Look Who it Was Random video

The Clarity of Disruption | Antonio Medrano | TEDxSantaBarbara

1,274 views · Published 20 September 2016 · 14:50 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2016 · Nonprofits & Activism

Watch on YouTube

Antonio Medrano and his a cappella group Airplay love to blend their voices in song, but his past has also included moments of discord. This talk goes through his journey of realizing that disruptive choices have been necessary to gain the clarity of what produces inner harmony and fulfillment.

Antonio Medrano was born in Guatemala, grew up in Northern California, and has lived in Santa Barbara since 2003. From an early age, he has shown equal passion for both science and music, spending hours at a young age analyzing paper maps to figure out the best biking routes in his hometown, as well as singing in choirs and forming his own extramural a cappella group. This group, called Denim, has performed over 100 shows all around Northern California, and recorded two albums, the second of which won the national Contemporary A Cappella Award for best High School Album in the nation.

Antonio studied Harvey Mudd College, earned a Masters degree in Multimedia Engineering in the Media Arts and Technology Program at the UCSB, followed by a PhD in Computational Geography. His PhD research was at Argonne National Laboratory, using high-performance computing to identify quality corridors for the location of new electrical transmission lines, and resulted in five publications in journals.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

More from this channel