New York Times best-selling author Esther Perel is recognized as one of today’s most insightful and original voices on modern relationships. As a psychotherapist, Perel has helmed a therapy practice in New York City for more than 35 years. In parallel, she serves as an organizational consultant for Fortune 500 companies around the world. Fluent in nine languages, Perel's celebrated TED Talks have garnered more than 30 million views and her best-selling books have been translated into nearly 30 languages. Perel is an executive producer and host of the award-winning podcast Where Should We Begin? Her new podcast How's Work? focuses on workplace dynamics exclusively with Gimlet x Spoti-fy. Learn more at EstherPerel.com.
Paul Browde is a psychiatrist, a storyteller, and a relationship guide. He has been in practice in Manhattan for more than thirty years. He is co-founder of a storytelling company, Narativ Inc. and teaches Radical Listening in partnership with the Columbia University’s Narrative Medicine program. As a storyteller, he has performed in venues across the world, including Off Broadway and on the West End of London. He is currently writing a book called “Story Medicine” about the ways in which the stories we tell shape our lives.
Minaa B is a writer, wellness coach and licensed therapist based in NYC. Through her writings, speaking engagements and workshops, Minaa teaches people how to cultivate self-care through the lens of boundaries and community-care.
Rajkumari Neogy is an epigenetic coach and executive consultant focused on the intersection of neurobiology, culture and empathy in today’s business world. Possessing a rare blend of scientific prowess and emotion, Neogy believes that passionate self-reflection coupled with dedicated curiosity define true leadership. Specializing in the technology sector, Neogy has worked with high-powered, worldwide organizations for more than two decades, training leaders at Google, Facebook, Adobe, Indeed, Slack, Salesforce and numerous others. She holds a master’s degree in Transformative Leadership Development from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is the author of “The WIT Factor: Shifting the Workplace Paradigm by Becoming Your Optimal Self.” Neogy is based in San Francisco.
Sandra Kuhn is a senior Total Health Management consultant and the National Leader for Behavioral Health solutions at Mercer; a global consulting leader dedicated to advancing the health, wealth, and career of their client’s employees. She brings a long history of specialty consulting in the field of Behavioral Health, and assists many employers by leveraging both clinical and theoretical expertise as a licensed clinical social worker.
Abinue has 9 years of consulting experience with Willis Towers Watson as a Health Management Consultant. In addition to his consulting role, Abinue also contributes to the development of WTW’s intellectual capital around employee wellbeing, mental health, health care delivery, and digital health technologies. Abinue earned a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy and Management from the University of Georgia. He also holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Georgia.
Aubrey Blanche is The Mathpath (Math Nerd + Empath), Director of Equitable Design & Impact at Culture Amp, and a startup investor and advisor. Through all her work, she seeks to question, reimagine, and redesign the systems and practices that surround us to ensure that all people can access equitable opportunities and build a better world.
Ellen is a people leader with over twenty years of experience in both global employee benefits and people operations. She currently heads the Benefits, Well-Being & Mobility functions for DocuSign but has served in a similar role for such companies as Twitter, Stripe, Electronic Arts, and Ripple Labs, to name a few. Ellen is an advisor to over 5 startups in the people technology, health and well-being space through her affiliation with PeopleTech Partners. She is a Bay Area native and currently lives in Oakland, California with her husband and four young children.
Christina Hall is Chief Human Resources Officer for Instacart, where she oversees the company’s Human Resources, Recruiting, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion functions. As CHRO, Christina is focused on building a holistic people and talent strategy designed to attract, retain and develop employees.
Chris Brunson is the Vice President of Total Rewards at General Mills, which includes executive compensation, compensation, benefits and wellbeing. Prior to joining General Mills, Chris was the Vice President of Total Rewards & HR Shared Services at Celanese Corporation, a global technology and materials company. Before Celanese, he spent four years in a variety of HR leadership roles at The Hershey Company, including roles as the Sr. Director, Total Rewards, Global Benefits and Wellbeing and as the Sr. Director, Talent Management and Organization Design.
Abigail and Shaun Bengson are a married composing and performing duo based in NYC and VT who have performed across the country and around the world. Their video for The Keep Going Song has been viewed over 4 million times. Three of their singles have been featured on “So You Think You Can Dance” (FOX). Their theater work includes The Keep Going Song (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville), Hundred Days (La Jolla Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, US Tour), The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (ATL’s Humana Festival), Anything That Gives Off Light (Edinburgh Theatre Festival), You’ll Still Call Me By Name (New York Live Arts, Jacob's Pillow), and Iphigenia in Aulis (Classic Stage Company). They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rogers awards and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucile Lortel awards.
April Koh is the CEO and Co-founder of Spring Health, a comprehensive mental health benefit for employers. April believes mental healthcare is going to look radically different in the next 5-10 years: instead of being a guessing game of trial-and-error, mental healthcare will be precisely and accurately tailored to each individual through data. She started Spring Health because she wanted to build that future — where the hopelessness of guessing is replaced with the hope of data-driven, accurate care. April has received honors from the American Psychiatric Association and has been featured in Crain's, Wall Street Journal, and National Quality Forum. She was named Forbes 30 Under 30 2018 in Consumer Technology, BusinessInsider’s 30 under 40 leaders in healthcare, a Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in 2019, World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, and is a Yale Entrepreneurial Institute fellow.
Brad Lande-Shannon is the Chief People & Marketing Officer of Spring Health - a company on a mission to eliminate every barrier to mental health. Brad joined this team in a time in which we have an unprecedented obligation as leaders to show up for our people.As a Brand Alchemist, Brad is dedicated to building platforms that magnetize authentic community through daring creative. He is deeply passionate about making work a place of connection and growth. Over the course of his career, he's consulted with hundreds of companies and guided thousands of leaders on values, purpose, emotional intelligence, brand-building and communication. He brings entrepreneurial innovation to every role he holds and leaves a lasting positive impact.Prior to his current role he was the Global Brand & Marketing SVP at Culture Amp. He was formerly CEO of Live Grey, and General Manager at Birchbox. Brad worked as a technology strategy consultant at Accenture, as a Partner at Olivia, co-Founder and CEO of mPowered Solutions - a B2B SaaS platform - which was acquired by Lookbooks Media, of which he became the President.
D'Andrala (DeDe) Alexander is a lifelong public servant and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas. Professionally, she has gotten the opportunity to work at various community-oriented organizations, including AmeriCorps VISTA, Habitat for Humanity, Dallas MHMR, and the Dallas County Juvenile Department. In her work, she helped children and families navigate mental health challenges and build their lives back after these mental health crises. In addition to her career as a mental health professional, she works as a community activist and public speaker focusing on mental health, voting rights, and criminal justice reform. Currently, DeDe is a Clinical Manager for the Care Navigation team at Spring Health, helping employees live their best, healthy lives. D'Andrala (DeDe) Alexander has a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology and Women & Gender Studies from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master's Degree from the University of Houston Victoria in Forensic Psychology.
Dan is a licensed clinician with over 12 years of behavioral health experience, primarily in direct clinical practice (INPT Psychiatric setting). As National Director of Clinical Partnerships at Spring Health, Dan consults with existing and prospective partner organizations on their specific goals around supporting employee emotional well-being. He also develops and delivers training modules, and supports Spring’s clinical programming strategy. Dan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Social Work, both from the University of Michigan.
Vanessa De Leon (she/her/hers, 1st generation Filipino-American) is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Registered Dance Movement Therapist, and Registered Yoga Teacher with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology. Her clinical history includes working with people with developmental disabilities, children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and adults with posttraumatic stress disorder, sexual trauma, severe mental illnesses, chronic homelessness, eating disorders, and other mental health symptoms. Throughout all of her clinical experiences, Vanessa had always empowered the people she worked with through a model of survivorship rather than prey victim to circumstance. Through a strengths-based approach with an emphasis on the body-mind connection and the power of community, Vanessa firmly believes that healing is not only generated but sustained for a long period of time.
Marisa is currently the Director of Enterprise Partnerships at Spring Health where she is responsible for all new business sales for employers with more than 3,000 employees. She has more than 25 years of experience in the employee benefits industry and has held several sales positions at major national insurance companies including Aetna and UnitedHealthcare. Her extensive experience has taught her that the power of relationships is the key to success in sales.
Carly Newhouse is a licensed clinical social worker with expertise in developing and implementing strategies to better support employee mental wellness in the workplace. In her current role as Senior Manager of Strategic Alliances, she focuses on translating clinical mental health best practices to organizations of all sizes and industries. Fun fact: Carly spent time in law and publishing before finding her sweet spot in social work.