My Fellow Speakers - Ted Talk Blog #4

As you may know, I was honored to have been chosen to give a Tedx Talk in Paris. When I finally met my fellow speakers, I was humbled by their wide breadth of experiences and accomplishments

My new friend Sara Safari was climbing Mt Everest when the 2015 earthquake in Napal happened. She was hanging from a rope on the side of a mountain that was shaking and dropping ice blocks all around her.

Miraculously, she survived. Since then, she has written a book, titled Follow My Footsteps: A Journey of Adventure, Disaster, and Redemption inspired by the Plight of At-Risk Girls, and now travels all over speaking and raising money and awareness for the young girls of Napal.

My friend Mohamed Jamal Dean raises awareness for refugees and, perhaps most importantly, helps create schools for them. While he’s currently a nurse anesthesia resident in Northern California, he has served in intensive

care units in he has served in intensive care units in Chicago, worked in EMS in the pre-hospital setting, and gained experience on projects in West Africa. With extensive experience, he is heading to Europe to work with Syrian Refugees and produce a film called “No Place like HOPE,” which illuminates the struggles of Syrian Refugees in northern Greece.

John Isaac worked as a photojournalist for the united Nations for over 25 years and boy does he have stories! Having grown up in Irungalur, India (a village without electricity), he was brought into a UN choir after a woman heard him singing on the street.

He then acquired a job in the UN mailroom where began working his way up to the photography department. During his UN tenure, he traveled to 120 different countries to document major events like the 1983 Ethiopian famine and the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Now, he focuses his efforts on saving the tigers of India.

Neil Davey, a third-year undergrad at Harvard, is only 22 and already coming up with improved cures and procedures for cancer patients and serious diseases all over the world. He has researched oncology and infectious disease and co-founded two tech start ups, one of which seeks to reduce female feticide in India.

And then there’s me, but you guys already know what I do!

It was truly an awe-inspiring experience to be included in this great group of individuals full of great intentions.