We were honored to take part in celebrating this year’s TEDx held by IMT Dubai at their local campus. The theme being a humble ‘Where Magic Happens” gave room for inspiration in all its shapes and forms. While some referred to the magic around them, most gave us the same conclusion, that the Magic lives ‘within us’. Carol Talbot; Amazon’s best-selling author ended her session with the bold statement ‘the magic is in you’ as she discussed energies, and how any change or growth must come from one’s belief in themselves.
This is the third season the student onion has organized, inviting key speakers from around the region to attend and share their stories.
It was proven that magic has no color, age, sex or race as we listened to a 17-year-old from India who stands as the most advanced human calculator out there, breaking records on a weekly basis.
Leaving the audience in awe, Bhanu Prakash displayed his talent on multiple levels. If you don’t believe us check out the video below!
He helps others seek out their talent by conducting courses and training sessions in learning institutes in India. Discovering his own talent by circumstance, so to say, while recovering from a harsh accident, and having to recuperate at home, he would count sheep to try and sleep, and there the magic was discovered.
Magic has many shapes and forms, but moving on from Bhanu’s story we can see that inspiration may also come from the innocence of children. That was Nitin Sharma’s inspiration. The Director of Marketing Strategy at UAE Exchange barely spoke of the world of finance, and instead focused on his daughter. He delved into the simplicity and purity she represented and how she changed his perspective on life once he had her.
He shared videos of her dancing to what she thought to be music, but in reality it was just the banging of movers on the floor above. Yet, in her perspective, these were just notes brought together to complement the moves she had come up with. It was surprising to see a man that had spent his entire career working for major companies address his 30 minutes to a little girl that couldn’t be older than five, instead of teaching us how to grow in the industries in which lie his expertise. Yet, refreshing nonetheless. He left us inspired; letting us in on his secret of appreciating the little things, weigh out the positives before the negatives and always try to look at life without worrying too much.
The event continued with stories from Noor Shamma who discussed the ‘Art of Giving’ and to always uphold a smile, as it is the smallest gift you can give a stranger, to the larger picture of financial aid and giving up your time for others. She glanced across several examples on how social media and technology have created a divide; how people are too busy for one another and how it is up to you to make the change. Yet, once again the magic lies within you; the need to change from within, and that we can only be treated the way we treat others.
Essa Al Ansari, a young Emirati man took us on a journey of how he lost more than 70 kilos, changing his life forever. He discussed obesity in the UAE with it standing as the 22nd most affected country in the world. He described the progression of his trials and tribulations over the years and how his health started to deteriorate, not even being able to walk in the mall in his late teens as the effort required felt exhausting.
Now competing and representing the UAE in his first Iron Man, he has become an inspirational speaker changing his life around, focused on not competing for the prize but the consistency of breaking barriers he faces. He has spoken on various platforms with this being his first TED talk, he is a man with a vision of educating and inspiring others through the message of ‘no matter how much you feel you can’t do, anyone can if they put their mind to it!’
Maryam Matar, an advocate for women everywhere, and a specialist in genetic diseases spoke with pride of the UAE, as well as discussing her hardships as a woman. It is a special kind of feeling when you see an Arab woman succeed. It is uplifting as she has been able to change laws for generations to come, and better her entire nation because she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Matar is responsible for insuring millions of free health tests around the UAE, becoming the first woman to become an Emirati Director General in Dubai’s Government as well as the first to be appointed Under Secretary of the Ministry of Health. In case that isn’t enough, she has recently been listed as one of the 20 most influential woman in science in the Islamic world.
Her stories span wide, but with the key message of not giving up on your dream. She is also an advocate on changing the law, that the father’s name doesn’t have to be the last name, to incorporate the mother’s name as well. Paying homage to women and mothers being just as important as the stream of men or ‘gentlemen’ as she likes to put it, that live in our lives.
Durjoy Datta, an author of many best-selling books spoke passionately about finding the ‘magic in you’. He spoke metaphorically of us being Hermione Granger and that we need to find the Hogwarts in us. We all have the capability to become a witch or a wizard, all we need to do is find the magic. He stressed that ‘he wasn’t a writer; he was just a reader’. Speaking of his background, he mentioned his past of a 9 to 5 job and how he successfully broke out of the monotony to become the so called wizard he was meant to be.
The last, but not the least, Jarrett Martin, one of the most inspiring people you will ever meet, spoke of his terrible accident. Paralysed from the chest down following that, it did not sour his passion for skydiving and he currently works for Skydive Dubai. Suffering severe injuries at the age of 18, he feels lucky today that he can keep living his dream of skydiving and have no regrets whatsoever. His perseverance and tenacity was truly something. He shared a video of his skydiving routine form a plane, to end his talk, and it wowed everyone in the room.
WE SAID THIS: The day left us truly inspired, lifting our spirits and making that big picture just a little clearer. TEDxIMT maintains itself as one of the most rewarding experiences, leaving us all feeling a little more magical inside.