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JUNE PREVIEW • ORLANDO
Entrepreneur, Activist Maya Penn to Present Her Ideas
Remarkable teen entrepreneur and activist Maya Penn’s TEDWomen Talk has been viewed more than 1,200,000 million times. She has already given three TED Talks, created her own ecofriendly fashion line, developed animated films, is an award-winning philanthropist, a girls’ rights and environmental activist, and an artist, coder, illustrator, and writer. This inspiring young woman will appear as an Auditorium Speaker on Saturday, June 25, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Penn is the CEO of Maya’s Ideas, a company she started in 2008 when she was just eight years old; 10-20 percent of the profits go to local and global charities and environmental organizations. Her nonprofit, Maya’s Ideas 4 The Planet, contributes to girls in developing countries. She helps girls pursue their passions in technology and STEM fields. “At four years old, my dad showed me how to take apart a computer and put it back together again. That started my love for technology,” she said. “I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a crayon. ... My mom taught me how to sew.”
Penn, who believes, “Ideas are opportunities and innovation. Ideas truly are what make the world go round,” has been featured in Forbes, Time, NPR, CNN, O Magazine, Essence, “The View,” “The Steve Harvey Show,” The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, Wired, Black Enterprise, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and many other publications. In her forthcoming inspirational handbook, You Got This! Unleash Your Awesomeness, Find Your Path, and Change Your World (April 2016, North Star Way), Penn shares her journey and provides a creative blueprint for teens and young adults, along with the tools she has used to build an authentic, exciting, successful, and connected life. Her appearance at the conference is sponsored by Simon & Schuster.
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Transgender Teen Author, Activist Jazz Jennings to Share Her Journey
Jazz Jennings, one of the youngest and most prominent voices in the national discussion about gender identity, will be an Auditorium Speaker on Monday, June 27, 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
At the age of five and with the support of her parents, Jennings transitioned to life as a girl. A year later, her first Barbara Walters interview aired, at a time when the public was much less knowledgeable or accepting of the transgender community. This groundbreaking interview was followed other high-profile interviews, a documentary, the launch of her YouTube channel, a picture book, and her own reality TV series – “I Am Jazz” – making her one of the most recognizable activists for transgender teens, children, and adults.
In her memoir, Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen, (June, 2016), Jennings reflects on these very public experiences and how they have helped shape mainstream attitudes toward the transgender community. She has faced challenges, bullying, discrimination, and rejection, yet perseveres as she educates others about her life as a transgender teen and learns to navigate the physical, social, and emotional upheavals of adolescence, Throughout, her family has supported her and stood against those who do not understand the true meaning of tolerance and unconditional love. Jennings, who hosts a series of videos about her life on YouTube, was named to Time magazine’s most influential teens list two years in a row, was one of The Huffington Post’s 14 most fearless teens, and was the youngest person ever featured on Out Magazine’s OUT100, as well as on The Advocate’s 40 under 40 list. In 2014, she was named a Human Rights Campaign Youth Ambassador and received LogoTV’s Youth Trailblazer Award.
Her appearance is sponsored by Random House Children’s Books.
Get more information and add this to your schedule now.
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