Let’s Talk
In these tumultuous times, when voices of sanity are in high demand, the nonprofit organization TED and its flagship video series TED Talks have provided must-see programming. The person arranging many of the segments is alumna Whitney Pennington Rodgers, who is TED’s current affairs curator. She finds the speakers whose ideas are influencing the national conversation and helps bring their stories to the TED stage, whether it’s Bill Gates discussing the proper response to the COVID-19 pandemic or Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti explaining how city mayors are taking action on climate change.
“The beauty of Talks is that there is this opportunity to really dive deeply into one subject through a person’s lens and for them to really get into the nitty-gritty around an issue in ways that I don’t think you see in other types of media,” said Rodgers DC’07, during an interview with the TED Radio Hour, which is coproduced with National Public Radio. Before joining TED, which began in 1984 and has more than 20 programs and initiatives, Rodgers was a producer at NBC News. For Dateline NBC, she helped produce “The Cosby Accusers Speak,” which earned her duPont-Columbia and Emmy Awards.