TEDxThimphu

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Amol Nitave

  A Social Entrepreneur

  Mr. Amol Nitave is a Social Entrepreneur and experienced Program Management Officer with experience of working in the IT Industry & Social Sector. He carries a vast and varied exposure to Youth Empowerment through Employability and Entrepreneurship Skilling. He is a Software Engineer by qualification, an Innovation Enthusiast & Social Catalyst by choice. He is also a Thought Leader, Orator, and Emerging Author. Team EvolvingX is on a mission to empower millions of youths to make this world a better place.

• Carissa Nimah

  Team of GMC

  Carissa Nimah is a member of the Tourism Team of Gelephu Mindfulness City. Living in Bhutan since 2022 and connected to the Himalayas for nearly two decades, she brings global expertise and local insight. Formerly Chief Marketing Officer at the Department of Tourism Bhutan, she led international campaigns promoting Bhutan’s culture and values-led tourism. With senior leadership roles across Asia and the UAE in luxury hospitality and communications, Carissa combines journalism, strategic marketing, and law studies with a passion for Bhutan and motorcycling the Himalayas.

• Duane Kurisu

  CEO

  Duane K. Kurisu is a real estate investor and Chairman & CEO of aio, a holding company focused on Hawaiʻi and the Pacific across media, sports, and food. He owns and manages a diverse portfolio of commercial properties and is a minority owner of the San Francisco Giants. Duane serves on multiple corporate and nonprofit boards and is a former Regent of the University of Hawaiʻi. He holds both his BBA and MBA from the University of Hawaiʻi and remains active in education and regional leadership initiatives.

• Jasmine Lu

  Author

  Jasmine Lu is a mother, author, Emotional Energy coach, and founder of The Umbrella Connection. Her work centers on emotional energy as a catalyst for personal healing and collective transformation. Inspired by a pivotal moment in motherhood, she explored neuroscience, positive psychology, and Eastern philosophy, creating the 3-World Energy (3WE) Framework—aligning self-mastery, systems and nature, and spiritual purpose. Today, Jasmine guides individuals toward emotional coherence, stronger relationships, and deeper wellbeing, grounded in her belief that when we grow within, we connect beyond.

• Kahshin Leow

  Endurance Athlete

  Kahshin Leow is an experienced endurance athlete with an extensive resume including multiple 250km stage race finishes. Additionally, in 2018 he became the first Singaporean to complete the Double High, back-to-back summits of Everest and Lhotse (4th highest mountain in the world) within 24 hours. In 2025, Kahshin became the first Singaporean to summit K2 without the use of supplementary oxygen. Kahshin is an investment manager and the co-founder of Singapore's largest macro hedge fund, Quantedge Capital. He is also the co-founder of Quantedge Foundation, a charitable foundation that strives to create a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable society for all, through supporting impactful solutions that benefit both people and the planet.

• Karma Dendup

  Founder

  For seven years, Karma was a Producer and Host at Bhutan Broadcasting Service, winning a National Media Award for Best Documentary and launching Hands That Build Bhutan and Druk Express. He later founded Jangsem Monday, now active across all 20 Dzongkhags and 70+ schools nationwide. A composer turned composter, Karma finds joy in his kitchen garden, believing transformation—like good soil—requires patience and care. Living with declining vision has deepened his Buddhist practice and strengthened his most meaningful roles: father, husband, and humble champion of the kitchen sink.

• Lily Wangchuk

  President

  Lily Wangchuk brings 30 years of extensive experience in varied fields as a Writer, Consultant, Former Politician, Diplomat, UN Official and Executive Director for Bhutan Media Foundation. She was the first woman in Bhutan to lead a political party in 2013. She was recognized as the Top Global Woman for 2013 by Global Affairs Media Network, USA. She is currently the President for 33 Soksoom Centre for Well-Being & Happiness; Gender Champion, Energy/Mind/Emotion Coach; and Integrative Mind-Body Practitioner whose works explores how inner transformation can unlock human potential, purpose and well-being.

• Lily Meyer Goh

  Tech Entrepreneur

  Lily M. Goh is a tech entrepreneur and author whose story spans generations shaped by survival, resilience, and ambition. Born in Bangkok’s Chinatown to a family that fled the Great Chinese Famine, Lily pursued material success and achieved more wealth than her parents had imagined—at the cost of her health. This turning point led her to rethink prosperity itself. In her work, Lily explores a more conscious relationship with money, reframing it as a tool for intention, healing, and a more humane approach to modern capitalism

• Ocean WhiteHawk

  Author, Teacher

  Ocean WhiteHawk is a visionary, leader extraordinaire and master teacher in the ultimate task of evolving human consciousness to its divine state. For three decades, she has lovingly assisted countless beloveds – often innovators and leaders from across the globe, to awaken their latent extraordinary self, in order to fulfil their soul destiny. Ocean WhiteHawk switches on the light in each person she meets. Urging us to wake-up to the extraordinary time in which we live, and the opportunity and responsibility we each hold to transform our human operating system. From fear to Love. From separation to the Unified Field. And from suffering to Unreasonable Joy. Author of the soul manual The Simple Truth, and JuicyWoman - A Spiritual Guide to Your Feminine Radiance she is also the Founder and Spiritual Director of SAMADHI Training Centre for the Soul

• Shikha Kedia Bharadwaj

  Founder/ CEO

  Shikha Kedia Bharadwaj is the founder and CEO of BitQuest, a global digital marketing agency with offices in Malaysia and India. Drawing on her 15+ years of experience, she has grown the company from scratch into an international brand. She has received the Most Promising Women Leaders Award from The Economic Times powered by Femina, the World Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur Achievement Award from KSI and the Woman of the Decade Award at the Women Economic Forum ASEAN 2025. She is also a certified HRD Corp trainer and the bestselling author of The Millennial Mom, and she speaks on resilience, leadership, and achieving success without compromising personal priorities.

• Zahra Bokhari

  Teacher

  Zahra Bokhari is an educator and facilitator who speaks from lived experience about losing—and rediscovering—a sense of inner home. While living and working in the Canadian Arctic, she experienced a rare moment of stillness where she felt no need to prove or adjust herself. That became her reference point. Through personal upheaval and cultural transitions, she has observed how often we brace to belong instead of simply arriving. Drawing on embodied insight and neuroscience-informed perspectives, Zahra invites audiences to pause, notice the space between breaths, and reconnect—not by becoming more, but by allowing themselves to be.