Robin Stern Ph.D.

Robin Stern, Ph.D., is a licensed psychoanalyst, educator, author, and commentator. As a renowned expert in gaslight manipulation, emotional intelligence, and women in leadership, her work bridges the gap between theory and the public square.

She co-founded the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence with Marc Brackett and currently serves as the senior advisor to the director. Through her work with Yale, she co-developed RULER (an acronym for the five key emotion skills of recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotions), an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning that has been adopted by over 5,000 schools across the United States and in 27 other countries, and the app HowWeFeel, designed to teach the language of emotions and enhance well-being. She has created numerous trauma-informed courses which are available to educators.

Robin is the author of The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life, the critically acclaimed book published in 2007. A second edition of the book was released in 2018, which included the role of gaslighting in politics. In 2023, the workbook version, The Gaslight Effect Recovery Guide, was published to help those navigating gaslighting relationships find their road to recovery. She launched the Gaslight Effect Podcast in 2022. As the host, she and her guests explore the phenomena of gaslighting, from relationships to cults to culture.

Robin is a founding member of The School at Columbia University, where she served as an emotional intelligence coach and consultant for faculty for several years. She is a co-founder of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, a founding member of the Summer Principals Academy at Teachers College, and co-creator of the inaugural course in Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence. She continues to help educational leaders enhance their emotional intelligence skills through training with her co-created STAR Factor Coaching model. The model has been adapted widely in New York City schools, with more than 500 superintendents and principals coached under the program. In 2023, she co-authored Emotional Intelligence for School Leaders, published by Harvard Education Press.

Robin is a regular consultant and keynote speaker with companies (Meta, Lancôme, Google, Samsung, Time Inc.) and hospitals (Yale New Haven Hospital, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital) on the application of emotional intelligence in management and leadership. She is the co-founder of OjiLifeLab, a digital emotional intelligence learning system for businesses and organizations that can be personalized for teams and industry experts. She also serves on the advisory board for organizations, including Crisis Text Line (where she wrote an early training for their crisis counselors), Think Equal, Give Us the Floor, and The International Society for Emotional Intelligence.

A frequent writer and commentator, she has been featured in many popular media outlets, including the Washington Post, Psychology Today, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company.

In 2014-15, Robin was a fellow in the Yale Public Voices Fellowship.

Robin continues to cultivate awareness on topics such as gaslighting, building skills of emotional intelligence and resilience, and other provocative initiatives through her work over the years with nonprofits, including The Garrison Institute, Project Rebirth, and as an Ambassador for Peace for the UN Women for Peace Association. In 2024, she accepted a new appointment as an Ambassador to the University for Peace, the UN-mandated institution of higher education dedicated to promoting peace.