Hawah Kasat is an author, educator, non-profit leader, TEDx speaker, and yogi. For over 20 years, Hawah has been teaching violence prevention, social-emotional literacy, conflict transformation, yoga, mindfulness, the healing arts, and trauma-informed care to all types of students from diverse demographics around the globe. Hawah is co-founder and former Executive Director of One Common Unity, an award-winning non-profit organization that has impacted the lives of over 40,000 youth and families. Most recently, he helped launch Roots to Sky Sanctuary, a 125-acre regenerative farm and healing arts center situated in northern Appalachia, where he serves as a Managing Partner. Over the years, he has authored 4 books and produced 3 documentary films. He is the host of “Everlutionary,” a new podcast released in 2024.
Dr. Michelle Chatman is a visionary educator, scholar, and community advocate dedicated to fostering transformative educational experiences and social change. As an Associate Professor at the University of the District of Columbia, she leverages her extensive background in cultural anthropology, contemplative practices, and community engagement to inspire meaningful connections between education and social justice.
A thought leader in transformative educational leadership, Michelle’s research focuses on the power of mindfulness, equity, and culturally responsive pedagogy to create healing-centered learning environments. She has developed innovative programs and workshops that empower educators to nurture resilience and agency in their students, while addressing systemic inequities.
Michelle is a sought-after speaker and facilitator, known for her compassionate approach to leadership and commitment to community well-being. Through her work, she continues to reimagine education as a tool for liberation, ensuring it uplifts individuals and strengthens communities. You can view her website here.
Rev. Liên Shutt is a lineage holder in the Shunryu Suzuki tradition. Born to a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she received her meditation training in the Insight and Zen traditions in the U.S., Thailand, Japan, and Vietnam. She was a founding member of the Buddhists of Color in 1998 and currently is the guiding teacher of Access to Zen, an anti-racist, inclusive sangha and non-profit in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please visit AccessToZen.org for ways to connect with her offerings. Liên’s Home Is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path is available through the Online Store.
Valerie Brown is an acclaimed international facilitator, leadership coach, speaker, and award-winning author dedicated to fostering personal and societal transformation. As the founder of Lead Smart Coaching, LLC, Valerie integrates her deep expertise in leadership, mindfulness, and social justice to empower individuals and organizations to lead with clarity and compassion. A Quaker and Zen practitioner ordained in the Plum Village tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, she uniquely bridges contemplative practices with professional development. Valerie holds a Juris Doctor from Howard University School of Law and is a former lawyer and lobbyist who transitioned to focus on heart-centered leadership and equity.
Through her work, Valerie has inspired countless leaders to navigate complexity with wisdom and cultivate cultures of inclusion and well-being. She co-directs Georgetown University’s renowned Transformational Leadership for Change program and is a passionate advocate for integrating mindfulness and justice into everyday life. Visit her website.
Monique Gray Smith is an award-winning, best-selling author. Her books cover a broad spectrum of ages, topics and emotions. Woven into all of Monique’s writing, speaking engagements and online courses is the teaching that Love is Medicine. In April, she released her 6th children’s picture, Dreaming Alongside. Monique is well known for her adaptation of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s, New York Times Bestselling book, Braiding Sweetgrass for a younger audience, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults. Monique’s novel, Tilly and the Crazy Eights was longlisted for Canada Reads 2021.
Monique is trained as a Psychiatric Nurse and since 1990 her focus has been weaving history, resilience and trauma informed training for educators, social workers, librarians and early childhood teams. She is an appointed member of the Board of Directors of Royal Roads University. and is of Cree and Scottish descent.
Denise is a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, and a Patient Engagement Specialist at BC SUPPORT Unit, Fraser Health Authority in Canada. Informed by 20+ years as a health advocate, her research explores how digital therapeutics can promote positive life trajectories and flourishing in people with lived experience of chronic health condition(s), and how they in turn can be involved meaningfully in co-producing this research. Within the research process, Denise embeds reflexivity and compassion practices from Buddhist traditions and psychology within project teams, grounded within a relational ‘compassionate design’ framework centering principles of health equity and shared decision making.
Daniel Morris is a Ph.D. student in Dr. Ken Paller’s cognitive neuroscience lab at Northwestern University. His research focuses on sleep and dreaming, aiming to understand the neurophysiological correlates of lucid dreaming and contemplative sleep practices. He has worked with the Emory Tibet Science Initiative to train three cohorts of Tibetan Monastic Scholars during Northwestern’s 3-month intensive neuroscience research internships. He has also travelled to South India in 2023 and 2024 to teach at the ETSI Winter Research Workshops. His other research interests include meditation, dark retreat practices, virtual reality, and sleep-onset hypnagogia.
Juensung completed his doctoral studies under the supervision of Dr. Michel Ferrari at the University of Toronto. Prior to beginning his doctoral research, Juensung completed an MA in the same program again under the supervision of Dr. Ferrari, and completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science and Philosophy under the mentorship of Dr. John Vervaeke. Following the completion of his graduate studies, Juensung joined the University of Groningen as a postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Prof. Brian Ostafin, where he conducts research on awe, spirituality, and meaning in life.
Juensung’s personal research focuses on investigating tools, practices, and experiences that facilitate intentional self-transformation, particularly the cultivation of wisdom and self-transcendence. Currently, he is conducting exploratory research on the influence of esoteric spiritual practices on the cultivation of wisdom and the effects of awe on the feeling of truth. His doctoral thesis, funded in part by a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, examined changes in student personal projects over the course of a semester in response to exposure to philosophical and spiritual education, with an aim towards understanding the genesis of self-transformative moral and spiritual aspirations. He has previously coordinated research on changes in personal projects in response to physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic and assisted with research on the phenomenological experience of microdosing psychedelics.
Justus Wachs is a Participatory Action Researcher, organizational developer, and PhD Candidate at McGill University in Montreal. His research and practice focus on integrating contemplative and embodied methods, such as mindfulness, storytelling, and systems sensing, to foster transformative learning and systemic change within sustainability-focused organizations. Drawing on a decade of environmental activism and creative facilitation across diverse stakeholders, Justus investigates how inner transformations of values and worldviews can catalyze outward structural change, helping organizations address socio-ecological crises.
