Youth TED Conferences

Quoted at TEDYouth: Rick Smolan, Ayanna Howard, Amy Cuddy

Posted by:

Teen reporters Sadie Cruz and Nia Ashley conducted lots of interviews with speakers throughout TEDYouth. Their Q&As will run on the TED Blog over the next few weeks. But for now, some of their favorite quotes:

“My dad was actually against me being a photographer. He was adamant that I not pursue photography. He thought it was a dead-end job, and that you took baby pictures and weddings. And now I actually do my friends’ babies and their weddings as my present to them … What amazes me is that you can have 10 different photographers in the same room and you see 10 different rooms. You realize how much of it is the person’s perspective, rather than the situation itself.” —Rick Smolan interviewed by Sadie Cruz

“I would tell [my teenage self] to wake up for class in the morning in college … I’m glad I learned [when I was young] that being different isn’t an impairment, that being smart and being black and female isn’t an oxymoron.” —Ayanna Howard interviewed by Nia Ashley

“I would never say to somebody, ‘Put on a façade, and go out and pretend to be someone else.’ The pretending is in private. It’s almost like you’re tricking yourself, not other people. And once you’ve tricked yourself for long enough, you can go out and authentically be this other person.” —Amy Cuddy interviewed by Sadie Cruz