Meet The Team
Founder & Project Director
Yoyo Zhang
Hailing from Shanghai, China, Yoyo is a proactive member in the Choate community. She is the Features section editor of The Choate News, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the GirlTech Magazine, and the president of Photography Club. She is a part of the Science Research Program (SRP) with an interest in computational neuroscience. When free, she enjoys reading poetry, playing the flute, and slow walks. Her favorite TED Talk is “Why tech needs the humanities” by Eric Berridge, which helped solidify her interest in pursuing both STEM and Liberal Arts.
Assistant Director
Annika Lee
Annika Lee, Assistant Director, is a 5th former from Hong Kong. At Choate, she is the President of the Student Committee of Programming & Engagement (SCOPE) and the Photography Editor of the GirlTech Publication. She also plays for the Girls JV Basketball Team and is part of Spring Running. Annika has a passion for engineering and graphics design and hopes to pursue a career in STEM and business one day. You can always find Annika eating a bowl of edamame, sleeping with her Boba cushion or hanging with her friends in the Dining Hall. Annika’s favorite TED talks include “The orchestra in my mouth” presented by Tom Thum and “How great leaders inspire action” by Simon Sinek.
Creative Design Manager
Emily Son
Emily, a member of the TEDx Committee’s Visual Team under the Creative Design Department, is a junior from South Korea. She has lived all over the world, including her home country, South Korea, as well as Shanghai and Connecticut. Emily loves art, traveling (although she hates plane rides), eating, and cooking. Her love for art is evident in the activities she participates in at Choate: the Yearbook, visual art, and photography. In joining TEDx, Emily says that she “wanted to contribute to bringing new ideas and inspirations to the Choate community and hoped to further develop [her] skills in leadership and teamwork.” Her favorite TED talk is “Grit: the power of passion and perseverance” presented by Angela Lee Duckworth.
Outreach Manager
Anya Mobarak
Anya Mobarak, manager of the Outreach department, is a 5th former from Hamden, CT. At Choate, she is a cabinet member of the Mixed Heritage Association and a member of the girls tennis team. She loves to travel and discover new music while also singing in the Whims Acapella group. TEDx was a genuinely appealing initiative for Anya as she admires its ability to inspire and educate the Choate community. She’s always loved listening to TED talks, such as The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Adiche, one of her favorites, and is honored to have the opportunity to work with passionate and talented students to bring this event to life.
Creative Visual: Content Team
Chloe Jacobs
Chloe, a member of the TEDx Content Team under the Creative Design Department, is a junior from Santa Monica in Los Angeles, California. On campus, she loves doing theater, playing tennis, and writing for various publications. Despite finding English and History as more enjoyable subjects, Chloe always tries to keep an ear out for new inventions and fascinating discoveries in the scientific field. Her passions outside of school include anything related to arts, writing, and movie analysis. As someone who is grateful for all the knowledge she has gained from spending innumerable hours watching TED Talks and TED-Ed videos, joining the TEDx Committee was a no-brainer for Chloe. She is extremely excited to bring TED to Choate, especially by helping speakers present their words and creating something amazing with the rest of the team.
Creative Visual: Content Team
Nicholas Ng
Nicholas, a junior coming from Hong Kong is a member of the TEDx Content Team under the Creative Design Department. He participates in a variety of activities at Choate, such as working with Chinese Club, playing the French Horn in the Symphony Orchestra, or playing Tennis. Outside of school, Nicholas enjoys spending time with the peers in his dorm, Spencer, or learning more about global issues. Nicholas believes in the value of sharing knowledge and ideas, which is why he joined TEDx at Choate. Seeing how its message is valuable for many students at Choate, Nicholas’ favorite TED talk is “The Unspoken Reality Behind the Harvard Gates” by Alex Chang.
Creative Visual: Content Team
Semi Obayomi
Semi Obayomi, a junior from Milford, CT, is a member of the Content section of the Creative Design Department. She participates in many extracurriculars at Choate such as running track, dancing, and being a Peer Educator. She loves taking computer science courses and writing in and outside of the classroom. During her free time, Semi loves listening to music and cooking Nigerian food with her family. The new, collaborative environment of TEDx was very intriguing to her and she decided to join to gain new experience in an organization she admired. Her favorite TED talk is “Sawubona, we see you” by Roche Mamabolo as part of TEDx Mafikeng.
Creative Visual: Content Team
Eva Li
Eva is a current sophomore from Hong Kong and works as a member of the Content Team under the Creative Design Department for TEDx. She is interested in exploring how she can apply knowledge from an intersection of natural sciences and social sciences to address environmental issues like biodiversity loss. On campus, Eva contributes to various publications, including writing for The Choate News and editing for the SciTECH magazine. As a girl who has always loved outdoor activities, she enjoys rowing for the Crew Team and exploring hiking trails in her free time. Through TEDx, Eva looks forward to helping other youths express their energy, creativity, and enthusiasm on a diverse selection of topics while also expanding her own knowledge on the variety of disciplines introduced in the talks.
Creative Visual: Content Team
Sunny Vo
Sunny is a member of the Content Team under the Creative Design Department and is a sophomore from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. At Choate, she enjoys participating in a variety of clubs such as: Quiz Bowl, Ethics Bowl, and Linguistics Club. Beyond Choate, her interests include art, reading, and watching films. Although she enjoys a variety of books, she is currently passionate about those on political theory, which reflects her love for social sciences. Sunny joined the TEDx Committee because she “wanted to use [her] skills to help amplify diverse voices and give a platform to those who may not have one.” Sunny’s favorite TED talk is “The danger of a single story” presented by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Creative Visual: Visual Team
Isabella Turri
Isabella is a junior from Beijing, China, who has also lived in New York. She is involved in various extracurricular activities on campus, including playing the violin in Symphony Orchestra, writing for Choate’s student-produced literary magazine, The Lit, and participating in plays. As someone who has been involved in various clubs and activities related to creative design, Isabella hopes to integrate her passion for using art and visuals as a form of public outreach and marketing into her role as a member of the TEDx Visual Creative Team. She believes TEDx is a respected and outstanding platform that should be utilized in a way that offers its maximum value, especially on a campus like Choate, where there are a plethora of exceptional students with strong passions and ideas.
Technology: Online
Isabel Maida
Isabel Maida is a junior from New York City and a member of the Online section under the Technology Department. As the President of Choate’s Girls Who Code charter, she has lots of love for computer science. She also enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending time with her two dogs. At school, she is a peer educator, part of the Girls’ Varsity Softball team, and finds interest in political science. The ability of TEDx to provide comfortable space for a community to share their experiences was very appealing to Isabel. She has also enjoyed listening to such experiences like Tan Le’s TED talk, “My Immigrant Story”.
Technology: Online
Zoe Plunkett
Zoe Plunkett is a sophomore member of the online team and a twin from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At Choate, Zoe furthers her love for computer science through her participation in robotics and coding. She has a passion for studying chemistry, anthropology, and programming through a deeper lens, focusing on its community impact. Reading and writing are some other interests she likes to pursue in and out of school. Zoe has always liked TED talks, her favorite being “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator” by Tim Urban, and the program’s ability to “give people a platform to share their voices.”
Technology: Online
Peyton Li
Peyton Li is a freshman from Beijing, China in the Online section of the Technology Department. In school, Peyton loves getting involved in on-campus life, participating in Quiz Bowl, the Math Team, and is a member of the Wind Ensemble. Aside from wind instruments, Peyton also plays the Piano and plays Ice Hockey. However, Peyton’s main academic interest is in STEM. A curious learner, he is fascinated by physics, chemistry, and learning about new technologies, discovering new passions such as geography as he grows up. Joining TEDx because he wanted to gain insight into large-scale events and believing that TED talks provoke interesting thoughts, his favorite TED talk is “Top hacker shows us how it’s done” by Pablos Holman.
Technology: Production
Kewei Wang
Kewei, a member of the Production Team under the Technology Department, is a junior from Zhuhai, China. On campus, he likes to explore a myriad of hobbies, including running, filming and reading. As an avid lover of film, Kewei hopes to translate his skills and experiences gained from working for various companies into the production process of TEDx. He was also influenced to join TEDx under the organization’s principles, notably the sharing of ideas and knowledge with different people. Academically, Kewei has always been interested in learning about music, filmmaking, and history. A fun fact about Kewei is that you can always find him fixing and cleaning mechanical things in his free time!
Technology: Production
Carson Ling
Carson, a sophomore, comes to the TEDx Committee’s Production Team of the Technology Department from Dalian, China. Asides from TEDx, he takes part in robotics and the Choate Programming Union (CPU) at Choate. Outside of school, he is also an avid lover of computer science, robotics, and photography. Carson joined TEDx as he thought he could get many valuable experiences from it. A fun fact about Carson is that although he is a sophomore, he is 17 years old!
Technology: Production
Yuki Zhang
Yuki Zhang, a sophomore member of the production section of the Technology department, has lived in both Nanjing, China and Chicago. She has a passion for all types of STEM topics, especially math. At Choate, she enjoys playing basketball and being a part of orchestra while outside of school she loves to play minecraft. Yuki wanted to join TEDx because she wanted to apply her skills to a platform that allows people to share their experiences. Her favorite TED talks are “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator” by Tim Urban and “This is what happens when you reply to spam email” by James Veitch. Yuki can also move both of her ears individually, a fun and unique talent!
Technology: Production
Eric Yang
Eric, a freshman from Canada, is a member of the production section of the Technology department. On campus, he sings in choir, participates in a variety of clubs and likes to make short skits. Some of Eric’s passions outside of school include coding, designing with computer softwares, and singing while playing the piano. As someone who enjoys working as a team to discover solutions together, Eric hopes to contribute his strengths and knowledge to the spreading of greater ideas in TEDx. His favorite TED talk is “Inside the mind of a master procrastinator,” as he loves how the speaker creatively breaks down a topic and actively engages with the audience. A fun fact about Eric is that he makes parody skits of various topics with his friends every weekend!
Outreach: Communications
Wendy Huo
Wendy Huo is a Junior from Beijing serves TEDx as part of the Outreach Communication department. On campus, Wendy spends time with her friends, and her passions extend to martial arts and playing the piano. She decided to join TEDx to develop her organizational skills and to also work in a friendly environment. Wendy’s academic passions are in sociology, psychology, and history, and her favorite TED talk is “Inside the mind of a master procrastinator” by Tim Urban. Something fun about Wendy is that she enjoys exploring the scarier side of things — noting that she likes watching horror movies alone at night.
Outreach: Communications
Isabella Wu
Isabella Wu, a 4th former from Long Island, NY, serves as a member of the Communications Committee. When she’s not in a Symphony Orchestra rehearsal, a Quizbowl meeting, or writing for the different publications on campus, she spends her time immersed in the arts — writing or making visual art. Finding her academic passion in science and math because of a love for innovation, she joined TEDx to work with the other passionate and driven students of the Committee. Isabella believes that being able to connect with influential, interesting alums is an invaluable opportunity, and her favorite TED talk is “How your brain invents your “self”: an extremely interesting talk about the inner workings of the neuroscience behind our perspectives of consciousness and self” by Anil Seth.
Outreach: Business
Jimena Acosta
Jimena Acosta, a member of the Business section of the Outreach department, is a junior from Mexico City, Mexico. At school she’s a Gold Key tour guide, part of the Girls’ Third Basketball team, and a member of Students Advocating for Gender Equality (SAGE). She loves learning about science, specifically chemistry and physics, in and out of the classroom, math, and economics. The community and creation of ideas at TEDx was a big encouragement for her to join the team. As a Choate student, the TED talk, “Sleepy teens: a health epidemic” by Wendy Troxel has stuck out in her mind more than most.
Outreach: Business
Leyee Dai
Leyee Dai, a 4th Former from Shanghai, is a member of the Business team of the Outreach Department. At Choate, she is dedicated to the Debate team, Model United Nations club, Wind Ensemble and Concert Orchestra, Student Committee of Programming and Engagement (SCOPE), and her athletic teams. As someone who’s passionate about creating an impact on people, Leyee joined TEDx to create a platform that represents all peoples’ ideas, experiences, and creativity. Leyee hopes to dive into political science and international relations through the diverse Choate offerings and the John F. Kennedy program.
Outreach: Business
Emma Ding
Emma works as a member of the business section and hopes to continue her love for spreading new ideas with TEDx’s inspiring and influential nature. She is from Shanghai, China, but has taken residence in various other places like Hong Kong and Boston. On campus, Emma plays in the Band, helps with the yearbook, and is a member of the Thirds Basketball Team. Her favorite TED talk is “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator” presented by Tim Urban, and a fun fact about herEmma is that she is five foot ten inches tall.
