Open Society Foundations

The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. 

To achieve this mission, they give thousands of grants annually to groups and individuals in over 120 countries that work on promoting tolerance, transparency, and open debate. The Open Society Foundations also engage in strategic human rights litigation and impact investing, while incubating new ideas and engaging directly with governments and policymakers through advocacy to advance positive change.  

The Open Society Foundations seek to shape public policies that assure greater political, legal, and economic fairness and safeguard fundamental rights. They build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information while placing a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities.

The Open Society Foundations were founded by George Soros, one of the world’s foremost philanthropists, who since 1984 has given away $32 billion of a personal fortune made in the financial markets. 

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Danone

Danone is a leading multi-local food and beverage company building on health-focused and fast-growing categories in 3 businesses: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. With its ‘One Planet. One Health’ frame of action, which considers the health of people and the planet as intimately interconnected, Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices. To accelerate this food revolution and create superior, sustainable, profitable value for all its stakeholders, Danone has defined nine 2030 Goals, and paved the way as the first listed company to adopt the “Entreprise à Mission” status in France. 

With a purpose to bring health through food to as many people as possible, and corresponding social, societal and environmental objectives set out in its articles of association, Danone commits to operating in an efficient, responsible and inclusive manner, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. By 2025, Danone aims to become one of the first multinational companies to obtain B CorpTM certification. 

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Ashoka

Ashoka is an international citizen-sector organization whose mission is to build an Everyone a Changemaker World. 

An Everyone a Changemaker World is one that responds quickly and effectively to social challenges, and where each individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support to address any social problem and self-identify as a driver of change. 

Ashoka is the world’s leading community of over 3,500 social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the innovators behind them by helping them get started, grow, collaborate and reshape whole systems.

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Voices of Wellbeing | Justin Michael WilliamsVoices of Wellbeing | Justin Michael Williams

“When we have internal practices, it makes it more likely for us to find meaning in our pain”

Justin Michael Williams is an author, transformational speaker, and top-20 recording artist who has become a pioneering voice for diversity and inclusion in wellbeing.

He joins us at The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change to share the importance of transforming ourselves from within so that the changes we want to see in the world can have a lasting impact.

Watch his full story to learn about the power of tying movements for change to deeper truths that go beyond our temporary emotions.

Learn more about Justin Michael Williams & his work by clicking here.

MANDALA LAB SERIES | ANGER MANDALA LAB SERIES | ANGER

How can we transform deep feelings of anger into something useful?

Dr. Richard J. Davidson, Neuroscientist analyses with Zainab Salbi, the emotions of anger. Together, they explore how anger can be transformed into mirror-like wisdom.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Have you been inspired by these video series? Use the hashtag #MandalaLabSeries to share some of your learnings!

Interested in hosting the traveling Mandala Lab?

Please feel free to reach out to the team at programming@rubinmuseum.org

Mathilde Lorenzi

Hearth Summit Lead at The Wellbeing Project

Madrid,
Spain

Connect with Mathilde Lorenzi on social media :

Mathilde is French and lives in Madrid. She studied Business and Politics in Edhec Business School and in Science Po Paris University.

She started her career in marketing and communication before moving to politics, to being an entrepreneur and finally to become a conference organizer.

She is the author of two books, one related to it mylk, the Frozen Yogurt business she launched with her sister in Paris in 2010 (Frozen Yogurt; Marabout, 2013) and the second one related to Les Respirations, the conference dedicated to Air Quality that she created in Paris in 2014 and then ran in 2015 and 2016 (La bataille de l’air. Enjeux économiques de la qualite de l’air; Descartes & Cie, 2015).

She joined The Wellbeing Project in 2020 as Lead for The Wellbeing Summit for Social change. Together with her amazing team she created and produced the first edition of the summit which happenend in Bilbao in June 2022 and is now fully dedicated to organize the second one.

In her free time, Mathilde is the happy mother of three little kids, she loves art, travelling and horse-back riding.

Linda Sadiq

Elder

Toronto,
Canada

Linda has long believed that each of us is here to fulfill a unique purpose – that the situations, experiences, and interactions life sends our way are designed precisely to help us learn and grow into the Beings we need to be, in order to live that purpose. Many years ago, putting words to her own sense of that purpose, Linda wrote, “My purpose is to be me – openly, honestly, fully, joyously, proudly, lovingly, gratefully, and in doing so, help others to be openly, honestly, fully, joyously, proudly, lovingly, gratefully -themselves”. With professional experience internationally in widely different cultures, sectors, industries, organization settings and community circumstances, Linda has focused on the inner development of organizations and individuals as an organization development consultant, Gestalt psychotherapist, and certified coach of adults and their organizational systems.

Linda is a wife and mother to four amazing adult children, as well as grandmother to six beautiful souls ranging in age from 21 to 6 years. Her favourite place in the world is an indigenous-built retreat in Ontario’s Algonquin Park, where, year after year, she breathes in the splendor of the glorious autumn leaves.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

For me, inner wellbeing is the peace that comes from feeling that who I am in the outside world is genuinely who I am deep in my heart.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

I can’t do it in just one word! Will you accept “inner peace”?

Are there any rituals or practices you use to enhance your wellbeing?

My rituals: creative cooking; reading or listening to poetry that speaks to my heart; writing for me is a meditation; being in the forest or sitting in front of the warmth and glorious smell of a wood-burning fireplace.

Why is it important that we prioritise individual and collective wellbeing?

It’s important to prioritise individual and collective wellbeing because who we are inside is who we are outside. When we are traumatized, in pain, raging, feeling lost, we show up in the world hurt, angry, confused and unsure. And how we show up affects our actions, our relationships, our ability to be thoughtful and caring, creative and productive. Caring for ourselves is caring for our world.

Do you have any favourite books, podcasts, or articles that you believe support, promote, or educate on wellbeing and related themes? 

I don’t have anything that professes to be wellbeing guidance. AND I have many favourite books, poems, music, etc. that support and contribute to my own inner wellbeing. Some of my favourites:
BOOKS –
“Wherever You Go, There You Are” (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
“The Book of Joy” (Dalai Lama)
“Honoring the Self” (Nathanial Branden)