Kai's presentation, "Spiritual Change - The Journey to Rasta" will share with us, and the world, her personal and spiritual voyage. Kai Davis represented her country as a dancer at a number of festivals between 1990 and 2002.

Lia's speech addresses the impact of climate change, looks at ways in which local Antiguans have become climate innovators and discusses small but innovative ways in which we ourselves can also be climate innovators. Born to adventurers, Lia Nicholson's grandparents sailed the family to the twin island state of Antigua & Barbuda in the 1940s.

Gomes, a devout Christian, focuses on Breath, Mind, Spirit during his talk and how simple meditation and breathing techniques can improve health and return balance to life. Sifu Jurey Gomes is a recognised and decorated martial arts practitioner and founder of the Fist of Nothingness system of martial arts.

Marcella's speech will tackle the issues of displacement from her home country Dominica to her adopted home of Antigua. Follow her as she finds herself, her home and her place in this world. Marcella André-Georges is an entrepreneur and transformative leader.

Calypso Joe's talk, "Our Story in Song - Examining the social consciousness of calypso" will focus on the lingering impacts of slavery, colonialism and racism on society and will end with the positive charge of nation building. Joseph "Calypso Joe" Hunte started his musical career as a student in the Johnson's Point Primary School drama program.

I'm really proud of the work that went into producing all of this. TEDx Antigua showcased some of Antigua's Great Minds and allowed the world to see a snippet into our culture and what makes us, us. The Ted Talks all grouped under the tagline, "Fungee & Pepperpot a recipe for development and change" did just what it's organizers hoped it would, incite in the minds of others the need to reshape and rethink our perspective on how we should attain spiritual, economical, and regional development.

I am all about empowerment, and I'm all for equality. So when i stumbled upon Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche in the summer of 2013, I did more research into Feminism and what it really meant. Despite popular opinion, feminism is not a cult of women seeking vengeance against men and wanting to dominate them, however it is an ideal to strive for. It is the belief that both men and women can live in an equal society, free from demands ascribed to them based on gender. Feminism also preaches that we have no set expectations from males and females based on gender. Feminism does not say that one gender is more valued, but it preaches that both have just as much potential. In today's society, where survival is not based on physical advantage but on intellect, their is no need to preach of a superior gender. I now personally self identify as a Feminist because i believe in equality. I don't hate men, frankly i get along with them very well, i just believe that there should be a balance. I don't preach down on persons who disapprove of feminism, nor do i lean towards shrouding myself in masculinity to feel empowered. I wear lipstick, i like braids, i love fashion [as you can see], i read stereotypical romance novels, things that are deemed by society as decidedly non-feminist. Here is an excerpt from Chimamanda's speech which inspired my feminist stance . . .

On How Gender Roles Hurt Boys

"We do a great disservice to boys in how we raise them. We stifle the humanity of boys. We define masculinity in a very narrow way. Masculinity is a hard, small cage, and we put boys inside this cage.

We teach boys to be afraid of fear, of weakness, of vulnerability. We teach them to mask their true selves, because they have to be, in Nigerian-speak—a hard man.

In secondary school, a boy and a girl go out, both of them teenagers with meager pocket money. Yet the boy is expected to pay the bills, always, to prove his masculinity. (And we wonder why boys are more likely to steal money from their parents.)

What if both boys and girls were raised not to link masculinity and money? What if their attitude was not "the boy has to pay," but rather, "whoever has more should pay." Of course, because of their historical advantage, it is mostly men who will have more today. But if we start raising children differently, then in fifty years, in a hundred years, boys will no longer have the pressure of proving their masculinity by material means.

But by far the worst thing we do to males—by making them feel they have to be hard—is that we leave them with very fragile egos. The harder a man feels compelled to be, the weaker his ego is.

And then we do a much greater disservice to girls, because we raise them to cater to the fragile egos of males.

We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller.

We say to girls: You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful, otherwise you will threaten the man. If you are the breadwinner in your relationship with a man, pretend that you are not, especially in public, otherwise you will emasculate him."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc