About

About me...

I'm a neuroscience specialist and educator focused on improving life outcomes for diverse populations by giving actionable and engaging neuroscience education that transforms mindsets and behaviors.

I'm a former researcher and have spent parts of my career measuring electric conductance of the skin (GSR), facial electromyography (EMG), and heart rate.  My most current work has been with assessing and analyzing quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG), rhythmic sinus arrhythmia (heart rate variability), and administering neurofeedback, and transcranial magnetic stimulation for clinical treatment at an intensive outpatient mental health clinic. I also conduct cognitive training,biofeedback and neurofeedback with high-performance professionals, as well as children and teens with attention and learning challenges, and social anxiety and emotion regulation difficulties.   

I have worked/am currently working 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.

My expertise is in coaching and teaching people how to use their mind-brain-body in ways that increase their sense of agency, self-compassion and sense of meaning and purpose. I'm particularly skilled at helping people who have a history of adverse early experiences and family dysfunction.

I also help individuals and organizations get the deepest understanding of themselves and others' behaviors by translating complex scientific concepts into real-world language that applies to how we build resilience, growth mindset, trust and psychological safety for ourselves and with others.   

Through my content, coaching and consulting, I bridge the gap between research and application to help people find new ways of using their talents, discomforts, failures, and challenges as pathways to growth and evolution.

My graduate research at New York University and fieldwork at the NYU Phelps lab for neuroscience research, the NYU Institute for Prevention Science and Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine focused on the cross-section of self-directed neuroplasticity, family emotional climates, and empathy. 

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. 

I am a Master Faculty instructor and researcher at Google and have facilitated various 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 department of defense analyst and French teacher to diplomats.

My current work is at a clinical neuropsychology center and creating content for the Mindset Neuroscience Podcast. 

One of my favorite talks was at the Symposium on Neuroscience and Physiological Perspectives on Design Thinking and Creativity hosted by Stanford University and the Hasso Plattner Institute for Design in Berlin.  The theme was 'Embodied Creativity and Cognition'.

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.
• I have worked with children for over 25 years in various roles, including nanny (for many years), child development researcher, school counselor, and program coordinator of various learning and talent development programs (including for Northwestern University, Calgary Bridge Foundation and Oak Park Education Foundation).