Profile Archives - Page 2 of 6 - The Wellbeing Project

Adam Molyneux-Berry

CoCo Labs

Washington, DC,
United States.

My work has always been to create safe spaces to shift consciousness, activating people as changemakers, contributing to planetary wellbeing. In my coaching practice, using a multi-disciplinary approach, I work with leaders to support them in showing up as the best versions of themselves – accompanying them in their self-discovery of what moves them to be forces for positive change in the world. In my systems-level work, I work with changemakers across entire ecosystems, using Collaborative Innovation, Human Centred Design, Social Innovation and Social Impact methodologies to solve shared challenges and scale impact collectively. The combination of deep interpersonal work with leaders, and broad systemic impact across ecosystems is part of my theory of change: By working on our inner worlds and collaborating radically in our outer worlds, collective wellbeing is not only possible, it is inevitable. In my own journey, I have launched 10+ organisations – including SMEs, nonprofits and social businesses – 3 of which were launched during the Arab Spring. Having experienced the full-spectrum of leadership challenges, from personal and team burnout to systems-level collaborations during extreme uncertainty and volatility, I learned first-hand just what it takes to thrive individually and collectively, in the midst of complexity. Working across languages, cultures and generations in complex socio-political contexts has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career. In 2014 I was awarded an Ashoka Fellowship for work I did during the Arab Spring – leveraging the Green Economy in the MENA region as a safe space for youth, government, private sector, civil society and academia to work together in rebuilding the region. My current focus the systems-change initiative, CoCo Labs, tasked with advancing equitable wellbeing for collective thriving.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

Inner wellbeing for me is a combination of many things coming together. It includes integrating our mental, emotional, somatic, relational, and spiritual aspects. It also includes an ability to be present, self-aware and to meet our experience with gentle and kind awareness.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Harmony.

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

Meditation/sitting, qigong, inner relationship focusing, exercise, ritual, music, dance, poetry, connection, and community.

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

To activate the most beneficial potential in our emerging future.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Connect with Adam Molyneux-Berry on social media :

CoCo Labs's website

Bilal Ghalib

Bloom.pm

Beirut, Lille, Detroit –
Lebanon, France, Michigan/USA

Bilal Ghalib is the co-founder and Head of Research at Bloom. He has 18 years of experience working with social enterprises and organizations in the USA and MENA. He helped found Bloom in 2016 with the vision of creating positive change by facilitating personal and professional development for social entrepreneurs in the Middle East and Africa. Bilal holds a Master’s degree from the Universite de Paris in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research and Education. He applies his expertise at Bloom by conducting research and development on applied positive psychological frameworks for creating a community-oriented, online learning environment for startups. Furthermore, he manages team development, builds organizational partnerships, and co-facilitates online accelerator programs.

What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

Inner wellbeing is a state of equanimity that arises from patience and acceptance of what is. It means to have the knowledge and skills to be able to take care of the challenges and stressors that life brings.

How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Balance.

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

Alongside meditation and journaling, I find that building rich and vulnerable friendships support my wellbeing.

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

The ripple-down effects impact every level of society. Firstly healthy minds and hearts are their own reward. Secondly, there are many impacts from the reduction of stress leading to less costs of healthcare, to a person’s okness changing(reducing) their consumption patterns, to more effective teams, to confidence in choosing vocations which support a healthy person and a healthy planet. It seems wellbeing, where ever it manifests, is both the reward and the way to a more positive future.

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

I loved the onbeing podcast. Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, the Quran. A Hidden Wholeness by Parker Palmer. Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown. An Everyone Culture by Robert Kegan and many others

Connect with Bilal Ghalib on social media :

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David Simas

Managing Director, Research and Impact, Emerson Collective

David Simas is the Managing Director of Research and Impact at Emerson Collective, where he works to develop in-depth research projects and distributes findings and analysis in service of Emerson’s priorities including democracy, immigration, education, and climate.

A native of Taunton, Massachusetts, David was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in 2007. He then joined President Obama’s administration in 2009 as a Deputy Assistant to the President, working with senior advisors David Axelrod and David Plouffe. In 2012, he served as Director of Opinion Research for President Obama’s reelection campaign. Following the reelection, Mr. Simas returned to the White House as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach. In 2016, President Obama selected Mr. Simas to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Obama Foundation. Mr. Simas holds a B.A. in political science from Stonehill College and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. He is the son of two Portuguese immigrants and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Shauna, and their two daughters.

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Father Timothy Radcliffe

Priest, honorary Oxford University fellow and Author

Timothy Radcliffe OP joined the English Province of the Dominican Order in 1965, and was ordained a priest in 1971. He studied in Oxford University, and Paris. He was a chaplain to the University of London in 1974 – 76, before returning to Oxford, where he taught for twelve years. In 1992 he was elected Master of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans), finishing his term in 2001. He is now an itinerant preacher and lecturer, based in, Oxford, spending half the year traveling until covid! He was a Trustee of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development for fourteen years and is a patron of ‘Embrace the Middle East’.

He is an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford, and Doctor of Divinity hon. causa of Oxford University, and also from Fribourg University and ten other universities in Italy, France and the United States. He has written several books, which have been translated into 24 languages, the most of which is ‘Alive in God: a Christian imagination’ (2019). He was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing in 2007. He is a Sarum Canon of Salisbury Cathedral and has the freedom of the city of London.

Dr Rukudzo Mwamuka

Psychiatrist

Dr Rukudzo Mwamuka is a psychiatrist living and working in Zimbabwe. For the past 6 years, she has been providing clinical care to patients from marginalised communities at the referral psychiatric units in the capital city of Harare. Her experience in working with patients and understanding their challenge to access to mental health services ignited her interest in community mental health interventions. To pursue her interest, Rukudzo joined the Friendship Bench, an organisation that trains community health care workers to provide Cognitive behavioural Therapy with emphasis on Problem Solving Therapy, activity scheduling and behavioural activation.

In her role as the Clinical Programs Manager and member of the organisation’s Senior Leadership Team, Rukudzo provides oversight and strategy for the Implementation teams. She is currently focusing on ensuring fidelity of the program as it scales across the country with support from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation under the special initiative for mental health.She is a member of the Catalyst 2030 movement.

Rukudzo holds a medical degree (MBCHB) from the University of Zimbabwe and a Master of Medicine degree (Psychiatry) from the same university and she continues to tutor undergraduate medical students from the university’s mental health unit.

Gabriela Gandel

Board Director, Impact Hub

As an experienced leader of innovative global organisations, organisational and personal development consultant and experiential learning designer Gabriela is committed to building organisations and systems that enable people and planet to thrive and meaningful visions to get accomplished.

She spent her last 15 years working as an executive manager with a mix of not for profit and for profit global organisations spanning over 50 countries around the world. As an executive manager she worked for AIESEC International and Romania, Future Considerations and Impact Hub global. As a consultant her clients included HSBC, KPMG, BP, TATE Britain and 10 key art galleries in England, ProVita Romania, RoPot, Human Invest. Throughout her career Gabriela had coaching engagements with over 40+ leaders. This all was fun and makes up for her more than 5 passports used up to date.

Currently she happily serves the Impact Hub network as a Board Director, helping build strategic partnerships and policy influencing initiatives. And with this pursuing her stand of a connected humanity acting as a power for good.

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Birdheart

Theatre Production

Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane’s BIRDHEART – An intimate and stunning chamber piece of animated theatre with a sheet of brown paper and a box of sand. A show about transformation, loneliness, and the urge to fly, BIRDHEART holds a hand-mirror up to humanity and offers it a chair. Through a series of animated images built in front of the audiences’ eyes BIRDHEART creates something achingly beautiful from the humblest of beginnings.

The show tells a story of man’s relationship to the world. An egg lies on the sand, and from the egg is born a large sheet of crumpled brown paper. The sheet of paper pulls elements up out of the sand; different hands, feet, heads. Sometimes the paper opens outwards and shadow images are projected in the heart of the paper figure. The figure dreams of a bird. Eventually, the sheet of paper transforms itself into a large paper bird, lays an egg, and flies off.

The onstage creation of something from nothing is at the very heart of the piece. The brown paper suggests the soul and emotion of the metamorphosing puppet, and the objects that are pulled from the sand give identity and story to the shifting characters. The egg reminds us of where we all come from. The uncontrollable nature of the material means that each show is different and grows organically in the moment.

Birdheart features a recorded soundtrack of double bass and banjo composed and performed by Saskia Lane and Julian Crouch.

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller

Sound Installation Artists

Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller live and work in British Columbia, Canada. The artists are internationally recognized for their immersive multimedia sound installations and their audio/video walks. They have created recent video walks at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2019), and for the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh (2019). Over the last few years, Janet and George have shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2019) Museum of Contemporary Art in Monterrey, Mexico (2019); Oude Kerk, Amsterdam (2018); 21st Century Museum, Kanazawa, Japan (2017); Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2017); ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark (2015); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2015); Menil Collection, Houston (2015); 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014); the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2013); and Documents 13, Kassel (2012). In 2020 they were awarded the Wilhelm Lehmbruck prize for sculpture and in 2011 they received Germany’s Käthe Kollwitz Prize. In 2001, Cardiff and Miller represented Canada at the 49th Venice Biennale , for which they received the Premio Speciale and the Benesse Prize.

Click here to learn more about Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller.

Read on for an exclusive Q&A with Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller ahead of the Summit:

What does wellbeing mean to you?

Well-being is a state of mind that is essential to the healthy functioning of our whole body. I find that my own sense of well being is connected not only with treating my body and mind well but also by the action of creativity. Through playing in the studio I’m able to feel fuller and happier.

Why are you looking forward to being part of The Wellbeing Summit?

When creating monumental sculpture, I consider how our architectural surroundings influence and affect our state of mind.

How does your work connect to wellbeing?

We are creating an artwork that uses the concept of “voice toning”, a therapeutic practice where the natural vibrations of voices help to contribute to healing and well being. Our piece will play back a collection of “voice tones” creating a calming listening environment. Additionally, we will invite audience members to participate in the making of the piece over the course of the conference by adding their own “voice toning” that will then be mixed into the piece. We believe that creating as well as experiencing artworks contributes to wellbeing. In this piece we are excited that each audience member will be able to both experience the therapeutic elements of the artwork but also contribute their own voice to the wellbeing of others in the community.

Connect with Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller on social media :

Gerald Wirth

Professor and Choirmaster

Prof. Gerald Wirth received his first musical training as a member of the Vienna Boys Choir and at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria, where he studied voice, oboe and piano. In 2001, he became artistic director of the Vienna Boys Choir, in 2013, its president.

Wirth was a choirmaster of the Vienna Boys Choir and chorus master at the state theater Salzburg. After 1991, he took over the direction of the Calgary Boys’ Choir, became musical director of the Calgary Civic Symphony in Canada. Gerald Wirth has conducted choirs and orchestras all over the world. His first love is the human voice. He holds workshops all over the world, and he can get practically anyone and anything to sing.

Most of his compositions are vocal works. He has written three children’s operas, several large oratorios, motets, and songs. “Carmina austriaca”, his most recent large-scale work, is a cycle of medival songs for large orchestra, mixed chorus, and boys’ choir. Gerald Wirth is often inspired by myths and philosophical texts.

Over the years he developed his own method of music pedagogy. In 2003 he founded the wirth music academy in order to educate music teachers and choir directors according to the wirth method which combines classical music theory, consciousness for sound, training in listening, rhythm training and singing within a holistic approach.

Gerald Wirth trains teachers in schools with little or no access to music, and supports a number of organisations offering workshops for refugees – children and adults – in Jordan, Greece and others. To him, music is the language of emotions understood by everyone; through music, other subjects become accessible. “Music is a gateway to learning, and this is particularly important for children who have never been to a school.”

He is convinced music has a positive influence on every aspect of a person’s being.

Hope Masike

Musician

Hailed as one of Zimbabwe’s Mbira music custodians, Hope Masike has been bringing her brand of Zimbabwean music to diverse global audiences since 2007.

Masike’s music is a fun-filled hybrid of music styles tied together by her signature sublime Mbira playing, sultry voice, and highly-charged performances. She mostly sings in little-known African languages like her mother tongue, Shona. Her live performances seamlessly move from classic Zimbabwean traditional music to her compositions of of the traditional mbira together-blended with different music styles.

Hope Masike draws her inspiration from all things Art and Africa, leaning very heavily on nearly a century of a strong Mbira music legacy but not ignoring the obvious influences from modernity. She has brilliant hopes for the future of Africa and basks in carrying her African culture with her all the time. Fans come to a Hope Masike concert to have fun, feed their spirituality and experience the beautiful Zimbabwean culture. She takes pride in her culture and heritage, often challenging colonial-induced stigma against it and championing it’s documentation and youthful re-packaging both through her music and brand.

Masike has three studio albums to her name, namely ‘HOPE’ (self-released in May 2009); ‘MBIRA, LOVE AND CHOCOLATE’ (self-released in May 2012) and ‘THE EXORCISM OF A SPINSTER’ released on London-based label Riverboat. She has also published two poetry anthologies; one in English titled ‘Ask Me Again’ and published through Amazon on February 7 2020 and an anthology of Shona Erotic Poems called ‘Dzevabvazera’ published on February 11 2022.

Hope Masike has collaborated with other musicians such as Salif Keita, the late Oliver Mtukudzi, Steve Dyer and Loius Mhlanga. She has several international tour credits including performing in Southern Africa, Asia, Europe and the west coast of America. Her versatile music approach has seen her venture into different music collaborations of note such as with the Afro-Nordic outfit, Monoswezi, the Southern African collaborative, Mahube and the Austrian-Zimbabwean collaboration named ‘Kunzwana’. She has also collaborated with Zimbabwean alternative Hip Hop outfit The Monkey Nuts and American horn band, The Huntertones among many others. In the early years of her career she was part of the Norwegian cultural exchange programme Umoja CFC which composed Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Norway; and Onebeat music exchange programme which comprised numerous different countries including Zimbabwe and USA.

She has thrilled music lovers and critics globally. She has graced numerous cooperate and national events as well as festivals in Zimbabwe, playing at presidents’ inaugurations, product launches, weddings and many other kinds of events.

Besides performing, Masike is a music teacher, offering lessons in Mbira, voice and Music Theory. She also ventures into mentoring younger musicians through her TribeHope Trust program called ‘The Seven of Us’. Masike has featured in Zimbabwean local soap opera Muzita rababa’; acted in and done scoring for the short film on child marriages called ‘Ruvimbo’s Wedding’; as well as directed her NAMA-nominated 10 years of Hope autobiography documentary ‘One Woman and her Mbira’.

Hope Masike holds a Degree of Music from the Zimbabwe College of Music in affiliation with Africa University, a Diploma in Fine Art and National Certificates in Applied Art and Design and in Musicology. Currently she is studying for a Master of Philosophy in Art with Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare and also studying French with the Alliance Francaise de Harare.

Hope Masike’s work – collaborative and otherwise- has earned her several awards and nominations both locally and internationally, including Zimbabwean NAMA awards, KORA Awards, ZNCC Women in Enterprise Awards and The Zimbabwe Achievers Awards. She has been interviewed by CNN Newsroom, BBC, SABC’s Morning Live, ZTV’s Good Morning Zimbabwe and numerous other platforms in and around Zimbabwe.

Hope Masike is a board member of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, and a member of the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association and Zimbabwe Writers’ Association.

Press

‘An accomplished mbira player and vocalist with a watertight backing band, she balances tradition and experimentation to carry ancient rhythms effortlessly into the 21st century.’ -Liam Brickhill – Mail and Guardian

‘Hope Masike is a mbira musician making a big name for herself.’ -Kumlar Dumor – BBC

‘In motion picture, Hope Masike’s video to Huyai Tinamate can only be likened to Madonna’s epic Frozen video …,’ -Tapiwa Zivira – News Day Zimbabwe..