College professor Donna Mejia takes us on the journey from the presumed objectivity of educational classrooms to the heart of human difference and cultural collisions. From her accessible tools of communication, to summoning the sassiest “Inner Creole Auntie,” Mejia inspires our intellectual and cultural humility for all of weirdness we experience in life. Donna Mejia is an educator, artist, author, and curator in love with our planet’s many cultures. After a global career in professional dance, she dove deeply into integrative studies of subjects most western institutions weren’t yet discussing: trauma sensitive approaches and somatic interventions and healing, the equal importance of cultural preservation alongside cultural remixing and innovation, and culturally robust and intersectional models of embodiment, contemplative practices, expression, and interoception. She has often said “The sacred and the profane coexist very peacefully in my world!” She serves as the inaugural Chancellor’s Scholar in Residence for Health and Wellness at the Renée Crown Wellness Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx