Pronouns: She, her, hers

Her Role:

As VP of Marketing and Operations and a founding team member, Shirelle brings her passion for therapy, education, product design, and scalable solutions to Beckley Academy. Shirelle is committed to enabling equitable access to safe and legal psychedelics and she intends to become a psychedelic therapist in the future.

Her Story

Shirelle is a first-generation American, who grew up internationally. After spending the first ten years of her career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company and building a successful advertising startup, she was burnt out. Seeking purpose and healing after a divorce, Shirelle spent time deconstructing her identity and patterns in therapy. She studied and began practicing mediation, yoga, and movement to help her process her grief. During this time, she learned about the breakthrough research for psychedelic-assisted therapy to support mental well-being. Shirelle dedicated herself to the legalization movement, joining the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and volunteering to provide peer support through the Zendo Project. Shirelle is particularly passionate about destigmatizing mental health through education and bringing access to psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT).

Her Why

Shirelle learned to cultivate acceptance and compassion, for herself and others, with the support of her therapists, spiritual teachers, and psychedelics. Pema Chödrön said “compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.” Shirelle believes that in order for humans to meet the existential risks of the 21st century, we need to heal as individuals first, then extend that healing outwards. She hopes that access to PAT supports our collective healing.

Pronouns: he, him, his

His Role

As CEO and a member of the founding team, John is passionate about bringing his expertise in education technology to expand the reach of psychedelics by training as many therapists as possible. At Beckley Academy, he’s dedicated to building a true public benefit organization that can amplify psychedelic assisted therapy to everyone in need.

His Story

As a classroom teacher, John firmly believed technology and the internet could transform teaching and learning. He built programs at Scholastic and the American Museum of Natural History. Using his technology skills, and drawing on his teaching experience, joined Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT), and eventually became CEO. TPT is the world’s largest catalog of educator-created learning content and provides tools for interactive digital instruction; reaching more than 7 million educators, including 85% of PreK-12 US teachers. Prior to Beckley Academy, John was Chief Product Officer at Noodle, the nation’s fastest-growing online network of universities, corporations, and learners.

His Why

John has always believed in education as society’s greatest agent of change. But the sudden death of his father led him on his own search to understand the role of spirituality and mental health. After leaving Noodle, he knew he had to combine his educational expertise and the emerging western use of psychedelics in mental health. As Archemedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” John sees education as the lever, and PAT as the fulcrum needed to improve well-being.

Pronouns: he, him, his

His Role

As a Student Services Specialist and member of the founding team at the Beckley Academy, Kabir creates a positive learning experience for our students. He is committed to supporting prospective psychedelic therapists through Beckley’s course offerings, while continually working to improve the course curricula. In both his work and personal life, he hopes to bring integrated medicine, heart-centered care, creative expression, and community networks to the forefront of wellness.

His Story

Kabir’s interest in psychedelic medicine, particularly its therapeutic applications, began the summer after high school during an internship with MAPS in the Santa Cruz office. MAPS’ commitment to widespread integrated health and tight-knit workplace community sparked and nurtured his enduring desire to expand access to psychedelic medicines. He majored in psychology and wrote his senior thesis on psilocybin therapy as a treatment for existential distress.

Kabir volunteered for the Measure 109 Psilocybin Therapy campaign in Oregon after graduation. The campaign was an inspirational albeit frenzied time for Kabir and his team. They were successful and after the victory, Kabir joined the Center for Consciousness Medicine (CCM). His work at CCM deepened his enthusiasm for both psychedelic academic research and equity-oriented approaches to psychedelic therapy.

His Why

A combination of transformative personal experiences and early exposure to groundbreaking clinical research inspired Kabir to pursue a career in the psychedelic therapy space. His time working in Oregon on the Measure 109 campaign exposed him to thousands of folks across the state in desperate need of new treatment options. This experience instilled a desire to have a meaningful impact on the expansion and accessibility of psychedelic therapy.