Why Poverty has Nothing to do with Money: Ian Rosenberger at TEDxGrandviewAve

Ian founded both Team Tassy & Thread in 2010 in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. Team Tassy unlocks the inherent power in every person to end global poverty. Thread takes trash from poor neighborhoods & turns it into jobs & useful stuff people love. They work together under the same core philosophy: the biggest problem we face as a species is multidimensional poverty; ending it is entirely possible in our lifetime; & to do it, we need to invest in the poor to create as many dignified, sustainable jobs as possible.

Ian's passion is built upon 10 years of experience studying economic redevelopment in Western and South-Central Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean. Prior to his professional career, Ian attended Penn State University, where he was elected as the university's Undergraduate Student Government President in 2003. In 2005, Ian placed 3rd on CBS: Survivor Palau and has since spoken to tens of thousands of people all over the country about his experiences on the show and in the developing world. Ian was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA.

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)