Sarah Gilbert

Brainstormer, Buddhist, Business leader, Change agent, Connector, Consultant, Gay, Idea generator, Technologist, Writer/Editor

I am a business leader with an MBA and a Masters Degree in Communications and Environmental Policy. In addition to my current profession, I have worked as a science reporter and an executive director of an environment organization. I was raised by a father who spent his entire life studying and protecting North American brown bears and a mother who became an environmental activist in mid-life ensuring that natural areas in the Rocky Mountains were protected from development for highways.

I am passionate about helping people reach their full potential. I see healing the planet as an urgent and necessary calling that will allow us reach our full potential as a species. Ending violence against nature and the oppression of people and living beings will help us transform into a more just, more whole and more fulfilled global society.

Psychologists and psychological wellbeing are crucial to our transition to a more sustainable way-of-life. We actually know what needs to be done to solve the climate crisis; We are just having trouble doing it. We need psychological approaches for moving out of denial, coping with grief and engaging with a new more just and inclusive world for all beings.

Business, Change Management, Communications, Ecology, Environment Policy, Journalism, Psychology

Upon further reflection, TED has had a significant impact on my professional and personal life. I first heard about TED when a friend pointed me to Brene Brown's TEDxHouston talk in 2010. I was completely engrossed in her ideas around vulnerability and connection, because it contradicted so much of what I believed that I had been taught about emotions and relationships. This was a jumping off point for what has become a profound transformation in my personal and professional life. Her books and this talk gave me the language and the concepts to reshape my personal relationships and my approach to my work. After being hired at RHR International in 2013, I gave her book - Daring Greatly - to every person hired into my department. Her leadership advice became a guiding principle for me. I would likely not have discovered her work until much later had it not been for TED.

I love to make art out of paper and fabric. I also used to be a professional musician.