PROFILE

Jennifer Breheny Wallace is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author who explores the power of mattering in everyday life. 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 new book Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose, will be published in 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 organization dedicated to creating cultures of mattering in schools. Jennifer is a Special Advisor to University Health & Counseling (UHC) at the University of Michigan and a member of their Well-being Collective Advisory Council. She is also on 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. She is also serving as a guest lecturer for NYU’s Fall 2025 course, “Education, Mattering, and the American Dream: Understanding Achievement Culture.”

Wallace is a maternal mental health advocate at Calm, the mental health app, a consultant at Netflix, and a BCG BrightHouse Luminary. She has also partnered with The LEGO Group on its global “Play Unstoppable” campaign, aimed at addressing perfectionism and fostering confidence through play.

Wallace started her journalism career at CBS’s “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.