Mattering Summit Welcome

Jennifer Wallace

Author of the Instant New York Times Bestseller, Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose

Dr. Sarah Bennison

Co-founder of The Mattering Movement

Beyond Achievement Culture: Building Mattering-Centered Education

The Mattering Movement is the first leading national organization in Mattering Education — bringing over four decades of psychological and educational research to schools across the United States. When students and educators feel seen, valued, and believe their contributions matter, the results are transformative for mental health, belonging, academic outcomes, and school communities. Dr. Sarah Bennison, educator of over 30 years, NYU faculty member, and pioneer in mattering-based education, will share the research and the practical tools to activate the science of mattering in your school. Participants will leave with a shared language, actionable strategies, and a new lens for thinking about school culture, student wellbeing, and teacher resilience.

Stephen Post

President of Institute for Research on Pure Unlimited Love

Love and Inclusion of Deeply Forgetful People

The real test for the inclusivity of love is love for those with the various diseases that cause dementia. It is so easy to deny these individuals their dignity and to notice the many hints of continuing identity. The very word “dementia” is entirely negative, and invites metaphors like “gone,” “shell,” “husk” and so forth. Drawing on my book such as Dignity for Deeply Forgetful People: How Caregivers Can Meet the Challenges of Alzheimer’s Disease,” and on Pure Unlimited Love, I will consider how to enliven manifestations of self-identity through personalized music, art, and nature. I will also look at how and why such individuals are maltreated and what we can do about it. I consider this the best way to test love, and will draw on a recent Gallup survey of primary caregivers conducted through the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love. As the Dalai Lama urges, forgetfulness is not reason to love anyone less, although it may be challenging.

Braxton Kilgo

Founder of I Believe In You

Belief in Action: How Small Acts Spark Global Impact

Every act of kindness has the power to create ripple effects far beyond what we can see. In this session, I’ll share how the I Believe In You movement uses simple gestures and technology to build cultures of encouragement, connect communities, and measure organizational impact around the world. Together, we’ll explore practical ways to inspire belief and make mattering tangible in our daily lives and organizations.

Jonathan Fields

Host of the Good Life Project; Speaker and Author on Purpose and Meaning

What if the key to feeling like your work truly matters isn’t just what you do—but whether it aligns with what naturally lights you up?

What if the key to feeling like your work truly matters isn’t just what you do—but whether it aligns with what naturally lights you up? In this thought-provoking and energizing conversation, Emiliya Zhivotovskaya sits down with Jonathan Fields, creator of the Sparketype® Assessment, to explore the powerful connection between doing work that sparks joy and experiencing a deep sense of mattering. In positive psychology, mattering is the experience of feeling valued and knowing that you add value. Yet so many people find themselves successful on paper, but disconnected, depleted, or questioning whether what they do really makes a difference. Together, Emiliya and Jonathan unpack why being “good at something” isn’t enough—and how ignoring what energizes you can quietly erode both your well-being and your sense of impact. You’ll discover how your Sparketype reveals the kind of work that naturally fuels you, and why that energy isn’t just a personal benefit—it’s a pathway to greater contribution. When you’re aligned with what brings you alive, you don’t just feel better; you show up more fully, more creatively, and more meaningfully in the lives of others.

Photo by Kathryn Colby

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Mattering Summit Welcome

Matthew Emerzian

Founder of Every Monday Matters, Creator of the Mattering Mindset, Keynote Speaker, and Author

Make it Matter: Unleashing Human Potential Through the Mattering Mindset

In this engaging 30-minute session, Matthew Emerzian shares his personal journey from outward success to inner struggle—and the unexpected discovery that changed everything: mattering. Through honest storytelling and practical insight, he introduces the Mattering Mindset™, a framework for understanding how we matter to ourselves, one another, our work, and the world. This session invites participants to reconnect with what truly drives human potential and why it matters now more than ever.

Zach Mercurio, Ph.D.

Leadership and Mattering Researcher, Author of The Power of Mattering and The Invisible Leader

Mattering-Centered Leadership: Key Skills for Building a Culture of Significance

Increasingly, data shows we face a mattering deficit in our workplaces and organizations as more people report feeling unseen, unheard, undervalued, and disposable. The good news is that emerging research shows we can learn and practice the skills to cultivate everyday experiences of mattering. In this session, Zach Mercurio, a mattering-at-work researcher and author of The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance, will move us from understanding the concept of mattering to operationalizing it in our leadership approach. You will learn three practices for building interactions that create a sense of mattering: Noticing, affirming, and showing others how they’re needed, as well as learn how to assess your skills. Zach will also explore how to scale these skills in workplaces, organizations, and communities.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, PhD

Philosopher and Novelist

Welcome to The Mattering Map (Although You’ve Been Here All Along)

Our longing to matter gives human life its existential dimension: alone among earth’s species, we strive for meaningfulness, purpose, and coherence. Our responses to this shared longing are dazzlingly diverse, as represented by what I call The Mattering Map—where we impress, perplex, and sometimes appall one another with the “mattering projects” we pursue. But whether it’s tending one’s garden or one’s cause, one’s relationships or one’s reputation, one’s immortal soul or one’s net worth, these projects become the loci of some of our deepest emotions. We judge how well our lives are going at least partly by how well our mattering projects are going. Are some mattering projects objectively better than others?

Sharon Shelton

Mindfulness Teacher, Coach, and Speaker

Why You Matter: The Science and Wisdom of Human Connection

Many people quietly carry a question beneath the surface of their lives: Do I really matter? In a culture that measures value through productivity and achievement, it’s easy to believe that we have to prove that we matter. Yet both contemplative wisdom and modern science suggest something different: the experience of mattering grows through connection. In this talk, mindfulness teacher Sharon Shelton explores how presence, compassion, and genuine relationships help restore our sense of meaning. In the end, a simple truth becomes clear: your life matters because life itself is sacred and deeply interconnected.

Leslee Frye

CEO of the Young 9 Foundation

What to Do When You Feel Like You Don’t Matter

Do you ever question your own significance? We’ve all been there — lost, searching, wondering if we truly matter. In this session, Leslee Frye, the executive director of NFL quarterback Bryce Young’s Young Nine Foundation, will create space to be honest about those moments when we don’t feel okay.  Through practical tools and guided reflection, you’ll build a personal practice to navigate life’s highs and lows with greater purpose and resilience. Leave not just inspired — but equipped.

Vicki O’Grady

Founder of The You Matter Compassion Project, Retired Licensed Mental Health Counselor

You Matter Compassion Project Cards

The You Matter Compassion Project and creating/giving out the You Matter cards.

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