Sarah Mack

 What are you speaking about and why did you choose this subject? 

“My TED Talk is about mental health and the ways that society stigmatizes and trivializes the hardships of mental illness.”

When did you first realize this was the subject that interested you? 

“I realized it was a subject that interested me a while back, I personally struggled with mental health and I wanted to do a TED Talk talking about my experiences in treatment and the different takeaways I got.”

What motivated you to do a TED Talk?

“What first motivated me to do a TED Talk was personal experience. I actually first thought about doing a TED Talk over the summer because I realized there are a million different subtle ways that we stigmatize mental health which can be really harmful; so I wanted to spread awareness on those habits and ways we label mental illness.”

What do you want people to learn or appreciate about your TED Talk?

“I hope that after watching my TED Talk, people will take away how there are so many little ways that we can reduce mental health stigma through small changes in how we talk and our outlook on our own emotions.”

How did you prepare for the TED Talk?

“I prepared for my TED Talk in lots of different ways. I wrote down things I wanted to talk about in a little notebook that would help me organize my thoughts, and then I would transfer those ideas to my script and try to refine what I was thinking and what I wanted to say in a more clear and concise way. I would also try to talk to people about the different things I was trying to say and bounce different phrasing and ideas off of other people. From there it was all about memorization, so I recorded myself reading through my speech and tried to memorize it that way.”

How nervous are you to speak in front of so many people? 

“I won’t lie, I’m kind of nervous. It feels a little daunting to memorize a speech that can go anywhere from five to seven minutes, and even more daunting to know you’re the one that wrote it. But everyone involved is really supportive and amazing and honestly, I think I’m more excited to participate and be involved as a speaker than I am nervous about the audience.”