MINDS Aflame Speaker Series: Asher Jay

“Beyond: Globalization” at Ferris State University will be holding their annual MINDS Aflame event on September 29th from 5:30pm till 8:30pm in the Williams Auditorium. This event is similar to a TED Talk and it will include 9 presenters who speak for about 12 minutes each. This speaker series is a great way for students to finish their Cultural Event requirement as each hour of this event counts as one Cultural Event.

Creative Conservationist from National Geographic, Asher Jay, will round out the second hour of the program with her presentation entitled “Wildlife & WildWise.” Below is a short bio about her.

Asher Jay, courtesy of Ferris State Office is International Education.

Asher Jay, courtesy of Ferris State Office of International Education.

“Asher Jay is saving the world’s threatened wildlife – with creativity. Her cause-driven art, sculpture, design installations, films, and advocacy advertising campaigns bring attention to everything from oil spills and dolphin slaughters to shrinking lion populations. ‘The unique power of art is that it can transcend differences, connect with people on a visceral level, and compel action,’ she says.

Much of her best-known work spotlights the illegal ivory trade. In 2013, the grassroots group, March for Elephants, asked Jay to visualize the bloods ivory story on a huge animated billboard in New York’s Times Square. Viewed by 1.5 million people, the internationally crowd-funded initiative aimed to provoke public pressure for revising laws that permit ivory to be imported, traded, and sold. ‘Conservation can no longer afford to be marginalized,’ she asserts. ‘Today, we need everyone’s involvement, not just core conservationists.’

She participated in the Faberge Big Egg Hunt in New York, where her oval oeuvre went on to raise money for anti-poaching efforts in Amboseli. Her upcoming projects will tackle biodiversity loss during the Anthropocene and expose threats to the world’s most traded and endangered mega fauna.

Tackling issue after issue, Jay’s projects have become global sensations. Yet her ultimate goal is to motivate the one person she believes holds the real power to determine nature’s fate. You.”

To see Asher Jay’s presentation make sure to attend the MINDS Aflame Speaker Series on September 29th!

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