Celeste Huang-Menders ’22 Two Time TEDx Presenter

Celeste Huang-Menders ’22 and her brother Alexander Huang-Menders are raising awareness of the global refugee crisis. The siblings recently presented Global Refugee Crisis: It’s Now Our Generation’s Time for Action at TEDx Farmingdale on September 7, 2019 and Art and Advocacy: Putting a Face on the Global Refugee Crisis at TEDxNJIT on September 19, 2019.

“The talks gave a lot of insight into public speaking and it was my first time being on a larger stage,” said Celeste. “But, more importantly, after each talk we had people come up to us and tell us that they were once refugees and share their story. Our main goal is to spread awareness to this issue, so hearing from them was powerful.”

Celeste and Alexander, along with their parents, have documented refugee camps and displaced people since 2017 through Power of Faces, a photojournalism project that seeks to humanize the global refugee crisis. Her family’s photography efforts began shortly after the September 11 attacks and have since captured issues such as poverty, women’s rights, and, most recently, the refugee crisis. Other photo projects include Rebuilding the City after 9/11, Missing and Loved: Messages from 9/11, Occupy Wall Street, Hurricane Sandy Recovery, Haiti Reconstruction, and Global Refugee Crisis – View from the Souda Refugee Camp. Their photographs related to the refugee crisis have appeared in several magazines and online media.

Celeste and Alexander will present again at the Princeton Public Library on Sunday, November 17 and Rowan University on Tuesday, December 3.