Researchers, practitioners, and teachers agree that curriculum accessibility and instructor quality will make or break a program’s success. Our instructors and curriculum developers are highly qualified with decades of personal practice and trained in multiple mindfulness modalities.
Ralph Winfrey
Executive Director
Ralph joined Be Mindful in 2018 to help with creative direction.
A graduate of Radford University, he has always enjoyed binge watching tech reviews on YouTube, music festivals and everything outdoor related. He is very tech savvy and his background includes work as a videographer, social media manager, public relations specialist, journalist, and much more.
Ralph was introduced to mindfulness during his ungraduate studies and would soon become immersed in the practice, ultimately leading to him instructing and advocating the benefits of Mindfulness.
Annemarie Rossi
Instructor
In 2011, after more than 2 decades of mindfulness practice, AnneMarie founded the nonprofit organization Be Mindful. Our mission is to provide communities, regardless of their resources, with access to customized, highly qualified instructor-led, Applied Neuroscience and mindfulness courses, while contributing valuable research to the field.
AnneMarie has taught thousands of individuals of all ages and backgrounds the knowledge and tools necessary to transform their lives. From the world’s largest airline, Fortune 100 executives, first responder agencies across the United Stares, public school districts, Universities, homeless youth shelters, refugee centers, rescued sex trafficking victims and more. She is a sought after public speaker and has given much lauded Keynote addresses across the globe. Her TEDxMileHigh talk, “Why Aren’t We Teaching You Mindfulness,” has more than 400,000 views. In 2019, her collaboration with Colo. Sen. Rhonda Fields lead to the appropriation of $3 million for mental health services, including mindfulness training, in Colorado’s public schools.
AnneMarie is committed to engaging in rigorous scientific studies. She has served both as primary and co-investigator on multiple research projects in partnership with The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical school, The University of Denver, The University of Memphis, Eastern Virginia Medical School, The National Police Foundation, and The Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre. Her most recent work, “The paradoxes of smartphone use: Understanding the user experience in today’s connected world” was published July 10, 2022 in the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
AnneMarie graduated with Distinction as the Outstanding Undergraduate from The University of Colorado with her BA in History with duel minors in Sociology and Educational Studies. She went on to obtain her Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Neuroscience with Distinction from King’s College London. She has completed both the Mindful Schools curriculum training and is a certified Mindfulness in School (.b) instructor. She is also the author of “First, Just Breathe: A Guide To Having Slightly Less Regret In Your Life.” which has received much praise from readers. Earlier in her career she was an award winning stock trader and financial advisor.
Phe Bach
Instructor
Dr. Phe Bach teaches chemistry at Mira Loma High in Sacramento, and is a lifelong mindfulness practitioner. He has been teaching Mindful Leadership and Mindfulness in the classroom to educators in California since 2014, and he teaches classes for teacher preparation program. He has been a Professional Development Presenter with the Instructional Leadership Corps [(A collaboration between California Teachers Association, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) and the National Board Resource Center at Stanford University (NBRC)] since its inception. Phe has facilitated a variety of workshop topics across the academic curriculum, including educational pedagogy, management, educational leadership and mental well-being. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Studied graduate program in Bio-organic Chemistry and Teaching Credential at UC Davis, earned his Master Degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies California State University Sacramento, and a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership and Management from Drexel University. He is an advocate and a leader in his communities.
Marcie Smith
Instructor
Marcie has a B.S. in community resources and children’s issues. She seeks to empower children, teens, and adults with age appropriate life/coping skills so they can help themselves and others reach their full potential through kindness, mindfulness, and practices in making good prudent decisions. She is the author of a mindfulness curriculum for kids called “The Rocket Project” for grades 3-8 and has integrated mindfulness practices in classroom management as a long term substitute teacher. In her spare time, she enjoys practicing mindfulness through movement, music, and writing. With her creative, fun spirit, she likes to help people understand that mindfulness is much more than meditation… but a healthy, functional way of life.
Inspiring Communities to Engage in the Practice of Mindfulness
Our work is inspired by the scientific knowledge base that scientists studying the brain and the central nervous system have developed over the last 40 years through more than 8,000 studies of the effects of mindfulness practice.
We build every program with our AIDE process: Assess, Individualize, Deliver, Evaluate. This process, and our focus on our Three Pillars of an effective mindfulness curriculum — Science, Practice, and Extension — provides our clients and class participants with relevant, relatable programming.
This delivery model leverages the benefits of these practices in settings where paying at- or near-market value is possible, and turns that revenue into programming in communities that would not be able to access high-quality instruction and custom curriculum otherwise.
These two factors — qualified instructors and customized curriculum — are identified in research as foundational to the effectiveness and clinical utility of mindfulness programs.
