Ariel Garten

Ariel Garten is the Founder of InteraXon, makers of Muse, the brain-sensing headband. Muse is the award-winning headband that makes meditation easier. During guided exercises, Muse senses your brain activity and sends that information to your phone or tablet, giving you real-time audio feedback to help take the guesswork out of meditation.

Garten studied neuroscience at the University of Toronto and worked in labs at Toronto’s Krembil Neuroscience Centre, researching Parkinson’s disease and hippocampal neurogenesis. No mere science nerd, Garten is a fashion designer whose clothing opened Toronto Fashion Week in '03 and has had her work displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her uncommon combination of science and art is integral to the design of Muse and InteraXon’s unique approach to brain-sensing technology. Garten was also a private practice therapist.

Having worked with BCI technology since 2003 in the lab of Dr. Steve Mann, Garten recognized the opportunity to commercialize technology that would fundamentally disrupt multiple markets. She co-founded InteraXon in 2009. InteraXon debuted with the creation of "Bright Ideas," Ontario's feature showcase at the 2010 Winter Olympics, where visitors in Vancouver got to control the lights on the CN Tower, Niagara Falls, and the Canadian Parliament buildings with their minds from across the country.

Garten and her team are merging technology, neuroscience, art, and design. Garten and Muse, the brain-sensing headband, are regularly lauded in global media, including CNN, Forbes, Popular Science, CNET, CNBC, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal Tech, and more, for creating what the Huffington Post calls "the beautiful headband that will make you smarter."

In addition to her full-time position at Muse, Garten keynotes around the world on technology, mindfulness, and entrepreneurship and supports and advises a variety of start-ups.