Author: Angela Wilcox

What makes you, you? Psychologists like to talk about our traits, or defined characteristics that make us who we are. But Brian Little is more interested in moments when we transcend those traits — sometimes because our culture demands it of us, and sometimes because we demand it of ourselves. Join Little as he dissects the surprising differences between introverts and extroverts and explains why your personality may be more malleable than you think.

Watch Eckhart Tolle discuss the awakening of the conscious and the benefits of living in the moment.

Three years ago, I lay in a silent world – in a medically induced coma, for a month. I actually passed away three times on the operating table. Yet here I am, and incredibly grateful to share my story today. I was badly burned during the 2011 Kimberley ultra-marathon; there was no way I could foretell the day that would change my life forever.

Turia Pitt was named Cosmopolitan’s ‘Woman of the Year’ for 2013, short-listed for this year’s ‘Young Australian of the Year’ and the winner of the recent NSW ‘Woman of the Year’ Awards. She is a burns survivor, motivational speaker, engineer and published author.
She has a double degree in Mining Engineering and Science and graduated with first class honours. She worked as a model before landing her dream job with Rio Tinto at their prestigious Argyle Diamond Mine and moving to Kununurra with her partner, Michael. Their lives were turned upside-down when she was trapped by a grassfire in a 100-kilometre ultra-marathon in September 2011, and suffered burns to over 65 per cent of her body.

She completed the Variety Cycle from Sydney to Uluru, the 20 kilometer Lake Argyle Swim and a section of the Great Wall of China. She is a passionate ambassador for Interplast, a charity that provides free reconstructive surgery to people in developing countries. In 2014 she managed to raise almost $200,000 for this cause with a team of incredible women. In 2015, she will lead another group to the Inca Trail

Mamata Venkat wants to empower people to unplug from their gadgets and inspire them to start working on themselves as much as they do their jobs. She will discuss the interaction between our internal and external development using her practice of meditation to exemplify how success in either does not have to come at the cost of the other.

A Perrysburg native, Mamata Venkat is a 2014 graduate of Wright State University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and a Minor in Spanish. After an internship with the United Nations’ NGO Committee on the Status of Women, she decided to return to Dayton to achieve her lifelong passion of working in the healthcare field. She is currently pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Certification at Wright State, with the aspiration of working in public health. Mamata is also employed with the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program and is a certified meditation instructor.