Alicia Kae M.
Empathy Activist + Founder at Empathy Uprise, LLC, a WBENC Certified Woman Owned business.
Professional Training and Coaching
Education: BA, Humanities and Cultural Studies, Dominican University of California - MSc, Leadership and Change, St. Edward's University
Austin, TX, USA
Biography
Alicia Kae Miller is a humanitarian, empathy activist, and founder of Empathy Uprise ®, a social movement galvanizing humanity toward greater compassion and less hate.
After spending over two decades working in corporate America and traveling to 20+ countries, Alicia recognized that "Empathy is inclusion, inclusion is belonging; we all want to belong." This realization compelled her to found Empathy Uprise ® in 2020 with a mission to shift humanity "from "me" to "we."
A national speaker, Alicia is known for bringing energy that rises to the spaces she inhabits.
Speaking from the heart, she engages listeners through a multi-sensory experience focused on interactive discussion, imagery, and personal truth. Her enthusiasm has propelled her to keynote and grace the stages of Western Industrial Nevada (WIN), SCORE National, and SCORE Austin. She is a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and has been featured in Inc. Magazine, Vistage Research & Insights, and workshopped the power of empathy with 100+ Vistage International business executives, AAUW's National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL), and Austin-based CapMetro.
Creator and host of Solidarists, a monthly videocast featuring conversations that shine a light on the dark parts of our lives, work, and communities, Alicia holds an MSc in Leadership and Change from St. Edward's University and a BA in Humanities and Cultural Studies from the Dominican University of California.
Passion
Thinking beyond ourselves opens us up to the magic of seeing, hearing, and understanding one another.
Featured Video
I am willing to travel
More than 100 miles
When it comes to payments
I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions
Topics
Best Story
A seven-year-old Alicia truth-tell about how my schoolmate's house burned down in a fire, and while I could not relate to loss due to a fire, I could understand what it was like to be cold. This feeling compelled me to break open my piggy bank and buy my schoolmate a winter coat because I felt then, just as I do now, that if I have one, he should have one, too.
Origin Story
After a long and varied career in aviation, investment banking, commercial real estate, and biotech industries, I felt provoked to shift my focus to creating heart-centric work that embraces humanity.
So, in early March 2020, I decided to walk away from the 9 to 5 with no clue what might come next. However, I felt John Burroughs's "leap, and the net will appear" applied to me.
Just before my resignation, I awoke to "the empathy gap" whisper in my right ear. I knew then that my calling was to help bridge the distance between "me" and "we." Soon after, on March 20, 2020, Empathy Uprise ® (EU) speaking, seminars, and training centered around how "empathy is inclusion, inclusion is belonging; we all want to belong" was created.
Example talks
The Art of Empathy
When we shine a light on the dark places of our lives and directly engage one another with the intent to listen to learn rather than to respond, we put color to an otherwise blank canvas by developing relationships enriched with dignity and respect.
The focus of this discussion is how to become a master in the art of empathy. Through active listening, participants receive a practicable skill set accessible in any setting, including at the workplace and home.
Empathy in Action
When we step out of our comfort zone and bridge the empathy gap with spirit-aligned action, ambivalence is released in favor of a more profound emotional connection; a crack in our belief system reveals previously unseen light.
This discussion focuses on vital behavioral habits necessary to put empathy into action. Participants learn a working strategy and supporting tactics to become advocates for empathy in their own lives.
"Me" to "We" Paradigm
Consider a defining moment when you were either the giver or recipient of empathy when you felt truly seen, heard, and understood. We call this the empathy sweet spot — the moment we replace the perceived distance between what we think and how we feel with love.
This discussion focuses on honest assessment and teardown of indivisible walls that segregate society. To move humanity toward a "we" mindset, participants are challenged to confront biases and "me" minded ethos.