About Me
I've always been drawn to the sky — and the far horizon where courage and freedom meet. It's a view that's become my compass, and I hope it might be a guide for you, too.
As a founder and futurist, my work explores the edge of human potential. Through my ventures, writing and speaking, I help people move from doing what's expected to doing what matters – for themselves, and for a more hopeful and humane future.
I thrive at the intersections: where fields cross-pollinate, inner growth fuels outer impact, and ancient wisdom shapes future flourishing. I'm delightfully obsessed with life's thresholds – those powerful moments between an ending and a new beginning. Whether graduating high school, changing careers, becoming a parent, or reinventing at midlife, deliberate transitions become transformations. There's magic at these crossroads: they invite us to reimagine not just what we do, but who we become.
For two decades, I've created new templates for navigating the transition into adulthood, helping young people align their highest calling with the world's deepest needs. As Founder/CEO of Global Citizen Year, I raised and deployed $65M in scholarships to support thousands of young leaders. Now, as Co-founder/CEO of The Flight School, we’re building a global movement to transform learning and leadership for an entire generation.
My ideas have been featured in The New York Times, NPR, PBS, and at leading global forums including Aspen, ASU+GSV and Milken. I've been recognized as one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People," Goldman Sachs' "Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs," and as an Ashoka Fellow. I serve as an Advisor at Harvard Business School and a Fellow at Stanford University.
While I'm wildly grateful for my formal education and the doors it's opened, here's what I also know: the learning that matters most has little to do with formal schooling. I call it learning on purpose and it's not a privilege, it's our birthright — accessible to anyone ready to begin.
I live in Berkeley (born and raised) where my husband, Joel, keeps me grounded and my young sons remind me to look up. In another lifetime, I might have been a forest monk, a rabbi, or rockstar. In this one, I'm committed to becoming more human in a world becoming less so.
I write counter-cultural commentary on LinkedIn, and share my speaking, media and podcast features on my website.
My invitation to you….
This newsletter is my invitation to pause, look up, and leap – together.
While The Flight School focuses on the magical moment between high school and what comes next, the hunger for deeper learning has no age limit. For years parents, educators and leaders have asked me "Can I join, too?!"
This community is my answer.
I'm writing for those of us exhausted from the race to nowhere, and hungry for meaning beyond metrics. For anyone ready to trade productivity for presence and perfection for purpose. And especially for those ready to rewrite the rules, redefine success, and reorient humanity toward a more hopeful and humane future.
Each month, I’ll share field notes from the edge of what I’m learning – the place where, as David Whyte gorgeously describes, our inner horizon meets the outer.
Here you’ll find:
Provocations that challenge conventional notions of success
Practices for living on purpose
Inspiration from teachers lighting our way
A community of seekers putting courage over comfort
I promise to:
Honor the deep real over the deep fake
Preach only what I practice
Write from my heart, not just my head
Lead out loud, learn from mistakes and be willing (always) to begin again
Offer what I’m learning freely (no paywall)
The maps we've been given are for a world that no longer exists. But with the right compass, we can chart our own path through the sky.
Will you join me?
Abby
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