Theme: NEXT

Xperience redefining conservation, empowered women, and joy with our eclectic, connective approach — all centered on you and the women who are dedicated to taking care of their communities and places. Entertain yourself with these powerful talks, enlightening in-person play breaks and discover dynamic connections. All three hours will be packed with Xperiences to ignite your imagination and Xpand your mind, propelling you towards intentional, impactful action.

TEDxVail NEXT brings together professionals, emerging leaders, STEM innovators, artists of all kinds, social justice advocates, business leaders, health and wellness professionals, policymakers, culture shapers, authors, and more — all united in the desire to navigate what’s next and work towards global progress. Make friends that will last a lifetime, connections that will help unlock your full potential, and become part of a community that believes in the power of possibility. TEDxVail NEXT embraces diverse voices and fresh ideas to inspire the next generation of changemakers. Possibility meets action. Reconnect with your local community by inspiring play breaks in the tech check, snack break, and post-event local call-to-action conversations exchanging wisdom learned while serving their communities and nature with your local leaders.

Learn more about how we take personal legacies of leadership forward. Outsmart the climate crisis by deep and active listening to the unique roles these women play in the climate movement. Discuss leadership, legacy and ways to make a lasting impact. Join us in shaping a future with boundless horizons and diverse perspectives working for a brighter, more just world.

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Vail, Colorado, 81657
United States

Ankita Shah

Executive Director of Bighnaharta Nepal

Ankita Shah is the Executive Director of Bighnaharta Nepal, a youth-led non-profit, she has led groundbreaking initiatives in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, community resilience and gender equity. A former advisor to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Shah contributed to key national policies advancing international diplomacy and launched innovative youth-focused initiatives including a digital platform, a fellowship program, and a campaign addressing brain drain. She also played a critical role in developing the BIPAD Disaster Information Management System, a comprehensive national platform that integrates disaster-related information and supports strategic emergency response planning. Shah's Crisis Management degree from Tribhuvan University has detailed vulnerability and risk assessments, particularly in earthquake-affected regions. As the Managing Director of AGRA Industries, she transforms agro-waste into eco-friendly products supporting Indigenous communities.

Athanasie Mukabizimungu

Founder, Imbereheza Gahunga

Athanasie Mukabizimungu is the Founder of Imbereheza Gahunga, a women-led cooperative in the foothills of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. Meaning “better future,” Imbereheza Gahunga partners with Wild Earth Allies to drive grassroots engagement benefiting people and endangered mountain gorillas. After experiencing the burden of collecting water miles from home, Athanasie began training cooperative members to build household rainwater harvest tanks. Serving thousands of people, this initiative improves health and sanitation, restores time for livelihood activities, increases school attendance, and reduces pressures on wildlife by protecting their habitat from human activity. Athanasie and Wild Earth Allies also launched a revolving loan fund to improve food security and introduced sewing and computer literacy programs to further enhance women’s livelihoods.

Casey Rogers

Philanthropic Advisor

Casey Rogers imagines a world where all can thrive and she has spent her 20+ year career advancing this idea through the philanthropic and social impact sectors. Casey has served as an advisor to nearly a dozen family foundations, particularly on including the next gen within family philanthropy. In partnership with Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Casey launched The Ellen Fund, which deployed $11 million to support global conservation efforts for endangered species. Casey served as an early thought partner to Zainab Salbi in the formation of Daughters for Earth, a fund and movement supporting women-led climate action, and Casey now serves as Chief Mobilizing Officer for Daughters for Earth. Casey believes deeply in the power of storytelling and co-produced the "Uncharitable," advocating for reforms in the charitable sector and based on the work of Dan Pallotta; consulted on Discovery's Ellen's Next Act, showcasing Ellen DeGeneres' efforts championing gorilla conservation.

Ceci Zak

Purposeful 3rd 3rd Advisor

A former Global Healthcare Executive, Ceci Zak has spent most of her life focused on mentoring, supporting and encouraging women to identify and reach their greatest potential. An inspiring, passionate and engaging problem solver, she has encountered many lifequakes that have helped her uncover and explore her authenticity, as well as redefine what she wants out of life. Gaining wisdom and knowledge on her odyssey has energized her passion and purpose, enhancing how she serves others. This has resulted in her quest to redefine the 3rd 3rd of life and help individuals transition and create their best years. Ceci has spent most of her career in large Corporate Enterprises, running muli-billion-dollar global businesses in pharmaceuticals and advertising. Gaining wisdom and knowledge on her own odyssey, she's energized her passion of redefinimg the 3rd 3rd of life creating her best years.

Isabella Cortes Lara

Co-founder and Executive Director of Women for Conservation

Isabella Cortes Lara, also known as ISAVIBE, is a renowned artist and activist. Isabella has been empowering women in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta through conservation initiatives, community projects, and public murals. Drawing from her Yanakona indigenous heritage from Cauca, Colombia, Isabella integrates ancestral wisdom with modern conservation efforts, focusing on environmental education, sustainable livelihoods, and family planning. She leads the 'Women Guardians' program, equipping indigenous and campesino women to protect Colombia's fragile paramo ecosystems. She has a hummingbird species, Eriocnemis isabellae, named after her. Beyond conservation, Isabella, as ISAVIBE, blends her indigenous roots with Latin urban, reggaetón, and folklore in her music, raising awareness about environmental and cultural preservation. Her song "Agüita de Páramo," composed for the Rana Chiva project, Her art and music are featured in murals, galleries, and nature reserves,

Jacqueline Farmer

Natural History Film maker, Director of the Nature Through Her Eyes

Jacqueline Farmer is a documentary filmmaker and the director of the Nature Through Her Eyes program with the VII Foundation, delivering women’s stories to global audiences and highlighting the vital role of women in environmental storytelling. Jacqueline has over 20 years experience as an executive producer and director of films for cinema, television, and IMAX. She is a partner at Saint Thomas Productions and an Advisory Council member of Jackson Wild. Kristina Obame is a Gabonese-American writer and producer based in Libreville, Gabon. In 2021, she founded Gaboma Multimedia & Production Studios, an independent TV and Film production company. Her work focuses on nature documentaries that explore the intersection of nature and culture, with a particular emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge systems can inform modern conservation practices.

Janet Nguyen

Senior Vice President of 100 Women Pathway, Planet Women

Janet Nguyen is passionate about helping women find their inner power and increase their impact in the critical work they do to care for the planet. She leads Planet Women’s 100 Women Pathway, which is designed to identify and elevate more women, especially women of color, into C-suite roles in the environmental space. Janet believes that by advocating for a new paradigm of leadership that is grounded in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, results for people and the planet will dramatically improve. Janet has extensive human resources leadership experience in the tech and conservation sectors. Most recently, Janet worked at Rare, a non-profit that helps communities adopt more sustainable behaviors and practices to protect and conserve natural resources. Janet earned a BA in psychology from James Madison University and an MA in HR management from Marymount University. She loves to travel and lives in Tysons, VA with her husband, three daughters, and a nervous rescue dog.

Kahea Pacheco

Co-Executive Director of Women’s Earth Alliance

Kahea Pacheco (Kanaka 'Ōiwi) is a passionate advocate for Indigenous people’s rights and climate justice that puts aloha ʻāina—love of the land—at the heart of solutions. She is a Co-Executive Director at Women’s Earth Alliance, a 19-year global initiative that empowers women’s leadership to protect the environment, end the climate crisis, and ensure a just, thriving world. In her work, Kahea often wonders, "As we face the climate crisis head-on, what role does Indigenous knowledge play in effectively building a sustainable future?" She believes the answer lies in rooting our solutions in the time-tested wisdom of those who came before us to create a future in which both people and the planet not only survive but flourish. “In ʻŌlelo Hawai’i, ʻāina is our word for land and means ‘that which feeds us.’ It was also the word my ancestors used for family. This reminds us that the natural world is alive—living, breathing, and nurturing us. Everything we see is a member of our family.”

Kayce Anderson

Ecologist, Humanitarian, Founder and Executive Director of For the Good

Kayce Anderson is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit “For the Good,” which works with communities in Kenya to help keep girls in school. Kayce has dedicated her life to working in the space between girls’ education and conservation. Born in Hinsdale, Illinois, Kayce grew up around the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. She received her bachelor’s degree in environmental, population, and organismic biology at the University of Colorado and her PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of California. In 2022 she received the George Norlin Award, which honors alumni of the University of Colorado at Boulder for distinguished lifetime achievement. She asks, "How can girls' education improve humanity’s well-being and our relationship with the planet?" She believes we need more women in the global south to be equipped and emboldened through education to drive their own lives and share in household decision-making.

Kristina Obame

FIlmmaker

Kristina is a Gabonese-American writer and producer based in Libreville, Gabon. In 2021, she founded Gaboma Multimedia & Production Studios, an independent TV and Film production company. Her work focuses on nature documentaries that explore the intersection of nature and culture, with a particular emphasis on how Indigenous knowledge systems can inform modern conservation practices. In 2023, Kristina wrote, produced, and directed a short documentary set in southwestern Gabon. The film follows a young gorilla tracker whose connection to the gorilla—a totem animal for him—reveals his community’s ancestral bond with the rainforest through the lens of their folklore. Kristina’s current slate of projects in development includes documentaries on topics such as historic wildlife translocations, archaeological expeditions, and human-wildlife conflict, reflecting her commitment to telling impactful stories that bridge science, culture, and conservation.

Nyaradzo Auxilia Hoto

Former Sargeant of the Akashinga in ZImbabwe

Nyaradzo Hoto grew up in Huyo village in Nyamakate, in the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe. From her humble beginnings as a ranger, she steadily climbed the ranks to become a Sergeant for the Akashinga—an all-female anti-poaching program of 900 women founded by Akashinga. Akashingas have reduced poaching of elephants and rhino by 80%. In 2022, Nyaradzo became the first Zimbabwean woman to be given the International Ranger Award by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Commission on Protected Areas, which recognizes outstanding rangers in wildlife conservation and protection. In 2023, Nyaradzo received her honors bachelor’s degree at Chinhoyi University of Technology in wildlife, ecology, and conservation in 2023. Today, Nyaradzo is the Biodiversity Supervisor of the Akashinga, focused on research and data analysis collected by Rangers, who are executing everyday patrols to evaluate and maintain wildlife and vegetation.

Rebecca Kormos

National Geographic Explorer, wildlife biologist, conservationist, activist, author

Rebecca Kormos is a wildlife biologist, primatologist, conservationist, writer, filmmaker, and National Geographic Explorer. In the early 1990s lived and worked in the Lopé National Park in Gabon studying primates for her PhD and helping to launch an ecotourism project. She completed the first nationwide survey of chimpanzees in Guinea in the mid-1990s. Rebecca then worked at the headquarters of World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International, helping to launch a new section of the IUCN Primate Specialist Group that focused specifically on Great Apes For the past decade, Rebecca has focused her research on the impacts of extractive industries and large hydroelectric dams on Great Apes through the creation of a new IUCN Task Force, and with Mamadou Saliou Diallo and Kalyanee Mam, created the documentary short film Cries of Our Ancestors. She is an award-winning author of a book about the intersection of women and nature, called, “Intertwined: Women, Nature, and Climate Justice.”

Sara Ines Lara

Indigenous Columbian Amazonian Artist & Co-founder and Executive Director of Women for Conservation

Sara Inés Lara, a visionary Colombian conservationist of Indigenous heritage, stands at the forefront of global efforts to protect our planet’s most vulnerable ecosystems. Born amidst the breathtaking landscapes of the Andes of Cauca, Sara's journey from civil engineer to trailblazing environmental leader spans over two decades of transformative impact. As the founder of Women for Conservation and Executive Director of Fundación ProAves, she has redefined conservation and asks, "How can we empower women to save nature through a holistic approach?"

Zainab Salbi

NGO founder of Women for Women International and Daughters for Earth

Zainab asks, "Can we afford more wars in the midst of the climate crisis?" Wars and climate change are often seen as two separate things dealt with by two different mindsets. However, as someone who has worked in both wars and the climate change space, she argues that the two are interconnected. We can’t address climate change without fundamentally revisiting our relationships to conflict and the impact of wars on climate change. Time 100 impact award! Check out her previous TED Talk.