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Black Belt Academy Student to speak at Tedx!

Aminullah Shirazi has been training at Newton Black Belt Academy for over 5 years.  During that time we have seen him change from a Karate Kid to a young adult, developing more and more confidence.

Now Aminullah is going to be one of 12 speakers for TEDxSurrey in January 2024!  We are very proud at Newton Black Belt Academy that he was selected for this outstanding opportunity.

Excerpt from Surrey Now-Leader:

TEDxSurrey

The speakers will be joined by entertainers and more for the sixth edition of TEDxSurrey, curated by Alan Warburton as a daylong “Shift in Thinking” gathering in the theatre at Sullivan Heights Secondary.

Shirazi’s talk is titled “How to Leave Your Teenage Comfort Zone.”

The talk “touches on his life experiences as the youngest of four (by a nine-year age gap), an immigrant to Canada at just seven years old, and overcoming the social anxiety that came with it,” reads a post on surreyschools.ca.

“Growing up, I experienced a lot of change in moving from the U.K. and my siblings leaving the nest, and I felt like I couldn’t really speak up or do anything that made me uncomfortable,” Shirazi said.

“I didn’t know how to differentiate genuine gut feeling discomfort and boundary setting from irrational fear and cowardice. There was a lot of self-induced alienation.”

When his older siblings moved out of the house, Shirazi said he suddenly felt like an only child and started to get weighed down by the uncertainties of life.

“I am very excited, I’m a little nervous but I love the thrill of public speaking and I feel like I get better at it every single time I do it,” Shirazi said.

Tickets for the 2024 event went on sale on Nov. 1 on tedxsurrey.ca, with a month-long “early bird” special rate for premium seats ($79, down from $99).

Original article by Anna Burns

Submitted by

Chief Master Karpiuk
Academy Director – Newton Black Belt Academy
Surrey BC