“Conflict is the spirit of the relationship asking itself to deepen”

--Sobonfu Somé

Facilitator and writer Shilpa Jain deeply understands the nature of being human. She is well known in her East Bay community for hosting more than 250 “Yes Jams!” over the last decade, encouraging laughter and play as she facilitates groups through conflict. Working with change makers—activists, artists, healers, executives, and young people—she helps them navigate conflict from a place of freedom and joy.

Join Host Serena Bian in conversation with Shilpa, exploring how conflict can bring us into greater clarity, purpose, and alignment. We’ll look at conflict through a trauma healing lens, to learn how to love ourselves and one another better. We will explore conflict transformation and healing, leadership as friendship, alchemizing fear, how we “get free” together, and how to move beyond “cancel culture” with an open-heart. Bring your lunch, and join us after the conversation to walk and sit on the Commonweal land.

Shilpa Jain

For the last 11+ years, Shilpa has served as the Executive Director of YES!. YES! works with social changemakers at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal and systemic change, and aims to co-create a thriving, just and balanced world for all. Shilpa has researched and written numerous books and articles, and facilitated workshops and gatherings on topics including globalization, creative expressions, ecology, democratic living, innovative learning and unlearning. She has facilitated dozens of transformative leadership gatherings in India, Jordan, Senegal, Lebanon, Egypt, Thailand, Canada, Peru, and the US, working with hundreds of young leaders from more than 50 countries. She was founding coordinator of the Global Youth Leadership Collaborative, a network of 15 Jam facilitators from 14 countries that has collectively produced dozens of international gatherings for young changemakers, and distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to small-scale grassroots social change innovations worldwide. Find more of her writing at shilpajain.substack.com