Seattle native Olivia Krishnaswami to speak at TEDxBatesCollege

2014 Nov 4

Inspired by a phrase from the Bates College mission statement, eight Bates students, including Seattle's Olivia Krishnaswami, will address the concept of the "transformative power of our differences" in the college's first homegrown TED-style event at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, in Bates' Schaeffer Theatre.

Krishnaswami, a 2011 graduate of the Bush School, is a senior women and gender studies major. She was co-founder of a business, Sarifold, that empowers disadvantaged women in rural India by selling scarves that they make. Her TED talk will address the power of stories to shape behavior and culture, particularly around issues of race, gender and sexual trauma. She is the daughter of Rajan S. Krishnaswami of Seattle, Wash., and Isobel E. Davis, also of Seattle, Wash.

Developed in California 30 years ago, TED presentations are driven by short, engaging talks on trending themes. ("TED" stands for technology, entertainment and design.) Bates was the venue for a TEDxDirigo event in 2012, but TEDxBatesCollege is the first such program originated by members of the campus community.

"Every day, we see our classmates, professors and other members of the Bates community," says student organizer Michelle Pham, of Vancouver, British Columbia. "But you rarely get to know someone else's story. This is a great opportunity to hear those stories on a much deeper level."

Pham, a Bates senior, is organizing the event with Samreen Fatima, a junior from Karachi, Pakistan, and Daniel Oyolu, a senior from Houston.

Bates College adopted a new mission statement in 2010. Central to the four-sentence text are these words: "With ardor and devotion . . . we engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action."