TEDxNCState 2026: In Focus

Shruthi Manjula Balakrishna is a designer who studies how our choices shift when the world feels uncertain. Originally from Bangalore, India, and now based in Austin, Texas, she is Director of Research & Design at FÖDA, where she leads research-driven brand and experience work for global brands, cultural institutions, and hospitality clients, making human behavior feel a bit more understandable. As a Doctor of Design candidate at NC State University, she investigates how crisis reshapes consumption and how design quietly nudges what we notice, value, buy, and how we behave.

Over nearly two decades as an award-winning designer, brand strategist, educator, and sometime anthropologist in denial, she has spoken at international design conferences and festivals and has taught emerging designers to treat curiosity as a method, not a mood, in both classrooms and studios. Her work has been recognized by organizations such as AIGA, The One Club, Dieline, and Graphis, and it sits at the intersection of behavioral psychology, design, and systems thinking, asking not just “Is this beautiful?” but “What does this make us believe, and how will we act?”

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Joy DeBolt is a marketer, strategist, and community focused leader based in North Carolina. A proud Pittsburgh native and Elon University graduate, Joy brings more than a decade of experience in global corporate marketing across high performing industries including medical devices and financial services. Throughout her career, she has remained deeply focused on people—mentoring emerging leaders, leading career circles, shaping customer centric cultures, and volunteering with local nonprofits and youth programs.

As a speaker, Joy explores how a culture increasingly centered on comfort can quietly make us less compassionate, less connected, and less human. Drawing from her professional experience and community leadership, she helps audiences recognize

when well intentioned boundaries and self protection begin to hold people, and the relationships that matter most, at a distance. Joy believes that meaningful community is built by showing up for yourself and others, especially when it feels uncomfortable.

Outside of work, she enjoys time with her husband, family, and friends, and being an “infinity and beyond” mom to her two children.

Victor B. George, JD is a North Carolina based ethics and regulatory risk advisor and Principal Consultant at Ethixera Consulting. With a background in law, audit, and governance, he has advised Fortune 500 companies, global financial institutions, and emerging technology firms across the United States and internationally, helping organizations approach compliance with greater confidence and clarity.

A national speaker and author, Victor focuses on ethics, regulation, and how people make decisions inside complex systems. Drawing parallels to football, where rules are continually adapted to improve safety, fairness, and the game itself, he reframes regulation as a tool for progress rather than constraint. He brings a human centered lens to complex systems that shape markets, trust, and everyday life.

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Outside of his professional work, Victor enjoys spending time with his wife and son, playing flag football, being rooted in his community, and exploring genealogy and history.
 

Based in Wilmington, North Carolina, Dr. Mayweather is a leadership educator, speaker, and founder of Good Mayweather Consulting. A first-generation college student whose academic journey began with significant setbacks, he went on to earn a doctorate in Educational Leadership and now serves as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

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Through his teaching, coaching, and national speaking engagements, Dr. Mayweather helps students and professionals move from confusion to clarity by identifying the one thing that unlocks their potential. His work challenges the belief that success comes from doing everything, offering a focus-driven approach to leadership, career readiness, and personal growth.

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When he’s not working with students or organizations, Dr. Mayweather enjoys time with his family and helping others choose clarity over chaos.
 

Jadyn McLean is passionate about advocacy and community engagement. She is a graduating senior at NC State University, majoring in Criminology and Psychology with minors in Linguistics and Cognitive Science. Jadyn is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and University Honors student who has presented at undergraduate research conferences across North Carolina. She is also a mentor and activity director with College Mentors for Kids, a founding executive member of Black Psychology Club, and an undergraduate researcher in the Social Development Lab, where she is leading her own project on children’s safety perceptions. She plans to get her PhD in Clinical Psychology and become a forensic psychologist who specializes in at-risk children and adolescents.

Jadyn’s Talk explores the intersections of food, health culture, and history in the U.S., and how unconscious biases impact how people perceive food. Her work on food has been presented at an undergraduate conference, an oral presentation to the associate director of the NC State Honors Program, and has been created into a physical magazine.

North Carolina native Sholeh Najafian is a researcher and PhD student in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Program at NC State University. She is a passionate advocate for highlighting how emotional regulation can serve as a protective factor across contexts.

Her current research examines how parents can scaffold children’s emotion regulation in STEM learning environments. She has presented her work at the Society for Research in Child Development and the Black Doctoral Network Conference. As a former McNair Scholar, 2024 J. Steven Reznick Diversity and Psychological Research Grant Honorable Mention, Carolina Research Scholar, and recipient of the 2024 McGehee, Moffie, Barkley Graduate Award, Sholeh has actively contributed to high-quality research.

Outside of academia, she enjoys watching movies, working out, and spending time with her loved ones.

Mikaya Thurmond is a communications strategist, former television news anchor, and founder and CEO of Milan Public Relations. With more than 15 years of experience, she has worked at the intersection of media, leadership, and high-stakes messaging. She spent seven years anchoring at WRAL in Raleigh, where she rose from reporter to weekday anchor, earning two Associated Press awards and four Emmy nominations. National outlets including CNN, The Weather Channel, CBS Evening News, and NBC’s Today Show regularly called on her for live breaking news coverage.

Today, Mikaya advises executives and mission-driven organizations on crisis communication and strategic storytelling. In 2025, she was named one of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications in the Crisis Navigator category.

A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Georgia, she also teaches visual storytelling at NC State University and serves as a scholarship benefactor through the North Carolina Education Scholarship Fund.