Doug Abrams is an author, editor, literary agent, and truth hunter who is committed to helping catalyze the next evolutionary stage of our global culture. In addition to co-writing The Book of Joy with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, he also worked with Stephen Hawking on his last book, the global bestseller Brief Answers to the Big Questions. He has had the privilege of working with other Nobel Laureates including Nelson Mandela, Jody Williams, and Elizabeth Blackburn. He has worked with many visionary scientists. He is also devoted to spreading the importance of conservation and fighting climate change. He is currently working with Christiana Figueres, the former UN Secretary on Climate, who led the Paris Climate Agreement, on The Future We Choose: Ending the Climate Crisis, and with plant ecologist Suzanne Simard on Finding the Mother Tree, about her work discovering the communication and network intelligence of trees and forests, and how cooperation is as important to survival as competition. Doug has also worked with Desmond Tutu as his coauthor, editor, and literary agent for almost two decades.  

Doug is the Founder and President of Idea Architects, a creative book and media company helping visionaries to create a wiser, healthier, and more just world. 

Dialogue is key to Doug’s work, and he believes that genius is a collaborative process.  His goal is to bring people together in a cultural conversation through books and media that transform lives and ultimately the world. 

Books and films he has developed have been credited with convincing then-President Bill Clinton to stop the genocide in Kosovo (THE BRIDGE BETRAYED), for launching the modern anti-slavery movement (DISPOSSIBLE PEOPLE), and for helping to expand a mass incarceration reform movement (JUST MERCY, a book and film starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Fox).

Throughout all of his wide-ranging projects, Doug aspires to help build a prism through which life-changing conversations and experiences can be created and nourished.  He has had the privilege of interviewing global heroes and icons including Jimmy Carter, Bono, Carlos Santana, Richard Branson, and many others.  

He was also on the founding team of JustGive.org, a philanthropy website that has pioneered new forms of giving and been responsible for giving over half a billion dollars to charity.

He has written two novels, The Lost Diary of Don Juan and Eye of the Whale, which together have been translated into over thirty languages.  

He lives with his wife, Rachel, an integrative family physician, author, and lifelong conversation partner. He has three grown children, Jesse, Kayla, and Eliana.

Elissa Epel, PhD, is a leading researcher in stress, well being, and healthy aging. She is a professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Psychiatry, at University of California, San Francisco. She is the Director of the Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center, member of the National Academy of Medicine, the Mind and Life Institute Steering Council and past President of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. She studies psychological, social, and behavioral processes related to chronic stress that accelerate biological aging, and well being practices that can slow aging.

She leads national NIA networks on Stress, and Emotional Well Being. She has won many awards for her research and her work was featured venues such as TEDMED, The Today Show, CBS’s Morning Show, 60 Minutes, National Public Radio, New York Times, and WSJ. She enjoys leading meditation retreats at venues such as WEF/Davos, Esalen, Blue Spirit Costa Rica, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and 1440 Multiversity. Epel co-wrote The Telomere Effect: The new science of living younger longer with Liz Blackburn, which is a New York Times best seller in 30 languages that integrates the science of cell aging with practical daily tips.

Dr. Julia Kim is a leading expert in global health and wellbeing and the Program Director of the Gross National Happiness Centre Bhutan. Through local and international partnerships, the GNH Centre curates experiential leadership and learning programs that promote a more flourishing, equitable, and sustainable world – based on New Economics principles, alternative progress measures, sustainable development, and the growing science of wellbeing. Prior to living in Bhutan, Julia worked as a physician and HIV researcher in Africa and Asia, before serving with UNDP and UNICEF in New York. She brings a background in leadership development, research, and policy in the fields of wellbeing economics, international health and development, and is a member of the Club of Rome, and an associate of the Presencing Institute – a global network integrating awareness-based practices as a core capacity of 21st-century innovation and leadership. Julia holds degrees from Cornell University, the University of Manitoba, Tufts University, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Michael B. Beckwith is the founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, a trans-denominational spiritual community with a congregation of over 9,000 members. He has appeared on Dr. Oz, The Oprah Show, Larry King Live, and in his own PBS Special, The Answer Is You, spreading his message to millions of people. He also participated alongside the Dalai Lama and other New Thought ministers in the Synthesis Dialogues.

Beckwith is the creator of the Life Visioning Process, which he teaches all over the globe through his seminars and books. At its core, the process is a way to fully embrace your connection to the Divine and let the universe serve the world through you.

Peggy Callahan’s sense of fairness (or maybe masochism) has driven her work in television and human rights activism. She was honored to capture the life-changing conversations between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his ‘mischievous brother’ Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The week-long meeting took place in Dharmsala at the Dalai Lama’s compound. It was shot with five cameras, a crew from three countries and back-up equipment twelve hours away in Delhi. It came off without a single glitch. Yep, holy men were on the set.

The dialogues inspired the film Mission: JOY - Finding Happiness in Troubled Times. Peggy served as the co-director and producer. The message that ‘joy is an inside job’ is spreading even faster with the largest ever global Citizen Science project on joy. BIG JOY takes 7 minutes a day for 7 days and is available on-line for free around the globe. It helps each participant feel better as it expands the science of joy.

As an award-winning filmmaker, television jo, and human rights activist, Peggy believes in the power of story to create real change on the planet. Peggy also co-founded Voices4Freedom and Free the Slaves, two international non-profits dedicated to ending modern day slavery in our lifetime.  Finally. Forever.