Conscious Language

Pilar Gerasimo is an award-winning health journalist, pioneering social explorer, and author of a new book, The Healthy Deviant: A Rule-Breaker’s Guide to Being Healthy in an Unhealthy World (North Atlantic Books, 2020).

Best known for her work as founding editor of Experience Life magazine, which today reaches more than three million people with each issue, Pilar has also served as top health editor for The Huffington Post, and as visiting faculty for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

Today, Pilar co-hosts a top-rated podcast called The Living Experiment and teaches online courses through her digital learning platform, Healthy Deviant Academy. She guest lectures at universities, leads workshops at top retreat centers, and consults for organizations committing to transforming health and happiness at work and around the globe.

When she’s not travelling, Pilar hangs out on an organic, communal family farm in Wisconsin with her pitbull pal, Calvin.

Learn more at www.pilargerasimo.com and www.healthydeviant.com (where you can also take the “Are You a Healthy Deviant?” quiz).

Connect with Pilar on Facebook at @pilargerasimo or follow her on Instagram at @pgerasimo.

Michelle Maldonado is Founder and CEO of Lucenscia (pronounced loo-SENSE-see-ah), a firm dedicated to human flourishing and mindful business transformation. She is an internationally certified mindfulness and emotional intelligence teacher and practitioner with the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute and the International Mindfulness Teachers Association, Genos International and GolemanEI, respectively.

Michelle is a former corporate and tech attorney turned business leader who understands diverse industry sectors, mission, and service. She is passionate about learning, helping elevate human consciousness and alleviating suffering in the world. Her work focuses on personal and professional leadership development at the pivotal intersection of mindfulness, unconscious bias, emotional intelligence, authenticity, and compassion, nestled on a solid foundation of neuroscience and research and taught through an equity lens to help leaders do their inner work to create positive and sustainable outer impact.

Michelle also serves as Senior Faculty for 1440 Multiversity’s Leadership Center, founding faculty for Daniel Goleman’s inaugural Emotional Intelligence Coaching Certification program and Senior Fellow with Bill George’s True North Leadership program, co-teaching with Bill George (former CEO of Medtronic) and Scott Kriens (Chairman and former CEO of Juniper Networks). She is a highly, sought-after keynote speaker, thought leader and strategist collaborating with government agencies, corporations, non-profits/NGOs and higher-ed communities worldwide helping to make workplaces and world places more human.

As a result of her work and impact, Michelle has been recognized among the “12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement” (U.S. 2020), as “Woman of The Year,” “Top Corporate Leader,” and inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society for her holistic approach to cultivating leadership presence, compassion, well-being and performance impact. Her work has been featured in conference venues and publications including, the DQ Institute in association with the World Economic Forum, United Nations Global Engagement Summit, Human Capital Institute, the Mindful Leader Summit, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, Training Magazine, Leadership Excellence, Huff Post, and Thrive Global.

Michelle is a graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University and The George Washington University School of Law. She also is the Democratic Nominee for the Virginia House of Delegates (District 50) running for state legislature. Michelle currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with her family.