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Voices You'll Encounter
Dr. Laura Calderon de la Barca
Collective Change Lab, Senior Associate, Healing Systems Co-Lead.
Dr. Laura Calderon de la Barca
Collective Change Lab, Senior Associate, Healing Systems Co-Lead.
Laura Calderón de la Barca, PhD is a psychotherapist and systems change practitioner specializing in collective, intergenerational, and systemic trauma. As Senior Associate at the Collective Change Lab, she advances healing as the key to transforming social systems. She is the lead author of Healing Systems, published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (2024), which was the most-read SSIR article of the year. Rooted in her lived experience as a Mexican Mestiza reconnecting with her Indigenous spirituality, Laura bridges trauma healing, decolonial practice, and spiritual reconnection as pathways for changemakers.She teaches internationally, with particular focus on Latin America, and collaborates with global spiritual and social impact communities in events such as the Skoll World Forum (Oxford University) and the Wellbeing Summits (Bilbao, Bogotá and Saltillo). She has also facilitated collective trauma healing labs, support spaces for people of color and Spanish-speaking communities with Thomas Hübl through the Academy of Inner Science and the Pocket Project, and served as a panelist and host for the Collective Trauma Online Summits (2019–2023). She is currently working on a documentary about Healing Systems with the Collective Change Lab and Pirata Films, scheduled for release in mid-2026.
Bayo Akomolafe
Public Intellectual | Author | Hubert H. Humphrey Distinguished Professor of American Studies | Visionary Founder
Bayo Akomolafe
Public Intellectual | Author | Hubert H. Humphrey Distinguished Professor of American Studies | Visionary FounderDr. Bayo Akomolafe is a Nigerian-born philosopher, author, speaker, and self-described “trans-public intellectual” whose work invites us beyond rigid ideas of right and wrong into more entangled, relational ways of being. Of Yoruba descent and shaped by early experiences of migration, loss, and encounters with traditional healers, his life’s inquiry centers on trauma, decolonization, ecology, and the sacred “in-between” spaces of uncertainty. A former lecturer and Special Envoy for the International Alliance for Localization, he has taught at institutions including Middlebury College and Pacifica Graduate Institute, and is the author of These Wilds Beyond Our Fences and We Will Tell Our Own Story. As Visionary Founder of The Emergence Network and host of We Will Dance with Mountains, Bayo explores postactivism, ontofugitivity, and transraciality—offering poetic, provocative invitations to rethink justice, power, and hope. Living between India and the United States with his wife and children, he considers his most sacred work the daily practice of learning how to be with the world—confused, enchanted, and alive in the “meantime.”
Somava Saha, MD, MS
President and CEO of Well-being and Equity(WE) in the World,
Somava Saha, MD, MS
President and CEO of Well-being and Equity(WE) in the World,Somava Saha, MD, MS works to advance intergenerational well-being and equity on a foundation of racial and economic justice. A practical visionary, as President and CEO of Well-being and Equity(WE) in the World, Dr. Saha knows and shows that real system change is possible through relationships and system change. Through collectives like the Well Being In the Nation(WIN) Network, Communities RISE Together, and others, in the last five years, this work has led to the creation of over 11,000 jobs in 1009 communities experiencing inequities, entrusted these communities to lead change, and resulted in 195,000 more birthdays celebrated and millions more bedtime stories told—at a 30:1 return on investment. She leads the JUSTICE SQUARED initiative, with WE in the World as the national program office for this work.Previously, as vice president at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Dr. Saha led 100 Million Healthier Lives, which brought together 1850+ partners in 30+ countries reaching >500 million people to improve health, wellbeing and equity. She served as vice president at Cambridge Health Alliance, where she led a health system transformation that won national awards for improved health, experience and cost for safety net communities.In 2012, Dr. Saha was recognized as one of ten Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Young Leaders for contributions to improving the health of the nation. She was elected a Leading Causes of Life Global Fellow in 2016. She has appeared on panels with the Dalai Lama, Angela Davis, and been a featured speaker at a White House Summit on the economy hosted by Kamala Harris. Dr. Saha and her team at WE in the World aim to grow and be connected with a global movement of better ancestors that can advance intergenerational well-being and justice together.
Stephen Lewis
President at Forum for Theological Exploration
Stephen Lewis
President at Forum for Theological Exploration
Stephen Lewis is the president of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) and creator and co-founder of DO GOOD X, a start-up accelerator for diverse Christian social entrepreneurs. He is an organizational change strategist and a leadership development specialist, focused on inspiring the next generation of faith-inspired leaders and entrepreneurs to live and work on purpose. Stephen is the co-author of Another Way: Living and Leading Change on Purpose (2020) and A Way Out of No Way: An Approach to Christian Innovation (2021).
Learning Conversation Facilitators
Nilima Bhat
Founder-Director Shakti Leadership Mission; Former Distinguished Professor in Gender & Conscious Leadership, Faculty of Excellence, Tecnologico de Monterrey.
Nilima Bhat
Founder-Director Shakti Leadership Mission; Former Distinguished Professor in Gender & Conscious Leadership, Faculty of Excellence, Tecnologico de Monterrey.Nilima Bhat is former Distinguished Professor in Gender and Conscious Leadership, Faculty of Excellence, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico. She is a visionary in the fields of Personal Mastery, Leadership, Gender Equality and Wellbeing. As a facilitator of personal transformation, she coaches individuals and organizations in their quest for conscious evolution. She is an international speaker/trainer on organizational culture, conscious business, women in leadership, self-awareness for work-life balance as well as Indian wisdom and wellness traditions. She is an active supporter of the Conscious Capitalism movement, WIN (Women’s International Networking) and board member of Peace through Commerce, MixR and 20-first. Author of three books: Shakti Leadership – Embracing Feminine and Masculine Power in Business ; Healing Leaders – 7 Steps to Recovery of Self, & My Cancer Is Me – The Journey from Illness to Wholeness which outline new and cutting-edge holistic and integrated approaches to Leadership and Resilience.
Jerry White
Award-winning entrepreneur, activist, author, professor, and diplomat
Jerry White
Award-winning entrepreneur, activist, author, professor, and diplomatJerry White is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, professor, diplomat, and nonprofit executive with 35+ years’ experience improving the lives of millions of people worldwide. White shares in the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and is best known for leading high-impact campaigns, three of which led to international treaties: the Mine Ban Treaty; the Cluster Munitions Ban; and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. White grew up in a large Irish Catholic family outside Boston and was the first Christian to graduate with a degree in Judaic Studies from Brown University, studying under the most prolific rabbi in history, the late Jacob Neusner. In 1984, while on a pilgrimage in the holy land, White stepped on a landmine in the Golan Heights, losing his lower right leg and spending six months recovering at Tel Aviv’s largest rehabilitation center. Since that time, White has dedicated his life in service to humanity, working to transform conflict and advance human flourishing.In 1995, White founded the world’s first international organization created by and for landmine survivors, becoming an adviser to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. He was trusted to plan in secret what was to be Princess Diana’s last humanitarian mission visiting war victims in Bosnia-Herzegovina just three weeks before her untimely death. White then worked closely with King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan to demine the Jordan River Valley, including the Baptismal Site of Jesus. White has helped thousands of war victims get legs, get jobs, and get on with their lives, recounting how trauma survivors can overcome victimhood and build resilience in his first book, Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down. In 2012, White was recruited by the Obama Administration to serve three years in Senior Executive Services as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, launching the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. Working with a team of intelligence analysts and game theorists, White introduced advanced decision analytics and data-driven diplomacy to predict with high accuracy the likely outcomes of complex negotiations and regional conflicts. A Senior Ashoka Fellow, White recently ran the world’s largest grassroots interfaith network—the United Religions Initiative—launching their five-year strategic framework to introduce an evidence-based health approach to violence prevention in 110 countries.White received his Executive MBA from the University of Michigan and studied religion and theology at Cambridge University. He has honorary degrees from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Boston, and Glasgow Caledonia University in Scotland. He taught for seven years as an interdisciplinary Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia, where he completed research and co-authored with Dr. Georgette Bennett a book on Religicide: Confronting the Roots of Anti-Religious Violence (2022). His latest book, Be See Do: The Art of Humane Leadership (2026), has been called a “master class on strategy for a rising generation.” White currently serves as the Chair of Made Impact, a global initiative designed to spread peace and prosperity through international exchange. He lives surrounded by wildlife in the woods of Piscataway National Park with his wife Kelly, a novelist and writing professor, reasonably close to their four adult kids in Washington, DC.
Michael Kass
Michael Kass is an award-winning storyteller, facilitator, and experience designer who works with leaders, impact organizations, and communities to weave a new story.
Michael Kass
Michael Kass is an award-winning storyteller, facilitator, and experience designer who works with leaders, impact organizations, and communities to weave a new story.Michael Kass is an award-winning storyteller, facilitator, and experience designer who works with leaders, impact organizations, and communities to weave a new story. Raised in Washington, DC, he grew up with a vague sense that the world was vastly more complex and magical than his parents and teachers let on. He loved myths, fairy tales, and any story where the world revealed its hidden layers.At the age of 11, he declared to his parents that he wanted to spend his life exploring the ways that story reflects and shapes both culture and identity. They nodded and immediately sent him to science camp.That tension between societal expectations and deeper knowing showed itself in every aspect of his life for the next 25 years — from a career that straddled acting on stages throughout Chicago and nonprofit financial management consulting, to relationships and friendships. Ultimately the tension became too heavy to hold, and at the age of 35 he collapsed under the strain. Unable to get off the couch, he looked ahead and saw endless years of deskbound drudgery and pasta dinners eaten alone over the kitchen sink.That wasn't acceptable. So he did the most terrifying thing he'd ever done: he began to believe (slowly, slowly) in magic.It was a quiet rebellion, and it changed everything. He quit his job, and a month later found himself working with Indigenous healers in South America. Following a trail of breadcrumbs, he began to practice and facilitate breathwork, launching the first breathwork community on the Eastside of Los Angeles. From there, things unfolded in unpredictable and beautiful ways.He wrote and performed a solo storytelling show, Ceremony, that won awards and toured the United States for three years, serving as both entertainment and transformational experience. His storytelling workshops made their way into spaces including The Nonprofit Partnership, The Walt Disney Company, Google, and the Pan African Leadership Institute. Since 2017, he has been a leading voice in the Ethical Storytelling movement, working to shift the culture of impact storytelling away from extractive practice and toward models that uplift the voices and dignity of all. He served as an advisor to the Dignified Storytelling Project and has brought ethical storytelling conversations to conferences including SOCAP, Opportunity Collaboration, and the 501(c)onference.Along the way he has journeyed across the world as a Wondermaker with the Nomadic School of Wonder, guided breath and sound journeys for social impact leaders and communities around the world, and continued his study with teachers including Deena Metzger and José Luis Stevens.Most recently, his work has centered on the stewardship of Vibrational Intelligence, an emergent field of practice for leaders cultivating their capacity to attune to, discern between, and act from a wider range of frequencies and signals. It's the latest manifestation of that childhood knowing: that beneath the world we're told is real, there are deeper layers of information available to anyone willing to listen. And that, especially right now, those layers are necessary to navigating the world.Michael comes to Soularize as a fellow traveler, eager to learn alongside this community, to trade breadcrumbs, and to find out together what becomes possible when we lead from that deeper knowing. Learn more at www.storyandspirit.org and www.vibrationalintelligence.org.
to find out more details about facilitating a learning conversation download the official PDF here.
Facilitate a learning conversation
Each facilitator is invited to shape their own learning conversation topic based on their expertise, passion, and lived experience. If selected, the Soularize team will thoughtfully match each conversation to one of our daily themes to ensure a cohesive, meaningful journey over the three days.
We are especially interested in sessions that create space for shared inquiry, trust-building, and meaningful connection, rather than presentations or expert-led instruction.
Suggested format: A 90-minute session comprised of up to a 20-minute presentation followed by facilitated conversations and engagement for mutual learning.
Our Visionary Speakers
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International Sponsors
Workshops We offer
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REACH US Get Direction to the Event Hall
Venue
Time
How to get there
Venue
6 to 8 OCTOBER 2026, Chicago, IL 126 E. Chestnut Street (at Michigan Avenue), Chicago, Illinois 60611.2014
Email: shayna@soularize.org
Time
6 to 8 OCTOBER 2026, Chicago, IL 126 E. Chestnut Street (at Michigan Avenue), Chicago, Illinois 60611.2014
Email: shayna@soularize.org
How to get there
6 to 8 OCTOBER 2026, Chicago, IL 126 E. Chestnut Street (at Michigan Avenue), Chicago, Illinois 60611.2014
Email: shayna@soularize.org
Partner With Soularize
Is your organization, foundation, or institute interested in making a positive impact in the world of Spiritual Changemaking? Soularize 2026 is looking to partner with a few key sponsors and organizations to help underwrite the cost of tickets to make this valuable in-person event affordable.
Email: shayna@soularize.org
