{"id":191,"date":"2025-05-02T23:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T23:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.93.50.226\/sophie\/?page_id=191"},"modified":"2025-06-29T22:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T22:35:10","slug":"events","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/events\/","title":{"rendered":"Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>My TEDx journey<\/strong> began during my studies in the UK, when I volunteered behind the scenes at TEDxSurreyUniversity. The energy, the ideas, the sense of purpose, I was instantly hooked. I went on to lead the organizing team as President the following year. Later, while pursuing my Engineering Master\u2019s in France, I joined the founding team of TEDxIMTAtlantiqueBrest, launching two conferences before the pandemic hit. When I moved to Atlanta, I reached out to TEDx again. That led me to TEDxAtlanta, where I went from quietly observing planning meetings to leading the team as co-organiser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Over the years, TEDx has become a constant thread in my life. It\u2019s more than speakers and events, it\u2019s a global community of changemakers that gives me a sense of belonging, wherever I go.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3872\" height=\"2592\" src=\"https:\/\/sophiedesert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/26341038352_f869482d44_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-200\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video height=\"1080\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1920 \/ 1080;\" width=\"1920\" autoplay controls muted src=\"https:\/\/sophiedesert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MVI_70931.mov\"><\/video><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-system-font-font-family has-large-font-size\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/tedx\/events\/22510\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TEDxSurreyUniversity<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">As I was studying for my Physics Bachelors at the University of Surrey, one of my classmates, Rowan, who was also the operations manager for TEDxSurreyUniversity invited me to join the day-of volunteers for their upcoming conference. On eventday, I remember my responsibility being to mic up speakers before they went on stage\u2026 and ensuring to take it off once they left. Just being part of the magic of the day, the ideas being shared, the audience members arriving, the speakers getting ready, was mind blowing to me. I remained involved in the society for the rest of the academic year. Then came the time to elect the new committee, and no one was campaigning for president, so I did. And off I went, with my VP, finance leader, operations manager, partnership expert and production lead, for another year of TEDx.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-system-font-font-family has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/tedx\/events\/31539\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/tedx\/events\/31539\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TEDxIMTAtlantiqueBrest<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">After completing my Physics Bachelor&#8217;s in Guildford, UK, I moved back to France to pursue an Engineering Master\u2019s at IMT Atlantique (formerly T\u00e9l\u00e9com Bretagne) in Brest. Once settled, my first mission was clear: find the local TEDx organizers. That\u2019s how I met Nassym and Antoine, the co-organizers of the very first edition of TEDxIMTAtlantiqueBrest. I shared my experience with them, and they were immediately enthusiastic about bringing me on board. Together, we launched the first two conferences over the next two years\u2026 until COVID hit \u2014 but that\u2019s another story!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1519\" height=\"953\" src=\"https:\/\/sophiedesert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TEDxIMT-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-360\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:33px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignwide is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:55%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sophiedesert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TEDx.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:55%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-system-font-font-family has-large-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tedxatlanta.com\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.tedxatlanta.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TEDxAtlanta<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When I first arrived in Atlanta in October 2019, I felt the absence of something essential: community. How do you make friends in a new city, let alone a new country and continent, as a young professional? As a student, everything is designed to help you connect. There are clubs, societies, and endless events that make it easy to meet people. But once you&#8217;re in \u201cthe real world,\u201d that structure disappears. Are we just supposed to meet people at work? And that\u2019s it? At 23, during an internship, I decided to step outside my comfort zone. I reached out to Jacqui Chew, the licensee and lead organiser of TEDxAtlanta. We met for coffee and that conversation changed everything. I began attending TEDxAtlanta planning meetings, mostly as an observer at first. It was intimidating, but I was inspired. Then, just a few months later, the pandemic hit. Plans paused, and I returned to France in August 2020. When I moved back to Atlanta in February 2022, I reached out to Jacqui again, and jumped right back in. That year, I served as Head of Audience Experience for TEDxAtlantaWomen \u201cSoar\u201d in November, and again for TEDxAtlanta \u201cWe Rise\u201d in May 2023. I\u2019ve since stepped into the role of co-organiser for our next event: TEDxAtlanta 2025, themed \u201cThe Future We Create.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My TEDx journey began during my studies in the UK, when I volunteered behind the scenes at TEDxSurreyUniversity. The energy, the ideas, the sense of purpose, I was instantly hooked. I went on to lead the organizing team as President the following year. Later, while pursuing my Engineering Master\u2019s in France, I joined the founding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-191","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sophiedesert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}