As Mother’s Day approaches, we wanted to take some time to celebrate mothers – and women – through the TEDx lens. In fact, that’s the inspiration behind TEDWomen, which celebrates women by exploring how women and girls are reshaping the future. The first event took place in December 2010, featuring speakers from around the world. TEDWomen came to Atlanta through the concerted efforts of Lewis Perkins and Paula Collins, principal of Peak Focus.
The first TEDxAtlantaWomen event, a simultaneous viewing party for the December 7-8 TEDWomen event, took place at an intimate group gathering at Hub Atlanta. Even with no more than 25 attendees in the room at any time, the excitement reverberated in the air. Lewis and Paula were hooked.
The following year, Lewis and Paula teamed up with Tod Martin, President and CEO of the design firm Unboundary. 2011’s TEDxAtlantaWomen was a viewing party for TEDxWomen, this time a one-day event streaming live from the Paley Centers in both New York and Los Angeles. With a capacity for 150 and a waiting list to get in, the ebb and flow during the 10 hour event went up and down from full house to 50 people. “These were 50 people who really wanted to be there,” said Paula. Both she and Lewis first invited a targeted list, already a substantial number of people for two well-connected networkers. They progressed to larger and larger lists, and in the final gathering, they could easily say that they knew half the people in the room. “We were able to curate introductions between people we thought ought to know each other,” says Paula. “There was something very rich about doing that.”
The fact that there were over 110 simultaneous TEDxWomen events worldwide, and so many simulcasts that the servers crashed and had to be reset, drove home the significance of the day’s events. As did the fact that Paula’s friend Lisa was watching the same talks at exactly the same time at an event…in Istanbul. Paula felt an amazing connection to her friend, but she was also aware that the two friends were not just small parts of a larger movement — this was something even bigger than that. The shared bond of taking part of the same event, hearing the same words, being exposed to the same ideas, tied the friends to thousands of women the world over.
Paula already planning 2012’s TEDxAtlantaWomen. While Lewis has since moved to San Francisco, TEDxWomen transcends location. Paula welcomes hearing from anyone genuinely interested in volunteering and willing to commit to make 2012’s event even better than 2011’s.
Wendy Kalman attended the 2009 TEDxPeachtree event and became hooked, volunteering each year ever since. By day, she works as a Proposal Manager and by night, consults with small businesses on marketing, public relations, writing and editing.



