About Donna Hemmert
Donna has been a leader in the internet industry for over two decades, driving marketing programs and forming strategic multi-million-dollar partnerships in high-tech companies. She worked for several Internet pioneers including PSINet (first commercial Internet Service Provider), Netscape Communications (first widely-used web browser and defacto Internet portal), and InterCon Systems (first enterprise Macintosh Internet software). It was at these companies that she led teams that launched one of the first consumer Internet-based online services and was an early Network wholesaler to Internet Service Providers. Donna has a love for entrepreneurial ventures and is especially passionate about the companies for which she served as a founder.
During her career, Donna was devoted to building stellar teams and understanding what made them tick. She loved the startup experience, where the team could roll up their sleeves and work collaboratively to solve big problems. She discovered that much of what makes people happy could also lead to productivity, innovation, resourcefulness, comradery, and resilience for when the inevitable challenges arose. It was these insights, along with a lifelong desire to continually improve her life and those of others that led Donna to the field of positive psychology. In 2012, she co-founded Positive Business DC, a 700-member organization dedicated to informing and inspiring leaders to increase well-being in the workplace.
In 2015, Donna received her Master’s of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) at the University of Pennsylvania. Donna had an a-ha moment while at MAPP. Over a cup of coffee with a long-time friend, they pieced together Donna’s purpose from years of discussion: to help people improve their lives by understanding and practicing the behaviors that enable community. Bam! Everything Donna had learned over the years in her work and at MAPP led her to understand that people can be happy as individuals and in groups when they practice things such as compassion, social intelligence, leadership, fairness, teamwork, gratitude, forgiveness and many more. Now, with the launch of Positive Voices, she is finally able to integrate her past experience and interests with her passion for increasing well-being in the world.
When it comes to life in general, Donna has embraced Michael Argast’s philosophy: “The difference between adventure and adversity is attitude.” And while she sold her Harley to support motherhood, she is always on board to try new adventures. Donna’s favorite pastime: spending time with her husband and two children investigating the world.
