Director, TED Fellows Program | Writer | Building the human infrastructure for what comes next
About
For the past decade, I’ve led the TED Fellows program, identifying and supporting over 500 remarkable innovators, activists, artists, and scientists across 100+ countries whose work reaches more than 250 million people every year. I find extraordinary people early in their trajectories, help them tell their stories on one of the world’s biggest stages, and connect them to a global community that amplifies their impact for the rest of their careers. My background in experimental theater and visual art — including founding Door 10 performance lab and receiving Princess Grace Awards — shapes how I think about systems, relationships, and the design of transformative experiences.
Right now, I’m focused on a question I believe is one of the most important of our time: as AI reshapes the workforce, how do we build the human infrastructure — the networks, skills, and communities — that help people not just survive, but create meaningful, sustainable careers and lives? I believe fellowship programs hold a significant part of the answer. I’m convening fellowship leaders, researchers, and funders to build the evidence base and design collaborative infrastructure for the sector.
What I’m Working On
The future of fellowship. I’m exploring how fellowship organizations might work together to respond to AI-era workforce disruption — sharing infrastructure, creating pathways for displaced workers, and building the evidence base for how fellowship models create economic mobility and community. I’m currently convening leaders across the fellowship sector to design what this could look like in practice.
The economics of networks. Research increasingly shows that cross-class network access is one of the strongest predictors of economic mobility. I’ve spent a decade watching this happen in practice through TED Fellows — seeing how access to the right rooms, relationships, and communities changes people’s trajectories in ways that go far beyond a single job or grant. I’m now working to connect that lived experience to the research.
Writing. Personal essays on risk, creative practice, and what a decade of building a global fellowship teaches you about human potential. Early days — more coming soon.
Impact at a Glance
539
TED Fellows
250M+
people reached annually by Fellows’ work
100+
countries
475M+
TED Talk views from Fellows
234
businesses launched by Fellows
“The TED Fellows program has both consciously and subconsciously given me the confidence — and playbook — to build multiple institutions, startups, and communities of my own.
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