Camille Winnie

Camille works in downtown Salt Lake City the Director of Community Services at the Downtown Alliance, an organization dedicated to building a dynamic and diverse community that is the regional center for culture, commerce and entertainment. She spends her time working to enhance and strengthen the downtown community she loves so much and focuses on addressing issues surrounding homelessness in the downtown area. She also lives downtown and there isn't anywhere else she'd rather be.

Working together with the City, social service providers and business and property owners to improve and enhance the way we care for the homeless while addressing the needs of the greater community.

Big things are possible. I believe great change is possible if we are willing to work together and roll up our sleeves. Difficult things CAN be accomplished if we each have the willingness to be accountable and not look the other way.

I don’t recall the first time I saw a TED talk – someone recommended one once and they continued to pop up in my world from time to time. I think I really caught the TED bug when I watched Brene Brown’s first TED talk and I really got the power of what a TED can be. I began to watch often and was really struck again when I watched Ron Finley’s Guerrilla Gardener talk. It hit a nerve and made me start to look for ways to implement a community garden in my area to benefit the local homeless community. I realized that TED talks were a powerful motivational tool to help people look at things in a different way while inspiring creativity, and new ways of doing things. Since I don’t watch TV, TED talks provide a needed entertainment break as well as one of my favorite ways to find inspiration or information. When the opportunity came to be part of organizing a local TEDx event, I jumped at the chance. TED has become a part of my everyday life.

Reading people and seeing how things fit together in the big picture. I also have a knack for finding lost objects.