Lisa Honig Buksbaum is a passionary (a visionary driven by great passion and action). Three experiences with death and illness inspired her to launch Soaringwords a non-profit public charity that has embraced more than 250,000 children and families. Soaringwords' mission is to lessen the negative impact of serious illness by embracing hospitalized children, families and staff, encouraging positive health and healing. Soaringwords provides fun, creative and educational activities both in person and online based on positive psychology concepts that enhance well-being in the midst of illness. Soaringwords is unique because it is the only organization that motivates ill children and their families to "pay it forward" which fosters altruism, reciprocity, empathy, well-being and resilience.
Lisa was awarded Lives that Make A Difference Award from A&E Networks; Cisco's National Growing with Technology Award; "Focus on Philanthropy" featured CEO, Chronicle of Philanthropy; National Partner, Make a Difference Day, the largest day of volunteering in the U.S. Featured subject content expert in healthcare, wellness, entrepreneurship, non-profit leadership on ABC News, in USA Weekend, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Fortune Small Business, Working Mother and Nickelodeon.
Lisa graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania; earned a MBA in Marketing from Columbia University. In 2013, Lisa earned a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) at the University of Pennsylvania, in a program founded by Dr. Martin Seligman, the founder of the field of positive psychology. She is also a Graduate of Columbia's Graduate School of Business' Institute for Non-Profit Management program and a graduate of the Birthing of Giants program run by M.I.T., Inc. Magazine, and Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO).
Prior to founding Soaringwords, Lisa founded and ran Boxtree Communications, a successful marketing firm, for 11 years. Boxtree managed marketing and branding projects for leading firms including NTT, Equitable, Chase, Scholastic, Colgate, and Dannon. She also had a successful career at international advertising agencies including Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy and
Mather, and Lintas. She was an online columnist for Inc. Magazine and writes a Soaringwords blog for the Huffington Post. She lives in Manhattan with her husband Jacob and has two sons, Jonathan and Joshua. She gains her energy from swimming each morning and connecting with people in meaningful ways.
