We Are All One · WAAO
Something is stirring. Can you feel it? We are building a living network of leaders to together birth a new paradigm — rooted in cooperation, consensus, care for nature, and the ancient knowing that we are all one.
Across the world, people are waking up — to injustice, to ecological collapse, to systems that no longer serve the majority of life on this planet.
The old ways are visibly crumbling. And in that collapse lives an extraordinary, once-in-a-generation opportunity to imagine and build something profoundly new. WAAO is a proposal to meet that moment — not by fighting the old, but by creating the new.
A society rooted in matriarchal values,
across Europe, within one generation.
We Are All One (WAAO) is a living network of pioneers coming together to birth a matriarchal paradigm — a return home to something far older and far wiser than the systems we inherited.
We connect, support and inspire people and groups who dare to imagine — and build — a Europe grounded in community, compassion, collaboration, consent, care and regeneration: a Europe centred on life, and on protecting the vulnerable.
We are building a pioneer network that offers safe spaces for people who resonate with matriarchal principles and want to start building a better world from there. We weave this safety into the very fabric of our movement, so that WAAO itself becomes a living example of the change we want to see in the world.
It starts and ends with love. From there, we organise around compassion, collaboration, consent, care, regeneration — around life itself.
The concept of matriarchy is not the mirror image of patriarchy. It is not about domination by women. It is something far older and far wiser that belongs to all of us.
The WAAO network consists of a diversity of brave, aware and deeply alive human beings, committed to learning to embody and remember our full human integrity. We organise our movement in sociocratic circles.
We are inclusive and adjust our ways to fit the needs and wellbeing of all — not just the few.
We practice showing up with care, curiosity and accountability. We speak up when we notice injustice, harm or when our values are being compromised.
We practice the art of healthy conflict, and train capacity for harm-free discomfort. Safety is not the absence of challenge — it is the presence of trust.
The sociocratic principles promote fair, non-hierarchical decision making, based on consent and transparency. No single leader. Shared power.
"Matriarchy is community. And this is what we are here to create."
Power building at the grassroots. A toolbox and curriculum — based on the Pioneer Training — that citizen circles can use to discuss matriarchal principles, build community resilience, and develop new forms of leadership from the ground up.
Real-life community projects that put matriarchal principles into practice. The Living Lab is where the vision becomes physical — testing governance models, care economies, and regenerative practices in actual communities across Europe.
A unique blend of ancestral, somatic and scientific work — drawing on archaeological, anthropological, behavioural and political science to articulate an alternative governance framework. Equipping leaders to imagine and articulate the future we want, and to build the coalition to make it real.
Public affairs and policy. Synthesising research, developing concrete governance proposals, and engaging decision-makers across Europe — creating the institutional infrastructure for a matriarchal paradigm to take root in law, policy, and public life.
Governance systems change when a critical mass of leaders within them begin operating from a different set of values, tools, and relationships. These are the people building that critical mass.
Founder, Sarah Jane Transforming Communication · El Masnou, Barcelona
Sarah Jane brings over two decades of experience at the intersection of language, power, and transformation. The creator of The Power Programs — a suite of communication methodologies that help senior women leaders activate their highest potential and lead on their own terms — she has trained leaders across a multitude of industries and in some of Europe's most significant companies, from PepsiCo to Mango, La Caixa to Oracle. Her academic grounding spans English Literature (London Metropolitan), Embodied Mindfulness (Gestalt Institute of Toronto), and a diploma in Leading Profound Innovation for a more Sustainable World from MIT. At WAAO, Sarah Jane leads the design of the Pioneer Training curriculum, weaving together personal power rooted in feminine wisdom, and somatic practice blended with the latest advances in neuroscience. She specialises in the art of conscious dialogue as a pathway to transcendental communication.
LinkedIn →
Strategy & Programme Director, Philanthropy · Diplomacy & Policy
Julia has worked over a decade for the health of the planet. She is currently Strategy and Programme Director at a Philanthropic Fund, where she focuses on Prosperity, Diplomacy and Policy. She brings a decade of experience navigating multilateral and national politics, with leadership roles across the public and private sector and proven expertise in building multi-stakeholder coalitions that push the boundaries of people and organisations. Most recently she served as energy expert in the UN Secretary-General's Climate Action Team, working creatively with governments, private sector and civil society to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement — and co-leading the Energy Transition Track of the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Previously she led global public affairs for Danfoss, the Danish multinational, where she served on the board of the European Heat Pump Association and the EU Alliance to Save Energy. She holds a Master's in International Business and Politics (Copenhagen Business School), a Bachelor's in Business Administration, Intercultural Communication and Spanish (University of Passau), and is certified in Power and Influence for Positive Impact (Harvard Business School). At WAAO, Julia leads strategy, policy architecture, and the cross-sector coalition that will implement this vision into business, politics, and local communities throughout Europe.
LinkedIn →
Board Advisor · European Chair · Founder, Systematic-X
Chantelle believes in legacy, compassion, and being society's and the planet's keeper — not to live above or consume more, but to be at the roots, giving to community and Earth. A Board-Level Transformation Executive with 25 years of experience at the intersection of human design, technology, and responsible AI, she brings a lived perspective — as a Black, intersectional, neurodivergent leader — that profoundly shapes how she designs and leads transformation. Currently serving as Strategic Advisor or Chair across Techface, Women in AI Governance, and as CEO of Systematic-X, Chantelle leads AI Governance initiatives across Europe while designing ethical AI automation globally. Her track record spans 90 countries, with award-winning transformations focused on environment, equity and ethics. Previously leading Digital Globally at Capgemini, she has returned to lead her own AI Academy and has created The Equity Sanctuary — a space where marginalised people can learn, grow, and be free. Her interconnected work restores humanity.
LinkedIn →
Retired Attorney · Systems Thinker · Land-based Leadership · California/Latvia
Maija is of mixed German and Latvian descent — a dual citizen of Latvia and the United States whose work is rooted in the cultural lineage of her mother's family, forcibly displaced from Latvia during the Second World War and resettled in California. Their roots trace to the Gauja River region near Aloja, where land-based traditions have endured through centuries of occupation. She lives and works on the unceded lands of the Salinan, Chalon, Esselen, Rumsen and Ohlone Peoples on the Central Coast of California, where she is stewarding land in the Highlands of the Salinas Valley. Her work is grounded in cultural recovery — reclaiming knowledge disrupted through displacement, supporting governance systems in realigning with lineage, identity, and responsibility to community, and strengthening structures of trust as a foundation for all of it. With over 25 years of experience, she brings a background as a retired attorney, systems thinker, and leadership development specialist. At WAAO, Maija carries the ancient knowing that governance rooted in land, lineage and care is not a theory — it is a living inheritance. She is a mother, a wife, a sister, an auntie, and the daughter of Laima Danilovs and Bix Blaufuss.
Website → LinkedIn →
Researcher, Behavioural & Monetary Economics · Happonomy · VUB
Stef Kuypers began at the intersection of technology and human creativity — building a practice that spans IT, coaching, improvisation, and business transformation. That diversity of experience led him to a deeper question: what if the economic systems we live inside were designed to help people thrive, rather than simply to grow? At Happonomy, Stef develops the Sustainable Money System (SuMSy) — a pioneering monetary model that seeks to realign financial mechanisms with human well-being and ecological health. His research is grounded in a deceptively simple observation: people's behaviour adapts to context. Put someone on a football pitch, and they play football. Put them on a golf course, and they don't. The monetary system is one of those contexts — and it is in urgent need of redesign. Stef is pursuing his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and serves on the board of Happonomy. At WAAO, he brings the rigour of systems thinking and the conviction that the right structures can unlock our collective capacity to live well, together.
LinkedIn →Matriarchy is not the mirror image of patriarchy. It is not domination by women. It is something far older and far wiser — and it belongs to all of us.
It is a culture of stewardship — communities guided by councils of elders through compassion, collaboration and consensus, in true harmony with nature and all beings. No single leader. No hierarchy of domination.
Instead: shared power, collective well-being, and decisions made with foresight for the next seven generations. History and contemporary research alike show us that societies organised around these principles are more peaceful, more equitable, and more ecologically resilient.
This is what we mean when we say: Matriarchy is community. And this is what we are here to create.
Decisions made through collective wisdom and deliberation — with foresight for long-term consequences.
Communities and resources held as commons — with responsibility to future generations.
Authority held collectively, with accountability embedded in relationships rather than hierarchy.
Human communities understood as part of nature — not separate from or above it.
The care of people, communities, and planet is not an ideal — it is an active practice and political foundation.
The WAAO Pioneer Training is the entry point for leaders who are ready to think beyond crisis management — and toward a genuinely new European paradigm.
It equips participants to break through preconceived constraints, to imagine the future we want, and to articulate and build it with others. Europe was once a big, bold idea. We need that kind of visionary thinking again.
The training brings together a first cohort of leaders from business, politics and civil society — alongside members of the WAAO Network and Living Lab — for an immersive gathering that is the beginning of something lasting.
A communications methodology to lead conversations, influence outcomes and amplify authentic leadership — rooted in personal power and feminine wisdom.
Breathwork, meditation, movement — to regulate the nervous system, cultivate presence, and build the capacity to hold complexity and uncertainty.
Drawing on matriarchal traditions, land-based wisdom, and the archaeological and anthropological evidence for governance by consensus and care.
Concrete proposals on the commons, regenerative economics, and matriarchal governance — translated into frameworks leaders can take back into their institutions.
Shifting the story in politics and public life — because the right narrative, in the right hands, at the right moment, changes everything.
Because as Emma Goldman said: if I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.
Five foundational works for anyone beginning to explore matriarchal theory, feminist ecology, and the politics of care.
The most comprehensive scholarly statement of Modern Matriarchal Studies. Documents egalitarian societies across world regions — establishing that patriarchy has a history, and therefore is not inevitable.
Argues that love is a political and ethical practice — not a sentiment — and that patriarchal culture is organised around its systematic suppression. Makes love intellectually respectable as the foundation of social transformation.
Introduces the partnership vs. dominator framework. Shows that before patriarchal conquest, much of Old Europe was organised around cooperation — and that this history is the evidence base for WAAO's vision of change.
Demonstrates that gynocentric, relational social organisation is a living reality in Indigenous cultures. Argues that recovering feminine wisdom traditions is politically necessary and ecologically urgent.
Provides the most scientifically grounded argument for the gift economy and reciprocity as ecological reality — not just ethical choice. A model of braiding Indigenous wisdom with Western science.
Misconceptions about matriarchy, debunked — by Nergiz, Letters From a Young Matriarch
If you're new to matriarchal thinking — or if someone in your life is sceptical — this is the piece to share first. Nergiz traces the roots of the most common misunderstandings, explains what matriarchy actually means (hint: it's "mother beginning", not "women rule"), and makes the case for why the word itself matters. Clear, grounded, and written with real warmth.
Read on Substack →A comprehensive resource hub for matriarchal theory, research, and contemporary movements worldwide.
Visit matriarchy-now.com →Heide Göttner-Abendroth's academy and the institutional home of Modern Matriarchal Studies — offering research, seminars, and the foundational scholarship behind this field.
Visit hagia.de →Riane Eisler's organisation applying the partnership model to economics, education, and policy.
Visit centerforpartnership.org →Thrutopia, conscious evolution, and the intersection of narrative, ecology, and transformation.
Visit accidentalgods.life →"We hold tight to our belief in revolution — and we intend to dance our way there."
The world is not going to change itself. It will change because enough of us — awake, committed, and willing to act — chose to build something different together.
WAAO is not a newsletter. It is not a conference. It is a living network of people who have felt the weight of what this world needs to become — and who are ready to be part of making it real. People who understand that care is not weakness. That consensus is not slowness. That the matriarchal vision is not about women ruling men — it is about all of us choosing a different way to live, govern, and belong to each other and to this Earth.
If something stirred in you as you moved through this — that is your signal.
Join the WAAO Pioneers on TelegramOur growing community of pioneers, thinkers, and changemakers — building the new paradigm together.
