Psychedelics and Systems Change Summit

Dr. Bia Labate (Beatriz Caiuby Labate) is an anthropologist, educator, author, speaker, and activist, committed to the protection of sacred plants while amplifying the voices of marginalized communities in the psychedelic science field. As a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco, she has been profoundly influenced by her experiences with ayahuasca since 1996. She is the Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and serves as a Senior Advisor for Culture and Strategy at MAPS. She has authored, co-authored, and co-edited 29 books, three special-edition journals, and numerous peer-reviewed and online publications.

Anu Gupta is an award-winning author, speaker, lawyer, educator, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of technology, neuroscience, leadership development, contemplative practice, and social entrepreneurship. He is the author of Breaking Bias, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama. Anu has spoken at leading global forums including TED, SXSW, and the Dubai Future Forum, and his work has been featured in outlets such as TIME, Fast Company, Newsweek, Inc., People, and Vogue Business, as well as on the Oprah Conversation.

Thanissara is Anglo-Irish from London. She is a Dharma teacher, author, poet, eco-spiritual activist, and former Buddhist monastic trained in the Thai Forest tradition. Her work brings together contemplative practice, feminist inquiry, sacred activism, ecological awareness, and systems change. With her partner, Kittisaro, she co-founded Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat in South Africa and Sacred Mountain Sangha in California.

Jaz Cadoch (MA) is a cultural and medical anthropologist who has spent the past ten years studying the integration of psychedelic medicines into modern Western policy, medicine, and culture. She currently serves as a co-steward of the Global Psychedelic Society as well as the Community Lead for the OPEN research study. She has contributed to developing the North Star self-assessment for ethical business practices, and is deeply committed to building an inclusive, ethical future for the psychedelic movement.

Mikaela de la Myco serves as a mother, mushWOMB educator, facilitator, researcher and eco-sensual in the plant medicine, womb care and ethics space. Supporting from Kumeyaay & Luiseño territories (San Diego, CA), she advocates for trauma-informed and earth-centered practices. She founded Mothers of the Mushroom, a citizen research project, and MAAT, a mutual aid initiative supporting survivors of harm in the wellness community.

Reggie founded Oakland Hyphae, Hyphae Labs (the first ever psilocybin testing lab in the world), and Hyphae Leaks, a pioneering organization that positions itself as a leader in psychedelic science. Reggie created the annual Hyphae Cup and Psychedelic Conferences in Oakland, DC, LA and internationally.

Bennet A. Zelner is Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. His work sits at the intersection of regenerative economics, leadership, and psychedelics. He pursues these questions through his research and through service to purpose-centered organizations including Usona Institute, Innermost, Denizen, Heresy, Brooklyn Psychedelic Society, and Global Psychedelic Society.

Simeon Schnapper is the managing partner of JLS Fund, investing in frontier psychedelic medicines and neuromodulatory therapies. With over 30 years in psychedelic research and advocacy, he continues to drive innovation at the intersection of science, technology, and mental health.

Monica Cadena is an Afro-Chicana, California-based writer/journalist, movement worker, digital alchemist, plant ally, and advocate of ending the war against culture. The former co-founder of Wear Your Voice Magazine, Monica works with many organizations within the psychedelic and entheogenic space, and is committed to the healing and liberation of Black and Indigenous communities.

Ellen is a second generation Taiwanese immigrant and Asian diasporic storyteller. Her work through Trip with Ellen focuses on breathwork and entheogenic medicine companionship to support Asian women and folks of the global majority with intergenerational healing. She is reinventing midlife through her journey becoming DJ AILUN (EYE-lun) and developing Third Space, a creative exploration of sound-stories connecting the Asian diaspora.

Mary Carreon is Senior Editor at DoubleBlind, co-founder of the Hyphae Leaks podcast, and an award-winning journalist from Southern California. Her work has appeared in Billboard, KCRW/NPR, Insider, DoubleBlind Magazine, The LAnd Magazine, High Times Magazine, OC Weekly, LA Weekly, and many other publications. Mary has moderated and been an expert on panels about psychedelics at numerous conferences, including Wonderland Miami, SXSW, MAPS’ Psychedelic Science Conference, the Oakland Psychedelic Conference, California Psychedelic Conference, and more. Mary’s work aims to humanize drug culture and track the real-world effects of policies and trends affecting accessibility and the environment. As a third-generation Mexican and Guatemalan, she’s also dedicated to amplifying Latine and BIPOC voices, issues, and perspectives. Mary is currently a student at UCLA and is earning a certificate in paralegal studies to bolster her legal portfolio.

Shelby Hartman is Co-Founder and Publisher of DoubleBlind. Her work has appeared in VICE, Playboy, Quartz, LA Weekly, the Huffington Post, Thrillist, and Rolling Stone, among others. Shelby worked in broadcast news production for CBS News, covering presidential elections, protests, natural disasters, and other breaking news. Spurred by a passion for print, she transitioned to magazine writing, working as an editor at Pasadena Magazine and receiving her Master’s Degree in long-form journalism from Columbia University in 2015. Since then, Shelby has worked as a columnist at LA Weekly and reported extensive features on post-traumatic stress disorder in the veteran community, the cannabis industry, psychedelics and mysticism, and the psychedelic research boom. Shelby has spoken and written on topics like psychedelics in the media, the ethics of mainstreaming psychedelics, and others at SXSW, Horizons: Perspectives in Psychedelics, Harvard Law School, and more. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, Cool Hunting, and Bustle, among others. In 2020, she was named by Forbes as a female leader in cannabis and psychedelics.

Robert "Roman" Haferd (he/him) is a Washington, DC-based restorative justice practitioner, civil rights attorney, and community farmer. Roman serves as an advisor and facilitator to individuals, jurisdictions and organizations, and supports community projects in peacemaking, restorative justice, land-based healing and transformative justice. Roman is the Executive Director of Restorative Arlington, an award-winning restorative justice diversion and practices provider, and he previously served as the first restorative justice coordinator of the Office of the Attorney General of Washington, DC. He and his team’s trailblazing work establishing evidence-based restorative justice in the nation’s capital has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Roman also teaches restorative justice as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown Law School. In 2020, Roman became a founding partner of Roots to Sky Sanctuary, a 125-acre BIPOC-owned farm and community hub located at the headwaters of the Potomac River. The Sanctuary is a recipient of a Mellon Foundation “Humanities in Place” Award for its fellowship program “Re-Storying the Potomac.” Roman has also supported decriminalization and healing movements in psychedelics and plant medicines for the past decade. He is a Founding Board Member of the Psychedelic Bar Association, where he co-facilitated the PBA's four-part series on Law & Ethics: Psychedelics and Indigenous Peoples. In 2020, he served as a Steering Committee Member of the successful Washington, DC Ballot Initiative 81, the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act, which made entheogenic substances among the lowest law enforcement priorities in Washington DC. He holds a BA from Bucknell University, and a JD from Harvard Law School.