Charlotte, NC — “Ideas worth spreading” is the slogan of the wildly popular TED.com conferences, and with that sentiment BlackGivesBack.com is pleased to premiere a new video, capturing a recent TEDx Talk on identity, epiphany and philanthropy.
On stage before a sold-out crowd of 500, Valaida Fullwood and Charles W. Thomas, author and photographer of Giving Back, co-presented at TEDxCharlotte 2013 on February 15. Charlotte’s third in a series of annual symposia was titled UNLIMITED: Ideas Take Shape and took place at Silver Hammer Studios.
“The TEDx program, an extension of TED's vision of ‘ideas worth spreading,’ offers people an incredible global platform from which to share their experience, vision, insight, research and of course, ideas,” says Candice Langston, chief organizer of TEDxCharlotte. While an initial focus on technology, entertainment and design produced the acronym TED, today the conferences feature far more topics and have spun off the TEDx brand of self-organized local forums.
Presenting in tag-team fashion, Fullwood opened with the statement: “Reframing portraits of philanthropy—that was my big idea six years ago.” She recounted her observations about mainstream philanthropy, her inspiration for Giving Back and her struggle to realize a long-envisioned dream to tell stories of black philanthropy.
“I was born a statistic. Black male. Single mom. Absent father,” began Thomas about a life of breaking frames. He spoke of the power of image and identity and of his resistance to preconceived limitations.
Mike Watson, the event’s host and emcee remarked, “What often is lacking in our daily conversations is authenticity, so many people talk but few genuinely communicate. However, this year at TEDxCharlotte, Valaida and Charles spoke with depth and passion, clarity and insight all the while engaging the audience in a genuine manner that needs to once again be a part of our daily social interaction.”
“Speaking at TEDxCharlotte was both exhausting and exhilarating,” said Fullwood when asked about the event. “It was exhausting because we had to dig up our rawest fears and memories and then craft a 15-minute speech about them. And it was exhilarating, because audience members seemed to connect with what we shared and were moved by it.”
Watch “A Picture Reframed” by Fullwood and Thomas, premiering here today.
Photo credit: Deborah Triplett Photography