TEDxUNCCharlotte

Speakers

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

• A.J. Simmons

  A.J. Simmons currently serves as the Senior Associate Director in First-Year Transition Programs at UNC Charlotte and is the CEO of All Means Consulting. A.J. is an agriculturalist and a practitioner who has engaged in several vehicles of civic agriculture. For over a decade, A.J. has practiced this through the food sovereignty movement in Charlotte, where action meets research.

• Alyssa McGonagle

  Alyssa McGonagle is an Associate Professor of Psychological and Organizational Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Alyssa has been studying the challenges that workers and organizations face around chronic health conditions, and how to address them, for the last 15 years. Alyssa recently published a book on the topic titled, “Chronic Health Conditions and Work: Proactive Strategies for Supporting Employees and Doing Well by Doing Good”.

• Amanada Brock Morales

  Amanda is a researcher and Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at UNC Charlotte in the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences. Here Amanda’s work focuses on climate change, sustainability, and cultural heritage. For over a decade, Amanda has conducted archaeological and community-based research in the Peruvian Andes, building lasting collaborations with local partners to study how ancestral landscapes and practices inform present-day challenges. Amanada serves as the director of the Kawsay Pacha archaeological project in Huaylas, Peru. She earned degrees in anthropology with an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

• Barbara Gordon Green

  For over 40 years Barbara has practiced physical therapy in the Charlotte area, where Barbara has studied and specialized in pelvic floor PT for both men and women, for over 25 years. She has collaborated with gynecologists, urogynecologists, urologists, physiatrists and nurse-midwives all over the region. Barbara has presented at health conferences in the region and has been active in the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH), where she has contributed to research, co-published a book, and helped teach with the premier PT Pelvic Floor educators, Herman & Wallace.

• Caroline West

  Caroline has a Bachelor's degree in Nursing, a Master's degree in Chemistry and worked as an emergency room nurse for 4 years where she saw firsthand the impact of treatment resistant infections.Currently Caroline is pursuing a PhD in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from UNC Charlotte, where she is specifically studying the genetics of multiple different fungal systems. This year, Caroline has a scientific paper that was accepted for publication about fungal plant pathogens, and is conducting a study that explores a fungus that is an opportunistic human pathogen.

• Charlene Whitaker-Brown

  Charlene is a faculty member in the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Charlene has helped host a Caregiver College, a one-day conference funded by a CDC grant in 2024, and frequently speaks at caregiver support groups and community events. She has been instrumental in coordinating partnerships between the UNC Charlotte School of Nursing and Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute’s Heart Failure Clinic at Carolina’s Medical Center under the direction of Dr. Sanjeev Gulati. Most importantly, Charlene spends time caring for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, while raising two young children. She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Indiana State University in 2013. She is also a 2020 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with her Post-Master’s Degree as a PMHNP.

• Deborah Tillman

  Deborah is known to many as America’s Supernanny. For over two decades, she walked into homes full of chaos and helped parents turn them into places of peace and purpose. Deborah founded the Happy Home Leadership Academy and Harobed Consulting to equip parents and educators to raise children anchored in love, discipline, and legacy. With advanced degrees in early childhood education, global speaking experience, and the privilege of guiding thousands of families, Deborah doesn’t just talk about transformation, she lives it, and helps parents create it every single day.

• Heather Freeman

  Heather is a Professor in Art and Art History at UNC Charlotte. Heather Freeman was the host and writer of the NEH-funded PRX podcast series, "Magic in the United States" which shared humanities and social science research with non-academic audiences through the histories of American magical, esoteric, mystical, and marginalized religious practices and beliefs.She holds a BA in Fine Art and German Studies from Oberlin College, an MFA in Studio Art from Rutgers University, and has taught at UNC Charlotte for almost 20 years.

• Jasmine Oliver

  Jasmine Oliver and Neha Panajkar are both juniors at UNC Charlotte studying Environmental Studies. Jasmine and Neha acted as research assistants to a professor in the Earth Sciences Department over the summer of 2025. In this role, they conducted research on food hall, including creating a database and cataloging information about operational food halls. Participating in this research has been an important part of this goal, as this growing industry can be a helpful tool for the cultivation of dietary autonomy in neighborhoods where it is most needed

• Kendra Jason

  Kendra Jason currently serves on the faculty in the College of Humanities & Earth and Social sciences at UNC Charlotte. She has over 20 years of expertise in organizational behavior, management, inequality and work. Her program of research seeks to identify contributing factors to health disparities by examining the links between belonging, workforce behaviors, practices, and care processes. Kendra has over 30 publications within journals, technical reports, book chapters, and teaching outlets. She has a 2025 publication titled, “Understanding Sense of Belonging of Faculty and Staff in Higher Education”. Finally, Kendra owns a consultancy called, Work 4 Change, where she has embedded her approach to combat client experiences related to community in the workplace, with strategies that promote workplace sense of belonging.

• Miriam Espaillat

  Miriam graduated from UNC Charlotte with her Masters in Social Work (‘13). After earning her degree, she worked in the social work field before co-founding Raydal Hospitality LLC, a restaurant group based out of Charlotte that owns locally renowned restaurants, like Sabor Latin Street Grill. Miriam is passionate about economic mobility as an employer and social worker. She owns a restaurant group and has implemented social work practices as a foundation of her company's culture.

• Neha Panajkar

  Jasmine Oliver and Neha Panajkar are both juniors at UNC Charlotte studying Environmental Studies. Jasmine and Neha acted as research assistants to a professor in the Earth Sciences Department over the summer of 2025. In this role, they conducted research on food hall, including creating a database and cataloging information about operational food halls. Participating in this research has been an important part of this goal, as this growing industry can be a helpful tool for the cultivation of dietary autonomy in neighborhoods where it is most needed.

• Noah Hughey

  Noah is an undergraduate student at UNC Charlotte who is earning his bachelors in public science with a minor in journalism. Noah is an accomplished political science student who writes for the Niner Times through his newsletter and has five independently published political science/commentary books.

• Stephen Morris

  tephen is currently a music composition professor at UNC Charlotte. As a composer, his music has been performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Fontainebleau Chateau, Seoul National University, Arizona State University, The Royal Conservatory of Music, and New York University. Stephen has 4 college degrees in music, including a Masters of music composition degree from Mannes School of Music in New York City, and a Doctorate degree in music composition from the University of Toronto. His research for his doctoral degree focused on defining "atmospheric music" while also cultivating his own compositional style of music that incorporates many different musical influences.