One Team. One Dream.

Meet the Beautiful Minds® team creating the experiences that inspire and ignite.

Beautiful Minds® Team

Marina Passalaris

Founder/Owner, Beautiful Minds®
Professional portrait of a man in a dark suit with a white shirt, arms crossed, neutral expression, against a black background of the photo's studio setting

Brendon A.J Rademakers

Founder & CEO, Beautiful Ventures

Alex Vespestad​

Co-creator BM experiences, producer of global hit podcasts 

Ryan Soave

Leading US therapist and stress and addiction expert

Rob Tannion

Collaborator, Producer at Cirque Du Soleil

Dr. Branton Shearer​

World-renowned Harvard psychologist, creator of MIDAS
Rabbi Mordecai Finley

Mordecai Finley

Revered expert in relationships, black belt in BJJ

Dr. David Sortino

Director of the Neurofeedback Institute of Sonoma County

Kansas Carradine

HeartMath practitioner, Founder at Circus Cowgirl

Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk

Renowned trauma expert, NYT Best-Selling Author

Beautiful Minds® Board

Fred Fuchs

Oscar-Nominated Producer and former President of American Zoetrope

Jennifer Mulveny

Director at Adobe, former Director at Intel, and former trade rep at the White House

Chris Corbin

Investor, former CEO at Grays, Board at Australian Water Polo
Pat Custer

Pat Custer

Former Chairman/CEO at Curtis Mathes Corporation, former President at Donny Osmond Entertainment

Founder, Beautiful Minds®

Marina Passalaris

Marina  Passalaris is a respected Australian author, media commentator and entrepreneur who has dedicated more than two decades to youth wellbeing.

Motivated by her own struggle with anxiety, Marina launched Beautiful Minds in 2003, spending months driving across regional Australia to deliver evidence‑based confidence workshops to small groups of girls.

To date Beautiful Minds has supported just over 1.8 million kids and their parents.

Marina’s impact has earned her nominations for Australian of the Year and Telstra Business Woman of the Year, while Westpac named Beautiful Minds among its prestigious Top 20 most up and coming Australian companies.

Professional portrait of a man in a dark suit with a white shirt, arms crossed, neutral expression, against a black background of the photo's studio setting

Founder & CEO, Beautiful Ventures

Brendon A.J Rademakers

Brendon A.J Rademakers is the Founder and CEO of Beautiful Ventures, the Singapore-headquartered company behind Beautiful Minds.

He leads the development of Beautiful Minds as a global family media, experiences and entertainment company — creating original programs, live experiences, digital products and intellectual property designed to bring families closer.

Beautiful Minds has reached more than 1.8 million families and worked across 935 schools, with collaborators and partners spanning neuroscience, psychology, sport, entertainment and global brands.

Brendon’s background is in storytelling, media and creative development. He has worked across television and film, including training at Stanford University, and now leads the creative and commercial direction of Beautiful Ventures and its growing portfolio of family brands and experiences.

Collaborator, producer of global hit podcasts

Alex Vespestad

Alex Vespestad is a writer, producer, and editor of award-winning immersive audio shows. He’s most known for his work on the Apple hit #1 podcast To Live and Die In LA.

Recently he produced NBA star Steph Curry’s Audible series and worked with Rick Rubin and Kim Kardashian.

He has worked with the world’s most respected and prominent content creators, such as Spotify, Netflix, Audible, Wondery, TenderfootTV, The Podcast App, Panoramic Media, Epicleff Media, and Best Case Studios. In total, the podcasts he has produced have garnered over 60 million listens.

Collaborator, Producer at Cirque Du Soleil

Rob Tannion

Rob Tannion is an experienced Artistic Director with a background working for globally recognized arts and entertainment companies. He currently serves as Director of Show Quality at Cirque du Soleil, having previously directed their groundbreaking ice show, “Crystal.” With extensive experience in choreography and managing large-scale international productions, Rob brings a wealth of creative and operational leadership from the highest levels of the entertainment world.

Founder & Equine Wellness Facilitator at Circus Cowgirl

Kansas Carradine

Kansas Carradine combines a lifetime of equestrian expertise with certifications in HeartMath and Equine Guided Education. Daughter of actor David Carradine, she has entertained global audiences as a trick rider and stuntwoman in film and live shows like Cavalia. Through her venture, Circus Cowgirl, Kansas now focuses on enhancing mental and emotional well-being, using HeartMath techniques and horse-centered programs to help individuals regulate their nervous systems and build resilience.

Founder & President of the Trauma Research Foundation

Bessel Van Der Kolk

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is a pioneering psychiatrist, author, and educator whose career has been dedicated to studying how individuals adapt to traumatic experiences. Based in Boston, he is the founder of the Trauma Research Foundation and a Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. van der Kolk authored the seminal bestseller “The Body Keeps the Score,” profoundly influencing the understanding and treatment of trauma worldwide.

Oscar-Nominated Producer

Fred Fuchs

Fred Fuchs is the former President of American Zoetrope – the visionary production company founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.

American Zoetrope’s films include:

THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER PART II, AMERICAN GRAFFITI, THE CONVERSATION, APOCALYPSE NOW, LOST IN TRANSLATION.

Fred has produced seventeen features including THE GODFATHER PART III, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, DON JUAN DEMARCO, and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES.

His films have been nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and he is an Emmy Award winner. While at Zoetrope Fuchs also started a successful TV division and was Executive Producer for international award-winning miniseries like THE ODYSSEY and MOBY DICK.

Fred lives in Northside, California and is a keen mountain biker.

Director at Adobe

Jennifer Mulveny

Jennifer Mulveny brings over 25 years of high-level public policy and government relations experience to the Beautiful Minds board. Currently serving as Adobe’s Director of Government Relations and Public Policy for Asia-Pacific, based in Sydney, she has previously worked in Washington D.C., including a tenure at the White House. An active advocate for women in technology and a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna, Jennifer contributes her extensive strategic expertise as a Board Member for Beautiful Minds.

Investor & Board Member

Chris Corbin

Chris Corbin is an investor, business leader and Board member of Beautiful Minds, bringing extensive experience in building digital marketplaces, growing businesses and guiding their long-term direction.

As CEO of Grays, he led the international expansion of one of Australia’s best-known online marketplaces. He later led Machines4u through its evolution from a lead-generation platform into a full-service industrial marketplace, ahead of its sale to an ASX-listed company.

Today, Chris invests in businesses spanning industrial equipment, digital platforms and emerging technology. His Board and advisory roles include Yellowgate Group, UTransport and Work Clone. He brings a practical understanding of commercial strategy, governance and sustainable growth to Beautiful Minds.

A former Australian water polo representative and current Board member of Water Polo Australia, Chris also cares deeply about the opportunities sport creates for young people. His commitment to teamwork, resilience and helping the next generation thrive aligns closely with Beautiful Minds’ purpose of bringing families closer.

Pat Custer

International technology and business leader

Pat Custer

Pat Custer is an experienced business leader with a career spanning technology, finance, entertainment and international business. He has held Chairman and CEO positions with GoKnow Mobile Solutions, Curtis Mathes Corporation, Donny Osmond Entertainment Corporation and uniView Technologies. Pat began his career as an engineer with Honeywell and Texas Instruments before developing his financial expertise at EF Hutton, where he focused on international monetary exchange and monetary policy across Asia.

Over the past 25 years, Pat has made more than 100 business trips to Asia, as well as travelling extensively throughout South America and Europe. He served as Chief Technical Advisor to the Pacific Rim Forum and was a member of Investment2000, supporting business development surrounding the Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Pat is a graduate of Texas Tech University and The University of Texas at Dallas.