Transformational Listening: Let Life Speak to You

Fast Company calls Gail Larsen’s original approach “transforming your relationship to your voice via the deepest stirrings of your soul.” At 8-Oh! (80 years young), she’s built a global following of influential voices who’ve transformed their speaking through her personal coaching and signature humor, wisdom, and fierce love of truth.

Her award-winning book Transformational Speaking: If You Want to Change the World, Tell a Better Story has guided thought leaders, entrepreneurs, bestselling authors, and four of Oprah’s Super Soul 100 to discover and deliver their authentic message.

Gail is a former executive vice president of the National Speakers Association – the worldwide professional association for speakers – and an SBA award-winning entrepreneur.

She doesn’t teach speaking techniques, she excavates the voice that’s been buried under formulas and fear. Drawing from decades of studying indigenous and cross-cultural wisdom, she guides you to your HomeZone™, that place of deep authenticity, clarity and self-trust.

Derek Gehl is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and author whose journey has been shaped by a passion for empowering entrepreneurs and transforming lives. After building one of the world’s first Internet marketing companies, the birth of his first son in 2008 sparked a pivotal realization: he wanted to create a life that balanced family, business, and personal fulfillment. This led him to sell his company and refocus on building businesses that supported his vision of being present for his children while pursuing his entrepreneurial passions.

As he entered his forties, his path evolved naturally toward helping people in midlife pursue their entrepreneurial dreams while simultaneously venturing into the health and longevity space, where from 2017 to 2024, he built numerous successful natural health supplement brands. Yet despite his success, Derek missed the direct human connection that had characterized his earlier work with entrepreneurs worldwide.

At 47, Derek and his wife of 20 years were planning their next chapter together as they prepared to launch their youngest of two sons when MEA unexpectedly entered their lives. Initially skeptical of the concept of a “midlife wisdom school” – having seen behind too many curtains in the personal development industry – his experience at MEA’s Navigating Transitions workshop transformed his perspective entirely. There, he discovered something authentically different: a community of intelligent, caring individuals, each charting their unique paths through midlife’s transitions.

That unexpected journey from skeptic to believer led Derek to join MEA as the CEO. Today, he leads MEA’s mission to reimagine midlife and build a vibrant global pro-aging community. His unique background in entrepreneurship, digital transformation, and wellness, combined with his personal understanding of midlife transition, positions him perfectly to help expand MEA’s impact while preserving the magic that makes it unique.