Look Who it Was Random video

I will | Amber Johnson | TEDxSemesterAtSea

3,681 views · Published 7 November 2014 · 17:16 · Indexed 10 October 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2014 · Nonprofits & Activism

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This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Amber Johnson, a professor at Prairie View A&M, said two years ago, “I will train to be the next American Ninja Warrior and learn to love my body.” At the time, she was an overweight, busy mother of two young children who couldn’t do one pull-up. But she “spoke” her fitness goals out loud to an online community of 10,000 women who were also making known their own athletic goals in an Under Armour sponsored competition called, “What’s Beautiful.” At the end of the competition, she was one of four women to be named an Under Armour ambassador.

Then Amber realized she needed to make good on her stated goal of competing on the NBC television show American Ninja Warrior.  She trained for months for the event with a veteran Ninja Warrior. “Every day I showed up to train there was an obstacle I couldn’t do. But I focused on what I could do,” said Amber. She made it to the TV show…. and failed on the obstacle course within about 30 seconds. But she came up smiling: “Even if pain and failure are your teachers, you must learn from them.” She ended her TEDx Talk with, “Success. That is your future if you say, ‘I will’.”

Amber Johnson is a full time professor of Communication Studies at Prairie View A&M University. She is also a mother of two (ages 4 and 6). Her kids inspired her to change because they are fearless and she wanted to learn from them. Her TEDx Talk is about her journey to become an American Ninja Warrior (she trained for two years with Sam Sann, a veteran Ninja Warrior). Simultaneously she’ll share how she came to love her body, not by “becoming skinny,” but by learning to stop criticizing herself for lack of meeting standard definitions of beauty and figuring out how to reward herself for being able to accomplish things she was never able to do before. She wants to inspire others all over the world to know that they can do anything they set their minds to.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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