Ashiana Sunderji: How has being in TED-Ed helped you learn about your identity?

My name is Ashiana Sunderji, I am a third year neuroscience, physiology and human geography student at The University of Toronto. I am so excited to be the project manager for this year’s National Encounters TEDEd conference!

I learned about Encounters TEDEd by accident in my grade 11 year, when I showed up for the information session – thinking that it was for regular BUI. I was so interested in the idea that we could talk about something we were passionate about while intersecting it with our faith, that I decided to stay in the class and immerse myself in the TEDEd curriculum.

My initial thought, for talking about something I was passionate about, was Math. Math was my favourite subject in high school, and I thought that curating a talk about how Math and Religion might intersect, was the way for me to give an impressive and impactful talk that would remain relevant for years to follow. I felt a large necessity to prove myself as intelligence and thought that an academic topic was the only way to do this.

After what felt like a year of trying to force the topic, I came to the realization that while I loved math, and was passionate about religion, forcing the intersection of these two topics made no sense at that given point in time in my life. First, the topic was not very relatable to my peers. Second, the topic was not even relatable to me. Close to when my TEDEd talk was due, I gave a talk at my high school for my leadership project about how community service had helped me to shape my identity. It suddenly became clear that this was something I could talk about at the Encounters TEDEd conference.

Being a part of the club has helped me to clarify who I am, what my passions are, and what experiences I have lived that might help my peers, younger students or the Jamat at large learn something new. The talk created space for me to be vulnerable and speak to a time where I felt that I had no purpose and did not belong. Following my presentation I experienced individuals of all ages relaying to me how relatable the story was and how inspired they felt. When I go through adversity, I often revisit my talk to remind myself about what helps me to feel the most myself.

As for impact, my talk has been highlighted on the TEDEd YouTube Channel and social media, and continues to be used as an example of their platform. I was featured on an internal platform for TED members and educators where I was quoted for describing my journey to discovering my identity. I’m now part of the TEDxUofT team.

It has been over two and a half years since I have presented this talk, and I am so grateful for the impact that it has had. Telling such a simple story about finding my purpose through community experience, I did not expect so many individuals of all ages to relate. Since giving this talk, I feel as though the underlying message is still prominent in my life, that volunteerism and empowering underrepresented individuals is where I personally feel the most empowered. I have continued to live by the message that I gave in this talk, as after two years living in a new city and working for new organizations, there are so many more stories, I could share, now, that support this same message.

Watch Ashiana’s Talk here: https://youtu.be/nuhmQnLCLng