I believe that as adults, eventually we all must figure out this thing called work. Of all the work I do, I’m at my happiest helping others find enduring satisfaction and meaning in the work they do.
I’ve spent my entire career immersed in everyone else’s careers – working on all sides of the hiring equation – as a career counselor, directing a recruiting team, and a serving as a hiring manager in the corporate world. My background includes senior roles in talent management, leadership development, as well as public relations and marketing. Bringing this experience, insight, and intuition to help individuals find the leader within and organizations build great teams has been the work of my life.
Today, I wear lots of hats. I’m the founder and CEO of Avarah Careers, a coaching and staffing consultancy. I also serve as the Assistant Director for Career Services and teach at the Lerner College of Business of the University of Delaware, where I love helping graduate students and alumni at all stages of life navigate career issues.
I initially came to mediation to address anxiety and depression. Although I observed some positive changes through practicing and reading on my own, I sensed that I would need a guide and more structure if I was going to deepen my practice and experience its full benefits. A dear friend encouraged me to work with Julianna Raye and the Unified Mindfulness system. I’m forever grateful for that advice.
Over time, as my practice matured, I saw natural ways to incorporate mindfulness strategies to help my clients navigate workplace issues and career change, which can be fraught with mental and emotional issues. This encouraged me to pursue additional study and become an L2 Unified Mindfulness Coach. I am also a certified coach in the Birkman Method.
As I continue to implement mindfulness strategies into my work with clients, they report that these approaches have made all the difference in achieving their goals with more ease. Which is really what it’s all about!
In terms of formal education, I hold an MA in Education and Adult Development and a BA in a field that is now – literally – extinct: Soviet Foreign Policy. Which just goes to show you that it doesn’t matter so much what you study as an undergrad, you can chart your own course!
Julianna received her BA in psychology from Duke University. As founder, president, and head trainer of Unified Mindfulness, she is dedicated to disseminating Shinzen Young’s comprehensive mindfulness meditation system through the creation and presentation of educational programs and teacher-training certification programs.
Dr. Hunter serves as associate professor of practice and is the founding director of the Executive Mind Leadership Institute at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University. He also serves as visiting professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, where he developed and co-teaches the Leading Mindfully executive education program..
Dr. Eisendrath serves as chief psychologist and president of the Institute for Dialogue Therapy, P.C., where, as a Jungian analyst, she offers psychotherapy with individuals and couples, psychoanalysis, supervision, and training.
Dr. Vago serves as the research director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the director of the Contemplative Neuroscience and Integrative Medicine (CNIM) Laboratory at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is an associate professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Department of Psychiatry.
Stella is a psychologist, professor, and Zen practitioner. She became a formal student in 2008 in the Soto Zen tradition. She teaches courses in mindfulness based psychotherapies and the psychology of compassion at the Union Institute & University. She also co-facilitates a family program and young adult program at Shao Shan Temple, in Woodbury Vermont.
Dr. Creswell serves as a tenured associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the director of the Health & Human Performance Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University.
Dr. McCormick currently serves as director of education at Unified Mindfulness. In 1975, he received a B.A. in psychology from the University of California Santa Cruz, where he was part of Dr. Elliot Aronson’s research team that examined cooperative approaches to reducing interracial conflict and academic performance problems in newly integrated school, and made Honors in Psychology, College Honors, and Thesis Honors.
UnifiedMindfulness.com is the official teacher training platform for Shinzen and the Unified Mindfulness System.
Created over 50 years of research and testing by Shinzen Young, Unified Mindfulness is a system of meditation that’s easily researchable by science, with clear terminology and rigorous precision around concepts and procedures.
The Unified Mindfulness system is a comprehensive, robust and refined support structure that any individual at any stage of meditation practice can rely on to go deeper in their insight and their ability to share it with others. It is also a secular form of meditation, which means it’s not religious in any way so anyone, of any faith, can do it.