About

My "unprofessional' bio

My favorite book is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery. He points out that we often ask questions that only reveal 'data', number, and labels of people. But what really matters is finding out what people love, what brings them joy, soothing, pain and comfort.

I can spend hours playing with and talking with children. People have observed me spending hours lost in conversation with them - I love to hear about what they are thinking and observing

One of my greatest joys comes from seeing a kid really be themselves - joyful, curious, paying attention to what interests them. That's why I devoted two decades of my life caring for them and creating environments that would help them feel safe.

I first got a glimpse of 'neuroplasticity' when I taught French to adults - some of whom were close to retirement. I was able to help them become advanced French speakers within one year. It was full-time, eight hours a day of training - but it confirmed to me that many of our ideas about the adult brain's capacity to learn were outdated and wrong.

Although I find great solace and joy when I am in nature and with animals, my greatest yearning is to navigate the chaotic and complex realm of human to human interaction. I dream of being able to create things that can bridge communities who dislike, disagree with, or are even disgusted by each other - and build understanding and compassion between them because of the collision of those worlds.

I also would love one day to travel to different corners of the world and explore how ancestral knowledge from different communities connect with each other, and with our most updated understanding of science - including the brain as well as the physics and 'mechanics' of the universe.

My "professional" bio

I translate complex scientific concepts into real-world language to help people find new ways of using their talents, discomforts, failures, and challenges as pathways to growth and evolution.

I’ve worked with top-tier organizations such as Google, Stanford University, the Hasso Plattner Institute for Design, Northwestern University, Alberta Children’s Hospital, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, City Colleges of Chicago, the Department of Defense, the Canada School of Public Service and many more,

I'm also a neuroscience researcher and clinician focused on brainwaves, heart rhythms and micro-movements that influence our ability to self-regulate and build healthy relationships. I've spent parts of my career measuring electric conductance of the skin (GSR), facial electromyography (EMG), and I currently work with quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG), rhythmic sinus arrhythmia (heart rate variability), neurofeedback, and transcranial magnetic stimulation for clinical treatment and PTSD research studies.

For the past decade, I've been teaching and consulting in countries all over the world by combining scientific insights and my training in monasteries with meditation masters from India, Africa and Vietnam.

From 2017-2018, I delivered a series of workshops for Google's Analytical Academy in London, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Munich and Singapore focused on the Science of Learning.

I'm also a former intelligence analyst, french teacher to diplomats and the creator of the Mindset Neuroscience Podcast.

PAST CLIENTS INCLUDE:

Northwestern University, School of Education and Social Policy
Google
Northeastern University, Chicago
Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking, Berlin
City Colleges of Chicago
Illinois State University, Department of Education
University of California San Diego, School of Medicine
Tutoring Chicago (formerly Cabrini Green Tutoring)
EHOVE Career Training, Ohio
Blue Valley School District, Missouri
Horizon Science Academy, Chicago
Christopher House Chicago
Oak Park String Academy
Suzuki Music Association
Empowerment through Education and Exposure, Chicago
Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth, Canada
Alberta Children's Hospital, Canada
Independence School District, Missouri

A bit more about me:

At NYU, I was honored to be mentored by Zoran Josipovic, whose research on mindfulness and meditation inspired me to train and study at various monasteries with meditation masters from India, Vietnam and Africa.
I also had the privilege of working with social neuroscientist Lasana Harris, whose passion for promoting human dignity continues to inspire my work today.
I've lived and worked in several different cities, including New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, Brussels, Copenhagen, Las Vegas, Ottawa, my hometown of Calgary Canada, as well as Ghana and Central and South America.
A life-shifting experience for me was taking high school graduates on a service-learning year abroad, where we did volunteer work, got stuck in a hurricane, and learned how to use painful life experiences to build a sense of purpose and service to others.

Season 1 Episode 12 – “Relational Minds”

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“What matters is not how things are, but how they interact.“ – Carlo Rovelli, theoretical physicist, in his book, Reality is Not What It Seems Relationships are the key to building our most powerful mind. Our relationships with others build…

Taking time off from my blog/podcast/social media

Hello friends, I need to be more personal with you than I usually am. I’m taking a big risk here, but this is more important to me than likes, subscribers and money. Something I plan to share more about in…

The neuroscience of a ‘seeking’ mindset

One of my favorite music artists of all time is a French singer named Francis Cabrel. Acoustic guitar* is to me one of the most soothing sounds and the French language does something to me 🙂 One of my favorite…

Season 2 Episode 6: Why are humans so anxious? and the dark side of mindfulness

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Listen on Spotify Listen on iTunes Where does anxiety come from? Why is it a part of the human experience? In a quantitative EEG, we can see anxious-type of thinking reflected in high frequency brainwaves (the…

My talk on the Neurobiology of Innovation with social neuroscientist Caroline Szymanski, creativity researcher Sergio Agnoli and Stanford computational neuroscientist Manish Saggar at the dconfestival berlin

This is me with the headmasters of Namaskar primary school in Ejura, Ghana (years ago!)

Graduates of my Institute for Mindset, Resilience and Innovation training

Season 1 Episode 12 – “Relational Minds”

Taking time off from my blog/podcast/social media

The neuroscience of a ‘seeking’ mindset

Season 2 Episode 6: Why are humans so anxious? and the dark side of mindfulness

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