Deb Pena

Creative Writing, Team Management

It was during Covid-19 Pandemic, as I was in High School, that I was invited to be part of the organizing team for TEDxYouth@CidadeJardim. Brazil, 2020, and a group of High Schoolers trying to build a huge project from scratch. The group was already organizing one in-person event before, but when Covid hit, they couldn't do most of what was planned out. They didn't know what to do, how to start over, how to adapt their initial plan. They needed someone from outside to see the whole picture. And that's where I stepped in. I helped them create a new theme, to reconstruct what we had given the scenario. And that's what it all became about: Reconstruction. Should we go back to the old world or should we reconstruct ourselves? After reaching out to reknown brazilian speakers, it became my dream to be an official TEDx licensee. To be in the front line to provide a platform to bring the hidden ideas to the spotlight. That's why, during college, I applied to get the TEDxUKY license, in order to organize a local TEDx for the University of Kentucky Community.

I once heard that there are three types of people in the market: the artist, that's the one that has an idea; the manager, that's the one that thinks what needs to be done to achieve the idea; and the doer, that's the person that brings the plan into reality. One of my main strengths is managing ideas. Developing complex projects with a team of people who bring a different perspective. Solving the problems, working with people, and transforming complex terms into simple, although mindblowing, teachings.