TED-Ed Talks and Être Next Gen Girls: Sharing Big Ideas With the World

With Gen Z raising the vote and their voices in last week’s midterm elections – indeed, about 1 in 8 voters overall were under 30 – it is clear that the next generation has something to say. With issues like reproductive rights, racial justice, student debt and gun violence on their minds, Gen Z shared their views in the voting booth.

While the 2022 midterms marked the first time a majority of Gen Z was eligible to vote (see last week’s newsletter for more on that), there are still Gen Zers too young to vote – but not too young to care. With complex issues on their minds and big ideas to share, girls as young as middle school are walking on stage, taking the mic and speaking their minds.

You guessed it…they are TED-Ed speakers.

Keyed off of the wildly popular TED channel which highlights impactful talks from world-renowned experts and thought leaders, the TED-Ed Student Talks program supports students in over 130 countries and as young as grade school in “identifying, developing and sharing their ideas in the form of short, TED-style talks.”

With Être’s TED-Ed Club talks proudly filmed and uploading as I write, and for the first time including Être girls in the U.S. and India, here are 9 knock-your-socks-off topics coming soon to the 2022 TED-Ed stage:

1. Stopping AAPI Hate. Thirteen-year-old Grayson Sethi explores the series of events that first brought #AAPI racism to her attention, delves into historic and modern-day headlines, highlights AAPI heroes and offers ways activists of any age can make a difference.

2. Destigmatizing Mental Health. Teen founder Vasundhara Chaudhary takes the topic of #mentalhealthsupport head-on, encouraging students everywhere to move past the stigma of broaching this issue. Discussing her own experiences openly, this speaker talks about stigma and what led her to launch Inspire Dose, a global platform with resources, role models and community at the ready.

3. Using Music to Break Through Alzheimer’s. Teen musician Violet Ruberti discusses the relationship between music and memory, drawing on her own experiences with piano and guitar, and as the granddaughter of someone with #Alzheimer's.

4. Publishing A First Book. Sixteen-year-old Khushi Gupta explains how #publishing her first book helped her find her passion, set a lofty goal and see it through. It is never too early to write your own story, she says, and no one is too young to give their dreams wings.

5. Looking Beyond Blockchain. Fascinated by early forms of communication and the future of #Web3, Alyshba Ahmed breaks down various elements of #blockchain and, with direct input from leaders in the field like entrepreneur and venture capitalist Brit Morin , offers a glimpse into the future of finance and new opportunities opening up to marginalized groups.

6. Navigating Negative Self-Talk. Eyeing her first year in college, Amber Carr addresses the self-doubts that can plague students before embarking on new adventures. Calling on Arianna Huffington 's "obnoxious roommate in your head," Amber offers tips to high school seniors getting ready to meet their own college roommates, while simultaneously quieting the negative voices in all of our heads.

7. Mindfulness and Mental Health. Conducting a survey among 50 of her high school peers in India, Dia Gupta addresses the difficult topic of mental health, acknowledging the difficulties faced by global teens post-pandemic and offering insightful and constructive #mentalhealthtips we can all try.

8. Balancing Social Media Image with Awareness. Balancing the negatives and positives on social media can be hard...but Jacqueline Carr offers helpful, and hopeful, tips for scrolling students. Issues like body-shaming and image insecurity can be hard to handle, but by focusing on using #socialmediaplatforms to bring awareness to issues that matter, Jacqueline helps teens spot the real worth of social media...and in ourselves.

9. Discovering What Makes You…YOU. Finally, what is the class or activity that makes you...YOU, asks 16-year-old Vanika Mittal. Describing her #selfdiscovery moment when she found poetry, and how joining an online community of global poets changed her outlook, Vanika demonstrates how to combine the activities we love most to find our true authentic selves.

Too young for the voting booth, perhaps, but old enough to identify problems in today’s society and then suggest – and employ - smart solutions.

When will these girls be old enough to cast votes for leaders they admire? Soon enough. When will they be the names on the ballots, ready to bring their good ideas to a larger stage? Hopefully not too long after that.

With pride in every one of our 2022 and 2021 TED-Ed speakers, and with deep thanks to TED-Ed for offering students the mic, I can’t wait to share these upcoming talks with you. Stay tuned!

Looking forward,

Illana

ÊXTRAS: While we wait for the 2022 talks to be uploaded, three highlights from last year’s Être TED-Ed talks you won’t want to miss: Award-winning STEM innovator Laalitya Acharya, encouraging fellow students to push aside imposter syndrome fears and embrace their scientific innovations; non-profit teen founder Khloe Thompson, whose mission to end homelessness informs and empowers others; and former FEMA National Youth Preparedness Council Co-Chair Banan Garada, making smart disaster preparedness seem not only admirable, but entirely achievable, for today’s youth.