Invest In Yourself (IY)

“To be fully human, we must make room within ourselves for the Universe to enter.”

Invest In Yourself at NEXUS (IY) exists to facilitate NEXUS members in optimizing their lives and their impact by curating and delivering experiential programs on the inner dimensions of leadership, the evolution of consciousness, and the relationship between personal, social and planetary wellbeing and regeneration.

Why “Invest In Yourself”?

“The success of any intervention depends on the inner condition of the intervenor.” 

Bill O’Brien,  former CEO, Hanover Insurance

“Invest in Yourself” communicates the idea that of all the investments we can make in world change, we ourselves are the most non-negotiable ones. Why? 1. Because as “cells” in the body of the planet, the health of the whole depends on the wellbeing of the parts—self care is planetary care. 2. Because at each higher stage of consciousness, we embody a greater capacity for clear perception and creativity (elevating solutions beyond incrementalism), compassion (increasing our ability to effectively care for others), and resilience in the face of stressors. 3. Because any true and sustainable cultural transformation must be accompanied by a corresponding transformation of the human heart and mind.

 

History of IY

“Belief systems heal, drive market behavior, shape civilizations.”  

NEXUS co-founder Jonah Wittkamper

Invest in Yourself (IY) was seeded in 2012 when NEXUS members David Chang, Mikuak Rai and Claudia Welss (IY founding Chair) were invited by NEXUS co-founders Jonah Wittkamper and Rachel Gerrol to create a program addressing world change at the level of personal transformation. Our method was to engage the membership in ways that were personal, experiential, interactive, and community-building. After 2 years of experimenting yielded enthusiastic responses from NEXUS members, IY officially launched in 2014 with six sessions at Global, ranging from neuroscience to new culture that were among the highest rated at the summit. Our greatest accomplishment has been inspiring new labs (like the Regenerative Culture Lab), and our greatest privilege is collaborating with other Working Groups, Labs, and our amazing and growing IY Steering Committee to serve the NEXUS membership.

OUR AMBASSADORS

Claudia Welss

Claudia Welss

NEXUS Working Group Chair for Invest in Yourself
Claudia Welss is Chairman of the Board at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and Founding Chair of Invest in Yourself (IY) at NEXUS Global Youth Summit and Network, bridging practical consciousness research with philanthropy and social innovation. As a citizen scientist, entrepreneur, donor, and impact investor, she advises and funds inventive projects with the potential to accelerate large-scale change like World Future Coin, HeartMath’s Global Coherence Initiative and Flow Genome Project’s Flow Dojo.

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Her mission of increasing coherence across domains ranges from scaling grassroots subtle activism to investing in quantum energy healing technologies. Previously, Claudia pioneered the concept of collaboration labs by founding NextNow Collaboratory, once described by the director of MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence as a “new kind of collective intelligence.” For 7 years, she was director of the University of California, Berkeley Haas School’s center delivering strategic learning programs for global corporations while initiating social responsibility and sustainability curriculum. This experience led her to explore consciousness as the most powerful leverage point for inspiring a regenerative culture.

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Dr. Scott Sherr

Dr. Scott Sherr

NEXUS Working Group Vice-Chair for Invest in Yourself
Dr. Scott is board certified internal medicine physician specializing in Health Optimization Medicine (HOMe) and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). He is the Chief Operating HOMe–USA, a new paradigm of wellness medicine drawn from the current specialties of anti-aging medicine, nutritional medicine, longevity medicine, regenerative medicine, age management medicine, sports medicine, and rejuvenative medicine. Allopathic Medicine, Integrative Medicine, Alternative Medicine, Complementary Medicine, and Functional Medicine are all “Illness Medicine” practices. They all diagnose and treat disease. HOMe, on the other hand, simply detects and corrects imbalances.

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Dr. Scott also believes that HBOT–the administration of 100% oxygen at greater than atmospheric pressure — is one of the most powerful ways to decrease inflammation, accelerate wound healing, and optimize both physical and cognitive performance. He is one of the few HBOT providers in the country that creates personalized treatment plans for patients that include HOMe, cutting edge & dynamic HBOT protocols as well as adjunctive technologies. He also has a large network of practitioners in various health fields (movement, performance coaching, meditation, cannabis, neurofeedback, and many more) that he will often leverage for a patient’s optimal outcome.

Dr. Scott lives in the Bay Area, California with his wife, 4 children, and endeavors to make every day an amazing one, full of wonder, love, and healing!

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Raquel wong

Raquel wong

NEXUS Working Group Vice-Chair for Invest in Yourself
Raquel has lived, worked and traveled in over 50 countries, and draws from these experiences to facilitate breakthroughs and transformation for individuals and organizations. Her Chinese, Indian, Spanish and African heritage epitomizes the global community she serves. Raquel was born and raised in Jamaica and is from a family of entrepreneurs. She has successfully launched ventures in industries including Global Import/Export, Tourism, Media, and others. However, her passion is the intersection of wellness, life coaching and the sacred feminine. Most recently, prior to pursing her passion full time, she was the Chief of Staff for the Global Head of Sales at Amadeus, SA, a multi-billion dollar IT service provider.

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As a life coach, her current and past clients include highly accomplished entrepreneurs, executives, doctors, and attorneys from companies and organizations such as Visa, Miami Children’s Hospital, University of Miami, Young Global Leaders (YGL), and Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Her reach is international as her clients are located on several continents around the globe.

Raquel earned a BA from Williams College, where she was a Bagwell Scholar, and an MBA from Duke University, where she was a Keller Scholar. She is a Forte Foundation fellow, sponsored by a consortium of major corporations and top business schools to direct talented women into fulfilling and significant roles in business. Raquel is passionate about giving back, and working with non-profit organizations such as the Nexus Global Youth Network. She is currently based in Florida.

Raquel is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). She attended Coaches Training Institute (CTI), a program accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), which sets the accepted “gold standard” for professional credentials within the coaching industry. In addition to being a CPCC, Raquel is a certified Yoga Teacher and Reiki Master (through the Spanish Reiki Federation). Over the past 15 years, she has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in best in class products and services to refine her unique approach. She has attended course and workshops with some of the most renowned leaders and institutes such as:
 Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Techniques (Duke Centre for Integrative Medicine)
 Neuro-Linguistic Programming (Dr. Richard Bandler, NLP founder)
 High Impact Leadership (Stop at Nothing, Inc.)
 Business Mastery, Ultimate Relationships, Date with Destiny (Anthony Robbins Companies)
 Strategic Intervention (Robbins Madanes Training Institute)
 Ayurveda (Atmasantulana Ayurvedic Centre, India)
 Inner Engineering, Isha Institute of Inner Sciences (Sadhguru)
 Women’s Integral Life Practice, Shamanic Healing (Omega Institute)
 Feminine Power (Claire Zammit)
 Mama Gena’s School of Womanly Arts (Regina Thomashauer) 

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Overview of Key Issues

The best way to get a sense of the breadth of issues Invest In Yourself represents is to view some of our past programming:

 

From Me to We: Scaling Personal to Planetary Regeneration:

A new operating system for Earth requires us to upgrade our human O/S as well. Sustainable systems change depends on the transformation of individual consciousness.

 

Quantified Wellbeing and Transcendence Technologies:

Using state-shifting inner and outer technologies, we can create a healthy coherence in the body that optimizes the conditions for improved performance, shifts in consciousness and increased physical/mental/emotional/spiritual wellbeing and resilience.

 

  • Tapping Into and Sustaining Flow States:  There are proven ways to self-direct our transformation by learning to unlock our potential to routinely achieve the previously impossible!
  • Empathy, Awe, and Healing the Heart of Humanity:  Another world is already happening.  Breakdowns are preceding breakthroughs.  Are we disoriented or energized?  Projecting or sensing?  Are our hearts open or closed?  Who are we without the systems that gave us our identity? 
  • Gross Global Happiness:  Globally, we have failed to convert wealth into wellbeing. Scientists have found that when all the research on happiness is boiled down to the one thing they have in common, it’s not financial wealth, it’s the perception of greater connectedness—within ourselves, with each other, and with the natural world. 
  • Living and Leading from the Inside Out:  While layers of learned behaviors, social conditioning and shared paradigms can be important to functioning in society, they can also be counterproductive when we are faced with the need for real change–personal and cultural.

Our Programming

Call Series

Opportunities to engage with IY subject-matter experts and fellow NEXUS members over the phone, between in-person events

Delegations

During our 2017 IY delegation to Bhutan, the Land of Happiness, we visited with the Royal Family of Bhutan and came home with a new initiative: helping advance the Gross National Happiness Index globally.

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Salons

Engage with content experts in more intimate settings and diverse geographic regions.

Retreats and Communities of Practice

 In-person retreats are planned around key themes, supported by the creation of learning communities and curated resources for sustained collective learning.

Related Publications

Born to Give is a 2015 white paper written for NEXUS and funded by The Whitman House, in collaboration with Invest In Yourself, and in 2017 this interview with Deepak Chopra by Claudia Welss was conducted for VoiceAmerica and published in Kosmos Magazine
Examples of Partner Organizations
Invest In Yourself is excited to support and partner with a growing list of synergistic organizations, like:

Flow Genome Project and Flow Dojo                                                                                                                                                                            Greater Good Science Center                                                                                                                                                                                          Institute of Noetic Sciences                                                                                                                                                                                                  Global Coherence Initiative                                                                                                                                                                                    Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI)                                                                                                                                                    Consciousness Hackers                                                                                                                                                                                                      Chopra Center                                                                                                                                                                                                                           The Assemblage NYC

Get Involved with IY

To see what IY Salons, Delegations and other events are upcoming, please reach out. Please note, most IY Group events are limited to members only. Not a member? Membership is based on your application, acceptance and attendance to a multi-day event. Click here to see our next upcoming Summits.

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