Raquel Vicedo

Regional Summits Director at The Wellbeing Project

Madrid, Spain

Connect with Raquel Vicedo on social media :

Raquel has extensive experience as a Project Manager in multicultural and multilingual contexts, and has worked both nationally and internationally at private and public institutions, such as the A. P. Moller – Maersk Group, the Spanish Ministry of Culture or the Hay Festival of Literature & the Arts.

Naturally interested in people and current affairs, she is passionate about learning and about personal and organisational development, and truly believes in the power of listening, listening, listening. In her thirties, she came across a poem —”Wild Geese”, by American author Mary Oliver— that literally brought her back to life and forced her to regain connection to that thing that used to keep her going and had somehow lost. After a year-long sabbatical, she finally managed to turn that out-of-tuneness into a yearning, and redirected her efforts so that her professional life would be aligned with her personal wish to find that place of encounter which her inner self was craving for.

Sociable and dynamic, her main motivation is to help implement instruments that can generate sustainable social and economic development for communities and individuals, as well as to contribute in a broad sense to making our society more human-centered, sustainable and fair.

When she’s not working, she loves to spend time with her family and friends, go for long walks with her dog, travel or read a book (yes, she’s an avid reader).

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

Acceptance, compassion and empathy towards oneself and the rest of fellow creatures.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Interconnectedness

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

I meditate three times a week and practice pilates regularly. I also try to walk everywhere! Walking is an amazing practice that helps to stay fit, bot physically and spiritually.

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

Because as my dear Mary Oliver says: “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —over and over announcing your place in the family of things”.

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

“The Art of Contemplation” and “Tao: The Watercourse Way“, by Alan Watts

“Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver“, by Mary Oliver

“Mysticism for Beginners“, by Adam Zagajewski

“Minase Sangin Hyakuin —A Poem of One Hundred Links Composed by Three Poets at Minase”, by Sogi, Shohaku

Socho (or any other good poetry book —the healing power of poetry is immense!).

John Gasko

Engagement Lead at The Wellbeing Project

Austin, Texas

John has a long history with the Wellbeing Project. Back in 2017, he collaborated closely with the project to create the vision for what has now become the Higher Education Network and was personally transformed as a member of the first cohort while serving as a professor and Dean.

Once again, a lightning strike of creativity happened over coffee at Sigmund Freud’s summer villa in the Austrian Alps while participating in an inner work retreat. It was there where the Teacher Wellbeing Group was further incubated and soon thereafter Gasko was quickly dispatched to the WISE Summit in Qatar to meet up with Xymena Salado, Networks Senior Manager, and curate a workshop with education leaders from around the globe.

In the Fall of 2019, Dr. Gasko was appointed Chief Well-Being Officer at Uplift Education, one of the largest public education , charter school systems in the United States.

In 2016, Dr. Gasko was appointed Professor and Dean of Education at the University of North Texas and eventually Special Advisor to the President. While at UNT, Dr. Gasko built and launched thirdspace, one of the first mindfulness and well-being centers dedicated to supporting students, faculty, and leaders in higher education. Earlier in his career, Dr. Gasko served as the Director of Research and Public Policy for the Children’s Defense Fund, worked alongside physicians, neuroscientists, and psychologists as Associate Division Chief of Developmental Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and became CEO and Managing Director of the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute. Dr. Gasko has experienced firsthand how talented social changemakers are besieged, overwhelmed, stressed out, and who leave their professions at alarming rates. Striving evermore to understand why people on the front lines of helping others were “dropping out,” Gasko traveled the country and the globe to study with a variety of institutions, physicians, scientists, and wisdom teachers—including Harvard Medical School, the Chief of Primary Care at UChicago Medicine, Alex Lickerman, UMASS Medical School’s Jon Kabat-Zinn, Boston Trauma Center’s, Bessel Van Der Kolk, and Tibetan teacher, Pema Chodron. Gasko is one of the few people to attain a Black Belt “with distinction” in Jamie Wheal’s Flow Genome Project system, which is featured in the NYT’s best-selling book, Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work.

He has trained in expedition-based canyoneering in the rugged Utah-based desert system with Wheal and Curt Cronin, a former commander of Navy SEAL Team 6, and is extending this training to include back-country skiing and guiding in the Holy Cross Wilderness in the Pike San Isabel National Forest. Gasko is also a trained Emergency Medical Technician and Wilderness First Responder.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?
From the Heart Sutra: “Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form…”

How would you define wellbeing in one word?
Harmony.

Are there any rituals or practices you use to enhance your wellbeing?
I have imperfectly experimented with Shikantaza or “Just Sitting” for almost 30 years and will receive Zen Jukai ordination in November, 2023.

Why is it important that we prioritize individual, organizational and societal wellbeing?
Because there’s nothing like feeling at home in your own body and mind, with colleagues at work, within our communities and in seamless relationship to nature.

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

Shantideva’s Guide to the Boddhisattva’s Way of Life

Wellbeing Of The World Wellbeing Of The World

A Global Symphony

“Wellbeing of the World – A Global Symphony” is an international, collaborative music project by composer/inventor Tod Machover and his team at the MIT Media Lab. Over the next two years, the music project will sample perspectives on inner, organisational, societal and planetary wellbeing at the regional Hearth Summits, as well as more generally, all leading up to the global Hearth Summit in 2025. This uniquely exciting initiative aims at exploring through sounds of all kinds how different cultures and communities explore the journey of wellbeing for individuals, organisations, communities, societies and the planet, for the current moment as well as for the future.

With “Wellbeing of the World — A Global Symphony,” Tod Machover, the MIT Media Lab, The Wellbeing Project, and the regional Hearth Summits are launching a new initiative whose ambition is to collect sounds, voices and music from the different regional and global summit locations to create a true world symphony, the very first of its kind. The project is designed to explore and promote wellbeing by weaving together the unique sounds that the different cultures and places around the world select to explore the journey of wellbeing for individuals, organisations, communities, societies and for the planet.

“Wellbeing of the World — A Global Symphony” will culminate at the 2024 global Hearth Summit, with a headline musical performance that brings together this collective and global artistic expression of wellbeing, and will also be expressed in a first-ever, AI-generated “flowing symphony” that will constantly evolve, inviting sonic input and listener preference far into the future.

Throughout the two-year journey, local communities from all the regional and global Hearth Summit locations will be invited to help create this collective story, using software specially designed at the MIT Media Lab.

Sounds can come from professional musicians and amateurs, from people of all ages and backgrounds, and from anything in the environment (human-created or not) that conveys a vivid sense of place and of purpose.

As the sounds are collected, using research currently underway at the MIT Media Lab and under Tod Machover’s creative supervision, the process will combine, contrast and coordinate them to dramatize individual voices as well as collective harmony. The result will be an ever-changing musical piece: the Wellbeing of the World Symphony, a sonic portrait of wellbeing around the world.

Wellbeing Of The World Wellbeing Of The World

At the Regional Hearth Summits

Meet Tod at The Wellbeing Summit 2022

The City Symphonies Model

The model which brought this highly original initiative to life is to be found in the City Symphonies, a project developed by Machover and the MIT Media Lab since 2013, which invited citizens of a specific city from all ages and backgrounds to work together to create its sonic portrait, constructed from contributed sounds ranging from musical to noise, composed to “found,” and from expert to anything. This project was also brought to Bilbao on the occasion of the 2022 Global Wellbeing Summit for Social Change. City Symphonies have not only resulted in powerfully memorable musical compositions, but also have built extraordinary community and cultivated creativity in radical new ways.

About Tod Machover About Tod Machover

Tod Machover, composer and inventor, is Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music & Media at the MIT Media Lab, where he is also Director of the Opera of the Future Group and Academic Head.

He has been called “America’s most wired composer” by The Los Angeles Times, and “a musical visionary” by The New York Times, and is widely celebrated for inventing new technologies that expand music’s potential for emotional expression, for creating community, and for enhancing health and wellbeing.

Tod Machover’s work has been awarded numerous prizes and honors from organizations such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm and Koussevitzky music foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, the German and French ministries of culture, the World Technology Network, and Musical America (that named him Composer of the Year in 2016). He has been commissioned and performed by many of the world’s most prominent cultural organizations, including Yo-Yo Ma, the Pompidou Center (Paris), the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, The Kronos Quartet, and many others. Machover is especially recognized for his groundbreaking operas, including the audience-interactive Brain Opera, the “robotic” Death and the Powers (Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), and his current opera project, The Overstory, based on Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize winning novel about trees and the urgency of recalibrating the relationship between humans and the non-human world.

Madelaine VanDerHeyden

Senior Marketing and Storytelling Manager at The Wellbeing Project

Paris, France

Connect with Madelaine VanDerHeyden on social media :

Madelaine is a skilled marketing and communications professional passionate about using storytelling to encourage community in our pursuit of social change and sustainability. From a family of artists, musicians, and writers, Madelaine’s love for storytelling is deeply personal; as a conscious citizen and yogi, her passion for human unity is as well.

Madelaine’s connection with The Wellbeing Project started in 2020 after her year spent abroad in Auroville, India, where she researched compassionate communication in sustainability and social change organizations. Curious about the inner, affective experience of communication and development, she found the Project and its motto, ‘wellbeing inspires welldoing’, which spoke deeply to her research and personal experiences. Today, she is thrilled to be reunited with the Project and join the Storytelling Team.

In her career communicating across a variety of media — including broadcast television, print journalism, and digital channels — Madelaine brings a dynamic approach to storytelling which allows her to effectively engage diverse audiences ranging from women’s self-help groups in rural India to international corporations to the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

She has a Masters of Arts in Global Communications from the American University of Paris, and a Bachelors of Art in English and International Affairs from the University of Washington.

In her free time, Madelaine can be found practicing (and teaching) yoga, reading, hiking, leisurely walking the streets of Paris, and FaceTiming with her family and dog back home in sunny southern California.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?
Peace.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?
Blossoming.

Are there any rituals or practices you use to enhance your wellbeing?
Joyful movement, intuitive eating, getting a full night’s sleep, therapy, mindful walking, and artistic creation.

Why is it important that we prioritize individual, organizational and societal wellbeing?Wellbeing, to me, is the root of all peaceful experiences on this earth. It brings us back to our roots to help us truly know who we are, how to live in community with others, and see what type of world we want to live in. With wellbeing in our minds and hearts, we can awaken from the dream of human unity and live in real harmony with each other and Mother Earth.

Valeria Peredo Figini

People & Culture Lead at The Wellbeing Project

Spain

Connect with VALERIA PEREDO FIGINI on social media :

Valeria has developed her professional career in the HR field. She has played different roles as HRBP, expert in training, talent management, leadership development, culture, well-being and employee experience in different companies for more than 15 years. Since 2017 she has the accreditation of the International Coaching Federation (ACC) and the Coactive Coactive and HR Agile certifications (CPCC – ICP-AHR).

Since 2018 she has been working as a Senior consultant on internal communication projects, employee engagement, cultural transformation and leadership, executive and team coaching, collaborating with different talent development firms. Since 2018 , she is also a volunteer at PWN Madrid, a profesional women network association. She is the Academic Director of The Human and Digital leadership program. In adition to this role, she also performs as responsible for the anual individual coaching program for executive women organised pro-bono together with UNED ( Spain National at a distance University) and Green Light GO ( CTI Spain).

Since novemeber 2022 she is People & Culture Lead for The Wellbeing Project. She firmly believes that in order to better adapt to the rapidly changing world we live in,
it is important to learn how to keep ourselves and our work environment psychologically safe. She is focused on helping people, leaders and teams to grow and flourish in environments of healthy and sustainable relationships.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?
Inner wellbeing is the constant practice of all the activities that help us feel healthy, at peace of mind and full of energy. Each of us need to go through the journey to discover what are those specific initiatives that care and nourish our physical, mental , emotional and spiritual health.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?
Living at your full potential.

Are there any rituals or practices you use to enhance your wellbeing?
I practice yoga, I meditate and take care as much as I can of muy closest relationships.

Why is it important that we prioritize individual, organizational and societal wellbeing?
We live in a complex world. We frequently forget we are human and we are nature. We are not a piece of machinery that functions non stop. We need to take care of our bodies, minds, heart and environment as well as our relationships. Health is not only physical but being in a state to be able to relate to others and contribute from our talents and strengths.

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

Thrive Global. 

Rick Hanson

Psychologist, Bestselling Author, Global Compassion Coalition Founder, Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom Founder

San Rafael, CA,
United States

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and New York Times best-selling author. His seven books have been published in 31 languages and include Making Great Relationship, Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Just One Thing, Buddha’s Brain, and Mother Nurture – with over a million copies in English alone. He’s the founder of the Global Compassion Coalition and the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, as well as the co-host of the Being Well podcast – which has been downloaded over 9 million times. His free newsletters have 250,000 subscribers, and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial needs. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on CBS, NPR, the BBC, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and has taught in meditation centers worldwide. He and his wife live in northern California and have two adult children. He loves the wilderness and taking a break from emails.

Connect with RICK HANSON on social media :

Website

Global Grassroots

New Hampshire, United States.

Field of Action: Social change. Women’s Justice. Ecological Belonging.

Ecosystem Network

Since 2006, Global Grassroots has trained more than 700 emerging change agents across East Africa who have designed nearly 200 civil society organizations reaching 198,000 people.

Their inner-driven approach, called Conscious Social Change, results in powerful impacts on our change agents and them, in turn, upon their communities.

When applied to the water sector, this results in significant shifts in health, violence, and education indicators, recording an unprecedented sustainability rate of 96% among water ventures they have funded since 2008, which are serving nearly 78,000 people with access to clean water and hygiene supplies, a critical need during COVID-19. Women belonging to Global Grassroots groups and programs understand systemic change and use their water solutions as sustainable hubs to target a range of other priority local issues affecting women.

When women lead, communities succeed.

[mk_blockquote font_family=”none”]

Women are the fabric of society, but in impoverished areas, they lack the tools to solve local social issues.”

[/mk_blockquote]

Reports & Research

Women, Water & Wisdom: Mapping Ripple Effects of Conscious Social Change in
Rural Rwanda

Have you ever thought about the link between wellbeing and water?

The benefits of clean water go well beyond physical health. In communities where clean water is scarce and has to be fetched on a daily basis, its availability reduced stress and increased safety: 

“According to participants, the incidents of injury, violence, and abuse related to fetching water dropped since the new water sites launched, particularly improving the safety of women, girls, and other community members for whom the journey had been dangerous.”

Read the full report to learn more about the power of water and community-led change: 

READ REPORT

Related Posts

Chip Conley

Co-founder of Modern Elder Academy

Chip Conley is on a mission. After disrupting the hospitality industry twice, first as the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second-largest operator of boutique hotels worldwide, and then as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, leading a worldwide revolution in travel, Conley co-founded Modern Elder Academy in January 2018.

Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a ‘modern elder’ at Airbnb, where his guidance was instrumental to the company’s extraordinary transformation from a fast-growing start-up to the world’s most valuable hospitality brand, Modern Elder Academy is the first-ever ‘midlife wisdom school.’ Dedicated to reframing the concept of aging, Modern Elder Academy supports students to navigate midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility. Modern Elder Academy has more than 3,000 alumni from 42 countries and 26 regional chapters globally and is expanding to the United States with a new campus and regenerative community slated for Santa Fe, New Mexico to open in 2024.

Conley is also the award-winning author of New York Times bestseller Emotional Equations, alongside Peak: Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, The Rebel Rules, Marketing That Matters: 10 Practices to Profit Your Business and Change the World, and Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, which forms the core of the Modern Elder Academy’s curriculum. Conley’s book A Year of Wisdom coming out this year is based on daily inspiration and insight from his Wisdom Well blog. Learning to Love Midlife, a book about rebranding midlife to help people understand a life stage that is misunderstood, will be released in January 2024.

A near-death experience survivor, Conley is the recipient of hospitality’s highest honor, the Pioneer Award, and was named the Most Innovative CEO in the San Francisco Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. He is the founder of the Celebrity Pool Toss which supports families in the Tenderloin neighborhood where he opened his first hotel and San Francisco’s Hotel Hero Awards. Chip holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University and an honorary doctorate in psychology from Saybrook University. He serves on the board of Encore.org, and the advisory board for the Stanford Center for Longevity.

Silvia Haba de Merlo

Regional Summit & Network Senior Manager at The Wellbeing Project

Panama

Silvia is a deep believer in the power of community, connection, and inner growth as the paths for social transformation. She has spent over a decade working in NGOs and social enterprises, leading social and emotional learning programs for children, young adults, and change-makers. In the midst of the pandemic and experiencing [what she later came to understand as] symptoms of burnout, she understood the importance of taking care of oneself in order to keep taking care of others and promoting social impact. She founded Coimpacta, an online community for Spanish-speaking changemakers to cultivate their wellbeing and self-development by accessing international experts and peer-support spaces. You will often find her out in nature (especially the ocean), dancing or learning something new. She was born and raised in Madrid, Spain, and has lived in France, China, and Belgium before moving to Panama in 2014. She is thrilled to be a part of The Wellbeing Project movement and community. In collaboration with The Wellbeing Summit and the Networks Teams, her work enables expanding the messages and experiences of inner wellbeing for social change to a regional and local level.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

Feeling at peace, with yourself and with others, while striving to keep evolving and contributing.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Love.

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

Meditation, stretching, Qi gong, yoga, playing music (piano, guitar, singing), walking in nature, and spending time with loved ones. Watching sunrise and/or sunset.

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

“We cannot practice compassion with other people if we do not treat ourselves kindly.” – Brené Brown

“Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals.” – Mahatma Gandhi

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

Online course: The Power of Awareness – Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach

App: Richard Davidson’s “Healthy Minds”

Book: “The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save your Life” – Edith Eger

Connect with SILVA HABA DE MERLO on social media :

Alana Chávez

Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at The Wellbeing Project

Mexico City,

Mexico

Connect with Alana Chávez on social media :

Alana Chávez is a Digital Marketing and Content professional hailing from Mexico. With over eight years of experience in the industry, Alana has honed her skills in creating compelling content and crafting effective marketing strategies for a wide range of mass consumer goods, government agencies, technology companies, fintech startups, and more.

Alana is a true storyteller at heart. She has a passion for anything that tells a story, whether it’s a captivating novel, a thought-provoking film, or a great conversation. She firmly believes that human beings connect best through stories and that storytelling is the key to creating content that resonates with audiences. This enthusiasm for storytelling is reflected in her work, where she creates content that not only informs but also entertains and engages her audience.

As the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing for the Storytelling team, Alana is dedicated to creating a captivating and inspiring narrative that motivates others to embark on their own wellbeing journey.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

Feeling at ease with being a work in progress.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Awareness.

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

Long walks in nature.

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

Because well-being inspires well-doing.

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

Brené Brown’s podcast “Unlocking Us” taught me everything I know about self-awareness, the key to inner wellbeing.