Posts tagged Whitehorse

Michelle Phillips: ‘Journey with Dogs’

Bio: I was born and raised in Whitehorse Yukon. Growing up I spent I spent a lot of my time focusing on being a competitive figure skater. After high school I spent many years travelling the world. In my late twenties I met my partner, Ed Hopkins and started racing sled dogs. Together we run a kennel of 55 sled dogs, along with two golden retrievers, two cats and some fish. I have run six Yukon Quests and three Iditarods.

The speaker line-up

Here are the speakers and their talk titles for the inaugural TEDxWhitehorse:

• Heather Grantham, Co-founder, Girls Night Out in Faro
  Yukon girls - creating leaders through the power of awesomeness
  
• Dennis Embry, Ph.D., President and senior scientist at PAXIS Institute
  How are the children
  
• Keith Halliday, Whitehorse-based management consultant and writer
  An energy judo flip for the Yukon
  
• Andrea Simpson-Fowler, Owner at Leaping Feats Creative Danceworks
  Dancing through life
  
• Justin Ferbey, Chief Executive Officer at Carcross Tagish Management Corporation
  A century of breaking trail for socio-economic good
  
• Dr. Brendan Hanley, Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health
  A culture of risk
  
• Marilyn Jensen, First Nations governance and culture
  Transforming the “Self” in self-determination by reclaiming ceremony
  
• Judah Pollack, Expert in leadership development, innovation, and change management
  In defense of the liberal arts - the importance and power of narrative
  
• Greg Hare, Senior projects archaeologist with the Yukon government
  The leading edge: Yukon’s place in the developing world of glacial archeology
  
• Michelle Phillips, Dog musher
  Journey with Dogs 

NB. This is not the final running order for the speakers. We will post the program closer to the event.

Justin Ferbey: ‘Our First Nation story: Arrival, Survival, and Revival’

Bio: Justin was born and raised in the Yukon and is a citizen of the Carcross Tagish First Nation and is of Japanese and Tlingit/Tagish ancestry. Justin has been a fiscal advisor to federal negotiators in the British Columbia treaty process, the administrative head of a Yukon self-governing First Nation, and now the chief executive officer of an economic development corporation with the vision to improve socio-economic levels of a northern indigenous community by attempting to strengthen the area’s private sector economy. He holds a MBA from the University of Liverpool, a degree in neuroscience, and has specialized training in dispute resolution.

Andrea Simpson-Fowler: ‘Dancing through life’

Bio: Long time Yukoner and owner of the Yukon’s only commercial dance school, Leaping Feats, Andrea’s artistic direction in dance has forged a core path of providing dance education and pre-professional performance opportunities for generations of dancers, both young and old in multiple dance styles.

In addition, her work and encouragement has motivated dancers to form three non-profit dance organizations: Extremely Moving Youth Society, Breakdancing Yukon, and Northern Impact. Out of Breakdancing Yukon, came The Ground Works Sessions: 5 Bboys battling against crews from around the world and building a professional reputation. Andrea is the creative force that encourages, motivates, and inspires youth to celebrate and express with the body. Further to experiencing the positive effects of a dance practice, Andrea coordinates and manifests workshops in small communities as well as camps, festivals, and community programs. This groove extends dance skills to affect life skills by exposing young men and women to the transformative power of dance expression for raising confidence and esteem.

Andrea’s vision includes evoking self-direction in youth to take on the organization of their own events, mentoring, and social engagement that ultimately capitalizes on the benefits of dance to the benefits of being a participatory citizen.

Dr. Dennis Embry: ‘How are the children?’

Bio: Dr. Dennis Embry (president and senior scientist at PAXIS Institute in Tucson, AZ) is one of the leading prevention scientists of North America, having organized multiple population-level applications of these scientific breakthroughs in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Dr. Embry is both a scientist and social entrepreneur — with more than 50 major current projects across the United States and major projects in Manitoba and Alberta. 

Dr. Embry has a rare ability to make complex science clear and applicability to daily life, both visually and by language. His talks and papers weave anthropology, neuroscience, epigenetic discoveries, mathematics, behavioural science, economics, and public policy together for practical action. Some of these papers and presentations can be viewed at www.slideshare.net/drdennisembry. 

Dr. Embry is a co-investigator at Johns Hopkins Center for Prevention and Early Intervention, the University of Manitoba, the University of South Carolina, Promise Neighborhood Research Consortium, and emeritus National Research Advisory Council Senior Fellow in New Zealand.