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Carrie Rebora Barratt

Director, LongHouse Reserve, and Founder, The Solace Project

Carrie Rebora Barratt is an energetic and collaborative curator and executive leader, who has deployed her growth and resilience mindset into organizational culture in top cultural institutions. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Botanical Garden, LongHouse Reserve, and through her umbrella organization, The Solace Project, she leads through big transitions by championing collective intelligence of staff and board at the intersection of art, nature, and the human spirit, to welcome visitors to culture and build community.

At The Met, she rose from summer intern to Deputy Director, immersing herself in the vital importance of museum work in our world. As the leader of 27 departments and over 400 staff—curatorial, conservation and scientific research, libraries, education, publications, and digital—she worked with commitment to the common purpose of shaping the collection, putting on superb exhibitions, and enriching visitor experience. That work requires structured governance and decisive administration matched with collaboration, curiosity, and creativity. She delivered results through strategic planning, marketing savvy, institutional advancement, and facilities management.

In 2018, she took over the New York Botanical Garden as ninth CEO and President, the first woman to hold the position in its 127 year history. A 250 acre campus of art and nature with nearly 500 staff, NYBG faced a major leadership transition and weather challenges on the grounds. In just two years, she developed a long-range art exhibition plan with vital educational programs and new digital content, drafted an agenda for increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, improved facilities, heightened the garden’s role in the botanical and horticultural dimensions of climate change and human wellness, and expanded the urban gardening program in our region. She managed the challenges of the pandemic, and saw the Garden to reopening in summer 2020, staff intact, budget balanced, and visitors returning.

In 2020, during the pandemic, she founded The Solace Project as a vessel to write, talk, teach, and gather community in pursuit of basic wellness through art and nature. Her work in the space continues as a speaker, consultant to museums, gardens, and organizations sharing the value of resilience and wellbeing.
She joined LongHouse Reserve in autumn 2021, invited to lead the institution through transition and turnaround following the passing of founder Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020). Since then, she has stewarded the 16-acre integrated environment within a mission to inspire living with art in all forms, serving the community with vast open space, programs in art, nature, and wellness, providing a sanctuary for Long Island and beyond.

Connect with Carrie on social media :

IN CARRIE’S WORDSIN CARRIE’S WORDS

How do you think individual, collective, and planetary wellbeing are connected?

Through our breath and our collective growth as living beings. 

What do you hope the outcomes are from the global Hearth Summit?

Enhanced appreciation for art in nature as the tie that binds us, heals us, generates our curiosity, and creates those awe-filled moments that teach us to feel in our bodies.

WHAT CARRIE IS READING, LISTENING TO, AND WATCHING

Claire Wilcox, Patchwork: A Life Amongst Clothes (Bloomsbury, 2020)

James Elkins, Pictures and Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings (Routledge, 2001)

Brene Brown talks to David Eagleman Unlocking Us podcast about The Inside Story of the Every-Changing Brain

Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times (Riverhead Books, 2020)

George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance (Parallax Press, 2016)

Ruth La Ferla, “The Power of Positive Thinking, Reborn,” The New York Times, January 21, 2021

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Content Curation Advisory Board Member

Ecological Belonging Specialist

Aaron Pereira

Project Co-Lead, The Wellbeing Project

Connect with Aaron Pereira on social media :

Aaron recently came across an old and slightly dusty high school paper and was more than a bit surprised to see it explored the connection between inner lives and social change. It was lovely to (re)discover that his work in the Project touches on a life long interest alongside other wonderful things in life like travel, meeting people, reading, and hosting dinner parties or really gatherings of all kinds.

Aaron’s mom got him involved in social change work (some time before the high school paper) and it stuck. The key thread in much of his work is exploring the way we live together. Sometimes that’s taken the form of pop up experiments, boards, or running an organisation. A few other times he’s been a co-founder such as with CanadaHelps. CanadaHelps, one of Canada’s leading charities, engages over 3 million Canadians to raise over $400 million a year for social causes across Canada and around the world.

Taking time for a morning cup of tea helps his day start out gently and well. It started as a (gentle) daily ritual sometime during a 7 year walk-about which was all about taking time for and re-centering his inner life. Something the cup of tea helps with every day. He loves being based in Paris and continuing to spend a lot of time in India.

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Tiu de Haan

Ritual Designer & Founder, The Possibility of Wonder

Tiu de Haan is an Oxford educated ritual designer, creative facilitator, inspirational speaker and “idea doula”, who curates and creates experiences designed to shift your perspective to see the wonder in the world, helping people to birth their creative ideas and design their own unique path filled with moments of meaning.

As a ritual designer, she creates bespoke ceremonies for times of transition for individuals, communities and organizational change. Tiu has created all sorts of rituals that honour the thresholds in our lives, be that a rite of passage for an organization at a point of transition, an individual stepping across a threshold in life or work, or any number of other transformations that call for a moment of meaning. 

She also teaches ritual design and has been a visiting lecturer at UAL and Bristol University, as well as being on the faculty for the Odyssey Works Experience Design Certification Program and a Professor at the College of Extraordinary Experiences.

Tiu has worked with global organisations including Google, the World Economic Forum, L’Oreal and the UN and consults for global brands on rituals for beauty, food and wellbeing, as well as working with pioneers in the death industry to reimagine funerals with more heart and human-centred experience design. She also collaborates with world-leading neuroscientists, quantum physicists and chemists to create experiences that shift our perspective to see the magic in the mundane, both in person and in VR. 

She has been a keynote speaker at Google, Sunday Assembly, and the UN International Day of Happiness and her TEDx talk ‘Why we still need ritual’ is about the art of celebrating the transitions of life, love and death and has had over 29k views. 

Tiu lives on a beautiful houseboat in London and is exploring the creation of a “monastery for artists and experience designers” somewhere in Europe, where moments of meaning are made as magical artworks and experiences are both created and gifted, as acts of collaborative creativity and sacred, soulful generosity.

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IN TIU'S WORDSIN TIU'S WORDS

How do you think individual, collective, and planetary wellbeing are connected?

When we are able to feel our innate connection to ourselves, to others and to the planet, we tap into our true nature, our interconnectedness. It is where science and sacredness meet, where the evidence stacks up to support the concept of our “interbeing” as Thich Nhat Hanh put it. To live within an awareness of this means we might perceive ourselves not as fragmented, isolated or wounded individuals, but rather as a part of an infinitely complex whole. If we were to live with this as our guiding principle, the very idea of it might allow both our thoughts and our actions to be infused with a new depth of compassion and care, transforming how we treat our bodies, minds and our fellow humans and non humans and also to care for the wider world that surrounds and supports us as a part of ourselves. Conversely, to live in disconnection is to deny our bounty, our beauty and our community with all things, human and beyond human.

Also – we are united by so much more than that which divides us. The work I do within the realm of creating non religious ritual engages with the universal experiences we all share – birth, death, love, grief, home, food, family, reflection, seasonal changes, work, rest, rites of passage from one life stage to another… Regardless of our beliefs,  the list goes on and on, for ritual denotes meaningful moments of transitions of all kind, whether they pertain to our identity, our location, our race, our challenges, our losses and our joys. 

Our lived experiences are so often demarcated by the same thresholds and so to find kinship and connection amid all our many differences allows us to accompany each other through the same transitions we all face, offering a way to feel less alone along the path we all walk through birth, life and death.

What do you hope the outcomes are from the global Hearth Summit?

Enhanced appreciation for art in nature as the tie that binds us, heals us, generates our curiosity, and creates those awe-filled moments that teach us to feel in our bodies.

WHAT TIU IS READING, LISTENING TO, AND WATCHING

Work for Humans Podcast: Nourishment for the Soul: The Sacred Power of Ritual in Work and Life | Tiu de Haan

TEDxHeythrop College Talk: “Why We Still Need Ritual with Tiu de Haan”

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Lalita Suzuki

Special Projects Manager, The Omidyar Group

Lalita Suzuki serves as Special Projects Manager at The Omidyar Group. She supports their philanthropic programs through grant administration, research, and project management. Prior to this position, Lalita worked at Hopelab, also part of The Omidyar Group, where she managed user-centered research in the development of innovative products designed to improve the health and wellbeing of adolescents and young adults.

Lalita holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from UCLA with an emphasis in Child Development.

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IN LALITA’S WORDSIN LALITA’S WORDS

How do you think individual, collective, and planetary wellbeing are connected?

When the planet is well, it provides gifts of clean air and water, nourishment, and inspiration so the collective can flourish. When the collective is well, it provides physical, emotional, and spiritual support so individuals can thrive. When individuals are well, they can continue to put energy into improving the wellbeing of themselves, the collective, and the planet as a whole. Wellbeing builds upon wellbeing, and flows up and down this chain. We all play a part in this process.

What do you hope the outcomes are from the global Hearth Summit?

The sparking of creativity, curiosity, compassion, and connection.

Bill Coy

Poet in Residence

Bill’s professional journey has allowed him to work in the most beautiful places on the planet. Honolulu Hawaii, the Vatican, Yosemite Valley, Marin County, Skywalker Ranch, and Fargo North Dakota.

Most recently Bill was the designer and director of the Omidyar Fellows, a cross sectoral leadership development program in Honolulu Hawaii. Previously he was a partner at La Piana Consulting heading the leadership practice. His professional background includes head of training and development at Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas’s visual effects firm and Director of HR at Yosemite National Institutes.  He holds graduate degrees in systematic theology and clinical counseling.  He is a licensed marriage and family therapist.

His work has allowed him to act as a teacher, facilitator, therapist, writer, aggregator of the wisdom of others, executive coach, and consultant. He has been an executive coach at Stanford Medical Leadership Academy since its creation. He treasures his role as a spouse, father, and grandfather.

Bill is also the poet in residence for the Wellbeing Project, a global organization that promotes the inner wellbeing for changemakers.

Towards the end of his career right now, not ready to retire, he is looking forward to discovering what is next and how to write the chapter in this stage of life.  He continues to be confused about how a 35-year-old man like himself can have 69 birthdays.

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Anique Jordan

Artist, Writer & Curator

Anique Jordan is an artist, writer and curator who looks to answer the question of possibility in everything she creates.

As an artist, Jordan works in photography, sculpture and performance often employing the theory of hauntology to challenge historical or dominant narratives and creating, what she calls, impossible images. Jordan’s work considers different logics of time, the black surreal and the marvellous as it relates to the black Atlantic experience. Jordan has lectured on her artistic and community-engaged curatorial practice as a 2017 Canada Seminar speaker at Harvard University and in numerous institutions across the Americas. In 2017 she co-curated the exhibition Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  Jordan has recently completed her MFA in Photography at Rhode Island School of Design, is a 2024 recipient of Canadas 100 most accomplished Black women and is currently an Assistant Professor and AICAD Fellow at Parsons School of Design.

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Carrie Rebora Barratt

Hearth Summit Art Curator

New York,
USA

Connect with Carrie Barratt on Social Media :

Carrie Rebora Barratt is an energetic and collaborative curator and executive leader, who has deployed her growth and resilience mindset into organizational culture in top cultural institutions. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Botanical Garden, LongHouse Reserve, and through her umbrella organization, The Solace Project, she leads through big transitions by championing collective intelligence of staff and board at the intersection of art, nature, and the human spirit, to welcome visitors to culture and build community.

At The Met, she rose from summer intern to Deputy Director, immersing herself in the vital importance of museum work in our world. As the leader of 27 departments and over 400 staff—curatorial, conservation and scientific research, libraries, education, publications, and digital—she worked with commitment to the common purpose of shaping the collection, putting on superb exhibitions, and enriching visitor experience. That work requires structured governance and decisive administration matched with collaboration, curiosity, and creativity. She delivered results through strategic planning, marketing savvy, institutional advancement, and facilities management.

In 2018, she took over the New York Botanical Garden as ninth CEO and President, the first woman to hold the position in its 127 year history. A 250 acre campus of art and nature with nearly 500 staff, NYBG faced a major leadership transition and weather challenges on the grounds. In just two years, she developed a long-range art exhibition plan with vital educational programs and new digital content, drafted an agenda for increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, improved facilities, heightened the garden’s role in the botanical and horticultural dimensions of climate change and human wellness, and expanded the urban gardening program in our region. She managed the challenges of the pandemic, and saw the Garden to reopening in summer 2020, staff intact, budget balanced, and visitors returning.

In 2020, during the pandemic, she founded The Solace Project as a vessel to write, talk, teach, and gather community in pursuit of basic wellness through art and nature. Her work in the space continues as a speaker, consultant to museums, gardens, and organizations sharing the value of resilience and wellbeing.
She joined LongHouse Reserve in autumn 2021, invited to lead the institution through transition and turnaround following the passing of founder Jack Lenor Larsen (1927-2020). Since then, she has stewarded the 16-acre integrated environment within a mission to inspire living with art in all forms, serving the community with vast open space, programs in art, nature, and wellness, providing a sanctuary for Long Island and beyond.

Manuel Bagorro

Hearth Summit Head of Arts

New York,
USA

Connect with MANUEL BAGORRO on Social Media :

Manuel Bagorro is a long-time Creative Advisor at Carnegie Hall, working on the design, planning and implementation of a range of programs. He is also Artistic Director of Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School in Rockport ME, Founder and Artistic Director of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) in Zimbabwe and served as a program advisor for CultureSummit Abu Dhabi in 2017 and 2018. He curated the arts program for the first Wellbeing Summit in Bilbao, 2022 and leads the artistic team for the Global Hearth Summit in Ljubljana, 2025. For the last 12 years, his work with Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School has resulted in a new approach to the organization’s educational offerings and community engagement programs. Under his leadership, the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) became one of the most significant artistic and social impact projects in Southern Africa, weathering the social, political and economic turmoil in Zimbabwe for more than a decade.

He is also a pianist, having performed extensively and won prizes in the Newport International and Royal Overseas League Piano Competitions. He performed in the John Schlesinger film, Madame Sousatzka, and appeared as soloist with the BBC Welsh and Cape Town Symphony Orchestras. He composed the music for a series of documentaries entitled Africa Unmasked and played for Queen Elizabeth II and other dignitaries at a State Banquet in London in 1995.

Paola Martins

Networks Advancement Coordinator

Caracas, Venezuela

Connect with Paola Martins on Social Media :

Paola, originally from Venezuela’s coastal region (Lecheria) and now residing in Caracas, is a Civil Engineer with a Master in Business Administration from IESA. Her expertise lies in commercial operations and strategic planning. During her leisure time, she enjoys listening to podcasts, watching series, and relaxing at her favorite spot—the beach. For Paola, wellbeing entails nurturing both physical and mental health.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

For me inner wellbeing involves connecting with our emotions, making peace with life’s journey and confidently navigating daily decisions, all while striving for balance.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Vitality

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

Dedicating time to loved ones and prioritizing physical health through mindful nutrition and exercise. Additionally, I nurture my spiritual wellbeing by engaging in practices such as gratitude journaling and setting goals.

Why is it important that we prioritize individual, organizational and societal wellbeing?

Putting wellbeing first is really important for happiness and doing well. When individuals are healthy and fulfilled, they perform better, leading to stronger organizations and communities.