6 People to Look Out for at TEDxSydney

Yve Blake – Blake’s musical FANGIRLS has all the ingredients to launch the writer, comedian and composer fully into the limelight: think love stories, boybands, and a wry look at the way teenage girls really are. Always on form, she commanded insanely good reviews for her ‘one-woman musical comedy show’ Lie Detector and has sold out shows all over the world. Catch her now before she takes off (in more ways than one).

Eddie Jaku – How could somebody go from surviving one of the worst events the world has ever seen to being ‘the happiest man in the world’? Eddie Jaku will tell you. The remarkable 99-year-old made a vow to smile every day after surviving the Holocaust and continues to spread his stirring message of love and goodwill. Not to be missed.  

David Wenham – Proving it’s not all thought leaders and tech gurus that make up TED events, Wenham will lend an air of celebrity to this year’s get-together. One of Australia’s biggest stars, the Sydney-born actor has long inspired viewers to say ‘ahhh look it’s that guy’ by appearing in everything from Hollywood blockbusters (Lord of the Rings, 300) to classic homegrown dramas (SeaChange).

Bridget Loudon – A one-time ‘Forbes 30 Under 30’ listee, entrepreneur Loudon is an advocate for using technology to reshape working life, having founded online labour marketplace Expert360 in 2013. Since then the company, which matches businesses with freelancers for short- and long-term projects, has grown rapidly, raising millions in capital and attracting clients such as Virgin Australia and Uber.

Behrouz Boochani – If anyone has a story to tell, it’s this guy. Held in Manus Island Detention Centre since arriving as an asylum seeker from Iran (via boat from Indonesia) in 2013, Boochani is a Kurdish human-rights activist who’s written about his experiences for many papers and news sites, and most recently picked up a wealth of awards for his hard-hitting memoir, No Friend but the Mountains.

Tom Nash – DJ and producer Nash lost his hands and legs to a near-fatal disease at 19, but has fought against every kind of adversity since to rebuild his life - and his chosen career. His approach has been to view his physical impairments as problems like any other, with solutions to be found through thought and experiment. Inspirational.