Founding Story
We believe in bringing creativity to the forefront of addressing the stigmatized and universal problem of every day mental health, including stress, anxiety and loneliness.
MixLife was born out of my own personal experience with the power of meaningful human connections and creativity. After years of climbing the corporate ladder, a traumatic event at work grew to full-blown PTSD and proved to be something I couldn’t just push through. While trying to cope through simply working harder, my emotional and mental wellbeing fell by the wayside and my experiences of depletion, anxiety and isolation grew to a point I could no longer ignore.
In exploring various forms of treatment and therapy, I was led to connect with the dance classes of my youth. I quickly found that tapping into creativity gave me a path through which I experienced a healing sense of belonging and connection. Creativity proved to be an easy gateway to moments of joy and gave me a reason to look forward to life again.
As I researched and uncovered more, it became obvious that the experience of wellbeing and connection gained through the therapeutic powers of creativity were applicable for all, not just in cases as extreme as mine. I realized the power of creative community could be scaled to the forefront of addressing the broad challenges of everyday stress, loneliness and isolation at work. With a renewed sense of energy born of my own healing experiences, I founded MixLife to create and offer a platform for others navigating life in today’s workforce to share in the transformative powers of creativity.
On this journey, I have had the privilege to grow a passionate team with strong and diverse backgrounds in technology, arts and community building, who all believe in this founding vision. We understand how challenging it is to solve for belonging and connection in a remote/hybrid first world, while also acknowledging that it is essential for a thriving workforce. So we’ve designed the MixLife platform for collaboration to do just that—drive overall wellbeing through a sense of belonging and community, all through the joy of creative expression.
If you’re starting to think, “that actually sounds pretty cool…and fun”, our team offers a humble “it most definitely is.” We never tire of witnessing the transformative powers of our MixLife Journeys. Let us tell you more. Reach out and join us on our path to a more connected and engaged workforce.
Stay creative and stay inspired,
Deepa Vivekanandan, Founder & CEO
The team
Deepa Vivekanandan(She/Her)
Founder & CEO
Deepa founded and successfully led several cutting edge efforts at Google to apply AI to some of the hardest problems in society, ranging from child safety, to tackling hate speech, to improving the quality of recommendations affecting billions of hours of user engagement every month. Deepa had first hand experience with chronic PTSD that opened her eyes to the big gaps in mental health and inspired her to found this company. For self-care, Deepa likes to dance, practice Yoga and go for walks with her puppy.
Srikanth Thadakamalla(He/Him)
Chief Technology Officer
Srikanth is a serial entrepreneur who loves to take ideas from concept to market, founder of an EdTech company with a successful exit, and previously held engineering management positions at Yahoo and Oracle. Srikanth is Chief Technology Officer at MixLife and is inspired by the healing power of creativity. In his free time, Srikanth loves to root for his favorite sports teams (Go Dubs!, Go Team India!) and play golf.
Paige Clem(She/Her)
Head of Artist Relations
With a collective 25+ career in music and live events, association management, publishing, merchandise, distribution, nonprofits and beyond, Paige has played an essential role in the development, marketing, sales and production of a wide array of products, programs, and live events. A musician herself, her passion for creative expression drives MixLife’s programming and instructor offerings. For wellbeing, Paige writes songs, sings, colors mandalas and spends time outside hiking and obsessing about birds.
Sarah Ness(She/Her)
PhD, Chief Curriculum Officer
A passionate advocate for the therapeutic power of the arts, Sarah has played an essential role in building and growing healing arts programs for nonprofits serving diverse populations. Her interest in workplace wellbeing informed her doctoral research on employee burnout and her 20 years of experience as an expressive arts therapist and program director make her expertise a perfect fit for the MixLife mission. For her own wellbeing, Sarah enjoys mixed media art, listening to favorite playlists, and walking her 2 adorable dogs.
Neena Rahul(She/Her)
Head of Business Operations
Neena transitioned to Business Development to lead the Operations and Education arm of a non-profit after 29 years in Corporate Tech where she implemented mission-critical software solutions for the Legal and Finance industries. Neena heads business operations for MixLife and is inspired by the MixLife mission to empower employers to promote Workplace Wellness with Creativity. She likes to hike, meditate, and do yoga, and sets annual goals to learn new things like Hindustani Classical music and golf.
MixLife in the media
