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TEDxBeverlyGrove Launches Speaker-Series Store with Syd Stewart's "They Are Not Broken. The System Is." as First Release
The debut release extends one of the 2026 event's most memorable ideas beyond the room while keeping the focus on the talk, the speaker, and the community gathered around it
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Seven words stopped a room.
On March 14, 2026, at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre in West Hollywood, Better Youth founder and CEO Syd Stewart delivered a spoken word talk titled "Shift Happens" at TEDxBeverlyGrove 2026. Near the end of her talk, she said something the audience did not forget.
"They are not broken. The system is," Stewart said.
The response was immediate. In the weeks that followed, attendees and supporters reached out asking whether the line would be made available beyond the stage. The demand was not manufactured. It arrived the way an idea does when it lands with clarity and force.
TEDxBeverlyGrove has responded with the launch of the TEDxBeverlyGrove Store, now live at tedxbeverlygrove.myshopify.com.
The store is the first step in a broader TEDxBeverlyGrove speaker-series collection, designed to extend the ideas from the 2026 stage beyond the room while keeping the focus on the talks, the speakers, and the community that gathered around them. Stewart's line serves as the first release because it captured one of the clearest and most immediate audience responses of the event.
The debut apparel includes heavyweight hoodies and oversized tees designed in the event's black, white, and red visual language. The back of the hoodie carries the closing declaration from Stewart's talk, connecting the phrase "Shift Happens" to her description of a foster youth becoming a better youth.
The collection is not designed as a souvenir. It is designed as an extension of the ideas that defined TEDxBeverlyGrove 2026, beginning with Stewart's challenge to reconsider how society speaks about young people, systems, failure, and possibility.
Additional speaker-inspired releases are expected to follow as part of the TEDxBeverlyGrove 2026 speaker series. Proceeds support TEDxBeverlyGrove event and operating costs.
The TEDxBeverlyGrove Store is available now at tedxbeverlygrove.myshopify.com. Apparel is currently available for shipping within the United States.
Syd Stewart is the founder and CEO of Better Youth, a social impact nonprofit based in Los Angeles with a mission to build creative confidence, bridge resource gaps, and prepare foster and system-impacted youth for sustained success in the creative economy. Since its founding in 2008, Better Youth has served more than 12,000 young people through media arts programming, mentoring, and professional development. Stewart is a former educator for GirlUp, a teen girls empowerment initiative through the United Nations Foundation, a former Director for Usher’s New Look Foundation, and a television writer and filmmaker.
TEDxBeverlyGrove 2026 — “Reimagining the Possible” was held Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre, West Hollywood, California. The event brought together twelve speakers, sponsors, brand partners, and volunteers for a full day devoted to ideas worth spreading. Speaker talks will be released online in the coming months.
Marvin V. Acuna is a TEDx Organizer and Producer. In that role, he curates speakers, ideas, and the architecture of a high-trust live stage.
Separate from his work as a TEDx producer, Acuna advises leaders, founders, attorneys, and public figures as a speaking coach and talk architect. He helps clients uncover the idea inside their story, sharpen their message, and deliver it with clarity, authority, and impact. He also serves as Head of Business Strategy for The Lawyers Roundtable and is the founder of MoBal Systems.
TED is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to discovering, debating and spreading ideas that spark conversation, deepen understanding and drive meaningful change. Our organization is devoted to curiosity, reason, wonder and the pursuit of knowledge — without an agenda. We welcome people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world and connection with others, and we invite everyone to engage with ideas and activate them in your community.
TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, but today it spans a multitude of worldwide communities and initiatives exploring everything from science and business to education, arts and global issues. In addition to the TED Talks curated from our annual conferences and published on TED.com, we produce original podcasts, short video series, animated educational lessons (TED-Ed) and TV programs that are translated into more than 100 languages. Through The Audacious Project, TED has helped catalyze $6.6 billion in funding for projects that support bold solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges. Follow TED on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
This independent TEDx event is operated under license from TED.
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