Get TO KNOW MóNICA
and the team!
Arrange and click on the photos to learn more.
Mónica Guzmán is a bridge builder, journalist, and author who lives for great conversations sparked by curious questions. Her best-selling book, I Never Thought of it That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, has been featured in The New York Times, The Glenn Beck Podcast, and Reader's Digest, and was named one of the 10 best books to read before college by U.S. News.
Mónica is founder and CEO of Reclaim Curiosity, where she works to build a world that sees itself, and advisor for Braver Angels, the nation’s largest cross-partisan grassroots organization working to depolarize America. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Multipartisan Education, a nonprofit dedicated to improving capacity for curious approaches to disagreement in educational settings, and is host of “A Braver Way”, a podcast that in the run-up to the 2025 election equipped people with the tools they need to bridge the political divide in their everyday lives.
Mónica received an honorary doctorate degree from Wheaton College and completed study and research fellowships at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, where she researched how journalists can rethink their roles to better meet the needs of a participatory public, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, where she studied social and political division, and the University of Florida, where she joined forces with researchers testing techniques to boost understanding across differences.
A Mexican immigrant, Latina, and dual US/Mexico citizen, she lives in Seattle with her husband and two kids, plays a barbarian named Shadrack in her besties’ Dungeons & Dragons campaign, and is the proud liberal daughter of conservative parents.
MEET THE TEAM
Jessica Jones is the Director of Business Development for Reclaim Curiosity.
​
She manages Mónica's speaking engagements, oversees daily operations, and helps guide long term strategic development.
Jessica is passionate about civil discourse and relishes the opportunity to help Mónica build a more curious world in these polarized times.
Previously, Jessica served at Seattle CityClub for 8 years, culminating in her role as Deputy Director. She was key to the growth and development of the overall organization as well as many programs, partnerships and initiatives including the Jefferson Awards, the live Seattle Speaks debate series, Living Voters Guide, Civic Health Index, Civic Cocktail and Civic Bootcamp.
Jessica graduated from the Leadership Tomorrow class of 2011 and was invited to serve as a mentor to the class of 2012. She was a Cole Scholar in Electoral Politics at Oberlin College, a competitive, multi-year program for those who wish to pursue elected office.
Jessica previously served on the Board of Powerful Voices, an organization working to empower girls, and as a Trustee on the Board of HistoryLink, the free online encyclopedia of Washington State history.
She is currently President of her PTSA, where she works to fill in funding gaps, build community, and advocate on behalf of students and families in her diverse Title 1 South Seattle public school. Jessica is an avid urban farmer, loves to cook and bake for friends and family, and lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.
Jasmine Barta is a website designer, social media manager, email marketer, branding consultant, and event planner for authors, small businesses, and nonprofits around the world.
​
She's proud to have Reclaim Curiosity as a client, where she helps design social media posts, designs the newsletter, (subscribe here!) and manages this website. (She designed it, too!)
​
Jasmine began her career as a journalist, graduating from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication with the Associated Press College Innovator of the Year Award.
She's always been a storyteller at heart, with time spent as a reporter for USA TODAY, a part of the Super Bowl's Social Media Command Center, a scriptwriter for news anchors, a newsroom editor, a social media producer, and a book publishing marketer. Before venturing out on her own, she worked for news organizations, nonprofits, and boutique agencies.​
Jasmine is passionate about helping people and organizations tell their story impactfully.
In her free time, she enjoys singing, reading, cooking and baking, learning photography, and exploring this world with great curiosity. She lives in Seattle with her little black cat, Glimmer.
You can find her at www.jasminebarta.com.