TEDx is a grassroots initiative created in the spirit of TED’s overall mission to research and discover “ideas worth spreading.” Two of our associates have delivered TEDx talks including Sonya Dunbar who completed one last month and appeared on the Tamron Hall Show. She talked about her favorite subject, oral hygiene for seniors. Arthuretta Holmes Martin delivered one in 2016 on having survived whistle blowing.  

“I got involved with TEDx because I know my passion was worth sharing and I wanted a larger platform to bring awareness to senior’s oral health,” said Dunbar from her Jacksonville, FL home.” Dunbar says it took her four months of practicing her presentation five to six times a day before her event in Pleasant Grove, Texas.

Various groups organize TEDx events independently under a free license granted by TED, Technology, Entertainment, Design.  These events are organized by passionate individuals who seek to uncover new ideas and to share the latest research in their local areas that spark conversations in their communities. There are also TED-Ed talks on educational issues.

Holmes Martin explained that she was selected by the group licensed in Wilmington, Delaware after experiencing whistle blowing while a senior contracting officer at the IRS in Washington.  “It was three intensive months” of preparation for the talks, she says.

The following are their talks:

How To Save Our Seniors With Just A Simple Toothbrush | Sonya Dunbar | Pleasant Grove, TX

Sonya Dunbar is known as the “Geriatric Tooth Fairy” because of her passionate care for the oral hygiene of the nation’s greatest generation who reside in long-term care facilities

Dunbar on the Tamron Hall Show

Dunbar In Our Archives:
Book Reviews: Golden Nuggets for Life
A Love Not Returned from Golden Nuggets for Life

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Blowing the Whistle while Black | Arthuretta Holmes Martin | Wilmington, DE

Arthuretta Holmes of Metro Washington, DC describes the unique forces that face women of color when they blow the whistle -- telling her own story in the process.

Holmes Martin In Our Archives:  Integration and Busing’s Legacy – Lessons We Haven’t Learned