Meet the 2025 class of TED Fellows

We are thrilled to announce this year’s 2025 cohort of TED Fellows, whose work spans four continents and represents 11 countries. This year’s TED Fellows are tackling some of the world’s most urgent issues with bold and groundbreaking solutions. Among them are an entrepreneur transforming organic waste into bioplastics, a pilot teaching a generation of young African women to fly, a scientist using satellites to fight food insecurity and an illustrator capturing powerful stories that go beyond the headlines.

For 16 years, the TED Fellows program has been committed to finding and supporting the next generation of innovators. The fellowship offers communication training, network-building opportunities and amplification for remarkable individuals who are pushing boundaries in their fields and tackling the world’s greatest challenges.

TED is honored to welcome these new Fellows into a dynamic and active network — of more than 500 global changemakers in over 100 countries — who are driving meaningful impact in their communities and beyond.

To learn more about these TED Fellows and follow their journey, check out @tedfellow or join our newsletter.

Patricia Aymà Maldonado
Biotechnologist | Spain
Patricia Aymà Maldonado, the cofounder of VEnvirotech, has invented technology that uses bacteria to transform organic waste into 100-percent biodegradable plastic in just 24 hours. It’s a low-cost, sustainable approach that stands to revolutionize the plastics industry.

“Delhi Market” (2018) by George Butler. Pen, ink and collage. Butler creates illustrated reportage that offers a slower, more intimate perspective than the daily headlines.

George Butler
Reportage artist | UK
Illustrator George Butler reports on the ground from conflict zones, climate hotspots and humanitarian crises, using pen, ink and watercolors to highlight personal stories of perseverance. By slowing down and going deeper than the headlines, his humanistic approach is shifting how we think about the news.

Dion Dawson
Food equity champion | US
Dion Dawson founded Dion’s Chicago Dream to fight food insecurity in his hometown. Different than the food pantry model that relies on donations, his team purchases, packs and delivers fresh, high-quality produce, ensuring access to healthy meals.

Molly Hemstreet
Sustainable textile entrepreneur | US
Molly Hemstreet, cofounder of The Industrial Commons, is rebuilding the textile industry in her home of Appalachia. By putting workers first and focusing on sustainability, she’s reimagining a $96-billion industry — and creating a model that can be replicated in other rural manufacturing regions, too.

The first Black woman to fly a helicopter in South Africa, Refilwe Ledwaba is a trailblazer in aviation. Here she stands in front of a PC-12 aircraft. Her organization, Girls Fly Africa, provides training and mentorship to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace.

Refilwe Ledwaba
Aviation and aerospace educator | South Africa
Refilwe Ledwaba is a pilot, flight instructor and the founder of Girls Fly Africa — a nonprofit inspiring a generation of young people, particularly young women, to learn to fly. Her work provides training and opportunities for youth in aviation and aerospace, boosting their economic and social independence.

Dieuveil Malonga
Culinary innovator | Republic of the Congo + Rwanda
Dieuveil Malonga is a chef who’s elevating African cuisine globally. Through his restaurant, Meza Malonga, and his Culinary Innovation Village, he’s mentoring the next generation of African culinary talent while supporting local economies and promoting sustainable gastronomy.

Catherine Nakalembe
Food security specialist | Uganda + US
Catherine Nakalembe uses satellite technology and machine learning to monitor smallholder farming and improve disaster preparedness. As the director of NASA Harvest’s Africa program, she supports millions of farmers while strengthening food security on the continent.

César Ramírez-Sarmiento
Protein engineer and designer | Chile
César Ramírez-Sarmiento leads educational efforts in protein design in Latin America. His lab designs proteins with AI for therapeutic and environmental applications, including enzymes that break down PET plastic — work that could revolutionize how we manage plastic waste.

Txai Suruí
Land defender | Brazil
Txai Suruí is an Indigenous leader and activist from the Amazon. Deeply committed to her culture’s ancient practices, she also embraces new technology. By using drones to protect ancestral forests and social media to amplify her message globally, she’s securing land rights and creating policy changes.

Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, Claudia Vega collects core sediment samples from a lake in Manu National Park for mercury analysis. She studies the impact of mercury pollution from illegal gold mining — an urgent environmental and public health crisis.

Claudia Vega
Rainforest toxicologist | El Salvador + Peru
Running a world-class lab in the middle of the Amazon, Claudia Vega studies the effects of mercury pollution from illegal gold mining, highlighting an urgent environmental and public health problem with far-reaching impact.