DUBAI: Yara Shahidi — the award-winning actor and producer — was ecstatic on social media Tuesday about her TED Talks appearance finally being released to the public in full a year after she took to the stage in Vancouver.
Shahidi has Middle East roots and was the breakout star of the ABC shows “Black-ish” and “Grown-ish.” Her talk was titled “Let Curiosity Lead.”
The actress and creator took to Instagram on Tuesday to celebrate the accomplishment, writing: “15 years old YARA’S bucket list dream ACCOMPLISHED.”
She continued: “April 2023 I was invited to speak at @TED in Vancouver. I SAID, I WAS INVITED TO SPEAK AT TED!! While still in awe of the ask to share my thoughts during this iconic conference, I also sit in gratitude to have shared the stage with people who have changed my trajectory and introduced me to new ways of thinking.
“(Yep, I was that 10-year-old listener, and that 15-year-old that would memorize TED talks for speech and debate competitions, and listen to TED radio hour when in need of inspiration). What a FULL CIRCLE moment to be able to share my passion around the transformative powers of embracing curiosity.”
In her TED talk, Shahidi spoke about the power of creativity and how to harness it.
“Think about how many times we ask each other the question, ‘What do you do?’ Which is really a proxy in my mind for a much more pressing question – ‘Who are you right now/’ Because what we do is only a fraction of who we are. And this culture of heralding expertise means that our curiosities are often mislabelled as distractions. I would love to think through what we could be missing out on by not actively prioritizing our curiosity,” she said.
Late last year, Shahidi became the face of the French label Jean-Paul Gaultier’s “Divine” campaign.
The new eau de parfum was crafted by perfumer Quentin Bisch and has floral and marine notes. The fragrance is vegan, cruelty free and made with 90 percent “natural origin ingredients responsibly sourced,” according to the label.
On Instagram, sharing the campaign video, Shahidi had written: “WELCOME TO MY GOLDEN ERA: The world of Divine.”
“Reliving these moments,” she also commented on a collaborated post with the brand.
