As the host of TED's How to Be a Better Human podcast, comedian Chris Duffy explores unexpected paths to self-improvement, offering sharp insights and fresh ideas for how we can show up for one another. He's the author of Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy and writes the popular weekly newsletter Bright Spots. He also wrote for both seasons of Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas on HBO, which was executive produced by John Oliver.

Cloe Shasha Brooks is a curator and host at TED where she has worked for 15 years. In her role, she finds unique speakers for TED's wide variety of stage, audio and video programs. She co-writes and edits TED Talks, conducts interviews, and coaches speakers. She has worked with over 500 TED speakers, diving deep into their research to help them develop their narrative arcs and communicate their ideas with clarity, nuance and impact. Outside of TED, Cloe is a lover of the outdoors, writing, cooking, playing music and hosting big gatherings. She lives in Brooklyn with her spouse and two children.

Katina Bajaj is the co-founder of Daydreamers, a platform exploring how creativity supports human health and flourishing. She coined the term “creative health” to describe the biological and psychological role creativity plays in resilience, adaptability, and wellbeing. Drawing on training in clinical psychology from Columbia University's Mind-Body Institute, she studies how play and imagination can help adults reconnect with their creative capacity.

Randi Williams is an artificial intelligence researcher exploring how children interact with social robots and AI companions, examining how these technologies affect education, creativity, and trust. Her projects at MIT's Media Lab explore questions like how children perceive the friendliness or authority of robots and how AI systems can either support or disrupt social and emotional growth. Now, as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute, she equips changemakers to use AI responsibly to transform teaching and learning.

Maxwell Pearce is a Harlem Globetrotter and award-winning mixed-media artist exploring human rights, social justice, and African American history. Using shoelaces and athletic materials, his work reveals the personal stories beneath the uniform. He has collaborated with the NFL, NBA, and Reebok, and his artwork has been featured in installations at Art Basel Miami and Art Basel Switzerland. Before the Globetrotters, he was a standout point guard at Purchase College, gaining global attention for viral slam dunk videos.

Erum Mariam is the executive director of the BRAC Institute of Educational Development, where she champions a simple but powerful idea: every child deserves the right to play. Among her achievements are the BRAC Humanitarian Play Labs, which bring joyful, play-based early learning to young children in crisis settings like refugee camps. She has developed programs for children in Bangladesh, Tanzania, Uganda, the Philippines, Sierra Leone and beyond.

Anna Rainio is one of the leading international scholars on children’s agency in education. Her work focuses on how adults and children can play together to strengthen creativity and problem-solving in diverse classrooms and early learning settings. She is the cofounder of the International Playworld Network and a leader of the CHiLD research group at the University of Helsinki.

Eric Zimmerman makes play wherever he goes. A founding faculty at the NYU Game Center and cofounder of Gamelab studio, he has designed award-winning games on and off the computer — from the smash hit Diner Dash to large-scale public games exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Salehe Bembury is an industrial designer and fine artist known across the world for his innovative, culture-shifting footwear designs. He has designed footwear for brands such as Versace, and has collaborated via his namesake studio SALEHE BEMBURY with Puma, Crocs, New Balance, Moncler and more. He is the founder and creative visionary behind independent footwear brand SPUNGE, which he launched in 2025.

James Rojas helps people reimagine their cities through hands-on creativity. Inspired by building toy cities from discarded objects as a child, he later studied urban planning at MIT before developing Place It!, a participatory method for communities to model the neighborhoods they want to see with toys. He’s facilitated more than 2,000 workshops across the United States, helping residents shape conversations about public space, climate, transportation and civic life. He is the co-author of Dream Play Build: Hands-on Engagement for Enduring Spaces and Places.

Joe Whale — known as “The Doodle Boy” — rose to fame as a young artist whose playful illustrations transformed ordinary spaces into imaginative worlds. At nine years old, his doodles covered a restaurant wall in his UK hometown and sparked international attention. Since then his art has grown into gallery exhibitions, major brand collaborations and projects shared with the Prince and Princess of Wales. Now 16, he believes that play is not something we grow out of but something we grow into.

Mila Rojas is a 5th grade student from South Florida. She has been reading books about play since age four. She is known in her school community as somebody who is sought after for advice on how to build relationships, be a kid and play.

Suki Hillier is an 11-year-old actress who uses imagination to turn a stage into a real world — and believes children have superpowers that adults have forgotten. She most recently played the title role in Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End.

Maria Telesheva is a high school student and professional accordion player who has been performing in a duet with her father since age six. In the past year, she has recorded for NPR’s Tiny Desk, From The Top, Classical King FM and more. She also performed for The Planet of Art youth festival hosted by UNESCO in Almaty, Kazakhstan as a soloist with the symphony orchestra. She is cofounder and co-organizer of the Accordion Star International Competition, which brings together hundreds of participants and jury members from over 30 countries.

Miles Wu is a 14-year-old origami innovator and student in New York City. He discovered a variant of the Miura-ori folding pattern that can support 10,000 times its own weight, which he is using to reminagine low-cost emergency shelters. This playful study and discovery earned the top prize at the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.