TEDxRishworth Youth

Speakers

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

• Ananyaa Gupta

  Student

  Ananyaa Gupta is an ambitious student. Involved in the Rishworth Community. She has a passion for learning, enriched through critical engagement with current affairs and real-world economics, and hopes to share the big ideas which interest her in an accessible/engaging yet thought-provoking way. Her global perspective has been greatly enhanced through a love for travel and culture; being an able linguist, voracious reader and accomplished musician complements her analytical, academic side, allowing her creative, curious nature to thrive whilst being grounded by intellectual rigour. Ananyaa’s passion for economics arises from the subject’s interdisciplinary nature and its applicability to global dynamics. Paired with her aptitude for mathematics, discovering her love for the subject helped resolve years of uncertainty and pressure regarding her future path.

• Angelique Olivia Michaels

  PhD candidate in Social Anthropology and President’s Doctoral Scholar at the University of Manchester

  Born in Cape Town on the cusp of South Africa’s democratic transition, her formative years were shaped by a moment of profound historical change - when institutionalised structures of apartheid were being dismantled and new possibilities for movement and access were beginning to emerge, even as older spatial inequalities endured. Her doctoral research draws on extended ethnographic fieldwork across shelters, streets, and urban governance systems in Cape Town. Working at the intersection of social anthropology and critical urban studies, she explores how homelessness is governed through infrastructures of shelter and security while tracing how these systems are negotiated and reworked in everyday life. Her work attends to the unstable boundaries between inclusion and exclusion, asking how they are sustained, and how they come undone in practice.

• Gareth A. Brinkworth

  Doctoral Researcher

  Gareth A. Brinkworth is a doctoral researcher exploring how education can help societies respond to existential risks, including those posed by the climate crisis, democratic decline, and artificial intelligence. His previous studies span education policy, teaching qualifications, sociology, and comparative and international education. A former UK government policy adviser, he also brings over a decade of experience working in international education across 11 countries. Gareth currently teaches about education at university level and co-leads an interdisciplinary group exploring the intersection of AI and education. Through interviews with researchers, communities, and policymakers, his research asks: how can education help prepare us for the biggest challenges we face?

• Graduate Students from Lowry's Centre for Advanced Training in Dance

  Dancers, Performers

  The Lowry Youth Dance Company is a vibrant collective of talented young dancers from across Greater Manchester, based at The Lowry in Salford. Known for their energy, creativity, and commitment to contemporary dance, the group brings together emerging performers who train, collaborate, and create work that reflects the diversity and spirit of the region’s youth arts community. Grounded in The Lowry’s mission to nurture the next generation of artists, the dancers engage in high‑quality training led by professional choreographers and educators. They explore a wide range of contemporary techniques, improvisation, and performance skills, developing not only technical ability but also confidence, teamwork, and artistic identity. Collectively, the Lowry Youth Dance Company stands as an inspiring example of how accessible, high‑quality arts opportunities can transform young people’s lives, giving them a platform to express themselves, grow as artists.

• Olivia Mae Hanlon

  Entrepreneur, Public speaker, Mentor

  Olivia Mae Hanlon is an entrepreneur, public speaker, mentor, and creator from the UK, best known as the Founder and CEO of Girls in Marketing - a global community created to support women navigating modern marketing careers. Olivia has spent 7+ years building communities, teaching digital marketing, and mentoring thousands of marketers worldwide. She has trained 12,000+ people, worked with global brands, and built Girls in Marketing from a small online space into an international platform for learning, connection, and career development. Along the way, she has been recognised for her impact in the industry and regularly speaks on marketing, leadership, and career growth. But it is inside communities where her most meaningful insights emerged. By witnessing people share ambition alongside doubt, Olivia began to see how profoundly our environments shape the way we experience drive and success. She realised that ambition itself wasn’t the problem - the context surrounding it was.

• Simon Wainman

  Throughout his career, Simon has worked with individuals navigating anxiety, trauma, and addictive patterns, helping them to better understand not just their behaviours, but the underlying emotional needs driving them. His approach is grounded in compassion, curiosity, and honesty, encouraging people to look beyond surface-level coping mechanisms and explore the deeper patterns that shape their lives and relationships. Simon’s work is particularly focused on expanding the way we understand addiction. While traditionally associated with substances, he highlights how addiction can also manifest in less visible but equally powerful forms, such as the pursuit of validation, intensity in relationships, and the craving for connection. He is passionate about helping others recognise these patterns without shame and empowering them to move from unconscious reaction to conscious choice. At the heart of Simon’s philosophy is the belief that curiosity is a transformative force. He teaches that by becoming more curious about our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, we can interrupt automatic patterns and create space for healthier, more meaningful connections, with both ourselves and others. In addition to his therapeutic work, Simon is deeply committed to his own personal growth and discipline. He maintains a consistent training routine and values physical wellbeing as an important complement to emotional health, embodying a balanced approach to self-development. His grounded and relatable presence allows him to connect with a wide range of audiences, from those beginning their self-awareness journey to those already engaged in deeper psychological work. Simon’s mission is simple: to help people feel less alone in their struggles, more understood in their experiences, and more empowered to change their lives. Through his work, he continues to inspire others to replace judgment with curiosity, and to discover a more conscious and connected way of living.

• Sonny Green

  Spoken word poet, Recording artist, Actor, Entrepreneur, and Father

  Sonny Green is a spoken word poet, recording artist, actor, entrepreneur, and father from Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Raised on a working-class estate at the end of England’s longest pleasure pier, his work explores identity, race, faith, class, and belonging through powerful, unflinching language. Seven years drug and alcohol free, Sonny speaks openly about recovery, responsibility, and redemption themes that underpin both his art and his life. His viral spoken word piece What England Means to Me was featured in the BBC New Year’s Eve Fireworks broadcast, bringing his voice into millions of homes across the UK. Blending poetry, music, and cultural commentary, Sonny challenges stereotypes about working-class Britain while building businesses alongside his creative career.

• Soo Nevison

  Chief Executive Officer, Community Action Bradford & District, Chair of Trustees and Sunday Chef for Our Place Calderdale

  Soo has worked in the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector since 1996 when she decided that a life in laboratories wasn’t for her. Starting with a residential job in drug rehabilitation in London, her life then moved North where she continued to work in the field of rehabilitation of drug users until a life change took her into the world of VCSE sector support where she has remained since 2006. Over the span of her working career, she has won national Compact awards for partnership working and gained prestigious GoldStar funding to work with volunteers. Fast-forward to 2024 and empty nest syndrome sent her looking for a new adventure in her life. This is when she began to volunteer for Our Place, a small charity with a massive impact in Boothtown, Calderdale. Our Place is an award-winning charity, receiving the Heart Radio Community Group of the Year award in 2026.