TEDxYerevan is back on stage for 2018 and the theme of TEDxYerevan 2018 is “The Otherness of Reality.”

The present hears the echoes of the past silence and is ready to speak up. This year, at TEDxYerevan, we will mostly showcase women and youth stories.

Even though women and youth around the world design and impact the future, they still go unheard and remain unseen most of the time.

The recent Velvet Revolution in Armenia was a great example of the impact, women and youth can have on our country.

That is why this year TEDxYerevan is inspired by the Velvet Revolution.

This time our speakers will share some of the most unheard stories and reflections of their own experiences of the Velvet Revolution and their visions of our future.

We are delighted to announce that TEDxYerevan 2018 will take place on September 16 at Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.

Meet the speakers:

Lena Nazaryan

Lena Nazaryan is a deputy of the RA National Assembly as a member of the Way Out Alliance. She is a member of a number of committees on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment. Previously Lena worked in different fields such as media, technology and civil rights in the framework of many INGOs. Lena is also an award-winning journalist. She studied at Yerevan State University and the Institute of Contemporary Art. She has an Associate Degree of Arts in the fields of History and Theory of Art, Art Criticism and Cultural Studies and a Master’s Degree in Journalism. Lena is a social and political activist, and she has spent her life advocating for civil rights education and human rights as well as engaging in anti-corruption activities. She dreams of making our country a better place for each and every citizen of Armenia.

Davit Petrosyan

Davit has graduated from Yerevan State University with a degree in political science. He is the co-founder of “For the Sake of Science Development” movement and has been actively participating in various campaigns to raise students’ voice. He was the leader of a group of students protesting against the law limiting democratic values in our society.

In February 2018, Davit started “Restart” project together with fellow students at YSU with a mission to solve vital issues of the university. His most impressive achievement is becoming the leader of students’ movement during the protest against the previous prime minister of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan.

Hranush Kharatyan

Hranush Kharatyan is a prominent cultural anthropologist and public figure. Born in the village of Jagir in Azerbaijan’s Shamkir District, Kharatyan graduated from Yerevan State University with a degree in history/ethnography. She obtained a Candidate of Sciences Degree from the USSR Institute of Ethnography (currently N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology) in 1979.
From 1979 to 1989 she worked as a researcher at the Institute for Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. In 1989-1992 she worked as a research fellow in the Ethnography Chair of History Department at YSU. She managed the same department from 1994 to 2000. In 1992-1993 she was the Deputy Mayor of Yerevan. In 2004-2008 Kharatyan headed the Department of National Minorities and Religious Affairs of the Armenian Government, which she resigned from in March 2008, demonstrating her disagreement with the events of March 1, 2008.
Since 2008, she heads the Applied Anthropology Research Group at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. Kharatyan has given lectures in various universities in Armenia and abroad. She is the author of over 90 scholarly publications, including over ten monographs.

Maria Titizian

Maria Titizian is the editor-in-chief of EVN Report, a digital online news magazine based in Yerevan. She is also a lecturer and a full-time faculty member at the American University of Armenia in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Previously, she worked as the managing editor of CivilNet TV and was an associate editor of the weekly newspaper, The Armenian Reporter. For many years she wrote for several Diaspora publications. Maria has also worked in the private as well as the NGO sectors of Armenia. She moved to Armenia in 2001 with her family from Canada. She is married, has two children and two grandchildren.

Anush Babajanyan

Armenian photographer Anush Babajanyan is a member of the VII Photo Agency, focusing her work on social narratives related to women, issues of minorities and the aftermath of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh among others.
In addition to working extensively in the Caucasus, she also continues to photograph in Turkey, the Middle East and West Africa. Much of Anush Babajanyan’s recent activity has been dedicated to peacebuilding processes between Armenia and Turkey. In 2016, she co-founded the #BridgingStories project that brought together young photographers from Turkey and Armenia in an effort to build peace between the two nations.
Anush is currently hand-making her book, The House of Culture, about the Soviet era culture houses of Armenia.
Before joining VII, Anush co-founded and was a member of women photographers’ collective 4Plus. Anush received a grant from the Open Society Foundation’s Documentary Photography Project in 2013 assisting her continuous work on the peacebuilding between Armenia and Turkey. Anush Babajanyan’s photography has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, Foreign Policy Magazine and various other international publications.

Gayane Abrahamyan (Host)

Gayane Abrahamyan is an award-winning journalist who is specialized in social, economic and political as well as human rights issues, mainly focusing on gender inequality, domestic violence, and women’s and children’s rights. In parallel with her journalistic activities aimed at raising awareness of current issues and conducting investigations, in recent years she decided to expand the scope of her activities – shifting from the journalistic field to the public sector. Here she formed “For Equal Rights” NGO, which works on issues like the rights of vulnerable groups, social justice, access to education and balanced development in a more consistent and systematized way.

The other project that was initiated by Gayane is entitled “# Article3” Club having in mind the third article of the Armenian Constitution referring to human dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Club is a platform for different stakeholders to voice out issues in the sphere of human rights, discuss and debate over them and find viable solutions.

Lara Tcholakian

Lara Tcholakian has been the Human Resources Department Manager of VivaCell-MTS since 2008. Prior to this role, she held the position of Regional Director for the Eurasia Partnership Foundation’s CRRC program, in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Before moving to Armenia from Canada with her husband in 2004, Lara’s professional experience included managing Canadian international development projects in Peru and Sri Lanka, in the areas of gender mainstreaming, conflict resolution, rural community development, water and sanitation with the World University Service of Canada. She has an MA in international development from l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne 1 (France), and an MA on Coaching and Consulting for Change from INSEAD (France). She is currently a PhD candidate at the Vrije University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) with the School of Business and Economics, researching on leadership management. Her biggest passion is raising her three children in Yerevan.

Sara Anjargolian

Sara Anjargolian, Esq. is co-founder & CEO of Impact Hub Yerevan. She is also a lawyer and multimedia journalist. Born in London, raised and educated in the U.S., Sara is currently living and working in Armenia. Through Impact Hub Yerevan, she focuses on empowering Armenia’s change makers and innovators to grow their social impact projects from idea to implementation to impact.

As a multimedia journalist, Sara’s work illuminates critical sociopolitical issues. Her work, which may be viewed at www.SaraAnjargolian.com, has been recognized and supported by the United Nations, Soros/Open Society Foundations, Fulbright, UCLA School of Art & Architecture (Make Art / Stop AIDS), Photophilanthropy, Fotoevidence, the Tufenkian Foundation and the Yerevan Press Association.

Sara graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Political Science/Public Policy and received a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall). During her legal career, she served as a trial lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, Associate Professor/Assistant Dean at the American University of Armenia Law Department and policy adviser to the Los Angeles City Attorney.

Marie Lou Papazian

Marie Lou Papazian is the CEO of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, a network of free-of-charge learning facilities where thousands of teenagers acquire skills in creative technologies from game development and coding to filmmaking and digital music. Marie Lou developed TUMO’s educational program and also led the design and construction of the center’s facilities. Prior to TUMO, Marie Lou founded the Education for Development Foundation where she led the "Three Pomegranates" project linking Armenian students to their global peers through web-based educational activities.
Previously, she was the lead construction manager for a number of high-rise residential and commercial buildings in New York City, including the Marriott Financial Center Hotel. Marie Lou holds a Master’s Degree in Computing in Education from the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York, as well as degrees in engineering and management from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and Université St. Joseph in Beirut. In addition to leading TUMO’s day to day operations, Marie Lou is currently spearheading new initiatives such as TUMO Studios, focusing on Armenian design and crafts, and expanding the network of TUMO centers throughout Armenia and beyond.

Arevik Anapiosyan

Arevik Anapiosyan has been the deputy minister of education since May 2018. Prior to joining the government, she has been running the Institute of Public Policy NGO as its executive director for more than four years. During her professional career she has been involved as an education consultant in a number of international projects performed by various international organizations including the Council of Europe, European Union, Save the Children, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung – Caucasus, Centre for Applied Policy and others. She is currently a visiting professor at the American University of Armenia and Yerevan State University Center for European Studies. Arevik is the author of lots of education policy-related research and has some articles on education innovation and development published internationally.

Anna Gevorgyan

Anna Gevorgyan is the advisor to the secretary of the security council. She is a member of a number of interagency committees and working groups on border security, security and civil society, regional security cooperation and so on. Previously Anna worked in the National Defense Research University of MoD and still is a part-time researcher at YSU center for civilization and cultural studies. She studied at Yerevan State University, has a master’s degree in oriental studies and is now working on her PhD thesis in Iranian studies. Anna was a visiting scholar at Arizona State University and is an active promoter of women’s rights and women’s empowerment. A mother of two sons she dreams about a prosperous Armenia developing in a peaceful region and a peaceful world. She believes that each of us must do his best to have a better country and safer world for us and for our children.

Serob Khachatryan

Serob Khachatryan was born and raised in Gyumri, Armenia. He is a graduate of Yerevan State University, Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology. After working as a translator, journalist, editor, education expert, project coordinator and director, he has realized that he is most excited when he works with children in Armenian villages sponsored by Children of Armenia Fund (COAF). He now spends most of his work week in the villages, working with children and teachers. Serob is an author of several textbooks and books. He has two sons, who love playing chess.

Ktor m’ yerkinq

“Ktor m’ yerkinq” band was formed in summer, 2016. The members are Arevik and Astghik, who are sisters and have been singing together since early childhood. The band performs Armenian folk music as well as songs of different writer-performers from different regions of Armenia, accompanied by a guitar. In 2016 they also joined “Van” folk ensemble.

FairWind

FairWind was founded in August of 2007 by Vardges Hoveyan, Mkrtich Calajian, Aleksan Arshamyan and Tigran Khachtryan . FairWind plays different kinds of music ranging from various types of rock to reggae and ska. Having dozens of original songs in Armenian, during their famous energetic concerts the band usually performs covers of other bands famous worldwide. FairWind is having concerts not only in Yerevan but also in various regions of Armenia and Artsakh to perform for those who are not able to attend concerts in the capital. The band has also participated in many charitable concerts and festivals organized in various cities of Armenia and Artsakh.
Four of their famous songs (Kapuyt Yerkinq, Metserin, Ynkerner, Sirum Enq) were recorded in 2008 in Vibrographus Studio. Later the band started to record and release their songs in other studios based in Yerevan.