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Adora Svitak          

Author, Speaker, Youth Advocate & Child Welfare Professional

Adora Svitak began delivering writing workshops at local schools after publishing a collection of short stories. Later, she began advocating for student voice at education conferences. In 2010, she delivered the speech “What Adults Can Learn from Kids” at TED. The speech has received more than 5 million views on TED.com alone, and been translated into more than 40 different languages.

Her passion for amplifying the voices of youth led her to organize a team of students to produce a TEDx event for youth, TEDxRedmond. Pacific Standard Magazine called Svitak one of the "30 Top Thinkers Under 30" and "an activist for feminism, liberal politics, and youth-oriented causes." In 2018, she graduated with a major in Development Studies and minors in South Asian Studies and Creative Writing from UC Berkeley. She currently works at the Wikimedia Foundation.

Svitak audiences have included leaders in education as well as the non-profit, corporate, and public service sectors (e.g., Mashable Social Good Summit, Google, Genentech, Keller Williams, Sun Microsystems, and the United Nations Economic and Social Council). Media outlets including NPR, CNBC, Pacific Standard, Mashable, and others have written about her work.

Speech Topics


Teaching Skills & Knowledge Beyond Curriculum

What Teachers Can Learn from Students

Investing in Youth

Benefit & Profit of Simply Doing Good

What Adults Can Learn from Youth

Millennials in the Global Economy

Think of "young people in the 21st century" and what comes to mind? For many people, probably a series of words (perhaps thanks to personal experience as well as pop culture) such as: heartless, apathetic, or "slacktivists." In this thought-provoking presentation, Adora Svitak powerfully demonstrates that young people transcend this dichotomy time and time again when they're given the chance to be represented and empowered. Providing examples of peers who are changing the global story, she emphasizes the necessity of youth voice from the classroom to the boardroom, and explains that the innovative spirit of young people may be our most precious natural resource.

News


8 Kids Who Are Really Winning at Life
Adora Svitak. Growing up in Redmond, Washington, Svitak was a prolific writer — she appeared on Good Morning America at age 7 for having written more than ...

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