Fellows in the News
Fri Jul 27, 2020
Christine Sun Kim's artwork is featured in the "Enough of Trump" campaign, alongside fellow TED Fellow Latoya Ruby Frazier and other luminaries like Shepard Fairey and Carrie Mae Weems. Read more in The New York Times. Hello Fellows!
Hope you’re all doing well. Four things to share with you on this fine Friday afternoon:
- 1: TED Fellows have taken over the New York Times. This is great. In the month of July, the New York Times featured not one, not two, not three, not four... but FIVE different TED Fellows: Premesh Chandran on July 12, Kiana Hayeri on July 14, Latoya Ruby Frazier on July 20, Kyra Gaunt on July 21, and Mitchell Jackson on July 25 in the Saturday edition. Not to mention Katie Mack, whose new book got a mention in yesterday's edition.
- 2: Listen to the new Fellows pitch their amazing work. We just wrapped up an incredible series of press briefing calls featuring the newest class of TED Fellows and Senior Fellows. We were joined by an enthusiastic group of reporters representing top news outlets like WIRED, NPR, Cosmo, Washington Post, Newsweek, Fortune and more. And the good news for you is we recorded and transcribed each of the sessions. You can check them out here.
- 3: Got a story? Please drop it here. Want to get your story in front of the TED team, including editorial and social media? Submit it here. In addition, we’ll also share the best story submissions with our network of top reporters. Deadline for August submissions is next Friday, August 7.
#4: Meet Jill! Jill Siegel is a veteran publicist who has been working with me to support the newest class of TED Fellows these past few months. She’s represented cultural icons like Muhammad Ali, Leonard Nimoy and now… you! She is great and is very eager to work with you all in the months ahead. Feel free to drop her a note to say hello.
That’s it for now. Have a great weekend! Ben
Mon Apr 27, 2020
Mon Apr 27, 2020 Fellows in the News.
Fri Feb 21, 2020
Now onto the news:
1. Christine Sun Kim performed the national anthem in sign language at the opening of the Super Bowl and then shared her experience in the opinion section of the New York Times. "I Performed at the Super Bowl. You Might Have Missed Me."
2. Beyoncé (yes, that Beyoncé) included Jedidah Isler in a blog post entitled "This Is Black History".
3. Danielle Lee looks at how humans and mice interact in rural and urban areas in this National Geographic educational video for K-12 classrooms.
4. Could the gut-brain connection help us treat autism? Check out the NIH Director’s Blog's story on Diego Bohórquez's research.
5. Stanford Thompson is launching a new national effort aiming to level the playing field for aspiring musicians of color.
6. Speak French? Check out Miho Janvier’s national French radio interview on the upcoming NASA/ESA mission. "Solar Orbiter!"
7. Romain Lacombe’s air quality data platform announced a partnership with AccuWeather to incorporate air quality information into weather forecasts for every location around the world.
8. Check out this Boston Globe opinion article co-written by Eric Berlow, Chris Ategeka and David Shenk on the next frontier in digital privacy.
9. Investigacion y Sciencia published a profile about Armando Azua-Bustos’s quest to find life in the Atacama desert.
10. Read Variety's coverage of the new documentary "Softie", chronicling Boniface Mwangi’s first campaign in a regional Kenyan election.
Bonus: Read The National's profile of Laura Boushnak and how she is celebrating Arab women challenging norms.
Fri Jan 31, 2020
“Leila had a vision about bringing the dignity of work and the promise of a living wage to the world’s most vulnerable.” Read more in the New York Times.
We are all deeply saddened by the tragic loss of TED Fellow Leila Janah. Leila was a social entrepreneur whose life was marked by an unyielding commitment to helping others. By the age of 37, Leila had launched three companies, in diverse fields ranging from technology and digital freelancing to skincare — each and all with an underlying mission of creating opportunity for low income people around the globe.
This week's newsletter is dedicated to Leila.
You can read more about Leila's inspiring life in thoughtful articles from TechCrunch and The New York Times. In addition, I'll reshare here this beautiful blog post by Leila on the topic of emotional resilience.
Fri Jan 17, 2020
1. Check out Esra'a Al Shafei’s new podcast, “Philanthropi$$ed,” a series challenging the current norms of philanthropy and featuring the voices of other TED Fellows. The first episode features Nighat Dad!
2. Shiva Keshavan shares his first Christmas experience in the Alps on the Olympic Channel.
3. Nanfu Wang, who co-directed the doc “One Child Nation” exploring China’s one-child policy, writes about how state media has scrubbed mentions of her film in The Daily Beast.
4. “Rafiki,” a film by Wanuri Kahiu, made the NBC News list of best LGBTQ-inclusive TV shows and films of 2019.
5. Business Insider called “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” the true story about the life of William Kamkwamba, the top movie to watch in the new year for inspiration.
6. The Bangkok Times wrote a story on Asia’s largest urban rooftop farm, designed by Kotchakorn Voraakhom.
7. Shivani Siroya’s unicorn fintech startup Tala was covered in a feature by CNBC.
8. Check out a foundational explanation of how quantum computing works by Shohini Ghose on the Big Tech podcast.
9. Usman Riaz speaks with Instep Today about his work directing Pakistan’s first hand-drawn animated film, The Glassworker.
10. Ola Brown writes in CNN Health about skin bleaching and its social implications.
Note: If you find any of these stories exciting, please share them on social media. And if you have a PR question, please feel free to drop me a line. Thanks! Have a great weekend. Ben