By Angela Tilghman

Delaware State University hosted the annual TEDxDover talk on Saturday, March 24, 2018.

Delaware State University is the only HBCU to host a TEDx talk and this is the second time the school hosted this event. This year’s theme was progress and each of the seven speakers touched on progress.

The first speaker was Dani Spikes who is a certified relationship coach and author.

Dani discussed how her vanity wasn’t in vain.

• She talked about her favorite perfume and how a saleswoman convinced her to buy it.
• She realized that she kept that perfume on her vanity.
• When she later went to repurchase it, she kept the next bottle everywhere but her vanity.
• She tried to figure out what made one more special than the next.

The next speaker was 22-year-old Obichukwu (Obi) Maduka-Ugwu, a recent graduate of the University of Delaware.

Obi spoke about the power of a name.

• Names hold power.
• Although you might want to change your name, there’s a special reason why you have that name.

Brian Yackulic – Milennial speaker and adjunct professor of Management at The American College of Financial Services.

Brian’s talk was about the worst generation. He discussed the following points:

• Every generation that comes into the workforce is viewed negatively.
• The gap between milennials and their superiors, in the workforce, needs to be shorten.
• Companies shape incoming generations to their benefit.
• Since technology is engrained in milennials, they will be a great asset to companies.

Dan Young – Doctor of Business Administration and Professor at Goldey-Beacom College.

Dan discussed the progress that is made between PhDs and DBA.

Jasmyn Wright – Educator and founder of The Push Through Foundation.

Jasmyn discussed how mice are bigger than lions.

• Everyone has his/her own lions.
• The lion(s) only win if you show them your weakness.
• It’s important to speak positively to yourself so your mental lions don’t win.

Lauren Meeks – Founder of Airbnb Made Simple.

Lauren discussed how failure leads to success. She discussed the following points:

• It’s important to chase the things that make you nervous.
• The things that cause you to be nervous are the things that you want to do most.
• Failure doesn’t mean that you need to stop. You just need to make some changes.

Rose Mitchell – Motivational speaker, trainer, facilitator, and life coach.

Rose discussed dreaming out loud. She discussed the following points:

• When you dream out loud your dreams come into action.
• Your dream shouldn’t just be a snack, but a full course meal.
• It should be something that you thirst and hunger for and driven towards each day.
• If you don’t hunger or thirst for your dreams, you probably need to find a dream that you do thirst and hunger for.
• No dream is too big.