Category: Recap

With a single statement, “Juliet wasn’t dumb.” you know who Emma Broback is talking about. Her talk challenges popular misconceptions about one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters.

Far from the passive, reckless, dumb teenager we’re taught she was, Emma shows how Juliet was a strong, independent woman who was an intellectual equal – if not superior – to the other characters in the play.

Juliet had agency. She had wit. And if it wasn’t for Italy’s favorite “golden retriever of a boy”, Romeo, she would have had the world.

photo by: Brady Harvey

After Rovina Broomfield moved from Chicago to Seattle to start working at a large tech company, she wanted to become part of the local community. As she’d meet people, though, many would start by expressing their surprise at, well, a black woman moving to Seattle and working in tech. One day, at a brunch, she heard another black woman in tech describe herself as a “unicorn,” and decided she’d had enough.

When we see someone who is, as Rovina puts it, “a rare, or an only”, she asks that we realize: they know they’re rare. They pushed through that and decided to act, despite having few role models. But throughout history, many people had to start as an “only.”

Instead of focusing on their uniqueness in our community, we need to focus on making them part of our community. Like a transplant who’s just moved to a new city, people who are rare need to feel welcome and cool, not rare and untouchable. So, you’re black in tech? As Rovina puts it, “let’s go from being transplants to being locals.”

photo by: Brady Harvey

Many people in Seattle love the outdoors, but who likes eating cold food out of cans, pooing in the woods, or the general idea of wandering around where hungry grizzly bears live?

That’s where Beth Jusino, author of Camino Times Two, has a secret for you: The Camino de Santiago. A series of pilgrimage trails through Western Europe. She walked for a thousand miles and over two mountain ranges, and still got to sleep in warm beds and have delicious meals – all for less than a night out in Capitol Hill.

Do you want to learn the secrets of the Camino de Santiago? Then Jusino’s talk is perfect for you.

photo by: Brady Harvey

The Instant Pot, Amazon’s top-selling product, is a cultural phenomenon and Sumit Basu is here to explain why.

Sumit guides us through what you can and can’t do with the Instant Pot, how to use it, and even how to clean it with humor, hand-drawn slides, and even a catchy musical number.

When Sarah submitted her talk proposal, she never thought she’d be giving it on the eve of the Kavanaugh hearings. One year after the Weinstein story broke, Sarah takes the Ignite stage to talk about her experience with the #MeToo movement.

This talk isn’t about her story though – it’s about what it takes to come forward. In it, she refutes some common misconceptions and discusses support structures, personal safety, and legal considerations.