Speakers
Olivia Julianna
(she/her)
Olivia Julianna is a queer Mexican-American activist, Political Strategist, and Digital Marketing Specialist from Houston, Texas. She currently works as the Political Strategy Specialist at Gen-Z for Change, a 501c4 who pushes for civic engagement and progressive change amongst Gen-Z utilizing digital tools and social media. Her advocacy work is heavily focused on abortion rights and reproductive health – highlighted by her initiation of the successful takedown of a whistleblower website launched in Texas to target people who have had abortions as well as raising $2.2 million in funds for abortion access following disparaging remarks from Congressmen Matt Gaetz. Her content across platforms covers a wide range of topics, including Texas politics, education reform, immigration rights, socio-economic justice, and disability awareness. She has grown her audience to over 800K across platforms and closely works with politicians and campaigns across the country.
Olivia's TEDx talk, "Why Texas is Worth Fighting For," explains how the national narrative about our state is wrong.
Kaitlin Maud
(she/they)
Kaitlin Maud is a researcher and strategist for some of the most recognizable brands in the world. As an independent consultant she partners with agencies such as Deutsch, VMLY&R, Media Arts Lab, and BBH on consumer & cultural insights work that helps companies like Beats by Dre, Nike, Taco Bell, and Google solve complex problems and navigate change. Throughout her career, she has been a vocal agent for change in the communications industry. She has authored new ways to think about strategy work including an approach for combating unconscious bias in the creative briefing process.
This is not Kaitlin's first TEDx talk. Her 2013 TEDx talk helped bring “digital anthropology” into the lexicon and drew attention to the impact and relevance of online communities. In January 2020 she gave a follow-up talk on consumer trends as indicators of our cultural values. Last year Kaitlin enrolled in the Graduate School of Arts & Social Sciences at Lesley University to further her studies on psychology and the creative process.
Kaitlin's interactive talk ,"The Art in Everything," helps dispel the myth that art is limited to a talented few and invites viewers at home to participate in the creative process.
Kate Morton
(she/her)
Kate Morton is a Registered Dietitian, founder of Funk It Wellness, SXSW speaker and menstrual health advocate. Kate has a master’s degree in Human Clinical Nutrition and focuses on menstrual health and anti-diet culture education. After completing her studies, Kate moved to New Zealand where she began working with wellness start-ups to develop nutritionally sound products in the “better for you” market. While in New Zealand, Kate started to presume a more holistic way of living that led her to dive deeper into the science of hormones and cyclical living. Kate has grown funk it to a 6 figure business in less than 2 years and has educated thousands of women on the importance of menstrual health all while creating a truly nutritionally sound product. Kate’s mission is to empower all menstruators to have autonomy over their bodies and learn to make peace with food and their cycles.
In Kate's Talk, "Overcoming Period Shame Through Education and Body Literacy," she explores how positive and medically accurate menstrual education can change the way the world views menstruation and help eliminate period stigma for future generations.
Dr. Han Ren
(she/they)
Dr. Han Ren is a licensed clinical and school psychologist, consultant, speaker and educator. She is the co-founder of Pivot Psychology Austin, a group private practice providing culturally-affirming psychotherapy and assessments. She is deeply rooted in liberation and anti-oppressive work, practicing from a justice-oriented, interpersonal, and systems-informed framework. Through her keynote and corporate presentations and widely viewed work on social media, she strives to make mental health accessible and applicable to our daily lives. Dr. Ren addresses the pursuit of collective healing through her work and activism centered in historically overlooked communities. When she's not in the therapy chair, you can find her laughing with family and friends, caffeinating with black coffee, dancing offbeat to live music and Peloton-ing.
In Han's talk, "Transforming Shame to Guilt in the Pursuit of Racial Justice," she proposes a new understanding of these primal emotions and illustrates the adaptive roles shame and guilt play in becoming antiracist.
