The Team
The core volunteer team 2021
TEDxOdense is a nonprofit organization with a common interest of Ideas Worth Spreading, fueled by the energy of 50 volunteers:
Sara Eckhardt Boesen
Head Organizer and Head of Audience Experience
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Sara has currently returned to Odense after years living abroad. Travelling to various countries, she ultimately settled in the UAE and worked on large scale events in Abu Dhabi such as the Special Olympics 2019. Even though not impressed by the danish weather, she loves being back home, and is very happy for the opportunity of being a part of TEDxOdense.
“I love Podcasts, and when I started listening many years ago, there were not as many options as there is today, so I mainly listened to TED Talks. I was so impressed and drawn by all the very diverse topics and ideas made comprehensible and captivating. I am very excited about TEDxOdense and even more people getting to know about ideas worth spreading”
Favorite ted talk:
Ian Dunbar - Dog-friendly dog training
Adam Montandon
Curator, co-license holder and Speaker Coach
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Inventor, author, innovator, and educator, Adam Montandon loves to share his knowledge and energy. He uses playfulness and interactivity to help you unlock your full creative potential. He has been working with the speakers behind the scenes, helping them to tell powerful stories in exciting ways.
“I love to find amazing hidden stories and share them with the city. It is my absolute pleasure to work with so many talented people from around the world to bring this very special event to Odense.”
Favorite TED or TEDx Talk: Rita Pierson - Every kid needs a champion
Contact info:
LinkedIn I Email I adammontandon.com I Gopublicspeaking.com
Anna Kersig
Head of speaker management
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Coming soon
Ioana Jongsma
Speaker Management
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Ioana is a communication professional with a cause: helping people put meaningful talks into the world. She joined TEDxOdense in 2017 with this precise purpose. Ioana now curates TEDxOdenseWomen and also runs her own speaker coaching start-up, the Speaker Coaching Diaries (https://www.speakercoachingdiaries.com/) - a development of her decade-long experience with communication and language training and her activity in TEDxOdense.
“We are all hungry for good content these days, yet what good content is seems to elude many content producers, be they copywriters, video makers, or speakers. So to be allowed to work with this material, filter it, shape it, and polish it until it is the best it can be is a dream come true. I’m extremely happy and grateful to be on a team that lives and breathes for extraordinary talks.”
Favorite TED or TEDx Talk: Kelly Mcgonigal - How to make stress your friend
Contact info:
Facebook I LinkedIn I Instagram I YouTube I Website
Gordon Mazza
Speaker Management
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Gordon worked in financial services in England for nearly 30 years but is now based in Odense. Having recently sold the company he helped found in 1998, Gordon hankers after a new entrepreneurial venture, but until he comes across the right one is enjoying the freedom to pursue voluntary activities.
“A client introduced me to TED talks some years ago, and I would dip into them when I got the time. I got tickets to TEDxOdense in 2018 and 2019 and was blown away by the energy and enthusiasm at the event. Cities like Odense need forums where inquisitive minds can be brought together. I am privileged and delighted to be able to play a small part in putting on an event that at the very least will be thought-provoking and entertaining, but has the potential to be truly life changing for some.”
Favorite TED or TEDx Talks:
Ok it’s not very original when over 60 million people have seen it, but watching the Sir Ken Robinson talk “Do schools kill creativity?” helped me to reflect on what I wanted from a school for my children and the one that led to me volunteering 3 days a week at a nursing home, Ole Kassow’s “Cycling without age”
Hakim Harder
Speaker Management
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As a trained actor, screenwriter, producer, and former musician, Hakim is at home on the stage and in front of the camera. Hakim also has many years of experience in the financial industry and IT business. When he is not working, he trains Wing Chun Kung Fu in which he is also an instructor.
"I have loved watching TED Talks since I saw my first many years ago. I am a curious soul by nature and the amount and variety of TED Talks out there are staggering and mind-numbing. TEDx is an extremely important platform for spreading new ideas. Maybe now more than ever. So, when my opportunity came to join the TEDx speaker team I had no doubts... I am a fanboy after all."
Favorite TED Talk: Why do we sleep? - Russell Foster
Bruna Padovan
Head of Partnership
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Bruna has a Master’s degree in International Business and Marketing from SDU and works as a project and marketing manager. She believes that connecting with people and learning from each other is the best way to create something meaningful. Always the curious type, she loves to go on new adventures and is always willing to learn new skills that will take her out of her comfort zone. When not at work, Bruna loves to run, cook and explore new cultures.
“I don’t really remember when I first heard about TED, but I remember being at university one day and watching one TED talk after the other for hours. It fascinated me how many people around the world have these amazing, innovative, ideas that we know nothing about. Being surrounded by these innovators gives me energy and drive to achieve more and I am so happy that we have the opportunity to share this with our community in Odense.”
Favorite TED/TEDx talk: The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong by Amy Morin
Oscar Bowen Schofield
Audience Experience
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Oscar is a research assistant at the University of Southern Denmark in the fields of power line inspection drones, and holds a masters in Robot Technology, specialising in Unmanned Aerial Systems Design. He enjoys solving problems with practical solutions, and can often be found tinkering and repairing everything from bikes to 3D printers.
Oscar’s journey with TEDxOdense started in 2018, where his knowledge in building and designing had led to the fabrication of multiple props and projection mapping structures within the venue.
“TED has had a massive impact on my family over the last ten years when my mother was recruited to help start and organise INKTalks conference in India (in association with TED) - every year she would inspire us of the amazing people and the stories they told.
I joined the Helping Hands team after moving to Odense in 2017 and have enjoyed working with passionate, like-minded individuals all with their own amazing stories. This year I look forward to working in the Core team and taking my experiences to make this the best TEDxOdense yet!”
Favourite TED talk: Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | Raffaello D'Andrea
Barbara Kocsor
Audience Experience
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Barbara is doing her second bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychological studies. She is mainly interested in understanding human behavior and why people do the things they do. She believes once one understands the driving motives of the behavior, only then one can make a change and find solutions to certain problems. Her passion for TED started by secretly listening to TED Talks during her working hours. Today she still does this, but in a more advanced level, now she can even take notes meanwhile. Barbara hopes her boss is not reading this comment.
“Listening to a TED Talk you not only gain information about one topic, it rather stimulates your creativity, triggers you to think out of the box and get familiar with so-far unknown or different ideas, you otherwise would have not even thought about. “
Favorite Ted Talk: How Your Brain Falls in Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyq2Wo4eUDg
Contact info:
LinkedIn
Jule Schroeter
Audience Experience
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Coming soon
Zuzana Satkova
Audience Experience
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Coming soon
Elisabeth Renée Foged Sejbak
Head of Marketing
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Elisabeth holds a BA in psychology from SDU and is currently studying for her Master’s degree as well. She was born and raised in Odense, so she is a true city local. She currently works for a health research center, and in her spare time she’s a semi-professional dancer and amateur musical-enthusiast. Her interest in copywriting and language was cultivated through a devotion to fiction. She spent a year studying in the US and speaks and writes Danish and English equally fluently.
“I feel as though I’ve always known of TED, but I actively took an interest in TED Talks after reading The Third Door by Alex Banayan—a book that made me think of how one person can impact others. TEDxOdense seemed like the obvious place to seek out, and I took a leap of faith and applied to be last year’s copywriter, adamantly claiming ‘I’m a self-taught multilingual grammar nerd.’ It worked, and here I am again this year, excited for more!”
Favorite TED or TEDx Talk: Soraya Chemaly - The Power of women’s anger & Adam Grant - Are you a giver or a taker?
Francesca Baggio
Marketing Team
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Francesca is a passionate marketer and joyful person. She works as Marketing Coordinator and she loves her job every day. In her free time, she plans journeys around the world, she reads tons of books and cuddles her dog Dobby (yes, she loves Harry Potter). She enjoys living in Odense, even when she is biking and the wind keeps blowing against her (let's see it as a metaphor about obstacles in life).
"I joined the marketing team of TEDxOdense because I love TED talks (and I tend to cry while watching them) and I get so much inspiration from them. Despite all the bad news we hear daily, TED talks allow me to keep trusting humanity, reassuring me that there are still awesome human beings in the world."
Favorite TED Talk: The Edge of Freedom by Niaz Bayati
Seda Gärtig
Marketing Team
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Seda is a marketer, with a background in industrial engineering, innovation, and business. She is passionate about sustainability, a healthy vegan lifestyle, and inspiring others to grow. Her current endeavors include being a social media manager of an online sustainability guide "The Considerate Consumer", running her recipe blog “healthyveganseda” on Instagram, as well as volunteering as a marketing content creator at Red Barnet.
“I fell in love with TED talks since the first video I watched on the internet. I remember wishing I could feel the magic in person. Luckily, we no longer need to travel miles away to do that! With TEDx events, we have the chance to live those “a-ha” moments in person, and I am beyond excited to encourage people to join in. I believe that we will leave TEDxOdense as different versions of ourselves.”
Favorite TED/TEDx talk: Don't Believe Everything You Think | Lauren Weinstein
Contact info:
LinkedIn I Email I Instagram I Twitter
Oumaima Dalil
Marketing Team
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Oumaima works as a digital marketing coordinator and salesperson in Odense. Everything about digitalization and moving towards a digitized world fascinates her. Apart from being a Cake-Lover, she loves to travel around the world, exploring new continents, cultures, languages and more delicious food.
"I fell in love with TED since I have heard the first TED Talk in Germany. This year I finally dared to sign up for the core team and I am so excited to be now part of the at TEDxOdense! There is so much we don't know and TED conferences bring people together with the world's leading thinkers and push the frontiers of your knowledge! An ultimate brain spa!"
Favorite Ted Talk: The power of vulnerability by Brené Brown
Maria Hollensen Eggersen
Marketing Team
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Maria works as marketing coordinator and holds a master's degree in business, language and culture. How we communicate and share across cultures is a big interest of hers and this interest is also one of the reasons she loves and enjoys TED and TEDx. Maria has worked as a Helping Hands volunteer for TEDxOdense the last two years but this year she is thrilled to be working on TEDxOdense as part of the core team.
"I have enjoyed TED and TEDxOdense for a couple of years now. This year I finally had the courage to sign up for the core team and I am so excited for this year’s theme! I am proud to be part of an event that truly aspires to bring a moving and mind-broadening experience to the city of Odense. Working with like-minded and brilliant people from so many different cultures only makes the experience that more exciting!"
Favorite TEDtalk: Nora McInerny We don't "move on" from grief. We move forward with it
Contact info:
LinkedIn
Otilia Onea
Marketing Team
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Fascinated by human behavior and design, Otilia is currently studying a Master’s in Market Anthropology at SDU. Before coming to Denmark, Otilia lived in France and later studied in the United Kingdom. Discovering new countries, new cultures and new individuals is what keeps her on her toes (despite the rainy weather)! Understanding how people interact with their surroundings in particular ways, the role cultural norms play and their impact on day to day life is something she finds truly thrilling. Her passion for TED started back in high school when she was first introduced to Ted Talks by her English teacher, safe to say she’s been hooked ever since!
“ I could listen to Ted Talks for hours, I love the idea that in the span of 20 minutes I can learn just about anything and everything. Science, design, history and even linguistics you name it! I’ve looked up to TED ever since I was 16, and when the opportunity presented itself to be part of TedxOdense I simply couldn’t not join! ”
Favorite Ted Talk: Dan Airely - Are we in control of our decisions?
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions/up-next
Contact info:
LinkedIn
Maria J. Andersen
Art Director
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Maria is working as a Freelance Designer and has a bachelor's degree In Digital Concept Development. She was born and raised in Denmark but has in recent years spent a lot of time travelling and living abroad - including studying design at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). When Maria is not designing she loves spending time illustrating and animating.
"Like so many others, I've watched TED videos for many years. This year I got the opportunity to be a part of the TEDxOdense team and contribute with what I do best and I couldn't be more excited."
Favorite TED or TEDx Talk: Andy Puddicombe - All it takes is 10 mindful minutes
Steffie Limère Fugl
Honorary Patron
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Steffie is Honorary Patron for TEDxOdense.
She started as a TEDx organizer in 2014, where she ran a university TEDx event: TEDxEAL. After two great TEDxEAL editions, she and Adam decided to take it to a city level, and then TEDxOdense was born. Besides TEDx, Steffie runs her own event company, Unfolding Events, where she works as a freelance event manager and works on events such as Thinkers50, Schunk Expert Days, and her own event concepts such as Factory of Imagination.
“I was introduced to TED through my dad when I was 17. He would send me links to TED videos that I had to watch. Stubborn as I was, it took me some years before I took his advice. Since then, I fell in love with it. I then started as a volunteer at a local TEDx and discovered the TEDx magic. When I moved to Odense I saw there was no local TEDx event yet, so I took the opportunity to start one.”
Favorite TED or TEDx Talk: Start With Why - Simon Sinek
Raminta Karčiauskienė
Speaker Advisor
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Raminta is an experienced senior project manager, marketer, communicator, inspirer, and an ”enjoyer”. She combines her passion for different cultures with knowledge and experience in different fields of business, both public and private. Raminta joined the TEDxOdense family in 2017 after a year in Lithuania managing strategic projects in the government office and has been behind the scenes ever since. On a daily basis, Raminta makes the sky safer by managing projects in the aviation industry. And of course, she is always hunting the most interesting stories, worthy of the TEDx stage.
“I am glad to see how Odense is changing positively and what a big part of that change is in the hands of the community. TEDxOdense is an incredible initiative brought from A to Z by the community to the community. TEDxOdense brings fresh thoughts, different angles, unimaginable stories, unforgettable facts, goosebumps, and sometimes emotional tears ranging from the ones that visit you with laughter, to the ones that change you for life.”
Favorite TED talk: Why do ambitious women have flat heads?, Dame Stephanie Shirley
Monika Kosman
Marketing Advisor
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Monika has been involved in TEDxOdense since its very beginning, where she volunteered her time to help with event management and marketing. That’s when she discovered her passion for social media and her flair for event management.
She loves to travel and juggle many projects at the same time, currently combining starting up her own marketing company, freelancing in event management, and leading the marketing team of TEDxOdense.
"I used to watch TED Talks of speakers from all over the world, dreaming about becoming a part of this incredible community some day; dreaming of executing an event, which would inspire others as much as I have been inspired by watching the talks myself. A couple of years later, when the head organizers, Steffie and Adam, brought the first TEDx event to our local university, I knew I had to be a part of it. After working on various projects with the both of them, I also became a part of TEDxOdense. Today, I am very proud to be in a team contributing to bringing such an amazing event to the city of Odense, which reflects the local community and is devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading."
Favorite TED or TEDx Talk: Will Stephen - How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk
Christina Maar Andersen
Speaker Advisor
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Christina is an assistant professor in psychology at the University of Southern Denmark where she works with teaching and research. Her research area is health psychology with a main focus on the effects of psychological factors on illness, as well as the effect of illness on our mental health. Another area of interest is how human connections affect our health and the importance of empathy. She joined the TEDx speaker core team in 2018.
"I watched my first TEDTalk many many years ago and loved the concept straight away. The concept that ideas could be shared in such a clear, concise, and inspiring manner is truly amazing. I often use TEDTalks as part of my teaching as a way to inspire my students. I have attended several TEDx events and feel blessed to be part of the magic now."
Favorite TED talk: Jill Bolt Taylor - My stroke of insight
Sammy Rangel - The power of forgiveness
Christian Picciolini - My descent into America's neo-Nazi movement & how I got out