At Lesley University
We welcome you to enjoy a robust and diverse array of inspirational thinkers, creators, and visionaries at the cutting edge of education, counseling, and the visual arts.
The Thought Leadership Series at Lesley University welcomes guest presenters who engage members of our community and the public in conversation and, through that exchange, encourage us all to act as catalysts for a more connected and just world.
These presentations are free and open to all. Please register in advance for any of the following events you plan to attend.
As our second Thought Leadership Series speaker this fall, Lee Judson will be discussing CLASS Reads selection, Convenience Store Woman, as well as neurodiversity in the workplace.
Lee Judson is a change-management leader, author, and speaker who helps organizations turn neurodiversity into a strength. Over 30 years in insurance, hospitals, and medical devices, including DePuy Synthes, a Johnson & Johnson company, she guided three major corporate transformations without loss of productivity or a single team member.
Lee is the author of Bridging the Gap: A Field Guide to Neurodiversity at Work (Kalman Press, 2025). She has spoken at SHRM, NACE, and APSE and been featured on the WRKdefined Podcast Network. As founder of Bridge2Work Coaching and a coach with the Association for Autism and Neurodiversity (AANE), she pairs Lean, and Kaizen systems thinking with strengths-based coaching.
A neurodivergent professional and mom of two grown neurodivergent children and two spirited dogs, Lee brings empathy, humor, and lived experience to her passion: helping people feel seen and valued at work.
Sam Kissajukian is a Sydney-based comedian, visual artist and theater maker who has toured across Australia, the USA, UK for over a decade. In 2021, a six-month bipolar manic episode halted his stand up comedy career, and Sam produced 300 large-scale paintings documenting his mental states daily. That experience became 300 Paintings: a live solo show fusing stand-up, spoken word, and his visual art, paired with a curated exhibition.
The show ran for 80 nights Off-Broadway at New York's Vineyard Theatre, earning Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations and with further praise from The New Yorker and The New York Times. He has since performed at American Repertory Theater at Harvard where he was awarded a Boston Theater Critics Pick and since guest lectured at Harvard. Sam has performed his show at Princeton, with upcoming performances at Arizona State University, Stanford and Michigan State University. Currently he has a solo exhibition at Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic building in Arizona, The Gammage. Internationally, Sam has had eight solo exhibitions and nine-time fringe award winner across Australia and the UK. He is also a mental health ambassador for SANE Australia.
Sponsored by the Evelyn Finnegan ’48 Lecture Series and the Finnegan Family
Andrea Wang is an acclaimed author of picture books and middle grade novels. Her picture book Watercress was awarded the Caldecott Medal, a Newbery Honor, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a New England Book Award and a Boston Globe—Horn Book Honor, among others. She is also the author of Luli and the Language of Tea, The Many Meanings of Meilan, Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando, and The Nian Monster. These books have each received starred reviews, awards, and honors, as well as appearing on multiple state library book lists. Andrea received her MFA in Creative Writing for Young People from Lesley in 2011.
Caldecott medalist Jason Chin is the author and illustrator of many acclaimed books, including Grand Canyon, Redwoods and Your Place in the Universe. He received the 2022 Caldecott Medal for Watercress by Andrea Wang and a Caldecott Honor, Sibert Honor, and the NCTE Orbis Pictus award for Grand Canyon. While researching his books, he’s gone swimming with sharks, explored lava fields and camped with scorpions at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Jason loves making art, learning about science and getting outside to hike, bike, ski and explore. Andrea and Jason will be here to discuss both the writing and illustration process for their book Watercress, as well as its anticipated sequel due out next year.
The path of a designer at the intersection of AI x Creativity
Nick Matarese is a Senior Staff UX Lead at Google Labs and currently heads the Generative Media tools team. During his 11 years at Google, Nick has navigated the full spectrum of innovation. He began by defining physical interaction design for
Google’s hardware portfolio and later explored advanced research at Google’s ATAP & YouTube. Today, he directs the vision for platforms like Flow by working directly with research teams to bridge the gap between complex AI models and intuitive tools for creators. As a firm believer in AI as a vital collaborator, Nick is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of storytelling and communication at the intersection of human and machine intelligence.
Leading Differently: Neurodiversity, Power, and Practice
Dr. Sara Rodrigues, LICSW, is a clinician, educator, and disability justice advocate with over 20 years of experience in practice. She is the Executive Director of the Balanced Learning Center, a nonprofit focused on neurodiversity-affirming therapy and community programming, and the CEO of Neuroharbor Wellness & Consulting. Dr. Rodrigues specializes in supporting neurodivergent individuals, particularly those navigating trauma, education systems, and structural barriers to care.
Preston has held leadership roles in the arts and media for over 20 years. Since 2020, Preston has been consulting with Tribeca Productions, Netflix, the Connecticut Arts Foundation, and others, and currently serves as Ars Nova’s Interim Executive Director. At Ars Nova, he partners with Jason Eagan and leads the organization’s strategy and business operations and consults on fundraising. For 16 years, Preston led the nation’s premiere theater development company, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center as CEO/Producer. Under Preston’s leadership, the O’Neill doubled its campus and tripled its budget, with especially strong earned revenue growth. During his tenure, the O’Neill launched some of the most important voices in American culture, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeremy O. Harris, Dominique Morisseau, Lindsey Ferrentino, and Colman Domingo. His leadership has been recognized by President Obama with the National Medal of Arts and a Tony Award. Preston will be here to discuss Ginger Twinsies, his first lead-producing project that is currently running in New York.
Sponsored by the CLASS Reads program at Lesley
Nick Sousanis is an Eisner-winning comics author and an associate professor at San Francisco State University, where he started and runs an interdisciplinary Comics Studies program. He is the author of Unflattening, originally his doctoral dissertation, which he wrote and drew entirely in comics form. Published by Harvard University Press in 2015, Unflattening received the 2016 American Publishers Association Humanities award for Scholarly Excellence and the 2016 Lynd Ward prize for Best Graphic Novel. Sousanis’s comics have appeared in Nature, The Boston Globe, Columbia Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and more. Nick will be discussing his book Unflattening which was selected for all incoming undergraduate students as part of the CLASS Reads program. He will also highlight his work to make graphic novels more inclusive, as well as how they are being used in healthcare.
Sponsored by the Strauch-Mosse Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker, Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author, and a partner in Pastimes Productions. Goodwin is often called upon by the news media, late-night TV hosts, and hundreds of companies, educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofits to share her vast knowledge of leadership and provide historical context for current-day events, especially as our democracy is challenged, international wars rage, and we continue to struggle in a divided and polarized country. Goodwin has written nine books, and in 2020, Goodwin executive produced her first documentary miniseries, Washington for the History Channel, through her independent production company, Pastimes Productions Inc. Miniseries on Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt followed. Pastimes just executive produced an eight-part docuseries, Kevin Costner’s The West for the History Channel, which was released this past May. Doris will be discussing her most recent projects, as well as how history continues to aid in our understanding of today’s world.
The Thought Leadership Series engages members of the Lesley University community and the public in conversation with those who practice these arts, and through that exchange, encourage us all to act as catalysts for a more connected and just world.