Recipe for Freedom: Sherry Simpson Dean at TEDxOccidentalCollege

In an increasingly interdependent world, our resources and challenges are collectively owned. We may be reaching for an American Dream that is no longer sustainable. Sherry's idea worth spreading focuses on a new American Dream-- not based on wealth and excess, but rather on the recipe: Create, Contribute, Thrive. This new American Dream shares one key value with the past, and that is Freedom. Sherry Simpson Dean offers a new recipe for freedom, which she defines as the precious space from which we can create a new and fulfilling future. The key distinction is a "created" life, versus a life of "what we can get by default". With this new recipe of Create, Contribute and Thrive, we have the key to building a new American Dream: a life of fulfillment and joy.

Emmy Award winning film producer, Sherry Simpson Dean is known for her deep commitment to human rights and civil liberties. Her film production, "Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony", is a multiple award-winner of Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival and has been critically acclaimed as the seminal film on post-apartheid South Africa. Her rare, historic footage of Nelson Mandela's jubilant appearance at South Africa's first free election celebration in Soweto is treasured internationally. Over the last two years, she has served as a consultant with Opportunity Green, the nation's largest multidisciplinary business to business sustainability conference. Formerly the Executive Director of this regions United Nations Association, she has founded and numerous programs that have engaged local communities with the UN Millennium Development goals including establishing a district wide Model United Nations conference for public high schools , creating a successful UN speaker series , and co founding UN Human Rights Day in the City of Pasadena, CA . She recently produced a series of promotional video for the UN Environmental Program featuring Don Cheadle and super model Gisele Bundchen. She is currently an adjunct lecturer at Occidental College in the Department of Diplomacy and World Affairs and is honored to be Senior Fellow with Occidentals McKinnon Center for Global Affairs and a Scholar in Residence with the Young initiative on the Global Political Economy.

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In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)