Kristen Donnelly
Founder at Abbey Research
Professional Training and Coaching
Education: Baylor University (MSW, M.Div), Queen's University Belfast (PhD)
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Biography
Kristen Donnelly (MSW, M.Div, PhD) is an award winning, four time TEDx speaker, author, international empathy educator, and researcher with two decades of experience in helping people understand the beauty in difference, and the power in inclusivity.
She is one of The Good Doctors of Abbey Research, COO of their parent company, co-founder of the Community Research Institute, and an unapologetic nerd for stories of change. Kristen is a regular contributor to Forbes, Medium, and Thrive Global. Her first book "The Culture of Burnout: Why Your Exhaustion is Not Your Fault" has been hailed as "the first book that tackles the foundations of burnout".
She lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, where they are surrounded by piles of books and several video game consoles.
Passion
I am obsessed with stories. Whether they be in book, movie, theatrical, or personal form, I learn best through narrative and try to gather as many as possible to keep helping my growth as the change agent I long to be. I believe that the strongest calling I have is to love the person in front of me the best I can, and that love is a verb of patience, action, justice, kindness, and truth. I’m also a firm believer in warm beverages and tables overflowing with food to facilitate honesty, trust, and change.
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
In 2022, in a room full of college baseball players, I asked how many of their parents had been involved in picking their classes.
90% of them raised their hands.
When I told them that my parents never knew what classes I was taking, one responded, "How did you know what to take, then?"
A few moments later, my partner and I told them that as elder millennials, we had never gone through an active shooter drill and the lads did not believe us.
I'm convinced those two things are deeply connected.
Origin Story
My family has owned a business for over thirty years, and our driving purpose has been to impact lives, and create wealth. We seek to create financial, physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational wealth for our employees, and we want each family member to do so using their best skills, talents, and calling. When I completed my PhD in 2015, the family realized that the best way for me to fulfill our mission statement was to start Abbey Research - a training and education arm of the company to help small businesses and nonprofits with their culture questions.
In 2017, my best friend and fellow PhD Erin Hinson joined full time, and in 2021, we shifted our focus to providing empathy education through intersectional inclusion training. We accomplish this through a myriad of ways - YouTube series that analyze popular and lived culture, book reviews of things people must read, interviews with fascinating people from all walks of life.
We've also gotten used to presenting both digitally and in-person! Whatever platform you're using for your event, likelihood is that I've used it or can figure it out.