Founder and Executive Director - Mindful Life Project

JG Larochette is a graduate of Saint Mary's College of California , where he received his B.S. in Psychology and was a 4-year scholarship player on the baseball team. After graduating from SMC, he felt a deep desire to work with children in underserved Bay Area schools.
He started his career in education in 2002-2003 as a Playworks site coordinator in Oakland and the Richmond. There he created a deep bond with the students and families which inspired him to want to take the culture and climate of the playground he created with the youth into innovating what classroom education could be. Over nearly a decade of teaching JG learned so much from his students and community and saw how powerful and resilient they were. He however also saw the huge need for schools to prioritize mental and emotional health and the lack of resources and programs available in low income schools. In 2012, he and his 3rd graders at Coronado Elementary School in Richmond went through a transformative 6 months through mindfulness, expressive arts, yoga and performing arts that led to JG leaving the classroom to start the educational nonprofit Mindful Life Project.
In the last 9 years, he has led Mindful Life Project into being the biggest direct service mindfulness non-profit in the country. Mindful Life Project is highly regarded for its innovative direct service programs that specifically have been created to support students who have been exposed to high levels of adverse childhood experiences.
JG brings a passion for providing youth deeply impactful services and programs that support student and educators mental and emotional well-being so that students can thrive socially and academically both at school and beyond. He is driven to work from a strong equity, social justice, and holistic lens in all the work he does. He is honored to have opportunities to work with schools, students and families. In creating Mindful Life Project he had the vision to provide programs in the lowest income and under-served schools, so that all students feel valued, empowered and given equitable educational opportunities. He is joined by an amazing and dynamic team that serves over 11,000 students in 9 Cities across the Bay Area and leads trainings and supports for schools across the nation.