Meet the Team

Jennifer Breheny Wallace is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author whose work explores the power of mattering in our everyday lives. Through research and storytelling, Wallace examines the hidden forces shaping modern life, from the crisis of meaning in achievement culture to the essential role of mattering in personal, workplace, and societal health. 

Her first book, Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic — And What We Can Do About It, was a New York Times Bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of the Year, and a Next Big Idea selection. Her forthcoming book Mattering: A Solution to the Crises of Our Times will be published in spring 2026.

Wallace is the founder of The Mattering Institute, whose mission is to create cultures of mattering in workplaces and communities, and co-founder of The Mattering Movement, a nonprofit whose mission is to create cultures of mattering in schools and educational spaces.

Wallace has partnered with The LEGO Group on its global Play Unstoppable campaign, aimed at addressing perfectionism and growing confidence through play. She has also consulted with Calm wellness app, Netflix, and is a BCG  BrightHouse Luminary. She serves on the University of Michigan’s Well-being Collective Advisory Council, and the Advisory Board for Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Wallace is a Journalism Fellow at The Center for Parent and Teen Communication at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

After graduating from Harvard College, Wallace was a broadcast producer for CBS “60 Minutes" and was part of the team that won The Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism. She is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and frequently appears on national television programs to discuss her work. 

Wallace serves on the board of the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, where she lives with her husband and their three children.

Lauren Lavelle is the Chief of Staff to Jennifer Wallace and Managing Director of The Mattering Institute. As Managing Director, she helps advance the Institute’s mission of building cultures of mattering—in our homes, workplaces, and communities—and oversees the development of practical frameworks that help organizations embed mattering into everyday life.

As Chief of Staff, Lauren leads strategy, partnerships, communications, and events across all of Jennifer’s platforms.

Lauren has dedicated her career to elevating important ideas that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. For nearly two decades as a literary publicist and strategist at Random House and Simon & Schuster, and as principal of her own agency, she supported hundreds of authors, thought leaders, and journalists launch bestselling and award-winning books.

Having worked alongside Jennifer Wallace since 2022, Lauren has made mattering her mission.

Lauren previously served six years in leadership positions on the Board of Directors for The Cabin, a literary arts nonprofit. She lives in the beautiful Idaho foothills with her family.