• Wes Craven: Find What You Love and Write Your Name All Over It.
• Zoë Damacela: Building a Business Around What You’re Good At
• Chirinjeev Kathuria: Space Travel and Owning the MIR Space Station
• Jerry Mitchell: Lives that Matter
• Dean Kamen: The Future Belongs to the Innovators

• Sandra Day O’Connor: Civics
• Allison Cuddy: Interview with Sandra Day O’Connor
• Daniel Hernandez: An American Hero
• Phil Zimbardo: Heroes
• Jullien Gordon: Driving School for Life
• Tsi-tsi-ki Félix: Greater Challenges Mean Greater Opportunities

• Nova Venerable: Dirty Dishes
• Pablos Holman: Inventing for the World’s Largest Problems
• Gordon Gill: Supertall and Super Sustainable
• Paul Sereno: Science: Adventure with a Purpose
• Mark Ecko: Awe!thenticity
• Paul Nicklen: Pole to Pole: Diary of a National Geographic Photojournalist

Brian Babylon

Host of the TEDxYouth Event, Comedian, and NPR Radio Host

Brian Babylon is a Chicago-born comic and radio host. The self-proclaimed Prince of Bronzeville is a fixture in Chicago’s rich comedy community. He has performed at LA’s historic Comedy Store and Laugh Factory, and in the UK at Jongleurs comedy club in London. Currently, Brian hosts & produces The Morning AMP radio show on Vocalo 89.5FM. He is one of the newest additions to the popular NPR weekly news quiz show Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and hosts The Moth Story Slam in Chicago. 

Wes Craven

Director of Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street 

Wes Craven has kept audiences on the edge of their seats as a filmmaker with heart, guts, humor and a visionary imagination. Craven directed the phenomenal hit trilogy, Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3, reaching a new level of success. Craven also formed Midnight Entertainment, a company creating horror films with budgets of $15 million and under, to be directed by new, young talent. 

Joan Cusack

Film, Stage, and Television Comedic Actress

Joan Cusack made her screen debut in “My Bodyguard” at age 15, and has starred in over fifty movies since, including “Sixteen Candles”, “Working Girl”, and “School of Rock”. Most recently, Cusack was the voice of Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl in “Toy Story 3” and portrayed Sheila Jackson in “Shameless”. Cusack received an Emmy nomination for her work on Shameless, and has also received two Academy Award® nominations. 

Zoe Damacela

Young Chicago Fashion Designer on the Cover of Seventeen Magazine - Oct 2011 

You just may have seen Zoe Damacela’s face before — on The Tyra Show years ago, but maybe more recently as the cover girl for the October 2011 Seventeen magazine. This Chicago native was once-upon-a-time homeless before turning her passion for fashion into her life. 

Sandra Day O’Connor

Former Supreme Court Justice

Sandra Day O’Connor (Retired), Associate Justice, was the first female member of the United States Supreme Court nominated by President Reagan. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. Prior to O’Connor’s appointment, she was an elected official in Arizona. Recently, O’Connor launched the iCivics initiative, created to offer free civics lesson plans and interactive videogames for middle and high school educators. She will be interviewed by Allison Cuddy of NPR.

Marc Ecko

Founder, Artists & Instigators, Very Successful Designer and Entrepreneur

Marc Eckō is an American serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Marc Eckō Enterprises, a billion-dollar full-scale global fashion and lifestyle company which includes *ecko Unltd, Eckored, Marc Ecko Cut & Sew, Zoo York, Complex Media Network, and Ecko Code. He is also founder of Artists & Instigators, a venture innovation company and a partner at A&I Ventures, a top performing early stage venture capital fund.. 

Tsi-tsi-ki Felix

Telemundo News Anchorwoman

Tsi-tsi-ki Félix is principal anchor of Telemundo Chicago’s flagship news broadcasts. She is the lead anchor for any and all breaking news, election coverage, and the 5pm and 10pm local news. Ms. Felix has tackled challenging issues facing Latinos today, from immigration to healthcare to education. She has also served as a national correspondent for Noticiero Telemundo, the national newscast and national news program. Ms. Felix’ anchoring and reporting has been recognized with numerous awards, among them, the Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement by a News Anchor”. She is a proud native of Michoacán, Mexico. 

Gordon Gill

Architect and One of the Top Authorities in the World on Large Sustainable Buildings

Chicago architect Gordon Gill has a holistic approach to design, creating positive energy buildings that work with their natural surroundings. His passion for contributing to the sustainability of cities has resulted in his firm’s design of the world’s first zero energy skyscraper in Guangzhou, China. Gill also spearheaded the greening of the Willis Tower – formerly the Sears Tower – with green roofing, an overhauled mechanical plant and the exploration of wind turbines as a viable energy source. 

Jullien Gordon

Young Entrepreneur Speaking About Motivation and Purpose

Jullien “PurposeFinder” Gordon is committed to helping Generation Y D.R.E.A.M. awake as the old American dream fades. D.R.E.A.M. means having one’s Desired Relationships Employment And Money. As CEO of the Department of Motivated Vehicles, he has spoken at 60+ colleges, written 5 books, and consulted companies on products for millennials. 

Daniel Hernandez

One of the Heroes Who Helped Save Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ Life

Daniel Hernandez had only been Representative Gabrielle Giffords’ intern for five days, when, Giffords was shot at a Saturday meet and greet in Arizona, and he is credited with saving her life. Hernandez is twenty years old and is dedicating his life to public service.  He Has been honored as an american hero by President and Mrs. Obama.

Pablos Holman

Futurist, IT Security Expert, Provocateur and One of the Worlds Top Hackers

Pablos Holman has tinkered around on space ship design with Jeff Bezos, and is a hacker-turned-IT security guru, He , excels in making and then breaking the technological rules of the 21st century. An inventor at Intellectual Ventures and Hacker at Komposite Inc., Holman brings practical use to what are at first thought of as crazy and impossible ideas.. 

Dean Kamen

Maybe the Top Inventor in the World

Dean Kamen is an innovator, but not just of things. He hopes to revolutionize attitudes, quality of life, and awareness. In addition to DEKA, one of Dean’s proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology. Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000 and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005. 

Chirinjeev Kathuria

Owned the MIR Space Station and Will Speak About Personal Space Travel

Fascinated with space exploration as a boy, Dr. Kathuria began PlanetSpace in 2005 as a private enterprise, both to revitalize public space travel and to subcontract cargo flights for NASA. Previously, he co-founded MirCorp and bought the Mir Space Station, which fueled his interest the space industry. Kathuria’s business experience includes successful public companies in telecommunications and medical Internet technology. 

Jerry Mitchell

MacArthur Prize Winning Journalist Who Got Klan Convictions 20 Years Later

Paul Nicklen

Award Winning National Geographic Polar Photographer

Paul Sereno

National Geographic Explorer in Residence and Top Dinosaur Hunter

Naperville native and National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Paul Sereno spends his life going where no one has gone before in pursuit of dinosaur fossils and groundbreaking scientific discovery. A professor of paleontology, evolution and human anatomy at the University of Chicago, Sereno digs up dinosaurs (on five continents and running) when he’s not in a classroom teaching. In 1999, Sereno founded nonprofit outreach organization Project Exploration which takes inner city kids on real dinosaur expeditions and teaches science. 

Nova Venerable

Young Poet From the Movie Louder than a Bomb

Novana graduated from Oak Park – River Forest High School where she was a member of Spoken Word club and participated in Louder Than A Bomb all four years of her high school career. Currently she will graduate from Smith College in May 2012 with a B.A in Psychology and a B.A in Spanish. 

Phil Zimbardo

Renowned Psychologist Speaking on
Heroes

Philip Zimbardo is one of the world’s most distinguished living psychologists, having served as President of the American Psychological Association. Best known for his controversial Stanford Prison Experiment, his current passion is The Heroic Imagination Project (HIP) – a non-profit dedicated to creating everyday heroes.