Shasta Nelson | Leading Expert on Human Connection.

Shasta Nelson

Leading Expert on Human Connection.

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San Francisco, CA

Shasta Nelson
Biography

Did you know that over 60% of our employees are lonely which directly increases turnover, hurts resiliency, lowers creativity, and compromises physical and mental health? 

As a go-to leading expert on relationships for over a decade, Shasta Nelson inspires her audience with the science of bonding, teaching them the 3 things that will lead to high-trust, resilient, and rewarding relationships at work and at home. Whether she’s speaking at conferences or on TEDx stages, giving media interviews to outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, or appearing as a guest on The Harvard Business Review podcast or The Steve Harvey Show, she is constantly teaching all of us how to create healthier and more fulfilling relationships in our lives. She has written 3 books on the subject, including her latest one The Business of Friendship: How to Make the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time as she helps reduce loneliness and increase wellbeing in our workplaces

Whether she’s working with your leaders, your sales teams, your remote workforce, or your customer-facing professionals, Shasta will reveal the three factors needed to cultivate all healthy relationships. In making the science immediately actionable, Shasta also motivates those she works with to establish rituals and practices that will quickly lead to resilient, high-trust, and rewarding and bonded relationships. These stronger bonds will lead to greater loyalty and retention, elevated levels of co-creation in the marketplace, a more differentiated customer experience, and increased happiness and engagement for all involved.

Shasta's audiences leave saying things like "Shasta is hands down one of the best speakers I have ever seen," not only because her style is so engaging, humorous, and deeply touching, but also because her teaching content is so thought-provoking, informative, and unforgettable. The content in all her books, while based heavily on the best psychology and medical science, is original and ground-breaking in the way we think about relationships. A frequent response from her clients is "Why am I just now learning this?"

Additionally, Shasta will not only deliver a powerful, inspiring, and actionable keynote, but she will leave your audience feeling more connected to each other and more hopeful about developing the relationships in their lives that will leave them happier and healthier.

No matter the values of a company-- relationships are at the heart of them. And Shasta can teach your audience how to bond with each other, their teams, their friends, and their customers.

Shasta Nelson
Featured Videos

Current: What Does Shasta Speak About?

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More Videos From Shasta Nelson

What Does Shasta Speak About?
Time 00:55
Speaking Reel
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TEDx: Frientimacy: The 3 Requirements of All Healthy Friendships
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Virtual Presentation Preview
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Shasta Nelson
Featured Keynote Programs

All Hands Gathering

Focus: Leadership & Culture

Do you want to dedicate a day to improve your company culture and the relationships among your employees and team members? Do you want to maximize that time together—making sure it’s fun and memorable but also strategic and bonding?

All too often, when we strive for relationship building, we either err on the side of too much talking and updating, or in an attempt not to be “boring,” we only plan time for play, with the hope that activity will automatically lead to relationships. You’re wise enough to invest in bringing your employees together—let’s ensure your gathering builds lasting relationships that enrich your company culture!

This All-Hands Gathering is customized and co-created to weave in strategic play and activity with Shasta’s signature speed-friending and motivational teaching. This half- or full-day program will help your employees maximize their connections with each other and with your organization and give them a meaningful and fun day that equips them with the tools and insights to strengthen all of their relationships— professional & social. The outcome for your organization will be greater retention, organizational loyalty and pride, more high-trust and resilient relationships, increased psychological safety, and higher employee satisfaction.

Perfect for leaders & orgs who:

  • Want to improve company culture and the relationships among their employees and team members

Audiences will leave with

  • Help new employees meet more coworkers and feel more belongingness

  •  Facilitate all your employees getting to know each other in new and purposeful ways

  • Cast the vision for the ways your organization and leaders support employees

  • Teach your employees the science of belongingness and human connections in ways that will benefit their personal lives and increase their job satisfaction at work

  • Strategically feature people in your organization through interviews, games, and spotlights

Belongingness
Accelerating the Time to High-trust, Resilient, and Rewarding Relationships

Focus: Leadership & Culture

Did you know that employees with meaningful relationships at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs, take fewer sick days, collaborate more effectively, provide better customer service, and have higher loyalty to their companies? Belongingness is the #1 factor for employee satisfaction, and creating a culture of belonging is an effective solution for decreasing turnover and increasing employee fulfillment.

In this dynamic and interactive program, belongingness expert and author of The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time, Shasta Nelson provides a framework to evaluate belongingness within your teams and delivers practical tools to create and accelerate the high-trust and resilient relationships that boost employee productivity, retention, and profitability.

Perfect for leaders & orgs who want to:

  • Increase employee retention, engagement, and collaboration.

  •  Inspire and gift their employees with skills to improve their

  • well-being and fulfillment at work and in their personal lives.

  •  Create a culture of belonging at work.                                                              

Audiences will leave with:

  •  The latest research on how meaningful relationships at work impact employee engagement and retention.

  •  The 3 requirements of all healthy relationships and how they establish a culture of belonging.

  •   A framework to evaluate belongingness within your teams and identify areas of improvement to focus on for maximum impact.

  •   Strategies to implement the 3 requirements in your company culture and accelerate high-trust and resilient relationships at work.

It Can’t Be Lonely At the Top
Why the Successful Leader is the Connected Leader

Focus: Leadership & Culture

We frequently talk about how lonely it is “at the top,” yet we’ve almost resigned ourselves to believing that’s the way it has to be. Just as our team members need meaningful relationships at work to be more engaged and productive, our leaders need to feel connected and supported. The stats speak for themselves: 60% of CEOs say they’re lonely, and three-fourths say it’s hurting their performance. But it doesn’t have to be this way—leaders with supportive relationships at work are more resilient through crisis, communicate more effectively, and enjoy increased longevity and health.

In this fun and interactive program, belongingness expert and author of The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time,
Shasta Nelson delivers strategies to create and maintain the supportive relationships that your leaders need and addresses the biggest fears around boss- employee friendships such as favoritism, confidentiality breaches, and more.

Perfect for leaders & orgs who want to:

  •  Boost leadership performance, resilience, and job satisfaction.

  • Improve communication and trust between leaders and team members

  •  Ensure their leaders’ health and well-being by building better relationships professionally and socially.

  •  Combat potential favoritism, power imbalances, and confidentiality breaches arising from boss-employee friendships.

    Audiences will leave with:

  •  The latest research on how meaningful relationships at work impact leadership performance, resilience, and communication

  • The three requirements of all healthy relationships and how they establish a culture of support and belonging

  •  Strategies to strengthen the three requirements and create supportive relationships that will boost your leaders’ performance and job satisfaction

  •  Insight into addressing the biggest fears around boss-employee friendships, such as favoritism, power imbalances, confidentiality breaches, firing and/or reprimanding a friend, and more

Relationally Fit
The Social Secret to a Longer, Happier Life

Focus: Health & Wellbeing

How many of us struggle to muster the energy to socialize with strangers or even with our closest friends? Making new friends or deepening our existing relationships is uncomfortable, awkward, and—at times—painful. But choosing to avoid social discomfort often leaves us feeling lonely, with over 61% of the United States and 73% of Gen Z-ers feeling lonely regularly. The damage to our health, happiness, and longevity is devastating. Feeling disconnected is as harmful to our wellbeing as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, twice as harmful as being obese, and is the equivalent of being a lifelong alcoholic. So, what’s the solution?

In this energizing program packed with real-world research and inspiring stories, belongingness expert Shasta Nelson explores the #1 health factor more critical than kale and treadmills and teaches us how we can enjoy long, connected lives.

Perfect for:

  •  Hospitals and other healthcare organizations who want to teach their communities and employees how to improve mental health through belongingness and human connection

  •   Leaders and organizations who want to improve their employees’ health and wellbeing

Audience will leave with:

  •   The latest scientific discoveries on the devastating side effects of loneliness and the health benefits of belongingness
  •   A framework to reflect on and assess your social health, and identify which takeaway will make the biggest difference in fostering meaningful connection in your own life

  •   Healthy expectations of relationships and their discomforts, such as conflict, disappointment, and insecurities

Shasta Nelson
Featured Books

Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness by Shasta Nelson

Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness

by Shasta Nelson
Friendships Don't Just Happen!by Shasta Nelson

Friendships Don't Just Happen!

by Shasta Nelson
This essential go-to guide reveals how women can enhance their lives by creating valuable friendships in today's busy, mobile world, from nationally recognized friendship expert and CEO of GirlFriendCircles.com. Every woman is searching for a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life. Many realize the significant role that an intimate, tightly knit circle of friends plays in creating a more fulfilling life, but with hectic schedules, frequent moves, and life changes, it's more important than ever for women to establish natural, meaningful friendships that will contribute to their overall wellbeing. In Friendships Don't Just Happen!, Shasta Nelson, friendship expert and CEO of GirlFriendCircles.com, reveals the most important proven steps, processes, and secrets vital to establishing the five different levels of friendships, or Circles of Connectedness, that women-no matter their age or relationship status-are longing for in today's stressful and mobile culture. This revolutionary, engaging guide will also benefit women who already feel rooted to fabulous friends, with insightful principles that will help them maintain and enhance their current friendships. Full of practical how-to tips, fun activities, guiding questions, and step-by-step instructions, Friendships Don't Just Happen! highlights several areas of developing lasting friendships, teaching women how to: -Evaluate their current circle of friends -Recognize what types of friends they are seeking based on career, interests, location, and relationship status -Create a prioritized friendship action plan -Find extraordinary friends-where to look and how to approach them -Take initiative to jumpstart friendships and face fears of rejection -Establish "frientimacy," trust, and happiness through conversation and activities -Maintain meaningful friendships and determine which ones are worthwhile
The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Timeby Shasta Nelson

The Business of Friendship: Making the Most of Our Relationships Where We Spend Most of Our Time

by Shasta Nelson

It is virtually impossible to feel connected and supported in life when you don’t feel that way where you spend most of our time—at work.

In The Business of Friendship, friendship expert Shasta Nelson unpacks the distinct ways we can make work relationships the healthiest they can be, both for the sake of the employee and the mission of the company. She inspires readers to see why friendship is crucial to our health and our careers, and teaches us exactly how to develop the supportive and meaningful connections we need.

Our organizations benefit as friendships at work result in higher levels of workplace productivity, employee retention, safety, innovation, collaboration, and profitability. In having a best friend at work, we are seven times more engaged in our job, which translates to better customer service, less absenteeism, fewer workplace accidents, and more loyalty to our organizations.

Through Shasta’s stories, research, and practical guidance, she:

  • Breaks down what creates healthy bonds and reveals the 3 requirements necessary in all healthy relationships and teams.
  • Helps managers and employees assess the health of their relationships and learn ways to repair and improve them.
  • Provides advice for addressing some of the biggest fears around workplace friendships, such as increased drama, favoritism, confidentiality, gossip, toxic coworkers, relationship with bosses, and potential romantic attractions.

The Business of Friendship is for those who are ready to maximize the two most significant factors of our wellbeing—career and relationships. Whether you are a leader or an employee, when you feel more connected and supported at work, everyone wins.

Shasta Nelson
Featured Reviews

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