Vanessa is a pioneering practice leader, social innovator, participatory process consultant who brings her unique leadership and artistry to the field of civil society innovation. She was executive director of Santropol Roulant, a vibrant organization founded by young people in Montreal that uses food as a catalyst for social change, environmental sustainability and inter-generational community. Ever since, she has been immersed in creating personal, organizational, societal cultures that are alive and deeply aligned with the natural cycles and transitions of living and dying. Vanessa is active in local & global networks and movements that are creating new systemic change initiatives that work with the inner and outer, the visible and invisible, and the individual and collective. This includes creating the practice ground for social labs like the Finance Innovation Lab-UK, and working with the Truth and Reconciliation process in Canada, as well transforming the “no” of protest in Greece to the “yes” of collective entrepreneurship. She is a co-founder of both the Living Wholeness Institute and the AoH-Athina. She has a Masters in Architecture and a Masters in Process-Oriented Psychology and Deep Democracy and so brings the essence of participatory design to create collective spaces of inner and outer transformation. As a writer and former publisher of the award-winning ascent magazine, she brings a depth of reflective, body and awareness practices.