Michael Meade (he/him), Mythologist & Storyteller

Michael Meade, D.H.L., is a renowned storyteller, author, and scholar of mythology, anthropology, and psychology. He combines hypnotic storytelling, street-savvy perceptiveness, and spellbinding interpretations of ancient myths with a deep knowledge of cross-cultural rituals. He has an unusual ability to distill and synthesize these disciplines, tapping into ancestral sources of wisdom and connecting them to the stories we are living today.

He is the author of Awakening the Soul, The Genius Myth, Fate and Destiny: The Two Agreements of The Soul, Why the World Doesn't End, The Water of Life: Initiation and the Tempering of the Soul; editor, with James Hillman and Robert Bly, The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart; and the creator of the Living Myth Podcast.

Michael Meade is the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, a nonprofit network of artists, activists, and community builders that encourages greater understanding between diverse peoples.

Women’s Panel

Here is a sample of the questions the panelists will be asked:

• What has been your personal journey around gender?

• What is your understanding, and experience, of embodying the Feminine & Masculine within?

• How do these energies and their balance impact your life, your work, and your relationships (romantic and otherwise)?

• What do you experience as the beauty and joy, as well as sorrow and pain of being a woman?

Yosi Amram Licensed clinical psychologist, a CEO leadership coach, an author, and a pioneering researcher in the field of Spiritual Intelligence.

Growing up in a Jewish home in Israel, Yosi found himself surrounded by traditional gender stereotypes. As refugees, his parents fled Iraq after World War II, and his father was absent and emotionally distant most of the time, working two jobs to provide for the family. Yosi was very close, alternatively, with his mother, who was warm, emotive, and nurturing—a stay-at-home mom for most of his childhood. Further reinforcing these stereotypical gender roles was the society in which Yosi grew up, encouraging its men to “toughen up”, disconnect from the sensitivity of their heart—the true source of lasting fulfillment and love—to become warrior soldiers in the wars Israel faced.   

Despite his pacifist leanings, when Yosi was drafted into the military, he held the fastest promotion record in the history of his regiment and received numerous leadership awards. While “excelling” in this culture of aggressive ‘macho’ masculinity, the military chafed at his soul, eventually instilling in him the desire to reimagine our cultural stereotypical models of leadership and gender. Later, after receiving a BS and MS in Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard, Yosi became the founder and CEO of two technology companies that he led through successful Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).

Then, in 1996, despite his company’s rising stock price, Yosi experienced a spiritual crisis. It was through this “dark night of the soul” that Yosi came to see through the illusion of separateness, including how it pertains to gender. He awoke to a new understanding of life’s interconnectedness and experienced all of reality emerging from the interplay of masculine and feminine energies. This put him and his value system on a fresh trajectory. He earned a PhD in clinical psychology and initiated his academic research into Spiritual Intelligence, developing the first research-grounded theory and academically validated measure of Spiritual Intelligence (SI) and a model for Inspired Leadership—research that has received over a thousand citations to date.

As a therapist and leadership coach working with individuals and couples of all genders and sexual orientations, Yosi has witnessed many clients struggle with issues of gender within themselves and their relationships. Furthermore, following the #MeToo movement, Yosi became even more aware of the interconnection between men’s violence and the shame they experience as men individually and collectively. He realized that men lack healthy role models who can show them how to hold their masculinity with dignity, thus motivating him to form and publish the manifesto for trueMASCULINITY. At the same time, #MeToo also highlighted how we must face and acknowledge the pain, fear, and sense of violation that women have experienced for millennia in order for healing and reconciliation between the feminine and masculine to take place. Against this backdrop, and with an ever growing nuanced complexity of gender identities in our world, was born the idea for this summit. 

Yosi’s personal mission is to awaken greater Spiritual Intelligence in himself (a lifelong journey) and in the world. His forthcoming book, Spiritually Intelligent Leadership: How to Inspire by Being Inspired will be available in summer of 2023. Yosi is blessed with two wonderful grown children who are the bright stars of his life and enjoys nature, hiking, biking, reading, meditating, and dancing.

Dr. Stelli Munnis is a transpersonal counselor, writer, artist, and nonprofit leader who founded Red Sulphur, an organization that uses the creative arts to help individuals become fully-empowered, whole human beings. The name “Red Sulphur” symbolizes the quest for wholeness and the union of the feminine and masculine energies within each person—a quest that is at the heart of Stelli’s work with clients. 

Prior to founding Red Sulphur, Stelli spent over 20 years in corporate sales, marketing, and executive leadership positions. She helped scale two startups and fueled growth at SunPower Corporation, a global leader in solar. She holds a BA in economics from the University of Florida and a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology from Sophia University in Palo Alto, CA.

Jordan Reeves (they/she/he) is queer trans nonbinary community organizer that leads trainings and creates learning opportunities that guide people to a place of expanded understanding of the LGBTQ+ experience.

For the last 15 years, Jordan has worked across the United States as a nonprofit leader, documentarian, and producer. A storyteller and visionary, Jordan hopes to stoke humanity's imagination, manifesting a reality where we all feel a little more at home in the world.

From a very early age, Jordan was taught that being LGBTQ+ was an abomination — so Jordan’s early years were a soul-crushing practice of repression.

Countless nights of crying into their pillow and praying they wouldn’t wake up the next morning, they felt broken and alone. Jordan often says the great work of their childhood was to construct a version of themself that was pleasing to other people.

Jordan had always poured into the conservative Christian church, which in their experience was the most adamant opposition to queerness. After an incredibly intense experience left Jordan feeling despondent, they simultaneously had a crisis of faith and a moment of personal clarity. They denounced Christianity, the faith they had practiced their whole life, and admitted for the first time that they are queer.

Coming out was a tremendously freeing experience, despite the adversity it surfaced. It catalyzed the most monumental period of change in Jordan’s life. At 25 years old, they left Alabama, the only home they had ever known, and moved to New York City. Everything was different — geographic location, culture, community, family, and most importantly, Jordan’s sense of self.

Shortly after moving to New York, Jordan started working for TED. They helped start TED-Ed, TED’s education initiative. At first, Jordan led ideation, compiling a list of 1,000 ideas, many of which turned into the animated content for which TED-Ed is now famous. To date, TED-Ed content has been viewed over 3 billion times online.

Jordan left TED, and in 2016 started VideoOut. They traveled all over the United States and have built one of the world’s largest libraries of LGBTQ+ narratives. Most recently, VideoOut partnered with Google to build the Language and Media Literacy Program, a deep exploration of LGBTQ+ language as it evolves into (and sometimes out of) mainstream culture. VideoOut has also worked with partners like Marriott International, Hulu, Verizon, P&G, Airbnb, and AARP. VideoOut is currently building the world’s first comprehensive database of educational resources that delve into LGBTQ+ identity, history, and culture.

In 2020, Jordan co-founded VOE to tell stories that are too often missing in the canon of television and film. They have worked with HBO to develop a pitch for a TV project, and they are currently building a diverse slate of LGBTQ+ entertainment content.

Jenny Wade, Ph.D., is a multi-disciplinary professional whose career has spanned diverse areas with an emphasis on higher values that produce real-world results, especially the realization of human potential.

Dr. Wade is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, a researcher, an organization and leadership development consultant, and developmental psychologist specializing the structuring of consciousness in normal and non-ordinary states and related transformative processes.  The Millennium Middle School in San Francisco based their curriculum on her developmental theory, and she designed an advanced leadership program for His Serene Highness Prince Alfred of Leichtenstein and the International Peace Foundation.  She is the seminal author of research on ecstatic spiritual states triggered by sex, including the book Transcendent Sex:  When Lovemaking Opens the Veil.  Wade is an international speaker and workshop presenter to businesses, universities, and popular audiences on higher levels of human capacity and transformational development.

Pauline Romas comes from a background in both engineering and visual arts and has always felt a calling to unite seemingly opposing forces in harmony.

She embraced the opportunity to cultivate her inner masculine as one of the only women in the male-dominated software engineering program at her university. After excelling in a career as a software developer, trainer, and manager, she departed from the corporate world on a quest to explore her inner world—a world her heart was calling her towards.

She immersed herself in spiritual wisdom ranging from Tibetan Buddhist retreats in Dharamsala to ceremonial cacao rituals in Órgiva to Nonviolent Communication workshops in Santa Cruz.

Now, Pauline offers workshops and sessions where she guides people to explore their heart’s wisdom through a balance of embodiment and transcendence. She teaches meditation, Polyvagal Theory, and conscious communication.