TEDxRizal Avenue

Speakers

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

• Celia Jacob

  Branding Strategist

  Branding Strategist • Speaker Coach • Founder, Freedom Talks Global Celia Jacob is a branding strategist and founder of Freedom Talks Global, a platform that empowers leaders, speakers, and creatives to share their authentic stories. Once an overseas worker who endured wrongful imprisonment in the Middle East, Celia faced silence, shame, and despair. Until she chose to rewrite her story. Through the power of storytelling, she transformed trauma into testimony, fear into freedom. Her talk embodies Undoing, the unlearning of fear, the reclaiming of identity, and the brave act of turning pain into purpose.

• Enrique Antonio Reyes

  Agile HR Enthusiast

  Agile HR Enthusiast • Philippines’ Top 30 Leaders on LinkedIn Enrique Antonio “Iks” Reyes is Vice President and Head of Strategic Business Partnering at Converge ICT Solutions, Inc., one of the Philippines’ fastest-growing internet providers. With more than two decades of leadership experience across pharmaceuticals, construction, consumer technology, and ICT, he has guided organizations through transformation, digital pivots, and critical growth phases. Iks is the creator and host of The Inspiring Leader Podcast, founder of Agile HR Philippines, and part of the Philippines Top 30 Leaders on LinkedIn community. A strong advocate of continuous learning, he is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Business Administration at De La Salle University. Passionate about people and leadership, Iks champions the integration of business strategy with people and culture, helping shape Converge’s evolution into a tech-driven organization.

• Jing Lunas San Gabriel

  L&D Professional

  Jing Lunas San Gabriel is the Director of Learning and Development for iFive Global. She has spent years shaping minds, unlocking potential, and building people from the inside out, as a seasoned Learning & Development leader, a voice for women, and an advocate for stroke education. But when life tested her in ways no training could prepare her for, she turned her own frameworks into tools for survival. More than recovering from a stroke, Jing redesigned her healing through the same principles she once taught others. Her talk reveals how a teacher became her own student, how learning became medicine, and how Undoing can open the path to a deeper, more human kind of growth.

• Micaela Concepcion

  Future Innovator

  Student • Science Scholar • Future Innovator Micaela Fajota Concepcion is a 17-year-old senior high school student under the STEM strand. Her love for numbers began in elementary, where she represented Castillejos Elementary School for years in math competitions, earning 3rd place at the regional level. In junior high, her team’s research in mathematical science computation won 1st runner-up in a regional science contest. She completed junior high at Castillejos National High School under the Science, Technology, and Engineering Program as rank #1 and is now a top-performing student at Regional Science High School, where she finished Grade 11 as rank #2. Beyond academics, Micaela enjoys cuddling her cat Saifa, listening to music, being part of the BTS Army, and watching sunsets. She is focused on finishing high school, discovering more about herself, and preparing for college. Micaela is the youngest speaker of TEDxRizalAvenue.

• Vanessa Gabrielle del Rosario

  Ocean Defender

  Gabi is the co-founder of Alon and Araw Club, a coastal NGO based in Zambales that builds communities of Ocean Defenders through education, sports, and creative grassroots solutions to protect the ocean from marine plastic pollution. A Communication graduate from Ateneo de Manila University, Gabi has carried her spirit of service beyond campus, working closely with 50 fisherfolk families who have diverted over 28,000 kilos of plastic from the sea through regular community clean-ups, plastic collections, and recycling efforts. By rallying the community through fun and engaging activities and meaningful rewards, she turned environmental action into a shared, joyful movement. Fueled by her love for the sea and gift for uniting people, Gabi empowers coastal youth to protect our oceans and lead local change. Championing SDG 14: Life Below Water, she has transformed Alon and Araw from a humble surf project into a powerful movement for marine conservation and community resilience.

• Yves Clark Fabrigas

  Educator

  Multi-awarded educator • Poet • Published Author • Filmmaker • Composer • Playwright • Multi-awarded writer • Painter • Advocate for Indigenous Education • Nurse Yves Clark Fabrigas is a registered nurse who chose the academe. Based in Botolan, Zambales, Yves' life’s work centers on championing the Ayta community. He is known to his students as “Sir Tabeg,” the chubby teacher who stayed and motivated them with out-of-the-box methodologies, unconditionally and lovingly. He turned classrooms into spaces of discovery and empowerment, training young poets, visual artists, speakers, dancers, athletes, and filmmakers to see their brilliance beyond circumstance. His story embodies "Undoing" through the dismantling of barriers that once excluded Indigenous voices from recognition and opportunity. Today, Sir Yves serves as the Principal of Lakas High School and continues to inspire not just the Ayta Community but the people around them.