TED & What Are YOU Passionate About?

Last week, Mr. Mari and I took a break from our moving meyhem and drove down to Long Beach for the afternoon to hear our friend Barb speak from the Main Stage at TED. Go, Barb!

The first time I went to TED was in 2006. It was held in Monterey, CA and none of the talks were online. What struck me the most was that although I may not be interested in statistics or African aid as a career, someone else is - and passionately so! Boy howdy was I inspired! I left the conference thinking to myself, what was I passionate about? A few months later, I started my brownie company.

This year was no different. There were a bunch of interesting talks (building skyscrapers with wood to a 15-year old kid who designed an affordable and non-invasive cancer detector) but there was a lot about food! Obviously Barb’s, she spoke about umami; Jinsop Lee, an industrial designer, who combined candy flavoring and a toothbrush; Leyla Acaroglu, a sustainability strategist, talked about paper vs plastic bags (you’d be surprised by her answer) and hot water kettles; Ron Finley, an artist and renegade gardener, creates edible gardens in South Central LA; Wang Li, a mouth musician played a calabash flute!

Again - the inspiration, the wow, the ‘what the hell am I passionate about’ thoughts roller coastered through my brain. What are you passionate about? What revs you up and bolts you out of bed in the morning? Happy weekend, chewing on this (Get it? Chewing?)! See you back here on Monday!

(Video still of Barb Stuckey via Will True; all other images, except of me, by James Duncan Davidson)