As content producer for TED, a nonprofit devoted to “ideas worth spreading” in the fields of technology, entertainment, and design, Kelly Stoetzel spends her days liaising with the world’s most fascinating people.

Occupation: Content producer for ted.com and TEDActive
Location: New York, New York
First Job: Camp counselor
Best Job: Camp counselor
Greatest Challenge: Saying no. I love what I’m doing, so it’s easy to take on too many new projects.
Starting Salary: The pay as a camp counselor was about as low as it gets—though they did feed and house us.

Hi Kelly Stoetzel. How did you get that f*&%ing awesome job?
I had attended the TED conference for a long time, and I was friendly with Chris Anderson. His organization, The Sapling Foundation, eventually purchased TED. I had sent him some speaker recommendations: I think the one that probably got me the job was the artist Vik Muniz. Chris and I had coffee, and I soon started as one of the first staffers in the New York office.

Has there been a TED speaker that has really impacted you on a personal level?
Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned speaker and author on creativity, talked about how schools often kill creativity in children. It’s something I think about every day; how kids learn differently, how people learn differently. I have a 7-year-old daughter, and it’s important to recognize that.

Who has most surprised you?
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, and in a good way. Instead of talking about her writing or any of her projects, she gave an unexpectedly personal talk about genius. Hans Rosling, a doctor and global health expert, took what could have been boring statistics and made them tell an unbelievably moving story. The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers gave a stunning hip-hop dance performance that made me cry, which I never thought could happen.

How do you zero in on the year’s most relevant topics?
We visit university labs to find out the latest technology, talk to book publishers and book agents, go out and hear potential speakers, and read a lot. There’s an amazing community of people, both who attend TED and watch talks on the website, and we get thousands of speaker recommendations.

Who is on your TED speaker wish list?
Jon Stewart and Steve Jobs would both be great. But, in many ways, the best talks come from the less famous people. Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist who had a stroke and studied it inside and out. She became well-known because of her TED talk—which was beautifully delivered—going viral.

Is there a prevalent life philosophy at TED?
It’s about ideas that will create progress for the future, whether it’s making the world a better place or inventing a piece of technology that will change the way we all operate. We look for someone who will say, “Here’s what we can do to make things better.

How was your time as a camp counselor valuable to you now?
Being a camp counselor is all about leading a group of people into enthusiasm, which directly translates into my work today.

Your job is one of those cool ones that people might not realize exists. What’s your advice to someone who’s looking for something similar?
Most people I know who are really passionate about their work do things that are very focused. Because I was interested in knowing about lots of different things and didn’t have one main focus, I was worried I had missed my calling. It turns out that there’s a niche for people like me—and possibly you—too. Hang around people who interest you, and intriguing opportunities are bound to pop up. That’s how I ended up working at TED.

Next year’s TED theme is the Rediscovery of Wonder. Why does that resonate now?
It’s the awe that you have as a child that you kind of lose as adults, and also the “I wonder,”“I think about,” “I ponder what will happen next.” There are difficult things going on, and there are so many people with big ideas on how these could be solved. It’s important to reconnect with that sense of wonder because there’s optimism all around.