Brynn has served on the Board of Directors of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, Visit Savannah, Georgia Southern University Parker College of Business, Savannah State University College of Business, Oglethorpe Middle School, Savannah Technical College and Junior Achievement.

She earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Georgia and is a graduate of Leadership Georgia, Leadership Savannah and Leadership Southeast Georgia, where she is a past board chair.

She has been honored as the Small Business Chamber of Savannah Community Advocate of the Year, a Girl Scouts of Historic GA Woman of Distinction and a Savannah Technical College Community Star.

The post Where Liberty Lives appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Jessica Leigh Lebos has been writing about interesting people and enchanting places for more than 25 years. She is an award-winning local columnist and community builder who has published two popular books, Savannah Sideways and The Camellia Thief & Other Tales. Swept off her feet by a native son sometime in the last century, she is originally from Arizona.

The post One Small Thing To Do To Belong Anywhere appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Briana Paxton became a small-scale developer when she redeveloped a historic commercial building into a space for three new businesses. A single-mom to a four-year-old daughter, she resides in the Baldwin Park area of Savannah. She volunteers with Historic Savannah Foundation and was named the HSF 2022 Volunteer of the Year for her efforts to launch the nonprofit organization’s affordable housing initiatives. On the national level, she brings the preservation voice to Congress as the Chairwoman of Preservation Action, a grassroots lobbying group dedicated to historic preservation. In her free time, she enjoys playing ultimate frisbee at Forsyth Park.

The post Converging Lines: Redlining and Zoning in Savannah, Georgia appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Suzanne Kirk is a human resources and organizational development consultant with Employee Development Strategies, Inc., a firm she established in 2011. Helping companies align culture, vision and objectives with performance management, she is a certified senior professional in Human Resources with a specialty credential in Inclusive Workplace Cultures. Raised in Toronto, Canada, she has called Savannah home since 2001, where she and her husband are parents to three teenagers and two rescue dogs. She serves on the board of directors for Emmaus House and Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy.

The post Citizenship: A Convergence of Cultures and Identities appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Lillian Grant-Baptiste is a renowned storyteller who focuses on healing, resiliency, and reconciliation stories. She recently retired from the City of Savannah and is a sought-after trainer and motivational speaker who facilitates a variety of cultural diversity, youth development, and leadership workshops. Known in Savannah for her advocacy for personal, family, and community empowerment, she has been actively involved in the social change movement for over 30 years. She is the Co-owner of a Touch of Afrika Boutique and Cultural Shop, and the founder and principal consultant of Baobab Speaks Consulting Group. She serves on the board of directors for the King Tisdell Cottage Foundation and the Martin de Porres Society. She is the immediate Past Chair of the board of directors for Healthy Savannah, the former Champion of Step-up Savannah’s Faith-based Committee, and the past Chair of Healthy Savannah’s Faith and Health Coalition. She loves spending time with her three grandsons.

The post Building Bridges of Hope, Healing, and Reconciliation appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

A Savannah, Georgia native and Valdosta State University graduate, Christian M. Shellman earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Georgia Southern University and has more than four years of experience working in local government. She recently transitioned to the nonprofit sector, working as the Community Development Manager at Housing Savannah. Her mission is to dispel myths around affordable housing, fostering collaboration and supporting education, advocacy and fundraising initiatives for affordable housing options in Chatham County. She strives to illuminate the convergence of diverse perspectives, urging stakeholders to collectively address housing challenges to create a more resilient community.

The post Homes for All: Weaving Together Perspectives for a Thriving City appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Kim Campbell is a queer woman, public historian and historic preservationist. Kim currently serves as a Senior Project Manager at Ethos Preservation, a preservation consulting firm in Savannah, Georgia. She earned an M.A. in Public History with a concentration in Historic Preservation from the University of South Carolina and a B.A. in History from Mercer University. In addition to a fascination with the stories writ large in our built environment, Kim is an avid bike commuter and a voracious reader. She lives in Savannah with Doc and Wyatt, two of the cutest dogs you’ll find at the dog park.

The post Public Memory Matters appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Whitney Lam Gillard spent years advocating for foster care reform and impacted change through congressional advocacy. She is the founder and CEO of Gilliard and Company, an organization that fights for redefining the outcomes of youth impacted by their experience in foster care, especially in housing. Whitney’s goal in life is to continue her legacy of being a voice for underserved humanitarian needs nationwide.

The post Foster Care Suicide Hotline: Permanency appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Trelani Michelle is an award-winning writer, oral historian and teaching artist. Voted Savannah’s Best Local Writer by Connect Savannah readers in 2021, Trelani published an oral history about Black Savannah between 1920 and 1970 called Krak Teet and co-authored the New York Times bestselling book, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking. A storyteller and story-gatherer with a bachelor’s degree from Savannah State University and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Trelani interned with the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center to further her work of “Zora Neale Hurstoning.”

The post We All Cousins appeared first on TEDxSavannah.

Meredith Stone is a Savannah, Georgia native and received her M.Arch from Hampton University. She is a passionate designer with GMSHAY Architects and worked on many notable buildings including managing the construction of the Savannah Cultural Arts Center and The Alida Hotel. She designs housing, hospitality, commercial, civic, educational, mixed-use and urban developments and negotiates residential, commercial and land deals with Vantosh Realty. She was appointed to the Housing Savannah Task Force, serves on Chatham County’s Zoning Board of Appeals and is the Vice President of Public Relations for Hostess City Toastmasters.

The post Interstitial Space: Why Designing the In-Between Matters appeared first on TEDxSavannah.