About this Event
Come hear incredible stories from our speakers that challenge our preconceived notions of community, belonging, and culture.
Esteban Lopez
Lecturer at Boston University, Metropolitan College (MET)
The Entrepreneurs We Don't Talk About
We often celebrate entrepreneurs who turn opportunities into successful businesses, but what about those who become entrepreneurs because they have no other choice? Drawing on my doctoral research on necessity entrepreneurship in Latin America, this talk challenges conventional narratives of entrepreneurial success and failure. Through the experiences of entrepreneurs who navigate uncertainty, limited resources, and significant personal risks, we will explore why failure is not equally affordable, how survival shapes entrepreneurial decisions, and what these often-overlooked stories can teach us about resilience, innovation, and the true meaning of success.
Billy Wang
BU Alumni and Independent AI safety researcher
What AI Is Changing About Us , Apocalypse Aside
We often think of AI safety as a doomsday story: machines outsmart us, and humanity battles for survival. Hidden in that story is a comforting assumption: if the apocalypse never comes, everything else will be fine. This talk takes a second look at that assumption, and at what AI is really changing in our lives. Some entry-level jobs that once gave us a start are quietly thinning out. Some of us now take our hardest conversations to a chatbot instead of a friend. It is getting harder to tell whether a post we read online was written by a person at all. Decisions about who gets hired, flagged or watched are increasingly made by systems most of us never see. We will explore why these quieter shifts matter to every community, not only to experts, and why noticing them early gives all of us more say in the world we build with AI.
Nazym Kopbayeva
BU Graduate student, MS in Computer Science
The Intelligence Paradox: The Hidden Cost of Having Every Answer
For the first time in history, we have access to technology that can generate answers faster than we can formulate questions. Artificial intelligence is transforming how we learn, solve problems, and process information. But beneath this extraordinary progress lies a fascinating paradox: as machines become more intelligent, are we becoming more capable thinkers, or simply more dependent on intelligence that isn't our own? This talk explores the hidden cognitive cost of instant answers, the difference between having knowledge and truly understanding it, and how AI is reshaping our relationship with critical thinking, creativity, and independent reasoning. The question is not whether AI will surp
Haowen Liu
BU Student, School of Hospitality Administration
Dear Me: A Letter to the Self I Tried to Hide
"Don’t cry. You’re being too sensitive.” During an argument with my parents, these were the words I was telling myself. I held back my tears and tried to swallow my anger. Even after the conversation ended, the argument inside me kept going. I wanted to be warm, kind, and hardworking. Where did that leave the anxious, angry, vulnerable me? This talk follows my attempt to listen to that person through two letters: one that lets my difficult feelings speak, and another that answers with curiosity and compassion. Through this practice, I began to realize that the parts I loved and the parts I struggled to accept all belonged to me. My joy, anger, warmth, and vulnerability were all part of one whole person, someone worth caring for, even on difficult days.
Mingcong Tang
BU PhD Student in Clinical Psychology
Learning to Choose, Learning to Respond
We often want the freedom to shape our lives while hoping for reassurance that we are making the right choices. With advice coming from family, social media, and AI, how can we use that guidance while exercising our own judgment and staying actively involved in our decisions? Taking responsibility means understanding the reasons behind our choices, following through, and responding to unexpected outcomes. It also involves seeking support and being willing to change direction. The talk introduces an early-stage game concept exploring how virtual choices and feedback might help us reflect on how we choose and respond. Through these ideas, I explore how taking responsibility for our choices might strengthen our sense of agency while recognizing the relationships and circumstances that shape our possibilities.
Lucky Upadhyay
BU Graduate student, MS in Applied Data Analytics
Say That Again? Understanding Across Accents
I was thirsty. On my flight from India to the US, I asked for water, and I had to repeat myself a couple of times. Then on my first day at school, I went to collect my ID card, and again I just wanted some water. The person handing out the cards didn’t understand me either, and I had to repeat myself thrice. Back to back, those two moments made me realize something. It wasn’t that I didn’t know the word, or how to spell it. It was my accent. The talk looks at what happens when speakers and listeners don’t share an accent, why understanding depends on practice and effort from both sides, and how “say that again” can be asked with patience instead of judgment.
Event venue & nearby stays
Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Brookline, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.