Global Good News: Excellence in Action

Maharishi International University (MIU) MBA students Meagen Anderson and Natalia Fernandez recently formed a partnership to offer the Transcendental Meditation technique to survivors of sexual harassment and assault in the beverage industry.

Meagen has worked in the beverage industry for 20 years, where the harassment of women was common and went unacknowledged without any support for survivors. When women began speaking out about their experiences in May 2021, Meagen realized she could help create a sustainable change within the industry.

Meagen learned the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique in 2018 and joined MIU’s online MBA in Sustainable Business in 2021. After 16 years in the brewing industry, she started her own company, Hop Forward Consulting, focusing on non-alcoholic beer and sustainable sourcing of hops, a flavoring used in beer.

Through her attendance at MIU, she was able to solidify a regular TM practice and shift to a healthier lifestyle. “I want to bring bliss into the brewing industry and relieve suffering by giving survivors what I have been given,” she said. “We want to provide survivors with a tool so they can achieve their highest potential.”

In the spring of 2021 Meagen and Natalia both volunteered to organize MIU’s virtual International Conference on Consciousness-Based Leadership and Management. Meagen then invited Natalia to join her company, and together they rebranded it to offer holistic business solutions.

Natalia graduated from Flagler College in 2019 and has been traveling the world as a digital nomad, working as a marketer and educator in Denmark, Spain, Scotland, and Bali. She has also founded the nonprofit Period, to provide education about PMDD, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. She is a functional medicine certified health coach candidate with the Institute for Functional Medicine and the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy.

In 2020 Natalia decided to pursue an MBA in Sustainable Business and discovered MIU. She was intrigued by the MA in Leadership and Workplace Conflict Resolution program, so she decided to add that to her MBA.

Natalia says that the TM technique has been a life-changing tool for her. “I feel like my potential has been unlocked, and anything I want to do is possible,” she said.

Their first initiative, the Transcending Trauma Program, allows companies to train their employees in the Transcendental Meditation technique while simultaneously sponsoring survivors of the #MeToo movement within the brewing industry in partnership with the Women of the Bevolution Brave Voices Fund. The program also features workshops, follow-up sessions, and a gift box.

“Our ultimate goal is to redefine organizational health,” said Natalia. The duo has been receiving guidance from the TM for Women organization, and Meagen is currently enrolled in Dr. Tony Nader’s Consciousness Advisors Course.

"The potential of every student is infinite. The time of student life should serve to unfold that infinite potential so that every individual becomes a vibrant centre of Total Knowledge."—Maharishi