Current students, alums and faculty members disentangled their life stories on stage in the Metcalf Auditorium at RISD.
2025 TEDxRISD Speakers Discuss Their Personal Recipes for Success
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What ingredients make up your story? What has been the secret recipe to your success? What makes you who you are? These questions set the stage for the third annual TEDxRISD event in the RISD Auditorium, where speakers gathered in early March to serve food for thought about the different ways they have made an impact in their communities.
Organized by co-presidents Juhi Nagpal 25 FAV and Julian Rodriguez 26 FD, this year’s event featured talks by students Valerie Mirra 25 PT, Gresh Chapman 25 ID and Isaiah “Prophet” Raines 25 SC; RISD faculty members Angelo Baca (Diné/Hopi) and Michelle Charest; and alum and RISD Trustee Ryan Cunningham 02 FAV, who formerly taught in the Film/Animation/Video department.
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“The speakers took this year’s theme of ‘recipe’ and brought our vision for the event to life with their own individual flavors,” says Rodriguez. “They took us and the audience out of our comfort zones, questioning the world around us in ways that make us better-informed citizens.” Nagpal added, “This event would not have happened without all the hard work the speakers put into their talks and the many hours of work the TEDxRISD team put into making this event a reality.”
The event began with Chapman, who spoke about his journey making a 30-year-old Japanese car more sustainable through maintenance, ecology and aerodynamics. Working to make the car more carbon neutral, Chapman used vegetable oil sourced from RISD Dining instead of diesel fuel. “Take something you live with—your bike, your jacket, your kitchen sink—and make it better,” he advised the crowd. “Choose creativity over convenience. Foster it, and make it last a lifetime.”
“Be proud of where you come from...You and your city have a culture and identity.”
Baca followed up by discussing Indigenous intellectual property and artificial intelligence’s effect on Native American communities. He shared examples of cultural appropriation in the age of AI, such as apparel companies using Navajo patterns, names and images without consent.
“We are all protectors of our stories, our cultures, our images, our voices,” he said. “As makers, creators, designers and artists, we have to be careful of what we do and understand that Indigenous intellectual property should be respected and protected. A Navajo philosophical phrase we say is ‘T'áá hwó ají t'éego,’ which means ‘It’s up to you.’”
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Anthropologist, archeologist and textile artist Charest is also focused on promoting Indigenous rights and awareness among non-Indigenous populations, and she specializes in traditional, Indigenous and historic ways of making. She discussed how family traditions and foraging for dandelions mixed with a dose of childhood exploration helped her create a colorful plan for the future.
Mirra, a Painting major, says her recipe includes travel and plein air painting, which helps her to empathize with surrounding landscapes, something she views as vital to conservation. “Plein air is one way I have truly learned to love land,” she said, “even when it’s hostile, dangerous or desolate. Plein air can be inconvenient, uncomfortable. But it always requires that magical and fleeting thing: my attention.”
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Emmy-nominated TV producer Cunningham—known for her work on Broad City, Search Party and Inside Amy Schumer—spoke about how neurodivergent storytelling and comedy are her secret ingredients for empathy. She opened her talk with a story about her daughter’s speech delay and eventual diagnosis of level 2 Autism Spectrum Disorder. At two years old, her speech started to improve when they watched movies together and spoke about their feelings. Cunningham said she watched in awe as her daughter began to flourish. “I’m lucky she’s my child,” she said. “She makes me a better storyteller. The world is a lot more fun when we stop pretending that we’re all the same.”
Prophet closed the night by discussing his painful experience with gentrification and artwashing (using art to legitimize gentrification) in his hometown of Fall River, MA. His main goal is to protect the place he calls home. “Don’t tell new people about your favorite spots, or they’ll raise the prices,” he said. “Be proud of where you come from. Blast your music. Wear your clothes. Talk how you talk. You and your city have a culture and identity.”
Kaylee Pugliese / Images courtesy TEDxRISD
March 17, 2025
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