KEEP YOUR HAT ON TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Meredith Ramirez at TEDx CornellU

MEREDITH RAMIREZ is an artist and literary scholar who co-founded Ricefield Collective ( ), a social enterprise that keeps Philippine indigenous families on their ancestral land through knitting. In this impassioned talk, she argues that anyone from any background can use their ingenuity to make a difference, as she leads us through the surprising twists and turns on her journey towards a business that strives for social change.

MEREDITH RAMIREZ is the Director of Ricefield Collective, a social enterprise that crafts high-quality handmade knitwear while helping provide a fulfilling means for Philippine indigenous people to stay on their ancestral land. She
is also completing her PhD in comparative literature at Cornell, after graduating from the MFA Fiction program in 2008. Prior to this, she received an MFA in Visual Art from the California College of the Arts and a BA in English Literature from Harvard University. She learned about business growing up on a family farm in the Philippines, and has also worked as a technical assistant in a cognitive science lab at MIT, as well as a project manager for the Department of Internet Ministries of the Greek Orthodox Church.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)