right arrangement of matter to achieve that end. His passion, though, is finding where the 'letter' of said laws diverges from common interpretations of their 'spirit', and then exploiting those loopholes to push the boundary of what is possible.While completing an experimental physics PhD at Harvard as a Hertz Fellow, Andrey returned to a project he had started as a Stanford undergrad, co-founding WindBorne Systems to tackle weather forecasting by filling the global atmospheric data gap with long-duration balloons. As CTO at WindBorne, his overall focus remains consistent: taking exciting ideas from the realm of physical possibility into reality by building an exceptional team and doing a lot of weird engineering. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx