Être TED-Ed One Month Out: Meet Our 2025 Speakers & Topics

Sep 15

We’re one month out and the excitement is building...

Because while the Emmy’s might have been last night, Être’s eyes are on October 19th when close to 60 girls from 15 U.S. states and 7 countries will pick up their own mics and take the TED-Ed stage.

Two questions I get most often are: Who are this year’s speakers and What are their topics?

To answer both at once, see the list of speakers and their talk titles below. But first…click the video below and get a lightning-fast look at Être TED-Ed as we step into Season 5!

Now, meet the global class of 2025 Être TED-Ed speakers (alphabetical by first name, extraordinary from A to Z):

Aadya (Texas) - Why We Need AI-Optimized Education, But Not AI Teachers
Allison (California) - Why Do I Play the Harp?
Aminakhon (New York) - See It With Me: Brain Computer Interfaces and Restoring Sight to the Blind
Anastasia (Texas) - Ode to My Afro: Big Hair and Big Dreams
Anvika (Texas) - Deal Me In: Playing the Hand of Politics
April (New Jersey) - Storytelling as Modern-Day Medicine
Asmi (New Jersey) - How Models and Role Models Are Breaking Societal Stereotypes
Auyona (New Jersey) - Imposter Syndrome and Being Underestimated
Ava (New Jersey) - Resilience in Silence: Amplifying Deaf Awareness
Cacelie (Connecticut) - If Learning Is for Everyone, Why Isn’t Education?
Cherie (Illinois) - Building a Green Economy with Youth-Powered Policy
Desiree (New Jersey) - AP Language and Composition: Cultivating Creativity or Crushing Curiosity?
Donya (Arizona) - Taking Aim and Thriving as a Student Athlete
Eesha (New Jersey) - The Subtle Art of Being in the Right Place at the Right Time
Elisa (New Jersey) - How Women Have Overcome Challenges to Revolutionize the Music Industry
Elsa (Connecticut) – How Social Media is Shaping Political Opinions by Spreading Information... and Misinformation
Fátima (Guatemala) - Engineering Our Future: Helping Latina Girls Build STEM Dreams
Gianna (New Jersey) - Driving My Future: Learning From the Women in F-1
Guneet (Canada) - Breaking the Stigma: Why Mental Health Deserves the Same Care as Physical Health
Hadley (North Carolina) - Good Grief: Managing to Stay Afloat as a Teen
Hannah (New York) - Empathy Isn't Fragility, It's Empowering
Hena (New Jersey) - Comparison Culture and Teenage Health Today
Katelyn (Canada) - Why Science, from AI to the Environment, is Deeply Human
Laura (Brazil) - Does Exposure to Media Encourage or Alienate Leadership in Girls?
Lourdes (Guatemala) - Why Theater Needs People and People Need Theater
Luisa (Guatemala) - The Butterfly Effect of a Latina in STEM: How Empowering One Girl Helps a Community Take Flight
Madison (Maryland) - Barbie's Role
Maeve (New Jersey) - The Allergy Experience: A Teen's Perspective
Magnolia (New Jersey) - How Startups Actually...Start
Marcela (Guatemala) - Why Mentors Matter in STEM More Than Ever
Maria (Guatemala) - Leading Through Loss: How Grief Shapes Extraordinary Leaders
Mariam (Virginia) - Hidden Leadership in Plain Sight
Mariandré (Guatemala) - Beyond Sales: How Marketing Shapes Society… for Good
Mary (Texas) - Why We Must Redesign the Education System, Not Just Survive It
Maryam (Pakistan) - How a Glass of Water Can Save the World for Girls
Maya (New Jersey) - The Silent Struggle: Mental Health in Sports
Milagros (Argentina) - Starting Early in Salta: How Students Can Expand Their Minds
My Anhm (New York) - The Culture of Pop-Ups and Why They're Popping Up Everywhere
Naomi (New York) - Courtroom Experience and Cycles of Incarceration
Nitya (India) - Bet on Your Mindset: It's the Key to a Meaningful Life
Nmrah (India) - Precision in the Cosmos: Designing for Earth, Discovering Beyond
Olivia (New Jersey) - Why Activism is Trending
Patricia (New York) - Why Feminist Voices Should Exist in Politics
Paula (Guatemala) - Beyond the Stage of Being a Princess
Prisha (Arizona) - Helping Research Reach Higher: A Little AI Can Solve Big Problems
Priyanshi (Georgia) - Too Many Options: How to Combat Choice Paralysis
Rhea (New Jersey) - How Women Uplift Economies
Saanvi (California) - The Globe is My Bucket List: The Call to Explore
Sammie (Indiana) - All the World's a Stage: Embracing Life’s Acts and the Parts We Play
Sharika (New Jersey) - Women, Cardiac Arrest and the Simple Fix that Could Save Lives
Sydnie (Maryland) - Stop Performing and Start Being
Tabassum (New York) - We Are What We Remember
Tanya (New Jersey) - Messy, Bold & Brilliant: The Power of Imperfect Girls
Tucker (Massachusetts) - Time Out: The Misconception of Disobedience
Viva (California) - The Never-Ending Balance of Love and Hate
Vivian (Georgia) - Why Being Short Can Make You Stand Taller
Zoey (South Carolina) - Poor at Birth, Poor for Life: Is the American Dream a Lie?

While these staggeringly impressive topics sink in, I’ll answer a last question that may be bubbling up in your mind: who is mentoring these speakers?

Think Nobel Laureates like Claudia Goldin, leaders like Sheryl Sandberg and Haben Girma, sport role models like Hannah O’Flynn and Stef Strack, CEOs like Michelle Kelly, Jenny Just and Emily Hikade, playwrights like Kimberly Belflower, STEM champions like Quincy Brown, Nicole Small and Tere Riley, execs like Stacy Lilien, Krista Berger, Faith Brown and Kate Kelly, authors like Brittany Barnett, Katica Roy, Mireille Harper and Rebecca Winthrop, journalists like Kristen Cluthe and Michaela Pereira, and founders like Marina Khidekel and Shai Eisenman.

There are many more still advising final drafts (think BFF mentors at companies like Hello Sunshine, All in Together and The Geena Davis Institute, new friends at Formula 1 and The Golden Globe Foundation, and a rockstar we can’t name yet), and as girls start rehearsing with experts like Beth O’Connell and Corey Ruzicano, the best is yet to come.

Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes clips and backstage comments from speakers and keep watching here as new mentors are featured. Know someone who’d like to give or mentor a TED-Ed talk in 2026? Our waitlist is already filling up – DM me here to participate next year!

Looking forward with thanks to every mentor and awe for every speaker,

Illana