Team

TEDxAberdeen

Elisa Doucette

TEDxAberdeen Programme Curator

Elisa is the Programme Curator for TEDx Aberdeen, which means she works with our speakers and the committee to bring the theme “New Ways of Seeing Old Things” to life.

She is an international speaker, writer, and editor who has traveled and lived around the world over the past decade. When she first visited Aberdeen in 2017 she thought she was passing through, but ended up falling for the people, the culture, and those big beautiful architectural slabs of granite throughout the city centre.

Her writing has appeared in publications like The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Yahoo! Small Business, The Shine Network, and The Huffington Post, and she is a for-mer online columnist for Forbes. She also hosts the popular podcast “Writers’ Rough Drafts,” and guests on other shows and speaks at events on writing, innovation, and creativity.

In addition to regular writing and speaking engagements, Elisa owns the remote editorial agency Craft Your Content. When she isn’t traveling, writing, or working, she can usually be found out wandering the city or hill-walking with earbuds in – usually listening to an audiobook – or at any good pub quiz around the city. She is part of a championship quiz team at The Queen Vic in Rosemount, and will tell anyone who dares to ask all about it!

A real behind-the-scenes strategy partner and ideas nerd, Elisa brings her American spirit (the good and the bad of it!) and personal passions to anyone who wants to hear about an outsider’s love affair with the North East.

Favorite cover song

While My Guitar Gently Weeps by Santana, featuring India Arie and Yo-Yo Ma

Favourite TED talk:

Monica Lewinsky “The Price of Shame”

Kim Stephen

TEDxAberdeen Partnerships and Logistics

Kim looks after the logistics and sponsorship side of things for TEDx Aberdeen. In her day job she leads the conference sales team at Scotland’s newest and the UK’s most sustainable venue, P&J Live. She joined the team at Aberdeen’s previous venue, the AECC in May 2018, and works with both Corporate and Association clients to show-case the world class facilities available at P&J Live, and all that Aberdeen and the Shire has to offer as a destination. Previous to her current role, Kim held a series of event management roles working in var-ious sectors. She has extensive experience of event delivery having managed everything from private gatherings with senior political figures, large gala dinners, and trade exhibi-tions to name a few, delivering over 120 events per year. She also launched and de-signed an event programme for a world-leading technology and innovation organisa-tion. Outside of work Kim sits on the local area board for Career Ready, and is a current mentor to a young person in the North-east of Scotland. She volunteers as part of a Van-guard initiative through her local Chamber of Commerce and has an MA in Finance from the University of Aberdeen. She enjoys a spot of DIY, red wine, playing netball for her lo-cal team and absolutely loves dogs.

Nicole Chidester

Volunteer & Audience Experience Coordinator

Nicole works with the people of TEDx Aberdeen to ensure an event inspires and informs everyone involved. She manages audience members from registration to after-party and leads the community volunteers who make TEDx Aberdeen possible. Nicole is no stranger to working in and with the community. Prior to moving to Aberdeen, Nicole was employed at the newest municipality in Utah, USA. While there she managed the Business Council and worked on a $20 million redevelopment project to transform the city’s high streets by creating a focal point open-space surrounded by mixed-use developments. As an undergraduate student, Nicole was a legislative intern, studied abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Centre, and served as a full-time volunteer missionary for her church in the North-eastern United States. When her husband Matt suggested relocating to a little place called ‘Aberdeen’ for his graduate studies, Nicole knew it was the opportunity of a lifetime. She has once again jumped into the community as an employee at the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce and NHS Grampian. She continues to expand her new-found Scottish vocabulary and adds to her ever-growing dictionary. Tenacious by nature, Nicole summited Mt. Kilimanjaro with her father and is still found exploring the munros and great outdoors of Scotland. To balance out all the exercise, she spends her spare time trying new recipes and eating chocolate.

Favorite cover song

Tiny Dancer by Tim McGraw

Favourite TED talk:

Why bother leaving the house?

Favorite cover song

Step On by Happy Mondays

Favourite TED talk:

Inside the mind of a procrastinator

Jill Simpson

TEDxAberdeen Marketing & Communications

Jill looks after the marketing and communications for TEDxAberdeen which includes all things social media, website related and press releases. A seasoned marketing and communications bod, Jill cut her teeth in motor and plumbing & heating companies before swapping them for global professional services firm, EY. During her time at EY, Jill honed her skills and a love of supporting the community through their work with local charities and social enterprises such as Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust and Glencraft. Currently, Jill is working with small businesses to raise their profile. A long term volunteer with Scouts Aberdeen, Jill works with a team of leaders to provide opportunities for young people to learn skills for life at the 1st Aberdeen Scout Group. Through her time with the Scouts, Jill has benefited from some amazing opportunities such attending the world Scout Jamboree with 40,000 other Scouts, organising a fund-raising campaign to attract £50k of funding for the local Scout campsite and testing her nerves by abseiling off the tallest building in Aberdeen. Inspired by the benefits Jill has personally experienced through Scouting, she is motivated to provide similar opportuni-ties for young people. A big fan of TED talks, Jill is looking forward to working with the team and using her skill-set to deliver TEDxAberdeen.