Join Us for “Making Waves” in Culver City

Thursday, June 8 2023, 7:00pm to 9:00pm (doors open at 6:30pm)

Culver Hotel • 9400 Culver Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232

Welcome to the TEDxCulverCity event, "Making Waves," where we will explore the power of creating positive change and pushing boundaries to make a difference. Our speakers will share their experiences and ideas on challenging the status quo and taking action for a better world. From creativity, navigating identity, and prison reform, our speakers will inspire and ignite your passion for making waves in your life and community. Join us for a day of thought-provoking talks, engaging discussions, and an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals committed to making a difference. Together, we can create a ripple effect of change to improve our world.

We are honored to host this event at the historic Culver Hotel, with an after-hang in the Velvet Room. This limited event will only have 65 tickets, so get them while you can! Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT

Visionary Speakers

Jonathan Elias was born in New York and started composing at age twelve. While at conservatory, he began scoring movie trailers, most notably Alien, Ghandi and Blade Runner. Elias met John Barry, who became his mentor, later introducing him to Duran Duran, which lead to various projects with an assortment of talent including; Alanis Morissette, B.B. King, Yes, Bono, Johnny Cash and David Bowie. Elias shifted his focus to advertising— garnering dozens of Clio awards for best music, an Emmy Award for Nike’s "Move" and other advertising trophies for spots like Apple’s “Think Different.” Over the last 40 years, Elias Music has been known for audio brand identities. Their most recognizable work includes; Columbia Pictures, Yahoo, the original MTV Moon Landing, Farmer’s Insurance, Liberty Mutual and FIFA. Elias remains at the helm of audio branding at Universal Music Publishing and continues to educate the new world of sonic branding.

Nicole Cruz is a certified life and leadership coach and the CEO of Nicole Cruz Coaching, the first coaching company to cater specifically to the needs of the 1st & 2nd generation immigrant community. Through a culturally-aware and trauma-informed approach, Nicole helps folks with immigrant roots to become powerful leaders by helping them unlearn inherited generational limits, embrace their complex identities, and unleash their natural strengths. Over the past 4 years, she has worked with over 300 immigrants and immigrant descendants, building her business while traveling full-time to over 30 countries. Coaching is Nicole’s second career after leaving a decade-long career in corporate healthcare and her work has been featured in Fast Company and Thrive. She is the daughter of Filipino immigrants, a 90s hip hop die hard, dog-lover, and currently resides in Washington DC with her husband.

A charismatic political strategist, criminal justice activist, and award-winning executive, Ashish Prashar is known for flipping the script and winning over the toughest adversary. He is formerly incarcerated, and writes and speaks candidly and passionately about ending prison and policing systems.

Ashish began his career in journalism and shortly moved over to politics, handling communications for the Conservative Party. Eventually, he became the youngest press secretary for the Mayor of London when he joined Boris Johnson’s press team in 2008. He also worked for the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative in Sierra Leone. In the United States, Ashish worked on Barack Obama’s 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign, the 2018 Midterms for a number of Democrat candidates, and President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. He also mobilized formerly incarcerated citizens to exercise their right to vote in the 2020 election.

Ashish brought his political communications acumen to the private sector as well. Since 2014, he has provided communication and policy counsel to multiple U.S. and Brazil-based start-ups. In 2018 he became head of communications for Publicis Sapient, and most recently, he was the Global Chief Marketing Officer for R/GA. Ashish is one of Ad Age's 40 Under 40 honorees and accrued the Ad Age A-List award for R/GA.

Ashish has appeared as a regular commentator in the media, contributing to CNN, Fast Company, NBC, The Guardian, and USA Today. He graduated from the University of Westminster in London and happily resides with his family in New York City.

Dr. Pamela Mehta is a board-certified Orthopaedic Surgeon and founder of Resilience Orthopaedics, a successful concierge practice in San Jose, California.  With over a decade of experience post residency at Columbia University in New York- Dr. Mehta is an expert in advanced surgical techniques for the treatment of shoulder and knee pathology.  She is a wife, mom to 3 and passionate about women designing a life on their own terms when it comes to career and family. She shares her life as a practice owner, mom and as a woman in a male dominated field on her social media platforms.  She is a co-founder for Pinnacle Conference for Women in Medicine which empowers women to lead impactfully in clinical medicine. Additionally, she has served as medical advisor to several startups and established companies including Figs and The Good Feet Store where she lends her Orthopedic and Musculoskeletal expertise to developing product, efficacy studies and marketing campaigns. Dr. Mehta has been featured in Buzzfeed, Medscape, Well & Good and local network television as an expert in athlete injuries.

Jeff Tan is a technology innovation leader and global ultramarathon runner, with a personal mission to inspire others to reach their full potential. Jeff works at Microsoft as director of co-innovation, consulting with Fortune 500 companies to envision and implement transformative solutions. In 2021 he completed the Antarctic Ice Marathon at Union Glacier under grueling conditions to achieve his goal of joining the 7 Continents Marathon Club, a tiny group of people who have run a 26.2-mile race on every continent. Additionally, he serves as the current president of the LA Leggers running club, one of the largest running clubs in America. Runner’s World magazine describes him as “magnetic, genuine and sincere”. Jeff was born in Australia to Singaporean parents. He has lived in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Frankfurt, New York and now can be found in Santa Monica, CA with his wife Stephanie and son Hudson.

Tim Leake is a frequent speaker at international events including the Cannes Festival of Creativity (France), Hyper Island (Sweden), CPH Transform (Copenhagen), Dani Komunikacija (Croatia), AToMiC (Canada), Advertising Week (USA), SXSW (the country of Texas), and more. By day, he’s the Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer for RPA, one of the leading independent advertising agencies in the U.S. Before that, he worked as an innovation and creative consultant to help brands and marketing agencies transform their business and worldview to thrive in a constantly changing digital world, via Hyper Island — a Swedish school and business transformation consultancy. And before even that, he was a Creative Director & Director of Creative Innovation at Saatchi & Saatchi NY, and got his start in the industry at TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, as a copywriter working on world-famous efforts like the Energizer Bunny and Taco Bell Chihuahua campaigns.

About the Venue

The Culver Hotel is a national historical landmark in downtown Culver City, California. It was built by Harry Culver, the founder of Culver City, and opened on September 4, 1924,[1] with local headlines announcing: "City packed with visitors for the opening of Culver skyscraper." Originally named Hotel Hunt, and later known as Culver City Hotel, the six-story Renaissance Revival building was designed by Curlett & Beelman, the architecture firm behind renowned Art Deco buildings throughout Los Angeles, including downtown Los Angeles' Roosevelt and Eastern Columbia buildings.

As Culver City became a movie-making mecca beginning in the 1920s, the hotel welcomed legendary stars, some maintaining private residences for months at a time. Culver himself kept his office there.

Over the next few decades, the property fell into disrepair. In the 1980s, it was boarded up for a time and at risk of demolition. In the 1990s, the hotel was partially restored and reopened, joining the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

Hotel restoration began in earnest in 2007 after a hotelier family purchased the property. Plumbing and electrical systems were upgraded, guestrooms and public spaces have been redone, handmade windows replaced, and public spaces re-imagined while maintaining the property's architectural integrity. The Culver Hotel also hosts live jazz and special events.

The flatiron-shaped building is next door to the historic Culver Studios and a few blocks from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, now Sony Pictures. The Culver Hotel has appeared in films and television, including the Our Gang short Honkey Donkey, The Wonder Years, Party of Five, 7th Heaven, Last Action Hero, Sledge Hammer!, Stuart Little 2, Bones, Cougar Town and Touch.

Event Sponsors

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Ideas Worth Spreading

About TED/TEDx, x = independently organized event.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. Learn more here.

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