TEDxAtlanta has announced the speaker lineup for its inaugural TEDxAtlanta Youth conference, scheduled for the afternoon of Oct. 3 at Atlanta International School in Sandy Springs. The event follows the main TEDxAtlanta conference and is part of the 2026 season themed 'Bold. Brave. Unbreakable.' The Youth conference will feature speakers aged 16 to 23, with a program divided into two parts: 'Seen' and 'Unleashed.'
According to Jacqui Chew, TEDxAtlanta licensee and organizer, the conference aims to shift the narrative from young people as future leaders to their role in the present. 'Young people hear constantly that they are the future. We were much more interested in what they have to say about the present,' Chew said. The speakers will address questions that affect everyone, including whose ideas are taken seriously, what is lost when technology lacks cultural understanding, and what becomes possible when young people are given the opportunity to build rather than wait.
The 'Seen' segment explores the impact of taking young people's experiences and perspectives seriously. Temple Lester, a STEM advocate, will discuss her experience being sidelined at science camp and the ideas missed when young people are told to wait their turn. Nidhi Madam, a language and culture explorer, will share how a K-drama binge led her to learn Korean and reconnect with Telugu, and how AI can translate words without understanding the culture within them. Additionally, an intergenerational 'On the Spot' conversation between entrepreneur Zoe Oli and her mother, Evana Oli, will examine what happens when a child's idea becomes a real enterprise, and how parents navigate when to step in, aside, or forward together.
The 'Unleashed' segment focuses on young innovators questioning existing systems and building alternatives. Kanushi Dua, a circular systems designer, will discuss her discovery of a bin of nearly new children's clothes and the question of why garments are treated as disposable, proposing an unexpected role for AI. Ian Sun, a community-centered technologist, will explore who gets a say in how AI is built and what communities stand to gain or lose. Akos Vida, an accessibility innovator, will share his experience building an accessible gaming controller, challenging the assumption that designing for someone is the same as designing with them. Ethan Benater, a possibility engineer, will talk about his work on a vaping-cessation solution and the broader question of what young people can create when they refuse to accept entrenched problems as inevitable.
Together, the 'Seen' and 'Unleashed' segments aim to move from recognition to agency, asking audiences to consider young people not just as inheritors of the future but as participants in creating it now. Back-to-school ticket prices for TEDxAtlanta, TEDxAtlanta Youth, and Complete Passes that include both conferences are currently available. TEDxAtlanta, Georgia's largest TED affiliate, has been organizing conferences since 2009 and has featured more than two dozen speakers on TED. The event is an initiative of the nonprofit Ideas into Action, with more information available at www.TEDxAtlanta.com.
