Global Wellness Summit 2025: Day Three

Global Wellness Summit Day 1
Global Wellness Summit Day 2

Experience as Medicine
Ramy Elnagar, Co-Founder, White Mirror, Portugal

How do light, sound, touch, aroma and art affect us? If we start with the human experience and then develop the technology, we can really touch behavior and offer transformation.

Spas can become immersive sanctuaries to connect us with the natural world. Step into a space, submerge yourself in water, lie on vibroacoustic lilypads, and absorb the sounds of the forest. This affects heart rate, brainwaves, and breathing, lowering stress and calming the nervous system.

How does a bedroom help you become a better sleeper? Minimize the factors that interrupt sleep or reduce its quality. What if your hotel room could teach guests new hacks to sleep better, so that they can then apply them at home?

Modern luxury is the ability to think clearly, sleep deeply, move slowly, and live quietly in a world designed to prevent all four.

Older Adults and Wellspan: An Unexpected Market Opportunity
Mary Leary, President & CEO, Mather, United States

We are wired to become more creative as we age. A comprehensive wellness framework includes emotional, spiritual, intellectual, social, physical, and occupational dimensions. Wellness is defined by ‘The 3 ‘A’s’: autonomy (agency), achievement (a sense of purpose), and affiliation (engagement). Mary suggests that true well-being encompasses multiple life areas and is actively realized through a combination of personal control, meaningful purpose, and social connection.

One of the biggest contributors to longevity is community – surround yourself with people who support your positive, wellness-focused choices.

Aesthetic Longevity
Lucy Goff, Founder, LYMA, United Kingdom

Beauty must now be seen as a byproduct of cellular health, by stimulating collagen production without damaging and stressing the skin, rejuvenation is possible with the ease of at-home use.

When compared with an LED device of the same wavelength, the cold laser with LYMA’s hexagonal refraction glass altered the expression of 45 genes, improving wound healing and outperforming the placebo and the LED device.

Longevity of the Planet: Conscious Creation
Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, Managing Director, Suryagarh Collection; Founder, Dhun; Founder, The I Love Foundation, India

5.7 billion people around the world live on less than $10 USD per day. The top 2% of the population have a higher carbon footprint than this population combined. The basics of shelter, clean water, food and education are the focus, clean air and organic food are not even on their radar. The new playbook uses ancestral intelligence and artificial intelligence to make regeneration of the planet a viable option; more logical, social and profitable than extraction.

By drawing inspiration from ancient cultures, beautifully crafted buildings can be designed that cool naturally and create rich experiences. Creating reservoirs or ‘farm ponds’ can change the entire landscape, bringing herds of cattle, wild plants and allowing for farming operations to produce organic food for the community. These settlements exist in harmony with nature and don’t become burdens, but legacies for future generations.

The Great Beauty Blur: Beauty, Health & Wellness Futures
Olivia Houghton, Insights & Engagement Director, The Future Laboratory, United Kingdom

The global beauty market is valued at 1.35 billion USD in 2024. In the beauty market, about 10% of sales are truly new, innovative products. Innovation is challenging, as only around 10% of new brands survive long-term. Technology and digital culture have created echo chambers in the beauty industry media, the content that does well, monopolizes engagement. Beauty has become a digital commodity, as appearance drives social validation and status.

Resisting algorithmic fluency in beauty signals a shift in the industry that rejects standardized, formulaic aesthetics in favor of interpretive design and the amplification of diverse, underrepresented narratives. This new wave is characterized by four key trends: ‘Anti-fluency Aesthetics’, which intentionally use distortion and hyper-artificial effects to disrupt uniformity and spark curiosity; ‘Interpretative Beauty’, where brands utilize micro-communities and coded aesthetics to create complex, engaging experiences that challenge easy fluency; ‘The Beauty of Origin’, which sees a resurgence of regional beauty, heritage, local rituals, and ethnic aesthetics embraced by brands; and finally, ‘Dynamic by Design’, where evolving scents and transformative make-up are used to continually surprise consumers and challenge predictable beauty standards.

In the future, our illusion of self, how we look digitally, will become even more relevant. How can brands help people anchor their identity in more than just appearance? In the acceleration economy, brands continue to reach extremes to differentiate themselves. The aesthetic advantage signals status, ideology and desirability.

Cutting Edge Real Estate: Sustainability and Longevity for People and Planet
Alex Zagrabelny, Founder & CEO, R.Evolution, United Arab Emirates

Cities are losing their authenticity, with kilometers of concrete separating us from nature. Toxic materials and toxic air pollute our environment and destroy health.

Can we create buildings that extend our lives?

A longevity ecosystem is an integrated residential concept that blends advanced technology with ancient wisdom and natural principles. The design emphasizes storytelling, biophilia, and ecological sustainability. This is complemented by ancient knowledge, incorporating vastu shastra, ayurveda, and the five elements of nature for well-being. The system also features advanced technologies for health and well-being, including non-toxic materials, mold/fungi protection, EMF shielding (Fars-Field protection, described as the world’s first residential building application), advanced air and water purification systems, and hydroponic micro-farms, all designed to create a comprehensive and healthy living environment.

Spirituality as a Pillar of Longevity
Anna Bjurstam, Wellness Pioneer, Six Senses, Sweden

We have started to worship science, yet 70% of studies cannot reproduce another scientist’s work, 50% cannot reproduce their own work, and these are the studies that we talk about most! What we see and what other animals see is actually different, our reality is actually subjective.

Those with a spiritual practice have 82% lower rates of depression and 94% less risk of suicide. Plant medicine and energy medicine can heal through the fields that we cannot see. Science is separation and energy is connection; integration is the future.

Are we facing a health crisis or a meaning crisis? We need belonging and community rather than tracking and hacking. Love is the ultimate, yet invisible, medicine. Meaning keeps us alive, not just mitochondria; if we deepen connection and awe, we can be fully alive for all the years that we live.

Announcement of Shark Tank of Wellness Awards

Congratulations to Lina Madeleine Holzkämper, of the Management Center Innsbruck, Austria, who won the competition with her AI-powered platform to help hospitality businesses tailor experiences to the guests’ needs, abilities, and preferences.

My Own Wild Origins and Life After Six Senses
Neil Jacobs, Founder, Wild Origins, Singapore and United States

Luxury hospitality brands need to tell their story, be bold, and stick to their brand identity, rather than trying to please everyone.

Neil shared the story of chicken farming at Six Senses. With the aim of serving organic eggs, they started keeping chickens in a farm in the back-of-house. After a 6-year-old child found them and brought his family back to see them, all the hotel’s guests started to visit the chickens. Six Senses now has chicken farms in every location and they have a place front-of-house, where guests can see them and interact with them. It’s part of the brand story and identity.

Having made many wrong hires and mistakes along the way, they eventually created a culture that became the reason for their success. With a 74% staff turnover in the hospitality industry, this is exceptionally high. What makes the difference is care and engagement with the employees – ‘mission wellness’ was Six Senses’ program developed entirely for the staff.

Wild Origins, Neil’s new project, has gathered expertise in medical, hospitality and other areas of the industry to offer consulting services.

Woman in Wellness Award
Presenting Sponsor: Amway
Presented by Asha Gupta, COO, Amway, Singapore
Amy McDonald, Founder & CEO, Under a Tree Consulting; 2024 Recipient of Woman in Wellness, United States

Congratulations to Mary Tabacchi, PhD, Professor of Cornell University, United States

Special Presentation: Living Proof

Deborah Szekely, at 103 years old, shared a prerecorded message for delegates on vitality and a long life.

Longevity Through a Wellness Lens: Where We Go From Here
Susie Ellis, Founder, Chair & CEO, Global Wellness Summit, United States

Susie welcomed the co-chairs to the stage and thanked everyone for their participation. Mike Roizen, highlighted the diverse topics, expertise and quality of connection; Anna Bjurstam, reflected on the bonds that we share as an industry that has so much fun together!

Announcement of 20th Anniversary Global Wellness Summit Location
Flag Tease!
Nancy Davis, Chief Creative Officer & Executive Director, Global Wellness Summit, United States
Susie Ellis, Founder, Chair & CEO, Global Wellness Summit, United States