Kasley Killam
- Social Health Expert & Author of "The Art & Science of Connection"
- Social scientist by training, innovative leader in practice, human connector at heart
- Opening Keynote for SXSW 2025
- 2X TED Speaker
- 4X Google Speaker
- 5X Stanford Speaker
Speaker Fee 🛈
Fee Range
$20,000 - $30,000
Virtual Fee:
$10,000 - $15,000
Travels From
California
Kasley Killam - Why social health is key to happiness and longevity
The Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier | SXSW LIVE
Why loneliness feels so real, even when it’s not | Kasley Killam
Kasley Killam Speaker Biography
Kasley Killam is a leading expert in social health and author of The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier. As a Harvard-trained social scientist and award-winning innovator, Kasley has spent nearly 15 years dedicated to improving well-being through the power of human connection.
Globally respected for her thought leadership, Kasley partners with teams across industries as a trusted advisor and sought-after keynote speaker on social health, connection, and loneliness. A 2X TED speaker, 4X Google speaker, and 5X Stanford speaker, Kasley was entrusted with delivering the SXSW 2025 opening keynote and the WIRED Health 2025 closing keynote. With groundbreaking insights and practical strategies, Kasley inspires audiences to live more meaningfully connected lives.
Her collaborations with top organizations like the US Government, the Aspen Institute, and AARP contribute to building more socially healthy products, workplaces, and communities. She is an Impact Fellow at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, serves on the Board of Directors for the Community Living Campaign and the Scientific Advisory Board for Only7Seconds, and founded the national nonprofit Social Health Labs in 2020.
Kasley earned a master’s degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Queen’s University in Canada, and professional certificates from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Columbia University. Previously, she led a nationwide community engagement strategy for Verily (Google Life Sciences), conducted research on positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and launched an initiative to promote empathy and kindness that won an award at Stanford University.
An influential public voice and prolific writer, Kasley’s insights are regularly featured in major media outlets, including The New York Times, Forbes, NPR, The Guardian, CNBC, Scientific American, The Globe and Mail, Fortune, Health Affairs, The Washington Post, Vox, WIRED, The Boston Globe, and Psychology Today. She pens the popular Substack newsletter, Social Health with Kasley Killam.
For her trailblazing impact, Kasley received the prestigious Eudaimonia Award from UCLA in 2024 and was named one of the 100 Women to Know in America in 2025. She has been recognized as an Aspen Institute Health Fellow, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Encore Public Voices Fellow, Columbia University Age Boom Fellow, and Mind & Life Institute Visiting Scholar. Kasley was invited to the White House during the Obama presidency and has had the honor of meeting with world leaders, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Prime Ministers of Canada and Bhutan.
Born and raised in Vancouver, she now calls California home and travels the world championing social health.
Social Health: The Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier
We’re taught to care for our bodies with exercise and nutrition and our minds with therapy and self-care. But true well-being is incomplete without strong relationships. Kasley Killam introduces the emerging concept of social health, revealing groundbreaking science, inspiring stories, and practical steps you can take to thrive through deeper human connection.
The Art and Science of Connection at Work
Whether remote, hybrid, or in the office, companies that foster socially fit teams gain a competitive edge. Backed by research showing that connected employees drive higher engagement, productivity, and retention, Kasley Killam makes the business case for workplace social health -- and shares proven strategies that you can implement starting today.
The Future of Health is Social
Health isn’t just physical or mental -- it’s also social. Just as mental health shifted from niche to mainstream and taboo to priority, social health is the next frontier. Kasley Killam uncovers emerging trends, predicts what’s ahead, and reveals how you can help lead the movement toward a more connected, healthier future.
From Loneliness Epidemic to Social Health Revolution
Loneliness can be as deadly as smoking -- leading the US Surgeon General to declare it an epidemic and the UK and Japan to appoint Ministers of Loneliness. Drawing from her Harvard research and 10+ years of impact across sectors, Kasley Killam shares a powerful framework for transforming isolation into connection, empowering individuals and communities to build a more socially healthy world.
