Putting more diversity in stock photography
How do images in advertising – or the lack of them – influence our perceptions of diversity? In this revelatory talk, Karen Okonkwo shows us the hidden power of stock photography to shape culture. She explains why seeing people who look like us is critically important to engendering inclusivity and greater empathy in our world.
Karen is a first-generation Nigerian-American who was an avid blogger in college. She struggled to find stock photos that represented the diversity she saw in everyday life. In 2016, she co-founded TONL, a stock photography company, to provide access to beautiful, real-world images of individuals of diverse ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, body types, sexual orientations, genders, and ages. The company complements some of the images with personal narratives of the subjects. Their goal is to create a deeper understanding of the cultural context for people choosing pictures.
Karen has founded various companies and continues to support and encourage inclusive diversity through her businesses and volunteer efforts. She’s passionate about being a voice for the voiceless.
Karen Okonkwo is a Nigerian-American social entrepreneur based in Seattle. She became an avid blogger in 2013 while in college. However, she struggled to find photos that represented the existing diversity she saw in real life around her. Her experience and concern with the disparity of image diversity in the online world impassioned her to provide what the web has been missing. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Blue jeans or blue water? Fashion powering conservation around the world
Most people don't link high fashion with the conservation movement but Ava Holmes founded Fashion for Conservation (FFC) to do exactly that.
Ava and her team of industry-leading fashion professionals and her colleagues in the conservation movement have been raising awareness as well as funds by producing wildlife-inspired fashion campaigns and hosting events at Fashion Weeks around the world such as Elephantasia, a campaign to help protect African elephants, And now Elephantasia can be seen as part of TEDxSeattle in the first fashion show included in a TEDx talk. Inspired by her film producer mother and by her father, an instructor in outdoor survival skills, Ava grew up with a deep love of nature as well as beautiful art. A noted producer, Holmes’ career in fashion has always been influenced by her connection to nature, so combining her interests in fashion and conservation became an obvious choice. Eschewing traditional fashion production because of its excessive waste, Holmes decided fashion should be the solution to its own problem and created Fashion for Conservation. It’s working. Her nature-inspired approach to fashion is featured on the catwalk in fashion weeks worldwide as well as in mainstream media, reaching non-traditional audiences with a message of conservation. Fashion for Conservation now funds a variety of innovative conservation projects in threatened ecosystems around the world.
Creating purposeful wonder
Inspired by the view through his first telescope of a fuzzy, but awe-inducing glimpse of Saturn, entrepreneur Jim Haven was spellbound by wonder.
He is now creating ways to discover and share that sense of wonder with others. Haven’s message to all of us is look up and wonder. A lifelong daydreamer and former advertising creative, Jim learned from some of the most creative people in the business before forming a creative agency in Seattle and London. It was this relationship with creativity that inspired him to change careers and a chance encounter with Saturn that has sparked his present endeavor. Jim has turned his focus skyward, co-founding Look Up where he serves as Wondernaut and Executive Director. Look Up explores the power of wonder through art, science, and space. The organization is creating collaborative experiences designed to incite wonder.