5 TEDxFargo Speakers You Won't Want to Miss
Deborah Golden thinks differently. Wired for the unconventional, she transforms bold ideas into industry-shaping realities. As Deloitte’s Chief Innovation Officer, Deborah leads at the forefront of technological advancement, tackling challenges and crafting transformative solutions that empower organizations forward in a rapidly evolving world.
A lifelong pioneer, Deborah consistently redefines what’s possible through her unique ability to connect ideas, people, and technologies in unexpected ways. From her leadership in Deloitte’s Cyber & Strategic Risk and Cyber Strategic Growth Offering to her current work driving innovation across the marketplace, she thrives on turning disruption into demonstrable opportunity – creating value at every step of the way. Drawing on personal experiences of resilience, Deborah embraces adaptability and mental antifragility, inspiring others to harness change and complexity to create lasting impact.
Emmy-nominated Netflix stars and New York Times–bestselling authors Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus, and T.K. Coleman, known collectively as The Minimalists, “show their followers how to streamline their lives to find more happiness” (Good Morning America). With the “charm of their buddy-act, The Minimalists have become the minimalist movement’s American ringleaders” (New York Magazine).
These “sincere prophets of anti-consumerism” (The New Yorker) have been featured in Time, Architectural Digest, and GQ, and they have spoken at Harvard, Apple, and Google. The Minimalists Podcast, with more than 140 million downloads, is one of the most popular podcasts in the world.
Missy Heilman founded BIO Girls in 2013 and has served as CEO since. Before making it her full-time role in 2018, she spent 15 years in the tech industry as a consultant and marketing leader. Under her leadership, BIO Girls has grown from a local program impacting dozens of girls to a regional nonprofit serving thousands annually. She has scaled the organization through controlled growth and innovation while fostering a workplace culture of balance and family-first values.
A mom to three daughters and wife to Tom, Missy loves adventure with her family, traveling, mountain biking, running, Ironman triathlons, and hiking. She is also an avid fan of professional track and field, the MN Vikings, her kids’ activity and her cat, Harry. Missy was a four-time All-American in track at UND (’01), earning degrees in Exercise Science and Nutrition. As a recipient of an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, Missy completed an MBA degree from NDSU (’04).
Katie Chin, award-winning cookbook author, television chef, playwright, caterer and Culinary Ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, has a passion for Asian food and is committed to teaching the American public that the very best Asian cooking can be achieved in a real home kitchen by real people on real schedules.
After growing up working in the kitchens of her late mother Leeann Chin’s award-winning Minneapolis-area restaurants, Katie pursued a career in film and television marketing, but eventually left her executive position to return to her culinary roots.
Katie co-hosted the national PBS cooking series, Double Happiness, in conjunction with her mother and together they wrote Everyday Chinese Cooking. On her own, Katie wrote 300 Best Rice Cooker Recipes and the award-winning bestsellers Everyday Thai Cooking and Everyday Chinese Cookbook: 101 Delicious Recipes from My Mother’s Kitchen. Katie’s fifth cookbook, “Katie Chin’s Global Family Cookbook” was released in June 2021. She is recognized as a pan-Asian cooking expert and has been featured in many food and lifestyle magazines such as Forbes Magazine, Huffpost, O Magazine, Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, Elle, Real Simple, and Epicurious as well as The Wall Street Journal.
Katie chronicled her late mother Leeann’s remarkable story on PRI’s The World on NPR in May 2016. She was also a featured chef at the Sundance Film Festival in February 2017. Her numerous appearances on national television include The Kelly Clarkson Show, Live with Kelly & Ryan, The Today Show, The Real, Hallmark Channel, The Daily Buzz, Cooking Channel and as a guest judge on Food Network’s Iron Chef America. She has appeared as a chef contestant on Cutthroat Kitchen, Beat Bobby Flay, Supermarket Stakeout, Battle of the Decades and most recently on Chopped.
Originally from the badlands of North Dakota, Kelly is an EMMY-nominated cinematographer and critically-acclaimed filmmaker who is widely-recognized for his stylistic visuals and grounded storytelling within music and sports; ranging from a multi-season international music series to network sports programming.
In 2003, Kelly left film school (Denver) to pursue his dream in the arts, supporting himself as a Starbucks barista alongside a struggling musician (Isaac Slade) whose fledgling band, The Fray, was working to get traction. The two partnered to launch Filament Productions. A Denver-based production house, Filament developed and launched the National Geographic International television series MUSIC VOYAGER (Kelly directed and produced three seasons), created numerous advertising campaigns for international outdoor brands and produced documentaries for a number of major label recording artists. In 2013, Kelly was nominated for an EMMY for his cinematography on the NBC Ironman World Championships special. He’s currently on production on several multi-part documentary series in the music and sports world.
Kelly is also a former professional cyclist. During the 17 years he was racing, he won over 50 races as a professional and was ranked number two in the world in the (very) niche discipline of solo 24 hour mountain bike racing - which was just training for chasing his young twin boys around a backyard in Denver, where he and his award-winning journalist wife, Rachel, call home.
