Alida was first introduced to the world of consciousness exploration and the healing power of psychedelics through her upbringing in both Zen Buddhist and indigenous communities, then later through the Bay Area dance music community in collaboration with organizations like Erowid and DanceSafe.

She earned her degree in Molecular and Cell Biology, with an emphasis in Neurobiology, from the University of California, Berkeley, where she ran the Students for Integrative Medicine group, and worked in Dr. Dacher Keltner's positive psychology lab.

Inspired by the digital democratization of information sharing and online social movements such as Arab Spring, Alida later entered the world of tech and media to support her activism work, utilizing her knowledge of corporate strategy to further social causes. During this period, she also managed large global campaigns for everything from Fortune 500 companies, to startups, to A-list celebrities. With experience spanning multiple industries, from health, finance, tech, CPG, travel, fashion, luxury, and music, Alida is adept at collaborating across diverse departments to translate business objectives into successful project launches – leveraging strategic roadmaps, goal-setting, and reporting; workflow overhauls, novel system integrations, and more transparent lines of communication to ensure optimal execution.

Alida is thrilled to return to her first love of science and to bring her extensive experience in strategy, project management, operations, and scaling companies in her role as project manager to the Chief Scientist Officer, and in supporting the overall MAPS PBC mission.

In her spare time, Alida loves surfing, dancing salsa, and volunteering for the SPCA.