Chelsea Shields

Activist, Anthropologist & Consultant

Travels From Travels From:
Salt Lake City, UT, USA
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Chelsea Shields Biography

Chelsea Shields is a biocultural anthropologist, a research and strategy consultant, and an outspoken activist for women's rights.

Shields has over a decade of research experience in populations at home and around the world. She's also a strategist with broad training in user experience, brand strategy, social media and human behavior. As an activist, she focuses mostly on issues affecting women and women of color, particularly religious gender inequality, and she has been a co-founder or leader of several Mormon-focused women’s rights movements such as LDSWAVE: Women Advocating for Voice and Equality, Ordain Women, Mormons for ERA and The Mormon Women's Roundtable. A regular guest on podcasts, at conferences, and as a commentator and a contributor in the 2015 book Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings, Chelsea is changing the way we think about gender roles in religion.

Shields is best known for her activism to combat religious gender inequality – specifically in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormon Church) in which she was raised, though she is currently inactive and is no longer a believer in Mormon doctrine or scripture. Shields delivered a TED Talk on the topic of Religious Gender Inequality at the TED Fellows Retreat in September 2015. In November 2015, the talk was featured on TED.com under the title, "How I'm Working for Change Inside My Church."

Shields is also on the board of the Sunstone Education Foundation, an organization that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry.

Shields’ academic work focuses on the concept of social susceptibility or why human bodies have evolved to be susceptible to social manipulation. She has spent 26 months over the course of a decade in the field in West Africa researching Asante indigenous healers,[20] ritual ceremonies, and biocultural interactions. Shields argued that grounding human behavior in social adaptations and viewing biocultural interactions in sickness and healing from an evolutionary perspective reveals important discoveries in placebo and ritual studies, religion, pain, stress, emotions, empathy, and social inequality. Shields spoke about how these sociocultural, biological and evolutionary concepts clash in a TED talk at the 2013 TED Fellows Retreat in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, where she used an Asante ethnographic case study of bonesetting to elucidate socially mediating pain mechanisms.

Shields was originally a cultural anthropologist and extended her studies to include a PhD in biological anthropology in order to explain the proximate and ultimate mechanisms of what was happening during ritual healing ceremonies.

Chelsea Shields Speaking Topics

    • Evolutionary Medicine
    • Social Susceptibility
    • Placebo and Nocebo Studies
    • Pain
    • Stress
    • Coping Mechanisms
    • Why Belonging Matters
    • Evolution, Religion, and Health
    • Evolutionary Psychology of Religion
    • The Social Truth of Religion
    • Religious Gender Inequality
    • Mormon Women's History, Resistance, and Activism
    • Person-Centered & Evidence Based Research & Design

Chelsea Shields Videos

  • "The Evolutionary Roots of Religious Adaptation" by Chelsea Strayer
  • Chelsea Shields How I'm working for change inside my church ...
  • Mormon Feminist "Chelsea Shields" speaks out why the Mormon ...

FAQs on booking Chelsea Shields

  • How do I book Chelsea Shields to speak at my event?

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  • What are the speaker fees for Chelsea Shields

    Speaking fees for Chelsea Shields, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Chelsea Shields are for live events and for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Chelsea Shields, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.
  • What topics does Chelsea Shields speak about?

    Chelsea Shields is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Christian, Faith & Religion, Feminism, TED, Women, Women's Health, Women's History Month, Women's Rights.
  • Where does Chelsea Shields travel from?

    Chelsea Shields generally travels from Salt Lake City, UT, USA, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.
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    AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Chelsea Shields for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Chelsea Shields for your next private or corporate function.
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    AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Chelsea Shields or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.
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Chelsea Shields is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as. The estimated speaking fee range to book Chelsea Shields for your event is $20,000 - $30,000. Chelsea Shields generally travels from Salt Lake City, UT, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Gloria Feldt, The Sis Official, Blair Imani, Robin Morgan and Loretta Ross. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Chelsea Shields for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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