Founders Reframe Leadership at Humanize HQ

Earlier this year, we were fortunate to feature Larissa Carrera, founder of Humanize HQ, as our very first community-builder interviewee on the Pollen8 newsletter. Even then, she was a believer in what we were building. She shared thoughtful feedback on all things community-building and took the time to support our direction.

So when Larissa invited us to her latest workshop on Mental Health as a Leadership Strength, it felt like a full-circle moment. And she did not disappoint.

What follows are a few reflections on what the evening taught us, and what other community builders can take away from how Humanize HQ continues to design for depth, belonging, and emotional intelligence in founder culture.

The Speakers

The evening brought together a deeply thoughtful, all-female panel:

• Emi Gonzalez, Co-Founder of Duckbill

• Alaina Grable, Founder & Psychotherapist at Our Kind Therapy

• Lexie Palasciano, MFA — Breathwork Facilitator, Pilates Instructor, and Yoga Teacher

• Stephanie Redlener, Leadership / Somatic Coach & Founder of Lioness

• Caroline Turnbull, Co-Founder & CEO of Mobius (moderator)

A full dinner, generously sponsored by DIG, set the tone for an evening centered on nourishment in every sense of the word.

In a world where mental health is often an afterthought

In a world where mental health is often an afterthought, Humanize HQ and Mobius modeled something radical: foregrounding wellbeing as a leadership strategy.

Back on September 24 at Fabrik in Tribeca, they hosted Founder Wellbeing Workshop: Mental Health as a Leadership Strength, a two-hour session moderated by Caroline Turnbull of Mobius that traded pitch decks and daily stand-ups for parasympathetic resets. The evening gathered a thoughtful mix of founders, investors, and community organizers, most of them women, over a full dinner sponsored by DIG Inn to explore what happens when leadership begins from the nervous system up.

From Burn Rate to Heart Rate

The session opened with Lexie Palasciano guiding attendees through the 4-7-8 breathing technique, a practice that activates the parasympathetic nervous system and signals safety to the brain. Within minutes, the shift was tangible: shoulders dropped, conversation halted, and for a brief collective exhale, the room felt lighter.

It wasn’t one of those tech-bro productivity hacks. For a breath-length moment, serotonin replaced Slack pings and DMs.

The choice to start with breathwork was deliberate, a portal that transitioned the group from daily chatter and overstimulation into presence.

Unlearning Old Stories

Alaina Grable, founder and psychotherapist at Our Kind Therapy, brought the conversation inward, connecting attachment theory to leadership. “Who here has not heard of attachment theory?” she asked. Nearly half the hands in the room went up in unison, a moment that spoke to just how intentionally this workshop had been curated.

As early as age five, she explained, we begin scripting stories, true or false, that quietly follow us into adulthood, shaping how we lead and build. Rarely do we pause to interrogate them.

Her provocation was simple but piercing: play. “The dreamer self expands,” she said. When we invite play back into our process, we expand our capacity.

Leading Through Vulnerability

Emi Gonzalez, co-founder of Duckbill, grounded the discussion in team dynamics: celebrate small wins, acknowledge the misses, and share the vision instead of hoarding it. “Building out instead of building up,” she called it.

Then Stephanie Redlener of Lioness cracked the room open with an unexpected prompt: “Who here actually likes crying?”
Laughter erupted, but her point landed. Emotional release, she argued, is not a leadership flaw but a feature. “Put on a sad song,” she urged. “Let yourself feel it.”

Beyond the Founder Identity

Caroline Turnbull, co-founder and CEO of Mobius, closed with a reminder to decouple self-worth from venture identity. “Let your company grow as its own thing,” she said. “Stay rooted in who you are.” It was a quiet challenge to the over-identification that fuels so much founder fatigue.

From Conversation to Collective Effervescence

If the night began as a workshop in nervous-system regulation, it ended as a collective reframe of leadership itself. For Humanize HQ founder Larissa Carrera, the evening was proof that mental health isn’t a distraction from building but the foundation of sustainable leadership.

Insider’s Take:

Held inside Fabrik, a Tribeca social space “meant to feel way more like your living room than your office,” the event embodied its surroundings. From the deliberate pacing to the warm meal and unhurried conversations, every detail signaled care.

This wasn’t self-care as optics it was a quiet but powerful blueprint for how communities and leaders can design for wellbeing as rigorously as they design for growth.

Image Credits:
All event photos and digital assets courtesy of Larissa Carrera and Humanize HQ, originally shared on LinkedIn.

What’s Next?

We’re fired up for what’s ahead and looking forward to seeing our Dot Connector community grow over the coming year. Our vision is to get sharper and closer to building something that truly works and transforms the work of community leaders/builders across the board. 

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we want to hear from you if you’re a community leader/organizer. 

Our content rollout is coming! Stay tuned for more in-depth content, including interviews, insights from our recent events, and upcoming opportunities to collaborate directly. Follow us, keep an eye on our newsletter, and join us at future events where we’ll continue these conversations. Your stories and involvement is what makes this all possible.

Onward and Upward,
The Pollen8 Team