Founder, The Big Quiet (Mass Meditation Movement)
Jesse Israel: Biography at a Glance
- Jesse Israel is the founder of the mass meditation movement, The Big Quiet.
- Through a unique blend of meditation, community building and uplifting leadership, Jesse helps people and organizations become their most powerful.
- The Big Quiet is a movement that gathers thousands of people at a time for mass meditations at the most iconic places in the world -- like Madison Square Garden, the top of the World Trade Center and under the blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History.
- In 2019, The Big Quiet set off on the first-ever mass meditation tour, selling-out epic locations in 10 cities throughout the nation.
- Jesse has toured with Oprah Winfrey and WW to lead Big Quiet mass meditations at 15,000+ person North American arenas.
- When not hosting The Big Quiet, Jesse is speaking about community building, the power of quiet and mindful leadership at organizations like Adidas, Google, Ford and Parson’s School of Design.
- Jesse's work has been featured in the New York Times, Vice, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, The Fader and WIRED.
Videos
Biography
Jesse Israel a social entrepreneur, meditation leader and former record label executive with a love for piano karaoke and his Mom’s tacos.
His work journey started as a Sophomore at NYU when he co-founded Cantora Records. Truth be told, he had no idea what the hell he was doing, but through following his gut and a willingness to experiment, he went on to sign multi-platinum bands like MGMT, advise rappers like The Wu Tang Clan’s GZA and spearhead Cantora’s tech investment start-up fund.
By putting all of his energy into “hustling,” he began experiencing debilitating stress and panic attacks. His mental health and wellbeing challenges led me to find meditation. The practice was so transformative for me that he went on to found the social meditation community Medi Club, which has grown into a community of thousands of young people, creatives and entrepreneurs who gather monthly to practice meditation and talk about the things they don’t usually have the space to discuss. Medi Club has launched over 300 circle programs, where community members have stepped up to lead their own meditation and talk circles in their homes.
Feeling called to create accessible entry points into meditation on a larger scale, he applied his extensive experience in the music industry to found The Big Quiet. Today, The Big Quiet is a movement that gathers thousands of people at a time for mass meditations at the most iconic places in the world -- like Madison Square Garden, the top of the World Trade Center and under the blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History. The Big Quiet features rare performances from celebrated musicians that are passionate about meditation like Miguel, members of Arcade Fire, Local Natives and Bishop Briggs. In 2019, The Big Quiet set off on the first-ever mass meditation tour, selling-out epic locations in 10 cities throughout the nation.
In 2020, he was invited on tour with Oprah Winfrey and WW to speak at and lead Big Quiet mass meditations at 15,000+ person North American arenas. When he is not hosting The Big Quiet, he is speaking about community building, the power of quiet and mindful leadership at organizations like Adidas, Google, Ford and Parson’s School of Design, and teaching his meditation course to leaders and cultural icons from around the globe. he also organize the Cyclones - a social impact bicycling club with thousands of riding members and responsible for funding sustainable bike shops & bike share programs throughout rural Tanzania.
Jesse is a selected leader from Harvard Divinity School’s How We Gather Program, a trained facilitator from Columbia School of Social Justice’s Empathetic Facilitator program, a founding meditation teacher from the 1 Giant Mind Meditation Teacher Training Academy and the former president of The Burger Boys Cheesburger Club (that’s not a joke). As a consultant, Jesse has helped launch community-driven businesses like MNDFL and The Assemblage, and has advised tech funds leading to seed investments in businesses that have grown to over $1 Billion in valuations.
The Wall Street Journal said Jesse is “rebranding meditation for millennials,” trend Forecasting agency The Cassandra Report called The Big Quiet a “cultural phenomenon”, and Vogue said that The Big Quiet has “refined the ancient practice of meditation into something exceptional, uplifting, and undoubtedly social.” His work has also been featured in the New York Times, Vice, Fast Company, The Fader and WIRED.
Jesse’s mission is to connect people to their joy and power so they can make a fulfilling contribution to the world.
Topics
The Power of Quiet in an Age of Noise
Every human on this planet has an enormous reservoir of power and potential within themself. But most people only access a tiny fraction of what’s available inside. Why? Because they’re blocked by noise. And through my work, I’ve learned that there are 3 types of noise.
The noise of the world: information overload, constant connectivity, endless to-do lists, fires to constantly put out, increasing pressure and demand, a growing sense of overwhelm
The noise in our head: self-doubt, not enoughness, comparison to others, scarcity, limiting beliefs, overthinking
The noise in our body: exhaustion, burn-out, anxiety, stuckness, lack of excitement, repressed emotions, unresolved trauma from the past
Noise isn’t just impacting how we show up in our personal lives, it’s also impacting the workplace. Leaders and their teams are distracted from their priorities, disconnected from one another and burning out fast. As a result, companies are missing out on the total collective power of their people. They’re just scratching the surface of their employee’s potential performance, fulfillment and happiness – which means they’re just scratching the surface of their company’s potential for a collaborative culture, groundbreaking innovation and explosive revenue.
This isn’t another keynote about doing more, going bigger or getting louder. That’s the old paradigm and it doesn’t work. The way we’ve been working isn’t working.
This keynote is just as much about stillness as it is about speed. It’s as much about letting go as it is about achieving big goals. And it’s as much about belonging to others as it is about maximizing personal performance. The new paradigm is about knowing that less noise means more power.
Jesse has identified a framework - a set of unexpected principles and practices to quiet the noise and unlock the power, the performance and the potential that lives in all of us. He has keynoted about this framework for hundreds of thousands of people on tour with Oprah Winfrey, he's implemented it at C-Suites at Fortune 100s across the world and he's coached it to white house leaders, Academy award winning actors and industry defining CEOs.
In this interactive keynote, Jesse brings this framework to life through stories from his personal journey and learnings from the fascinating leaders he's coached first-hand, accessible exercises for the workplace and at home, and a participatory Big Quiet experience with the entire audience that leaves attendees with actionable next steps.
After the keynote, people will leave with:
- Science-backed practices for making better decisions faster and accessing innate creativity
- Practical tools to create a culture of belonging, collaboration and psychological safety
- Methods for revealing hidden strengths and activating unique abilities
- Simple hacks to create healthier relationships with our digital devices and deepen productivity
- Mindsets for adapting to change and handling conflict
- A framework for enhancing performance and finding energy in any role at any company
Attendees won’t just feel inspired, they’ll leave with a clear roadmap for how to filter the noise in their lives so they can hear who they really are – and amplify it to the world.
Unlocking Your Inner Power to Navigate Challenging Times
As the world experiences unprecedented pain and adversity, it’s easy to feel hopeless, get stuck, and lose connection to what makes you shine. This changes the person you are at home and the role you play at work. The Big Quiet’s founder, Jesse Israel, invites you on a journey of self-discovery, equipping you with the tools to face challenges and the energy needed to show up fully right now.
In this customizable and interactive experience, Jesse unveils a transformative roadmap for accessing courageous vulnerability, harnessing your untapped inner power and gracefully navigating even the most turbulent of times. Having toured arenas with Oprah Winfrey and led some of the largest meditations in the world, Jesse introduces science-based methods to soothe and balance the nervous system, as well as proven hacks to create healthier relationships with social media, the news, and your digital devices.
Through a blend of storytelling, group prompts, and interactive exercises for teams to do together and at home — you’ll leave feeling ready to be the best of who you are, at a time when the world needs you most.
Better Together: Community & Movement Building When We Need Each Other Most
From Stressed to Spirited: Shifting Work Culture
The New Mindful Leadership Paradigm
