Authors
Liesl is our CEO and the founder of two other platforms in the Goodness Exchange orbit: our education site at EWCed and our endeavor to improve business and healthcare culture at Amazing World Media. She is a Harvard grad with a laser focus on using her background in design, economics, and education to make the world a better place for others. She also brings a global perspective to her work background in international travel and study. If you’d like to collaborate with the Goodness Exchange or discuss how our content can integrate into your, business, healthcare space, or classroom, please reach out to her!
Liesl Ulrich-Verderber
Chief Executive Officer
Liesl Ulrich-Verderber is the co-founder and CEO of the Goodness Exchange. Since 2014, the Goodness Exchange has been a leader in bringing people instant access to positive news without politics or ads to help them cut through today’s negative noise and cultivate a more positive worldview.
Liesl graduated from Harvard University in 2015 and brought her talents to the Goodness Exchange in its earliest form to help transform it into a global media company with over 175,000 followers worldwide and platforms that have touched education, healthcare, and business. Her background in design, writing, business, education, neuroscience, and economics gives her a unique perspective in the worlds of business and digital media. She uses this perspective to help people navigate today’s overwhelming media landscape to see “behind the curtain” and make better decisions to serve their mental health and sense of wellbeing.
Contrary to what many people assume, Liesl has not been a life-long optimist. After a decade of working to understand the psychology and neuroscience of what makes people tick in her studies at Harvard, extensive cultural immersion traveling and studying around the world, and her work, she has seen her own approach to the world evolve and discovered some of the ways positive news changes us on a fundamental level. She doesn’t approach positive news from an angle of rose colored glasses or “hoping for the best.” Instead, she works to give people a solutions-based, research-backed understanding of how we can use positive news as a way to improve many aspects of our lives.
Her work with the Goodness Exchange now focuses on helping organizations reduce burnout and increase employee wellbeing and retention by making positive news a part of their wellness benefits and cultural initiatives. Today, she shares her knowledge and insights about the tangible impact positive news can make in our lives by speaking both virtually and in person.
By the age of 27, Liesl was also the founder of three media outlets aimed at elevating goodness and progress for us all: an education site EWCed, an endeavor to improve business and healthcare culture at Amazing World Media, and the Conspiracy of Goodness Network, a personal and professional growth platform where people who value and work in goodness can connect, collaborate, and change the world together.
Her intention is simple: to celebrate the quiet wave of goodness and progress going on all around us that almost no one knows about, and open a new era for us all by changing the negative dialogue of our times.
Pretty audacious aspirations, but the unique alchemy of her upbringing is shining a light on an enormous positive wave, well underway in the world, that almost no one knows about… yet. This will change if Liesl has anything to say about it.
She was raised in the Green Mountains of Vermont and brought her rural sensibilities to a Harvard education; a combination that is kicking the doors open on possibility. With a laser focus on using her background in design, economics, and education to make the world a better place, she has developed a personal mantra around what she gives her attention to: “Is it novel? Is it useful? How does it help?"
Carrying both Irish and US passports, she also brings a global perspective to her work, having spent most of her life traveling to off-the-beaten-path places around the world. As a global citizen, Liesl is uniquely positioned to dig in and answer some of the most important questions of our time.
Find Liesl on Instagram @Liesl.UV!
Author's Articles
Heroes of the Cafeteria, Keeping 9 Million Children from Going Hungry
School cafeterias are some of the busiest kitchens in America, and when 1 in 7 kids relies on school meals as their major source of nutrition, the job of cafeteria worker becomes even more important! It’s time we take a minute to thank those cafeteria workers and to get a glimpse into their world.
Reforesting Iceland: Returning Trees to the Land of Fire and Ice
Iceland is thought of as the land of Ice and Snow, but did you know that it was once almost half-covered in forests? Now with less than 2% of its forests remaining, Mossy Earth is embarking on a massive reforestation project to stop Iceland’s desertification in its tracks.
Empathy is the Renewable Resource We Can Tap Into Now
What if empathy was at the heart of the solution to changing the divisiveness that feels so dominant now? It turns out empathy isn't a set trait, it's something we can learn to develop, and it's super easy to start! Here's how you can easily start making a positive change!
Bringing the Symphony to the Street
We have all felt the connective and uplifting power of a great musical performance. But what if you couldn't access to those moments that most feed your soul? Thanks to the work of a remarkable organization, the residents of LA facing homelessness and incarceration, these moments are no longer lost.
Here’s How Seizure Detecting Dogs are Changing People’s Lives
Can dogs really be life-savers? Meet the dogs that are helping their owners detect seizures up to 45 minutes before they occur! It's a fascinating story. These pups are making life safer and easier for people who suffer from seizures.
Don’t Overcome Your Demons, Make them Your Friends
As kids we’re told to treat others as you’d like to be treated, but as adults many of us have trouble extending that “golden rule” to ourselves. How often do you find yourself thinking, saying, or believing things about yourself that are so unsavory you would certainly never say them to others? What if instead of trying to fight those inner demons, we decided to give them a high five, maybe even a hug?
5 min read
How a High School in a Nursing Home is Changing Lives
What if we saw this new wave of people reaching retirement as a new generation of mentors? Connecting youth and older adults has remarkable benefits for everyone! Here's how one program is helping lead the way for what's possible.
How Whale Snot is Saving an Ocean Near You!
Whale biologists at the Ocean Alliance are pioneering a new, non-invasive way to study whales using drones that allows scientists to observe whales like never before. These insights are giving us a glimpse into the lives of the largest creatures to ever live, and helping us understand how to better protect the oceans that they call home and we depend on.
5 min read
Adventure to the Island that Came Back from Extinction
Can we really save an entire ecosystem when it is nearly hunted to extinction? We can! Let's adventure to an island of survival where life is once again finding a way.
These Slime Robots Could Save Your Life!
When I say “robot” what do you think of? I’m guessing it’s something boxy, solid, metal, maybe a little rigid in its movements. So, what if I told you that scientists are working on a liquid robot, or to be more accurate, a slime robot. This strange little guy challenges our understanding of what robots can be capable of, and in the process, has the power to revolutionize medicine!
5 min read
What is an Algorithm? And Can We Use Them to Change the World in a Good Way?
Algorithms are a lot less complicated than you may think! And, with a little understanding, here's how we can start to reshape the way we use them to create a better future for everyone.
What if We Saw the Oceans as Climate Innovators Instead of Climate Victims?
What if we stopped looking at the ocean as a victim of climate change, and instead realize that it holds dozens of ready-made climate solutions? The ocean is full of untapped potential to help us solve the climate crisis, we just have to reframe our thinking. Here's how.
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There is a wave of goodness and progress well underway, all around the world.
