Miral Kotb - The Intersection of Art & Technology - TEDxBroadway
Miral Kotb Speaker Biography
Miral Kotb is a prolific entrepreneur in the fields of technology development and the performing arts. In 2009, she combined her passion for dance and technology to create iLuminate, the world’s first light dance technology company. Recruited to perform (and becoming a finalist) on the hit television show America’s Got Talent, iLuminate ignited an electrifying phenomenon and was dubbed “the best new act in America.” The show is now a permanent, in residency production at The STRAT in Las Vegas where it has recently won a top honor at the Best of Las Vegas Awards for “Best New Show.” In addition, the show won the prestigious Best of Vegas Award for “Best Date Show” in Las Vegas, another of the city’s top honors. iLuminate continues to positively impact millions of audience members across the globe with spectacular performances within arenas, theaters, classrooms, and corporate settings.
As a software designer, Miral has programmed iLuminate’s patented technology for major entertainment acts, including Grammy award-winning superstars Christina Aguilera, The Black Eyed Peas, and Death Cab For Cutie, among others. Her technology has been featured on Dancing with the Stars, The American Music Awards, X Factor, Mira Quien Baila, MTV’s Video Music Awards, Nickelodeon’s HALO Awards, and the BET Awards, to name a few. Miral’s work has also been featured at Six Flags Theme Parks, Disneyland, off-Broadway, and at sea with Crystal Cruises.
Miral is passionate about empowering young people to pursue opportunities in STEM/STEAM. An engaging and influential public speaker, she knows how to enlighten audiences about the creative side of technology. Miral has spoken at numerous events, including Google Zeitgeist, Google’s Made With Code, On Cue, TEDx Teen, TEDx Broadway, Wonder Woman Tech, TIDE Conference, The Apple Developer Conference, Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, Adaptive Paths, Center for Global Brand Leadership, National Arts Marketing Project, NEXTECH, Capital One, and Acuity Brands, among others. Miral and her iLuminate team also had the honor of ringing the opening bell at NASDAQ.
Miral is also the founder of The Share Your Light Foundation, an organization created to help students around the world find their inner light. What makes them shine, makes them special. They work together to create their own light show performance, where dancers partner with software developers for the ultimate creative collaboration. The foundation’s partnership with the US Embassy has taken them to Abu Dhabi, New Zealand, Samoa, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and more. They have also partnered with Education First in Berlin and Switzerland and have done countless educational events in the US.A two-time cancer survivor, Miral has overcome extreme obstacles both personally and within the ever-changing world of technology. Through it all, she believes in being true to herself, encouraging others to do the same – by sharing their own light.
SHARE YOUR LIGHT!
This revolutionary NEW keynote embraces the future of speaking!
Miral and her world class team of dancers at iLuminate present an entertaining and inspirational keynote performance that tells a compelling story and showcases the unique light and techno artistry that is iLuminate – LIVE on stage.
As a pioneer of using software development and technology to create new and dynamic forms of creative expression, Miral knows first-hand how successful collaboration and trust in your team paves the way for innovation and builds lifelong relationships. As a neurodiverse innovator, she realized that her uniqueness was advantageous in pursuing her many passions and her path to success was combining them all together. Miral successfully founded internationally renowned iLuminate – a company that cultivates a highly effective multidisciplinary environment.
In this unique keynote experience, Miral shares stories of her upbringing where she spent time in Cairo, Egypt and Houston, Texas and how her Egyptian heritage and culture helped galvanize her ambition to seek the many opportunities available in the USA. By sheer tenacity and believing in herself, she received an Ivy League education, a coveted job as a senior software engineer, and built an internationally renowned entertainment company with no outside investors! Miral also shares intimate anecdotes about what surviving cancer twice before turning forty has taught her about perseverance and how she approaches the inevitable forks in the road we all face.
Miral encourages audience members to share their own unique light with the world around them. Miral and the iLuminate team will inspire and embolden audiences to continuously find a way to love what they do, follow their dreams, and never get intimidated by what life might throw at them. This truly dynamic show experience with an uplifting and encouraging keynote is one no audience will soon forget!
