Peggy Callahan

Activist, Explorer, Filmmaker, Global soul, Idea generator, Producer, Social entrepreneur, World traveler

Peggy Callahan's sense of fairness (or maybe masochism) has driven her work in television and human rights activism. She was honored to capture the life-changing conversations between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his 'mischievous brother' Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The week-long meeting took place in Dharmsala at the Dalai Lama's compound. It was shot with five cameras, a crew from three countries and back-up equipment twelve hours away in Delhi. It came off without a single glitch. Yep, holy men were on the set. The dialogues inspired the Book of Joy and the film Mission: JOY - Finding Happiness in Troubled Times. Peggy served as the Co-Director and Producer. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and during its global launch had 13.3 million views. Her message that 'joy is an inside (out) job' is spreading even faster with the largest ever global Citizen Science project on JOY. Peggy is the co-creator of The BIG JOY Project, which helps people operationalize JOY. It takes 7 minutes a day for 7 days, is available on-line for free around the globe and helps each participant discover which small acts of JOY work best for them, at the same time as it advances the science of joy. People from 173 countries have participated and together they have completed more than 65,000 small acts of JOY, and counting. Mission: JOY is Peggy’s latest creation, in a long line of impact-focused accomplishments in her work as an award-winning filmmaker, television journalist, and human rights activist. She believes in the power of story to create real change on the planet, and her storytelling has helped change laws and lives. Peggy is frequently called upon as a speaker, host, and panelist for news outlets, international social justice gatherings, schools, podcasts and film festivals. Along the way she learned that, contrary to popular opinion, Abraham’s Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery around the globe. So, Peggy co-founded two international anti-slavery organizations, and created the world’s largest freely-available video library on modern slavery, and helped spur much of news outlets’ first coverage of slavery and human trafficking. Together with local partners, Peggy and her colleagues have helped tens of thousands of people free themselves from slavery and reach sustainable freedom. They are determined to end slavery in our lifetime. Finally. Forever.

Spreading the message of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Archbishop Tutu (and many of the latest neuroscience and psychology studies) that we do have some agency over the amount of JOY we feel. And that science shows which small actions have the most significant impact on mood and well-being. I worked with colleagues at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco (shoutout to my fellow presenter, Dr. Elissa Epel!), Harvard, and others to create The BIG JOY Project. It shares these small actions--free to anyone around the world--and gives people a free BIG JOY Report at the end of 7 days that shows them how much JOY they created for themselves and which small acts of JOY work best for them. This is information every human deserves to know.

JOY is an inside (out) job. It starts within us, when we use our agency to choose how we're going to frame whatever the circumstance is. Then JOY multiplies when we reach outside of ourselves and connect with others.

Some people reward themselves with dessert, a glass of wine, maybe some Netflix time. My reward is... watching TED talks. That may sound all healthy and enlightened, but let me tell you, they're no less addicting. Although they are outrageously more useful. Things I've learned by watching TED Talks have been as diverse as: - How to interact with my mother as her dementia develops. - The late Sir Ken Robinson was funny. Dangerously funny. So funny I snorted laughing during his first talk. Which prompted me to invite him to emcee an anti-slavery event I produced. And then proceeded to snort-laugh WHILE I was in the production booth during the show. When TEDWomen asked Dr. Elissa Epel and me to lead a Discovery Session, it was an easy decision to rearrange my schedule in order to give a whole-throated, "HELL YES!" in service of the TED community that has enriched the fiber of my being.

Pilgrimages. I pined to walk the Camino de Santiago for 30 years, and lived that dream 8 years ago, starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and ended in Santiago 500 miles later. Last month I walked the Camino Portuguese, starting in Porto and making my way back to Santiago again. After years of intense work with little time off, I felt as though I was walking myself back home inside myself, as my feet moved along the ancient path. Pilgrimages are a profound way to disengage to re-engage with life in a different way. There is some deep alchemy in journeying along paths that seekers have walked for 1,000 years - as though their answers live in every step along the path.