ABOUT

Paula Toledo (B.Comm, MAPP)

I am a passionate advocate for well-being across many domains - schools, workplaces, art institutions, and healthcare. My journey has taken me from startups to Fortune 500 companies, where I’ve embraced diverse roles in product development, marketing strategy, and building systems that make employees feel integral to their teams.

I take pride in my ability to envision ideas while creatively bringing them to life.

Whether it was working with an entrepreneur or executive teams, I’ve realized that the most successful organizations flourish not under demanding and hardened leadership but under the collaboration of happy, motivated individuals who experience manageable stress and genuine meaning in their work.

This insight sparked a deep curiosity in me, which became a driving force behind my pursuit of knowledge in psychological health and safety in the workplace. As an advisor, I strive to create places of belonging that foster empathetic and humanistic approaches to achieving personal and collective goals.

My mission is to understand how we can nurture our mental health and well-being while equipping organizations to design systems that enable both individuals and communities to thrive. This journey was further informed by my own lived experiences—caring for family members facing mental health challenges and the profound loss that accompanied it. These experiences drove me to seek out mentorship in a Master of Applied Positive Psychology program under Martin Seligman, (one of the founders of positive psychology), at the University of Pennsylvania. I sought to uncover the science behind how we can care for ourselves and our organizations in ways that allow us not only to endure life’s challenges but to truly thrive despite them.

As a singer-songwriter, I have a deep appreciation for the arts and humanities and their ability to unlock answers to these questions. I believe that the arts possess a unique superpower to heal and connect us in ways that are transformational. This passion has inspired my work in developing social prescribing models, where doctors recommend community-based, non-medical interventions like art experiences and nature walks to support individuals experiencing loneliness, anxiety, depression, and other social determinants of health. My Master’s capstone centred on art-based social prescriptions to foster social connection and combat loneliness.

An incredible twist in my path emerged when I discovered that a song I wrote 20 years ago had been pirated on a bootleg Russian DVD, triggering a widespread, collaborative internet search among ‘lost wave’ enthusiasts for its original author. Rolling Stone Magazine dubbed this 16-year search for my song ‘How Long Will it Take’ as one of the longest in internet history. This fascinating experience underscored my Master’s capstone hypothesis that music, awe, and wonder can be a powerful conduit to social connection, belonging, and a potential buffer to loneliness.

Building on this and additional evidence, I pioneered Wonder Gatherings and now facilitate workshops and music well-being concerts to foster empathy and social bonding. My mission is to empower organizations and communities to cultivate environments where individuals can thrive and where our connections to one another are achieved through a sense of shared purpose and belonging.