How Teen TED-Ed Speakers Meet Mentors Before They Take the Mic

It's happening right now.

Over 100 girls hailing from 19 U.S. states and 7 other countries - Canada, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey and the U.K. - are connecting with Être mentors from brands they love, universities they admire and organizations changing the world...

...and these connections mean everything.

Why?

Because every email sent, DM slid or zoom scheduled represents a question about to be asked. It marks the moment when a brave young speaker eyeing the TED-Ed mic summons her courage and clears her throat, ready to ask an expert for insight.

Oh, and the experts are complete rockstars.

Think Nobel Laureates (our third in as many years) and NASA astronauts, CEOs and seasoned athletes, Al founders, finance legends, media icons, artists and musicians,storytellers, changemakers and policy drivers. Leaders taking the time out of jam-packed schedules that include launching products, films and... well, actual rockets, to chat with the next generation.

By the way, the girls are busy too. At the end of August most pre-seasons have started for sports, college classes and some high schools are underway, and for the seniors in our midst the Common App has entered the chat.

Yet they are making the time for TED-Ed. In fact, many of the mentors engaged in Season 6 of Être TED-Ed were specifically requested by a teen speaker:

I'm writing about balancing art and STEM - do you think someone from Nike would talk to me?

My talk is about growing up with an invisible illness - I read Jamie-Lynn Sigler's book but do you think she'd answer a DM?

I'm writing about the pink tax - would the actor Gina Rodriguez have time for my talk?

I have questions about...um, actually asking questions - would Danielle Robay respond if we asked?

My research is getting kind of technical - could we reach out to women at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology or NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration?

Yes - a hundred times, YES. And everyone we asked said yes.

Women came out of the woodwork to share email addresses and clear calendars to make mentor matches happen. Nothing thrills me more, and even though this is our 6th season of TED-Ed, I am as awed as I was in our very first year.

So consider this an early thank you note to the execs at brands we love - we'll do a full list later when we release the show program, but for now catch 25 in the image above and know that everyone from Aerie by AEO, Inc. to Zibby Media (and every letter in between) has our gratitude.

Stay tuned for more mentor reveals - some are still under wraps but we're already over the moon.

And stay curious, like the Être TED-Ed speakers of Season 6. The questions they are asking have their mentors impressed and will have audiences roaring at the end of October.

Looking forward,

Illana

ÊXTRAS: Three more places to learn more about Être TED-Ed you won't want to miss: our library of past TED-Ed talks, our TED-Ed playlist on YouTube and last year's program of Talk titles and speakers! Bonus: Want to be a mentor next season? Sign up here.