Women’s Leadership Program

Emma Seppälä, Ph.D., is a best-selling author, Yale lecturer, and international keynote speaker. She teaches executives at the Yale School of Management and is faculty director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program. A psychologist and research scientist by training, her expertise is the science of happiness, emotional intelligence, and social connection. Her best-selling book The Happiness Track (HarperOne, 2016) has been translated into dozens of languages. Seppälä is also the Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.

Seppälä’s research has been published in top academic journals and featured in major news outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, and CBSNews. She speaks and consults internationally for Fortune 500 companies like Google and Facebook and contributes to Harvard Business Review, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, and TIME, among others.

A repeat guest on Good Morning America, she also spoke at TedX Sacramento and TEDx Hayward. Her research on breathing for military veterans with trauma was highlighted in the documentary Free the Mind. She is also featured in documentaries like The Altruism Revolution, What You Do Matters, and Bullied.

Seppälä is the recipient of a number of research grants and service awards including the James W. Lyons Award from Stanford University for founding Stanford’s first academic class on the psychology of happiness and initiating other well-being programs for Stanford students.

She graduated from Yale (BA), Columbia (MA), and Stanford (PhD). Originally from Paris, France, she is a native speaker of French, English, and German and conversant in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

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Rodrigo Canales does research at the intersection of organizational theory and institutional theory, with a special interest in the role of institutions for economic development. Rodrigo studies how individuals can purposefully change complex organizations or systems. Rodrigo's work explores how individuals’ backgrounds, professional identities, and organizational positions affect how they relate to existing structures and the strategies they pursue to change them. His work contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that allow institutions to operate and change. Rodrigo has done work in entrepreneurial finance and microfinance, as well as in the institutional implications of the Mexican war on drugs. His current research is divided into three streams. The first focuses on the structural determinants of the quality of startup employment. The second explores the conditions under which development policies and practices integrate rigorous evidence. The third, with generous support from the Merida Initiative, explores how to build effective, resilient, and trusted police organizations in Mexico.

Rodrigo is faculty director of Questrom’s Social Impact Program. Before, he was Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management, where he taught the Innovator Perspective. He sits on the advisory board of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT; he spent the 2014-2015 academic year advising the Mexican government on the US-Mexico bilateral relationship; and sits on the Board of Trustees of the Nature Conservancy.

Zoë Chance helps smart people become more influential. At the Yale School of Management, she teaches a popular elective called Mastering Influence and Persuasion, aka "Doing Uncomfortable Things That Make You a Better Person." Her research has been published in top academic journals like Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and Psychological Science, and covered in media outlets like the New York Times and the BBC. She has appeared on CNN and written for Harvard Business Review. Google uses her behavioral economics framework as the basis for their global food policy. Zoë speaks internationally for Fortune 500 firms and leading NGOs, and her TEDx talk, "How to Make a Behavior Addictive," has over half a million views. Prior to Yale, Zoë managed a $200 million segment of the Barbie brand at Mattel, acted on stage and film, and earned her bachelor's from Haverford College, MBA from USC, and doctorate from Harvard Business School. Her first book was published by Random House on February 1, 2022. It's called Influence Is Your Superpower: The Science of Winning Hearts, Sparking Change, and Making Good Things Happen.

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Grace Zandarski is a faculty member of the Acting Department at Yale School of Drama where she has taught Voice since 2002, specializing in Advanced Vocal Technique and Text for 2nd and 3rd Year Actors. She has coached numerous Yale Rep and YSD productions including Cymbeline (Evan Yionoulis, director), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Liz Diamond, dir.), Hamlet starring Paul Giamatti (James Bundy, dir.), The Winter’s Tale (Liz Diamond, dir.), Romeo and Juliet (Shana Cooper, dir.), and The Three Sisters (Les Waters, dir.), among many others.  

Her New York coaching credits include Mike Nichols’ Death of a Salesman and Betrayal on Broadway, The Dance and the Railroad (Signature, May Adrales, dir.), The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide… (The Public, Michael Greif dir.), Homebody/Kabul (BAM, Frank Galati, dir.), in addition to numerous individual coaching credits for actors appearing on and off Broadway, in film, and on television.  

Grace has taught master classes for the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and the Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab. She was named Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework in 1998 in the first certification program. She was one of the core faculty members of The Actors Center, and The Studio NY, and also served on the faculty of A.R.T./MXAT (Harvard’s Advanced Actor Training Program with the Moscow Art Theatre). In addition to YSD, she also teaches at Fordham University. Her work outside of actor training includes individual business and professional coaching as well as workshops on Voice, Presence, and Improv for Executives. 

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