Voices of Wellbeing | Dr. Sará King Voices of Wellbeing | Dr. Sará King

“If you have a body, then you deserve wellbeing”

Dr. Sará King- speaker at The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change– is a neuroscientist, political and learning scientist, education philosopher, social-entrepreneur, public speaker, and certified yoga and mindfulness meditation instructor. She specializes in the study of the relationship between mindfulness, art, complementary alternative medicine, community health and social justice.

She joins us to share the importance of sectors and institutions working together to support the psyhiological, psychological and relational wellbeing of our global societies. She also delves into how art can provide a path forward and ways to heal for those working within movements for social justice, as well as some of the neuroscientific research that is out there to support this.

Charnae Sanders

Co.act Detroit

Detroit, Michigan,
United States of America

With a passion for community and a heart for service, Charnae Sanders experiences great joy in finding meaningful ways to connect with others. As Program Manager at Co.act Detroit, Charnae plays a vital role in shaping Co.act’s programming, including the Nonprofit Wellbeing Series, special events, workshops, and more. She is also the talented and thoughtful host of Co.act Detroit’s Natural Collisions podcast.

A native Detroiter, Charnae’s desire for building up her community and bringing diverse and underrepresented voices and thoughts to the table motivates her daily. She loves to curate unique and unforgettable experiences through programs that equip and empower others with knowledge and resources.

With a deep love and interest for self and community care, she strives to find a diversity of ways changemakers can tend to their wellbeing holistically. Through the Nonprofit Wellbeing Series, she also explores how nonprofit leaders can activate a culture of wellbeing within their organizations. She is a contributor to the Rest and Liberation Initiative, created in partnership with Co.act and other intermediary partners in Southeast Michigan to support cultures of rest and liberation of BIPOC professionals in our sector.

Charnae serves on the board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Detroit, a local chapter that promotes the growth, learning, and development of young nonprofit professionals. She is a current member of The Social Innovation Forum’s Community Organizations Reimagining Ecosystem (CORE) cohort, a new leadership initiative focused on place-based work and social change.

She is also a former alum of the prestigious, Challenge Detroit fellowship program where she worked among small teams to bring social impact projects to life in collaboration with local nonprofit partners. In the past, she participated as a cohort member of The Black Healing Justice Project, created in partnership with Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM) and The Kresge Foundation.

Prior to coming to Co.act Detroit, she served as the Public Programs Coordinator at the Detroit Historical Society. She is a proud alum of Central Michigan University with a background in journalism. Charnae is a published writer and poet with work that has been published in the Wall Street Journal and Detroit Free Press among others. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, traveling, dancing the night away at concerts and exploring the city she calls home.

– What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

To me, inner wellbeing means tending to our many layers—physical health, mental health, emotional health, spiritual health, and so on—in a way that honors our humanity and capacity.

– How would you define wellbeing in one word?

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

My go-to practices include prayer, breathwork, and going on walks. My morning routine usually consists of stretching and participating in a guided meditation followed by setting my intentions for the day and affirming myself of my value. Throughout the day, I think it’s important to take a pause to check-in with yourself. So, I’ll occasionally step away from my desk and take a sacred pause to do a body scan meditation and acknowledge how I’m feeling. I also love to create a cozy environment in the evening where I burn candles while reading or listening to music and journaling.

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

We must prioritize our individual, organizational, and societal wellbeing to fully thrive and experience the fullness of life. When we recognize how interrelated each of these various levels are and collectively prioritize them, we can clear a more luminous path for future generations on what it means to truly love and care for one another.

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

I am a big fan of “The Daily Shine,” “GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp,” “This Morning Walk” and “The Hey Girl” podcasts. I love the books: “After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love” by Alex Elle, “Vibrate Higher Daily: Live Your Power” by Lalah Delia, and “The Self-Care Year: Reflect and Seasonal Rituals” by Alison Davies. I am currently reading, “Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto” by Tricia Hersey, which is great!

Connect with Charnae Sanders on social media :

Personal Website
Co.act Detroit

Helena Geefay

Talent Development Officer

Hewlett Foundation

Menlo Park, CA,
United States

Helena is the Talent Development Officer at the Hewlett Foundation. She oversees professional development and growth opportunities for Hewlett employees, manages ERGs and other DEIJ initiatives, and supports organizational development, learning, and other HR projects. Areas of staff development include leadership, management, interpersonal skills, cultural competency, career development, coaching, feedback, and other professional development areas. Helena started her career as a mental health therapist and progressively moved into roles that focused more on developing people in the workplace. Prior to joining the foundation, she served as the head of human resources and operations for City Year San Jose, and supported leadership development programs at The Walt Disney Company. She enjoys engaging people in meaningful work and curating dynamic learning environments that support sustained growth. Helena lives with her family in the SF Bay Area. and holds a master’s degree in psychological counseling from Teachers College, Columbia University, and bachelor’s degrees with honors in psychology and English from the University of Southern California.

Connect with Helena Geefay on social media :

Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is a global, grant-making philanthropy that works to disrupt inequality in all its forms.  

 The Ford Foundation believes in the inherent dignity of all people. Thus it addresses the reality of too many people being excluded from the political, economic, and social institutions that shape their lives.

A vision of social justice guides the Ford Foundation—a world in which all individuals, communities, and peoples work toward the protection and full expression of their human rights; are active participants in the decisions that affect them; share equitably in the knowledge, wealth, and resources of society; and are free to achieve their full potential.

 Across eight decades, its mission has been to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. It works in 11 regional offices around the world and supports programs in over 50 countries.

Website

Echoing Green

Echoing Green has been on the front lines of solving the world’s biggest problems, raising up the transformational leaders willing to speak truth to power and challenge the status quo. 

For the past 30 years, it’s been supporting visionaries around the world who are transforming economies, and pursuing racial and gender equity, environmental sustainability, and more. Echoing Green accelerates talent that will change the world for the better by finding, funding, connecting, and supporting a new generation of social impact leaders. 

It finds emerging leaders with the best ideas for social innovation as early as possible, and set them on a path to lifelong impact. Echoing Green’s community is of almost 1,000 social innovators. It includes past Fellows like first lady Michelle Obama, the founders of organizations like Teach for America and One Acre Fund, and major public figures like Van Jones.

Website

Camelback Ventures

Camelback Ventures aims to diversify social innovation, by giving underrepresented, early-stage entrepreneurs access to the tools they need to be successful. Camelback was built with the notion that genius is equally distributed across communities, but access to funding and start-up mentoring is often limited in communities of color and with women. Camelback provides entrepreneurs with greater access to resources.

 Camelback Ventures awards its fellows with 1:1 coaching, capital (start up funding, up to $40,000) and access to investors and networks (connections). Camelback Fellows, most of whom identify as people of color and/ or female, work in communities across the country.  

Camelback fellows have built social organizations that have impacted the lives of tens of thousands of young people across the country. Camelback fellows have built STEM-based social mobile games, a charter school network in New Orleans, a mobile app to help recognize strong academic performance, and a platform to help universities track and develop at risk scholarship students. Camelback Fellows have collectively gone on to raise over $14 million in funding. For three years in a row, 3 or more Camelback Fellows have been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30. 

Website

Emily Eldredge

Founder + CEO of ChangeLight

“This seems so incredibly spot on!!!”. Such was the WhatsApp message that popped up on my phone in early April, and attached was an invitation to the Wellbeing Summit for Social Change.

The message came from my dear friend and colleague Marlou Cornelissen who had received the invitation and immediately recognized that, without question, I needed to be there.  As an emotional health innovator who is passionately focused on increasing the well-being of leaders and changemakers, I couldn’t agree more.

However, the weekend of the Summit was the same weekend that my husband and I would be driving cross-country from Arizona to New York!  We’d be finalizing his move from Tucson to New York City, and we’d been planning this drive for months.

I just couldn’t make it work.

And yet… the Wellbeing Summit kept sticking with me… and sticking with me…

Finally one day, I said to my husband, “Hey, honey.  Ummm, I know we’ve both really had our hearts set on doing this drive together, but I really feel like I have to be at this thing in Spain.  Is it okay if I don’t join you on the drive or maybe only join you for part of it?”  He was clearly disappointed but understanding and supportive. Our original plan was to drive to Dallas and spend the night there with my parents, so I mentioned my dilemma to them.  By complete coincidence, they were already planning on driving up to New England a couple of days later! So my husband and I drove from Tucson to Dallas, I flew from Dallas to Bilbao, and my husband and parents drove in tandem to New York!  (And they had a perfectly wonderful time without me!) We made it work.

As an impact-driven leader and changemaker myself, I spent years struggling with my own “demons” and burnout.  Working hard to live one’s own Truth and fulfill one’s life mission has a tendency to trigger one’s deepest wounds and defenses!  And I’ve seen so many of my fellow leaders and changemakers struggle with similar stresses and pressures.  However, prior to learning about the Wellbeing Project, I hadn’t heard of any collective efforts to address this pervasive issue.  Typical changemaker, I felt like I was the only one focused on it.

The Wellbeing Summit changed everything.  Immediately, I felt embraced by a tribe of lovely, loving human beings who, in their own unique ways, are working hard to make our world better while, at the same time, recognizing their own vital need for health and well-being.  I met activists, philanthropists, coaches, spiritual figures, artists, innovators, investors, yogis, and others with whom I felt an immediate connection and trust.  Though we had only just met, we were instantly open and vulnerable with one another – sharing our struggles as well as our joys.

One thing was also clear: every element of the Summit’s program was deeply intentional.  We had time to experience, time to learn, time to connect, time to rest, and time to heal.

What surprised me the most was how profoundly I was impacted by the art.  When I had initially read about the Wellbeing Project’s commitment to art as a source of healing, I thought with a shrug, “Oh, that’s nice”.  However, the Summit’s well-curated artistic experiences left indelible – and, yes, healing – impressions on me.  For example, on the first night, we were treated to a kind of poetic sound bath in which a woman read a long poem while someone stroked a gong to make it shimmer.  The sound vibrations penetrated me so deeply that all of my tension was released, my body fell away, and I felt myself floating in a space of pure peace.  That and other experiences since have helped me discover the incredible power of sound in my own self-care and healing.

My dear friend, Marlou was right. She, too, was “spot on” that I should attend the Wellbeing Summit. And, oh my, am I grateful that I could forgo that cross-country drive to be there!

I left the Summit feeling healed, encouraged, and inspired by the transformative experiences I had and the wonderful people I met. I’ve made friends for life – some of whom I’ve since rendez-voused with here in New York City – and I feel so much less alone in my commitment to changemakers’ well-being. In fact, to cement my support of the Wellbeing Project’s mission, I joined the Wellbeing Welldoing Network, a group of visionary philanthropists who sustain and grow The Wellbeing Project’s work.

Connect with Emily Eldredge on social media:

About Emily

Emily Eldredge is the founder of ChangeLight , the creator of the ChangeLight System™, and a member of the Wellbeing Welldoing Network at The Wellbeing Project. With her rare blend of deep compassion and fierce determination, Emily leads global leaders and everyday heroes through inner work that accelerates their power to change the world. As an innovator, entrepreneur, and humanitarian, Emily’s mission is to accelerate the healing of humanity and our planet.

Catalina Saieh

Vice Chairman of CorpGroup Holding (USA)

María Catalina Saieh is Vice Chairman of CorpGroup Holding, an important economic group with a relevant presence in Communications, Retail, Finance, Hotels, and Real Estate. After finishing her MBA at the Booth School of Business at The University of Chicago, Catalina took on strategic positions in many of CorpGroup’s companies, while also accepting an active role in the governance of her family’s foundations. Fundación CorpArtes, the cultural Foundation her family founded 17 years ago to promote diverse cultural activities that encourage new reflections and discussions within society; Fundación Aprendamos and Fundación Descúbreme, which focus on the education and total inclusion of people with cognitive disabilities.

Her motivation and leadership skills have helped her become a true advocate for the arts and the elimination of all barriers that prevent our society from being a more inclusive one. She currently is a member of the Board of Directors of The Shed, the SMART Museum of the University of Chicago, and the Latin American Initiative of the MET; as well as, being Director of the Chilean Federation of Industry (SOFOFA); Executive Committee member of the Inter American Press Association and board member of the Chilean Association of Family Business (AEF). Catalina has a BA in English Literature and a MA in Literature, both from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Connect with Catalina Saieh on social media:

Anthony Williams

EVP, Chief Human Resources Officer at Akamai Technologies (USA)

Anthony Williams is Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Akamai. Mr. Williams leads global HR strategy including workplace management, employee development, talent acquisition, inclusion and diversity and compensation and benefits across Akamai’s more than 40 offices around the world. Mr. Williams assumed the role effective January 1, 2020 after five years with Akamai. He began his Akamai career with the task of developing a world-class global recruiting function and was The company’s first diversity and inclusion leader. He led the human resources function for Akamai’s growing populations outside of the U.S., reflecting the company’s expanded footprint. Mr. Williams played an essential role in the Akamai Foundation’s transition from private funding to an official corporate philanthropic entity. He serves as its president and hired its first executive
director. Further, Mr. Williams launched the company’s employee resource groups (“ERG”), voluntary associations that represent the needs of Akamai’s global employee population.

He also launched the Akamai Technical Academy, a training program designed for people who have an interest and aptitude for technology but may not come from a traditional technical background. The unique program empowers diverse talent with technical work-ready skills while offering opportunities for prepared graduates to become full-time employees of Akamai. Prior to Akamai, Mr. Williams held a wide range of global human resource positions at First Data Corporation, Newell Rubbermaid and Time Warner – Turner Broadcasting System. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Norfolk State University and a Master of Business Administration from University of Georgia, Terry College of Business.

Connect with Anthony Williams on social media: