Monique Ruff-Bell has a storied career in event curation. With 20 years under her belt, she's produced every type of event you can imagine—from intimate gatherings to now the multi-thousand attendee conferences that are TED Talks (technology, entertainment, design). Ruff-Bell landed at the organization in early 2022, and hit the ground running. During her first event—TED2022—she brought out culture heavy hitters like Olympian Allyson Felix and rapper and activist Cordae.
But what does it truly take to not only pull off one of the world's most well-respected conferences, but also to reach such a pinnacle in one's career. According to Ruff-Bell, it starts with intentionality.
"I am a person that truly benefited not only from mentorship but sponsorship, and having people bring me into the room. This gave me access to certain things that helped me hone my leadership skills," shares Ruff-Bell. "I was very intentional about being my authentic self and connecting with people who saw the value in what I brought to the table, and then asking for what I wanted. So when TED came about, I had all the boxes checked; and, I had all the confidence to walk in the room to get that job. Really being intentional and putting actions behind your intention is important if you are trying to grow into strong leadership positions."
At just 1-year in to leading the conferences, she's showing us that the job is bigger than her and her visions, it's also about community. What most don't see beyond the inspiring chats on YouTube is the connections happening on the conference floor. A large part of that is Ruff-Bell's doing, ensuring that attendees have the most dynamic experience possible.
"I always say TED is the playground for the curious. The whole experience is wrapped in curiosity, it's not just transactional. People come to TED because they want to be better humans. You want to understand yourself personally, as well as professionally, and be blown away by people doing amazing things in the world. Our secret sauce is community building. The events are just one avenue for us to do that. I want to be the connective tissue for the larger community."
Beyond the larger conferences, Ruff-Bell and her teams spend time planning intimate dinners and a host of offsite programs that keep people engaged until the larger events.
"It's like being the composer of a symphony. There are so many moving parts," she says. "We are not the typical trade show. Our theme is about possibilities. All of these things have to be consistently thought about, planned on, and executed at all times."
While the larger conferences can be expensive and often out of reach for the everyday person, Ruff-Bell is also leading the charge in making sure the events are inclusive and diverse. She's making sure the right voices, thinkers and those who simply need to be in the room are in the room. There are scholarships or even complimentary entry, where possible.
"The key word has been intention, for years, to make sure that the people who should be there and who should know about us are in the room. We are also intentional about having diverse voices in everything that we do."
