About Carolyn

Connection. It’s the human condition. We reach. We grow. We fall short, and then get up to reach again, all in concert with each other, first me, then you, then your circle, then back again to mine.

Before I understood it, I lived my life in service to this connection. Something in me, as a child, made me vividly aware of the value we are to each other: I began to volunteer at a camp for kids with cancer. Profoundly moved by my connection to my peers, I began pen pal relationships with several of them, and founded Carolyn’s Compassionate Children (CCC), a non-profit organization that paired “healthy” children with pen pal peers with cancer, and provided college scholarships to young adult cancer survivors.

Connection remains a touchstone in my work in the world. It fosters community on my blog, “A Beautiful Ripple Effect.” And, in my book, published to popular acclaim, Perseverance: True Voices of Cancer Survivors (How Young People Turn Fear into Hope and How They Can Teach Us To Do The Same), its connection to readers offers deep perspective into self and humanity. Our connection is at the heart of CarolynRubenstein.com, in which I create programs and one-on-one experiences that close gaps, grow passions, and leap fully into the lives there are for us to create for ourselves.

I am on the journey too. And in my leaps on “A Beautiful Ripple Effect” and in my public persona as a writer for Huffington Post and Psychology Today, I step into the challenges and fears we all face, so that I can both learn for myself, and model for my community that we can do this together. We can lean on each other to grow. If one person takes the courageous step into living authentically, the rest of us can see what is possible, and make the leaps, ourselves.

A native of South Florida, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Duke University with a BA in psychology in 2007. In 2008, I began the PhD program at Harvard University in clinical psychology. Both an accomplished make-it-happen gal, and a contemplative seeker who discovers her need for internal connection, authenticity, and community, I draw inspiration from the fields of life coaching and psychology, appreciating a vital dynamism that occurs when each supports the other with its rigor, research, and personal investment.

I have appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” and “Fox News Strategy Room,” and have been profiled in the Boston Globe. It is my hope that my public appearances will continue to introduce the awareness that mental health is core to our well-being, and that when we are internally forgiving and vulnerable, it strengthens us as individuals and as a culture.

We cannot make a move without affecting each other, even when we are blissfully unaware that we are doing just that. When we take care of ourselves, we can take better care of our communities.

Get in touch

I believe in collaboration, and consider you a partner here. Your comments and input are crucial! Is there an idea you’d like to partner with me on? Want me to be a part of your next project? Have a burning question? Let’s talk! Leave a comment, or use any of these methods for getting in touch:

Twitter: @CarolynR (this is the fastest way to get hold of me)
Email: contact form below

And, of course, the easiest way to make sure you don’t miss a thing is to subscribe! (To receive blog updates by email, click here.)

I can’t wait to hear from you. Let’s create a very beautiful ripple effect!