James R. Doty

James R. Doty, M.D. is a Professor in the Neurosurgery Department at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Founder and Director of the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research (CCARE) of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. He is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the International College of Surgeons. He served 9 years on active duty service in the U.S. Army.

Dr. Doty is an inventor and an entrepreneur, holding a number of patents on devices that are used on patients around the world. He maintains a broad neurosurgical interest and is one of the pioneers in the use of stereotactic radiosurgery utilizing the CyberKnife. He is an expert in the surgical treatment of benign and malignant tumors of the brain and spinal cord and has published extensively in the areas of spine and stereotactic radiosurgery.

For the last several years, his interest has focused on understanding the neural basis of compassion and altruism. He collaborates with a number of scientists in a variety of disciplines including neuroscience and psychology at Stanford and multiple universities throughout the world. He is the Senior Editor of the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science.

As a philanthropist. Dr. Doty has supported health clinics throughout the world and groundbreaking neuroscience research. He has endowed chairs at multiple universities including Stanford and the chair for the Dean of Tulane Medical School, his alma mater.

He is the New York Times bestselling author of “Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart” which has now been translated into 36 languages.

3 words to describe Nature?

Awe. Joy. Inspiration

3 things Nature taught you?

Love

Hope

The ability for renewal

3 most treasured Nature spots?

Redwood forests

San Juan Islands

Hawaii

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?

Small

When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?

Infinite possibilities

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?

Weak

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?

Hopeful

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?

How we must respect nature

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?

Scared

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

Forest

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

10/10

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

I had just learned to swim and my parents took the family to a lake surrounded by redwoods. I remember my hesitancy stepping into the water, how cold it felt and then I started to swim and I swam across the lake. I never felt more powerful or alive then in that moment.


Anne Kreamer

Anne Kreamer is the author of “It’s Always Personal: Navigating Emotion in the New Workplace” and “Going Gray: What I Learned About Beauty, Sex, Work, Motherhood, Authenticity, and Everything Else That Really Matters.” Hew latest book, “Risk/Reward: Why Intelligent Leaps and Daring Choices Are the Best Career Moves You Can Make,” decodes what it takes to get ahead and achieve satisfaction in today’s unpredictable new workscape. 

Anne has also worked as a columnist for Fast Company and Martha Stewart Living, and has written frequently for Harvard Business Review. Her work has appeared in Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Real Simple, and Travel + Leisure. Previously, Anne was Executive Vice President and Worldwide Creative Director for the television channels Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite and part of the team that launched SPY magazine. As the Associate Director for the International Television Group for Sesame Workshop, she was integral to building Sesame Street into the pre-eminent global children’s brand.

 In 2019, with her daughter, Lucy Andersen, Anne launched Wild & Rare (wildandrare.com) an accessories business showcasing endangered wildlife. By shining a light on individual plants and animals, they hope that Wild & Rare products will function as miniature billboards, focusing our attention on the smaller, more manageable parts of the environmental crisis. 100% of the profits go to organizations working toward the same goal.

Anne graduated from Harvard College and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, the writer, Kurt Andersen. 

3 words to describe Nature?

Grounding. Transcendent. Powerful.

3 things Nature taught you?

Humility

Patience

Resilience

3 most treasured Nature spots?

My Brooklyn backyard, touching the Dawn Sequoia I planted 20 years ago, now 100 feet tall. 

The Housatonic River, Connecticut 

Lucy Vincent Beach, Martha’s Vineyard

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?

Clean and bright

When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?

Euphoric

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?

Awe-struck

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?

Joyful

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?

Excited

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?

Anxious

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

Forest

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

10

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

Sitting on a bluff in the Flint Hills of Kansas with my father watching enormous thunderstorms roll into the Plains from Colorado. It was primal.

 


Sheri Salata

Sheri Salata is the author of The Beautiful No: And Other Tales of Trial, Transcendence and Transformation. Named an Amazon best-selling new release and an Apple Must Listen audio book, the memoir has touched thousands of readers and inspired them to reimagine their lives.

Sheri is the cohost of The Sheri + Nancy Show, a popular podcast about living the life of your dreams, and the cofounder of the aspirational lifestyle brand, The Pillar Life, a guidance system focused on 8 foundational areas of living. Health + Wellness. Spirituality + Happiness. Romance + Sex. Family + Friends. Creativity + Innovation. Adventure + Discovery. Sanctuary + Beauty. Money + Abundance.

Sheri has been featured on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Happier in Hollywood, The Good Life Project, Marie Forleo, and Almost 30. 

Sheri’s new venture in media is the evolution from her life-altering 20-year career with Oprah Winfrey. Sheri’s day-to-day hits and misses as the final Executive Producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show were featured in the docu-series Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes. Sheri served as President of Harpo Studios and OWN.

Sheri has been named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business and The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100.

3 words to describe Nature?

Awe-full. Humbling. Holy.

3 things Nature taught you?

Beauty is in everything.

Everything is alive.

There are a gazillion shades of green.

3 most treasured Nature spots?

Hawai'ian Islands

Lake of the Woods, Canada

Napa Valley

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?

The ocean makes me feel on the edge of a great big mystery. How gigantic creatures can live submerged but still sing their songs for me. How the waves come in and out in rhythmic perfection without missing a beat. I feel wild and messy and sacred and beautiful as I take it all in.

When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?

When I see a forest, it makes me feel like I am in the cathedral of all cathedrals.

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?

Like Mama Earth is sending a message.

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?

Like the Universe is blessing me.

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?

Safe and secure in my humanness

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?

Like crying

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person? 

I am an ocean mountain forest person with a little desert on the side.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

9

Share with us a childhood nature memory? 

I am a tiny thing dipping my toes in the pacific ocean for the first time and it feels like my home.