Raegan was a member of the Fall 2018 class of the TED Residency program, an in-house incubator for breakthrough ideas. Residents spent 14 weeks in TED’s New York headquarters working and thinking together. The Fall 2018 class included exceptional minds from all over the map — from Bulgaria to South Africa, Canada to Kansas.
Raegan delivered her talk, “How rap saves lives,” entirely in rhyming verse and received a standing ovation. She also performed an original song to open the Residency showcase, joining the select group of presenters that have two videos on TED.com. Her talk was also selected to be made into a lesson on TEDEd.com.
During her residency, Raegan was known for her “Slay the Stage” workshops and one-on-one training sessions, in which she used her expertise as a writer, editor, and performer to help other residents develop their talks and deliveries. Her workshops were so successful that TED later hired Raegan to work with multiple following cohorts of residents, as well as with teen speakers from around the world at the 2020 TEDEd conference. Talks that Raegan has coached have tens of millions of views.