“TEDx is about the video. The live stream video, the recorded video…this is what helps the speakers’ message spread. I can’t think of a better partner to help us bring this unique interactive experience to life than the State Farm Creative Services team." -- Doan Winkel, TEDxNormal organizer.

TEDxNormal

The town of Normal, Illinois welcomed 17 speakers from across the United States and Europe to share their TEDx messages. Topics ranged from education, to innovation, culture and art. The State Farm Creative Services team helped bring the TEDx talks to life. The crew set up the event, live streamed and recorded the presentations (both in 2-D and with 360 technology). 

Here's a sample of the TEDxNormal talks:

To view all 17 presentations, click here.

State Farm is a proud partner of TEDxNormal, supporting innovative thinking and community involvement. For more information about the event and the speakers, head to www.tedxnormal.com.

Davidds is the founder and CEO of the Latina Global Executive Leadership and Entrepreneur Institute (LGELP) at University of Southern California. It is a unique leadership training that addresses the sociocultural realities of today's emerging corporate Latina women leaders and helps them reach their full potential.

Offered by the Latina Leadership Institute (LLI), the LGELP is unlike other leadership development programs. It is taught by faculty scholars and practitioners with real-world insights to experiences professional Latinas face in the workplace

Dr. Davidds inspires women across the globe to take control of their lives, education and their dreams. These accomplishments and her continued work empowering women is why Davidds was honored on the Together stage as LA’s “Dream Achiever.”

“A ‘Dream Achiever’ is a woman who rejected the status quo and refocused her life to reflect her passion,” shared Michelle Hare from State Farm Marketing. “She is a woman who takes chances, follows her heart and believes in empowering others.”

Together is a six-city tour convening women across generations and backgrounds for six nights of storytelling focused on creating community, well-being, purpose and action. State Farm is a primary sponsor of the tour and will honor a Dream Achiever at each stop along the Together tour.

“The Together tour is about bringing women together to celebrate love, build community and take action. Through storytelling, Together aims to help people feel less alone in their lives,” said Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, who leads WME’s Literary Division and is producing the tour. “Our work with State Farm to honor Dream Achievers is the ultimate culmination of the Together mission. Dr. Davidds is inspiring and courageous -- a true example of what it means to live in your purpose and follow your dreams.”

More than 2,000 women gathered at the Pantages Theater for friendship, empowerment, and action. Core speakers included Glennon Doyle Melton, Seane Corn, Dr. Jacqui Lewis and Valarie Kaur, with celebrity guest appearances from Abby Wambach and Geena Rocero.

“Together is a movement bringing new ideas, influencers, and organizations together,” shared Hare. “Yasmin is the epitome of a Dream Achiever. She personifies what we hope for all the women attending the Together tour.”

That was just the walk to class. Once the door closed and Delilah was face-to-face with her peers, the up-close-and-personal bullying began. People made fun of the way Delilah dressed, talked and wore her hair. They punched, name-called and quickly contributed to her crumbling self-esteem.

On the days she could stand to stay in class, she was too distracted to focus. When the day seemed too much to face, Delilah pretended to be sick, missing days of school.

Soon, her grades tumbled, and she was failing her classes. Bullying was stealing more than Delilah’s confidence — it was stealing her education and her childhood.

Turning things around

At this point, Delilah needed a really good reason to keep going to school. She didn’t know it yet, but she needed to meet Ms. Edith Penny, a program coordinator with Communities In Schools of the Rocky Mount Region.

“That time was a really tough time for me…it was to a point where I didn’t want to come to school at all,” Delilah said. “I don’t know how I passed the sixth grade. I thank CIS for getting me past that.”

Identifying and removing barriers for students is part of the job for CIS. Students receive an individualized student support plan to target academic and non-academic barriers that are impacting attendance, behavior and coursework.

For Delilah, CIS stepped in to help with attendance and coursework. Ms. Penny helped Delilah in the classes she was failing, and got her removed from the bullying environment. Attendance was improving, and so were Delilah’s grades.

“The following year, everything was different. I was around a different group of students,” said Delilah Jones. “I was part of CIS.”

A new year, a brighter future

With her new support system, Delilah began to see a bright future she could call her own. CIS helped her explore different career opportunities and showed her college was a real option.

Today, she is a graduate of East Carolina University and walks down a different hallway as a confident young woman shaping the lives of today’s youth. Since February 2016, Delilah is a teacher’s assistant at Tar River Academy.

She works with students who have fallen behind in their coursework and are overcoming behavioral issues. Delilah knows they can reach their full potential — because she did.

“I have relationships with the students to the point they come to me when they have a problem or are having a bad day and just need someone to talk to,” she said.

As the middle school memories begin to fade, Delilah wants to be present in her students’ lives and help them get through the tough times. “I just remember Ms. Penny always being there.”

Delilah empathizes with today’s students who deal with cyberbullying. She has words of encouragement, “Know you’re not alone and you have a support system.”

“Across our state, you will find gaps where students lack access to the help they need to achieve their full potential,” said State Farm Sales Leader and Communities in Schools NC Board Member, Andy Shoffner. “State Farm is committed to closing this gap and has joined forces with CIS to expand to more low-performing schools. It is a wise investment.”

The word, and acronym, HOPE is a constant reminder of what matters most to Helen Iris Torres. HOPE, is the mentoring program she leads to empower and bring hope to California high school girls.

Since 2004, the Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) Youth Leadership Program (HYLP) has educated more than 3,000 young women to become leaders while encouraging them to go on to college. Helen is the executive director of HOPE.

Program participants receive financial literacy and civic engagement trainings tailored to their needs in an age-appropriate and culturally sensitive way.

HYLP participants conduct surveys of Latinas in their high schools. They share the findings with state legislators in more than 160 meetings annually. They talk about the challenges high school Latinas face in their communities. Challenges that deter them from attending college.

“One thing I learned from the HYLP was there are various resources to help me and my peers with the college process. Now I don’t have any fears about applying to college.” Says Alyssa Villegas, HYLP participant 2016.

HYLP participants also share survey results at youth town halls and with school board and community leaders in areas like Napa, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Fontana.

The HLYP takes on more than 300 high school-aged Latinas annually. Twenty-four of those Latinas participate in a targeted, six month program (Track 1). The rest (Track 2) convene during HOPE’s two largest conferences, HOPE Latina History Day and Latina Action Day at the state capitol in Sacramento.

“HYLP inspired me to pursue a higher education and become a role model. It opened my mentality to different career paths, such as the media and politics,” shared Evelyn Camacho, HYLP participant 2016. “I’m thankful I was a part of this program because I developed a broader thinking process and it taught me the tools needed to become an advocate in my community.”

More than 360 Latinas have participated in the intensive six-month leadership program. Nearly 90% of those have enrolled in college and 98% have graduated from high school. Participants credit the HYLP for motivating and encouraging them to pursue higher education.

This year the participants met with state elected officials and shared their findings on topics including teen driver safety and the dangers of texting and driving. With the help of State Farm, the young women provided current stats and research on both topics.

When someone hurts you, there are two choices: to hold on to that anger or embrace forgiveness and move forward with your life.

Looking at Bobby Petrocelli, you would never know a drunk driver crashed through his home, killing his wife and changing his life forever. Rather than choosing anger, Bobby chose to move forward with his life and embrace forgiveness.

Bobby didn't blame the driver. Instead, he asked what happened in their life that led them to numb their pain with alcohol.

As a high school teacher and coach, Bobby loves teaching youth. This passion inspired him to take his story to high schools, hoping to make a positive influence on students’ lives. At the schools, he shares his story, and hopes after hearing his experiences students will choose a safer path.

“We have all gone through struggles and have been in that place where it seems there is no way out,” says Josh Miles, senior in Saint Petersburg, Florida who has seen Bobby speak. “The answer is never to give up on ourselves, because we all have value and deserve equal opportunities. At the end of the day, our physical appearance doesn't define who we really are.”

After the crash, Bobby realized life is a constant, never-ending shift between successes and failures. We experience hardship both because of our faults and because of the faults of others.

"The greatest gift in this world is to serve others by helping them become who they are meant to be,” Bobby says about his presentations, that are supported by State Farm. “My desire is each student walks away with understanding and empowering their VIP."

“I try to accept everyone, no matter what,” shared Kevin Jimenez, senior at Hialeah Gardens High. “I believe we are all the same in one way or another. Unfortunately, I know a lot of people that don’t. I’ve been blessed to have a good past. Bobby made me feel better about how I think. I matter and so does everyone else.”

Bobby encourages people to use their life experiences to become stronger, more confident, more resilient individuals. The alternative, he says, is letting those experiences drain all their hope and energy. The choice is theirs. Through raising students’ awareness of this choice, Bobby is making a huge impact on student lives.

“By no means was it easy for Bobby to put someone that killed his wife behind him,” says Aundre Fredericks, ShoreCrest Prep School student. “He understood there's a lot of broken people, but that they need to know, as we all need a reminder, that we matter."

If there is one message Bobby and his students want you to walk away with, it is that even though you can’t choose whether or not bad things will happen in your life, you have complete control of how it affects you from that point on.

To see one of Bobby’s presentations, click here.