Demo Day 2020

The darkness of these past several years is giving way to rays of light and hope. And it’s because of leaders, activists, artists, scientists, and so many others who never stopped fighting to usher in the world we know is possible. On Demo Day, we heard from some of them. We hope you’ll find it as powerful and inspiring as we did.

Speakers

Laurene Powell Jobs

Opening remarks

“Those called to serve are the reason the darkness of the past several years is giving way to rays of light. The work in front of us is to redesign the calcified systems that were originally designed with inequality and inequity at the core.”
Mike Allen

Axios

"With your social media feed, not sharing is caring. Don't pollute other people's feeds with the garbage that's in yours. Help reconnect them to the truth."
Nedgine Paul Deroly

Anseye Pou Ayiti,
a partner of Teach for All

"The core of our approach is breaking down that wall between classroom and community."
Jennifer Doudna

Innovative Genomics Institute

“I hope to have learned to communicate the joy of discovery and science. I really think science is meant to be integrated into our culture and society, in ways it’s often not right now.”
Tiana Epps-Johnson

Center for Tech and Civic Life

"I'm headed into 2021 more optimistic about American democracy. We saw once in a century voter turnout and this election is being celebrated as the most secure in our history."
America Ferrera

She Se Puede

"Our demography is not our destiny. To realize our power and our potential, we don't need a political movement, we need a cultural one."
Catherine Coleman Flowers

Center for Rural Enterprise and
Environmental Justice

A quest for equitable wastewater solutions begins and ends with environmental justice.
Davis Guggenheim

Concordia Studio

"I believe stories can bring us together.”
Fagan Harris

Baltimore Corps

"Each of us can marshal belief in one another. Each of us can subscribe to practices and principles then enlist everyone in the solution."
Ruben Harris

Career Karma

“If you want to be successful, then you have to help make the people around you successful.”
Becca Heller

International Refugee
Assistance Project

"It's time to stop playing defense and start playing offense: to rebuild refugee and asylum systems and make them stronger, fair, and better protected."
JR

Artist

"This project shows how much we need to reconnect, and how walls that we have even in the outside world can be taken off by art projects."
Sal Khan

Khan Academy

"COVID has forever changed how we view education. It has made us take a magnifying glass on both the problems, but also the opportunities."