The Inaugural Advisory Board Announcement | Community Mindfulness Project
Ian Davis is a visionary creative consultant at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and mindfulness. With a background honed at top-tier agencies like Wieden + Kennedy, Ian leverages his expertise to empower award-winning artists and Fortune 100 brands through, Age of The Creative a Creative consultancy where he empowers and provides emerging to award-winning artists, leaders and companies with problem-solving tools, strategies and resources for their growth and wellness. As a results-oriented entrepreneur, Ian provides innovative tools and strategies for growth and wellness to emerging and established creatives alike. His unique approach combines deep industry insight with mindfulness practices, offering clients a holistic path to success. An IMTA-certified mindfulness and meditation teacher, Ian equips creatives with tangible tools, strategies and techniques to integrate mindful practices into their daily lives and creative processes. His focus on delivering results through a mindful approach has established him as a respected thought leader and game-changer in both the creative and wellness industries. He’s constantly in pursuit to love, learn, grow and serve! read more.
Imani Farley is a mother, advocate and seasoned social impact strategist with a decade of experience in grantmaking, fundraising and community empowerment. She champions equity through collaborative partnerships between communities, philanthropic institutions, and businesses. Imani has a track record of expanding opportunities for marginalized communities, serving in leadership roles at Nike Inc., JPMorgan Chase, and currently as Director of Client Success at the non-profit The OneTen Coalition. At Chase, her team scaled the first-ever initiative centering on young men of color, recruiting, and training empowered mentors, designing study abroad programming, and engaging community partners across the US. At Nike, she developed strategies that expanded opportunities for sports based non-profit organizations led by women. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Sports Medicine and certifications in yoga and meditation. Beyond her professional work, Imani is actively involved in volunteerism and service leadership, contributing to scholarship foundations and engaging in wellness activities. Her passion for making a tangible difference in the world is evident in her dedication to leaving a positive impact for future generations, including her daughter Maluhia. read more.
Rebecca Good, Ed.D. Currently serving as the National Vice Provost of Teacher Preparation at Relay Graduate School of Educations, Dr. Good is a teacher of teachers. She has dedicated over 25 years to education which include as a Miami High School Literacy teacher, New Haven Middle School Principal, and Founder of the first teacher residency graduate school of education in Connecticut. As a first generation high school and college graduate, she knows the power and privilege of education and worked her way through high school and community colleges to earn a B.A. in Sociology from University of California, Berkeley, a M.A. in Educational Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Doctorate in Global Education from the University of Southern California where her research on the role of Connecticut legislators in diversifying the teaching workforce has been a catalyst for impactful state policy change. Dr. Good serves on multiple boards, state councils, and task forces, most recently being appointed as a founding board member to the Connecticut Educator Preparation and Certification Board. Dr. Good has dedicated her professional career to dismantling racism and injustice throughout the educational ecosystem. Dr. Good resides in New Haven, CT with her family.
Kathy Hayes-Bloch, LCSW is an CMP mindfulness facilitator and seasoned psychotherapist and social worker. She has studied meditation for over twenty years and incorporates meditation and visualization into her psychotherapy practice. Kathy has expertise in treating trauma and meditation difficulties. She had a transformative experience studying trauma-sensitive mindfulness (TSM) with trauma professional David Treleaven, Ph.D Kathy worked with David as part of the leadership team in the advanced Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness (TSM) training. She is committed to creating accessible, and safe learning environments for all meditation students. Kathy also studied Mahamudra meditation with her root teacher, Daniel Brown, PhD . It was a profound experience for her that strengthened her commitment to bringing these practices to all who would benefit from them. Kathy consults with Cheetah House, a non-profit that supports people experiencing meditation related distress. She also provides supervision to individuals, groups and organizations.
Christopher Keevil
Chris is the founder of and a Senior Advisor at Wellspring Consulting, a national firm that helps non-profit leaders develop strategy for the future. He has provided guidance to several hundred organizations in the social sector in fields such as religion and spirituality, education, environmental advocacy, social service, and the arts. Previously, Chris was a Partner at The Boston Consulting Group, an international management consultancy, advising businesses and multi-national corporations. Earlier he worked as a carpenter and as a folk-dance musician and caller. Chris is also a recognized meditation teacher, having received Inka from his Teacher, Zen Master Bo Mun (George Bowman). He has been practicing Zen since 1991 and teaching since 1998 in the lineage of his teacher, a dharma heir of the Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn. Chris leads meditation gatherings and retreats in the New Haven, Connecticut, area where he lives.
Hedy Kober, PhD is Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley. Prior to Berkeley, she was a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Yale University. She is dually-trained as a cognitive neuroscientist as well as a clinical psychologist, and her research combines these areas by investigating the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying treatments for a variety of conditions, with a focus on mindfulness based treatments. In this context she is the principal investigator of a project developing and testing “Mindfulness-Based ADHD Treatment for Children.” She has also been meditating for >20 years. Hedy has won numerous awards for her research, teaching, and mentoring, including (most recently) the Jacob P. Waletzky award from the Society for Neuroscience. Hedy has spoken about her mindfulness research worldwide, including at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and has obtained >15 million dollars in grant funding to support her ongoing work, which was covered by ABC News, Boston Globe, CNN, Forbes, Huffington Post, LA Times, New York Magazine, NPR, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, and others.
Lorenzo Lewis, Social Entrepreneur. Turn your pain into purpose. It’s a philosophy that speaker and social entrepreneur Lorenzo Lewis lives by. With a decade of professional experience in behavioral health and founder of The Confess Project—an initiative that trains barbers, beauticians, and frontline workers to become mental health advocates in underserved communities—Lorenzo helps you confess to your issues to begin to build a better process of living. Born in jail to an incarcerated mother, Lorenzo struggled with depression, anxiety, and anger throughout his youth. At 17, he almost re-entered the system of mass incarceration he had come from. It was then he snapped in and began his journey to wellness. It started with an education at Arkansas Baptist College and continued with him facing his own emotional challenges, eventually becoming a mental health advocate. Since then, Lorenzo has been a keynote speaker at numerous venues across the country—from organizations, TEDx events and universities to law enforcement and government agencies—exploring themes such as toxic masculinity, therapy taboos, and more. An entrepreneurial changemaker, Lorenzo transformed The Confess Project into a national grassroots movement. To date, his team has trained over 5000 barbers and frontline workers in more than 35 cities.Lorenzo has been recognized for his contributions to mental health advocacy, receiving awards and fellowships from organizations like Clinton Global Initiative, Ashoka, and Echoing Green and named“The 10 most innovative health companies of 2021” by Fast Company. His work has been featured in major media outlets and he has appeared on numerous TV shows. read more.
Sammy Politzner co-leads Arbor Rising, a grantmaking organization that funds and supports early-stage nonprofits that are all building pathways out of poverty. Sammy graduated from the University of Michigan and moved to New York City, where he taught second grade in the South Bronx with Teach for America and founded a small academic summer camp for his students. After a stint of world traveling, Sammy moved north for a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and then down south to teach at a KIPP school in North Carolina. Sammy returned to New York for a job in investment banking at Kildare Capital, a boutique firm, where he spent five years providing sell-side M&A and capital formation advice before launching Arbor Rising. When not co-leading Arbor Rising, Sammy often dreams of starting a family band, running marathons in faraway lands and Michigan football winning the national championship (again!).
"Since its founding 10 years ago, Community Mindfulness Project has benefited from the collective wisdom and skill of a wide network of kind-hearted people. As we grow and evolve, I remain incredibly humbled by the people who lend their advice and experience to our work and am excited that we have formed our inaugural Advisory Board."
- Erika Long, Co-Founder, Board Member and Facilitator, Community Mindfulness Project
