TEDxBU Salon: Life-ing Together: Building Community, Belonging, and Culture

Come hear incredible stories from our speakers that challenge our preconceived notions of community, belonging, and culture.

Esteban de la Vega

Entrepreneur / BU Alum / Adjunct Professor

What Product Innovation Has Taught Me About the Power of Conversation

Innovation thrives on collision, on the friction between different ideas, disciplines, and points of view. Every breakthrough product is born not from agreement, but from debate, curiosity, and the willingness to listen. Yet, outside of innovation, the world has grown quieter in the worst way: people have stopped talking to those who think differently. Polarization has turned conversation into combat. The same principles that spark creativity in design, empathy, iteration, and the search for common ground can also reignite dialogue in our societies. Progress, whether in a lab or in a democracy, begins the same way: by listening again.

Michelle DeLateur

Digital Storyteller College of Communication

Ssh Happens

This is a half-reflection and half-workshop. In an age of endless noise and metrics, the best creative work happens when the mind goes quiet. Noticing and following the moments when your brain is quiet will lead you towards purposeful and meaningful pursuits.

Vyuha rao Gorrey

Graduate Student Global Marketing Management

The Dual Life of an Immigrant: What to Remember and What to Forget

My talk will explain the struggles that I, as an immigrant, have faced when I initially moved to the USA at an age whenI can understand what’s going on around me but not quite. Through sharing my experiences, I will explain to the audience the differences I’ve seen at home with family versus the different culture right outside our doorstep, delving a bit into how parenting styles are different in many cultures along with how I change as a person to accommodate my personality to my friends and my parents/family culturally.Then, to conclude, I will review my experiences in terms of what I would like to remember and what I would like to forget, it may be memories, lessons, experiences, or even people, emphasizing that these are my experiences and not advice for people to follow since every person has different struggles to different extents, and different situations they may be dealing with.

Abednego Musau

First-Gen Graduate Student School of Theology

You Are Enough: Rising Above and Choosing Love

In my talk “You Are Enough: Rising Above and Choosing Love,” I will open my heart and share my journey as a First-Gen student. A journey full of lived experiences from a small village in Kenya to Boston University. I will reflect on a powerful question that changed how I see faith and people. Mine is a reminder to everyone that love, compassion, and belonging are what truly make us human, and that, “You’re enough, just as you’re!” As I close, I will talk about the importance of checking on each other and living in a community where it is impossible to give up because people love and care for each other! Above everything else, love always and laugh always!

Intouch (Zen) Pathanasap

International Graduate Student/Metropolitan College

The Hidden Power of ‘Greng Jai’: A Thai Word for a Feeling We All Know

This talk will explore a feeling that everyone has experienced but few can name, a feeling captured in the Thai word “Greng Jai”. It is a uniquely Thai expression with no perfect English word to describe it, reflecting a deep sense of respect, empathy, and awareness of others. Sharing from my own experiences, I will share how Greng Jai shapes Thai culture as well as the hidden downsides that people rarely talk about. I will also contrast how the concept of Greng Jai is perceived across different cultures, especially between East and West, and briefly connect it to other "untranslatable" words from around the world that reveal what each culture values most.

Kaylin Torres

BU Food Pantry/Undergraduate Student

Sensory Overload vs. Structured Learning: The Role of Children’s TV in Speech Development

We often assume educational TV helps kids grow, but what if some of it actually holds them back? My little brother, who has autism and is highly sensitive to sights and sounds, showed me the answer. Some shows would light him up; others made him shut down. It wasn’t the story, it was the sensory overload: flashing colors, rapid cuts, overlapping songs. That sparked my research into how the pace and structure of children’s programming affects language development for all kids. Using speech-language science research, I explored how overstimulating shows can disrupt a child’s ability to process words and form speech, while slower, more predictable programs can actually strengthen communication and focus. This talk reframes what “educational” really means. It’s not about screens versus no screens, it’s about how sensory design shapes young minds. By rethinking the media we create and choose, we can turn TV from overload into a bridge for learning, language, and connection.

Zoe Solberg

Undergraduate Student Kilachand Honors College

Healthcare as Resistance: What we can learn from community health organizations and their fight for justice

In my talk, I will discuss how community health organizations have been on the frontlines of defending democracy and the right to equitable healthcare for all. Since January, these organizations have experienced political pressure from the Trump Administration, who threatened to pull funding for organizations supporting LGBTQ+ health and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instead of backing down, community health organizations in Boston have continued their mission to deliver healthcare to underserved populations, like low-income communities, undocumented immigrants, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This summer, I had the opportunity to interview staff members at various community health organizations in Boston to learn about how they have navigated this precarious time and I will be sharing the lesions that we can learn from their strategies.

Lina Lin

BU Alum Project Management

When I first arrived in Boston from Taiwan, I felt the weight of loneliness and the uncertainty of starting over in a new place. Instead of waiting to “find” belonging, I chose to create it. Beginning with monthly gatherings for international students so no one would feel as alone as I once did. In my talk, I share how stepping out of my comfort zone taught me that belonging isn’t something we find by chance, but something we build intentionally through courage, connection, and community.

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Host or Publisher Boston University Howard Thurman Center