TEDxUWCMaastricht

Speakers

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

• Aminata Cairo

  Ph.D., Author of Holding Space

  Aminata Cairo, Ph.D is the former lector of Inclusive Education in The Hague and lector of Social Justice and Diversity in the Arts in Amsterdam. Born and raised in the Netherlands with Surinamese roots and an American nationality, she is committed to use her academic skills to improve communities all over the world and make space for the acknowledgement of the wealth of our stories, especially the overlooked and silenced ones. She is the author of Holding Space: A Storytelling Approach to Trampling Diversity and Inclusion and the follow up Me, Myselves and Us: Releasing the Stories That Do Not Serve Us.

• Anya Castro

  Y12 Student at United World College Maastricht

  Anya is a 17-year-old residential student at UWC Maastricht. Born and raised in Mexico City, she’s passionate about impacting those around her and helping find growth in the potential she sees around her, getting involved in refugee initiatives in both Mexico and the Netherlands and taking part in community events such as the International Peace Conference. She loves swimming, cooking for the people she cares about and has a particular enjoyment for deep existentialist conversations over good food. She’s always questioning how we think about everyday things and looking for new ways to understand the world. In her TEDx talk, Anya challenges the misconceptions we have about balance and presents a new way to approach it through her own experiences and observations.

• Berfu Ege Sobe

  Business Development & Impact-Driven Finance Advisor at SNV

  Berfu Ege Sobe is an impact maker at the intersection of finance, law, and sustainable development. Working with SNV, one of the world’s leading international development organisations, she designs large-scale programmes and builds the funding strategies that bring them to life, mobilising multi-million euro resources and forging the partnerships that make real change possible. Berfu believes that sustainable development is a goal that everyone should know about. Because with the right partnerships, the right funding, and the right focus, we can achieve it. And while she has dedicated her career to making that happen, she firmly believes that everyone has the power to make a difference, and the world needs all of us to try.

• Lluís Valadzko

  Y12 Student at United World College Maastricht

  Lluís was born in Barcelona and is growing up in the Netherlands. Moving between cultures has taught him one thing pretty quickly - that knowing how to introduce yourself isnt the same as knowing how to connect with others. At 16, he has been in debates, conferences, sponsor events, and school leadership roles where “networking” is always mentioned as something you’re supposed to master. But most of the time it just ends up feeling awkward. Either people are trying too hard to impress, or they’re too quiet to say anything at all. Through his Ted talk “Everyone is networking. Almost no one is connecting.” he wants to explore why conversations feel transactional, why young people often underestimate their value in a room, and what changes when you focus less on getting something and more on building something real.

• Mayo Nakajima

  Y12 Student at United World College Maastricht

  Mayo is a Year 12 student at UWC Maastricht, originally from Tokyo, Japan, and raised in both Japan and Hawaiʻi, USA, where she moved at eight years old. Passionate about advocacy and politics, she competes in mock trial and debate, challenging university students in tournaments outside of school. As the Outreach Director for the Hawaiʻi branch of High School Democrats of America, Mayo focuses on expanding youth participation in civic engagement. Her dedication to public discourse earned her recognition from the Hawai’i House of Representatives for her achievements in debate. Beyond academics, she practices judo, loves traveling, and spends time with her cats. In TEDxUwcmaastricht, Mayo will share “A Resume for a Ghost,” a deeply personal reflection on perfectionism, cultural identity, and the search for balance..

• Noel Cortes

  Education Advisor, CoFounder at Project Robin and M&A Deloitte

  Noel Cortes is the founder of projectrobin.study, a company that helps students navigate international education and access universities across Europe. While he builds Robin, he works at Deloitte, where he experiences firsthand the structured world of corporate consulting. Having lived across different countries and cultures — including extended periods in Latin America and Europe — Noel developed a strong interest in how young people make life-defining decisions in increasingly global environments. Through his work with students and families, he has seen how difficult it can be to choose a path when expectations, social pressure, and uncertainty collide. In his talk, Noel reflects on how most of the important decisions in life are made with incomplete information, and why learning to navigate uncertainty may be one of the most valuable skills we rarely teach.

• Noor Cornelissen

  Founder and CEO at Rooted

  Noor Cornelissen is a global wanderer turned conscious root-builder. After a decade abroad and working with displaced communities from Congo to the Mediterranean Sea, she returned to the Netherlands with one burning question: Where do I truly belong? As Founder & CEO of @rooted.migrant and strategic policy advisor to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she works at the intersection of identity, migration and systems change. In her TEDx talk ‘Where I Am, I Belong’, Noor weaves personal stories, sharp cultural observations, and the wisdom of Simone Weil into a powerful reflection on uprootedness in modern society. From bureaucracy to identity, from inner work to collective responsibility, she challenges the quiet systems that divide us into ‘us’ and ‘them’. She makes us rethink home - not as a place we passively inherit, but as something we actively build.

• Sheila Han

  Y13 Student at United World College Maastricht

  Sheila (or Xinyu—her Chinese name) was born in Shanghai, China. Despite growing up in a gigantic city, she prefers nature: hiking, mountaineering, and rock climbing. Physical adventures bring her mental peace. She is a fan of mysticism and spirituality. One of her biggest hobbies is spending holidays living with monks and shamans. She loves talking with strangers she meets along the way. These encounters inspired her project The Drifting Storyflower and the documentary Johannes. She is currently reading Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth.