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Short Bio

Molly B. Zielezinski, Ph.D. is an author, international speaker, and founder of Feelings Unbound. She earned her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from Stanford University, where she collaborated with Linda Darling-Hammond on research into education equity. She co-authored Design Thinking for Every Classroom (Routledge, 2021) with Stanford professor Shelley Goldman, co-founded a school for students with behavior challenges, and founded MBZ Labs, an EdTech research consultancy. Sweet Emotion, which won the Hay House Writer's Competition, draws on her decade of research and her personal journey as a mother navigating her son's trauma.

Copy Text Molly B. Zielezinski, Ph.D. is an author, international speaker, and founder of Feelings Unbound. She earned her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from Stanford University, where she collaborated with Linda Darling-Hammond on research into education equity. She co-authored Design Thinking for Every Classroom (Routledge, 2021) with Stanford professor Shelley Goldman, co-founded a school for students with behavior challenges, and founded MBZ Labs, an EdTech research consultancy. Sweet Emotion, which won the Hay House Writer's Competition, draws on her decade of research and her personal journey as a mother navigating her son's trauma.

Long Bio

Molly B. Zielezinski, Ph.D. began her career as an elementary math teacher in under-resourced schools before earning her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University's Graduate School of Education. At Stanford, she collaborated with Linda Darling-Hammond on landmark research showing how technology can close achievement gaps for underserved students, work that informed national education policy through the Alliance for Excellent Education. She holds a BA and MA in Psychology and Teaching from Clark University. Molly co-authored Design Thinking for Every Classroom: A Practical Guide for Educators (Routledge, 2021) with Stanford professor Shelley Goldman, co-founded a school for students with behavior challenges, and founded MBZ Labs, an EdTech research and evaluation consultancy. Her writing has appeared in EdSurge and American Educator, and she has spoken at conferences including Learning and the Brain and Stanford's Education's Digital Future. When her own son experienced school-related trauma that transformed him overnight, Molly spent hundreds of hours researching trauma, social-emotional development, and healing. In less than a year, her son went from flipping tables to calmly confronting his second-grade bully. The tools that healed her family became Sweet Emotion: How to Parent Calmly When Feelings Run Hot (Balboa Press/Hay House, 2025), which won the Hay House Writer's Competition. Today, through her company Feelings Unbound and her private 1:1 parent coaching practice, Molly teaches families, corporate teams, and professional groups practical strategies for emotional freedom.

Copy Text Molly B. Zielezinski, Ph.D. began her career as an elementary math teacher in under-resourced schools before earning her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University's Graduate School of Education. At Stanford, she collaborated with Linda Darling-Hammond on landmark research showing how technology can close achievement gaps for underserved students, work that informed national education policy through the Alliance for Excellent Education. She holds a BA and MA in Psychology and Teaching from Clark University. Molly co-authored Design Thinking for Every Classroom: A Practical Guide for Educators (Routledge, 2021) with Stanford professor Shelley Goldman, co-founded a school for students with behavior challenges, and founded MBZ Labs, an EdTech research and evaluation consultancy. Her writing has appeared in EdSurge and American Educator, and she has spoken at conferences including Learning and the Brain and Stanford's Education's Digital Future. When her own son experienced school-related trauma that transformed him overnight, Molly spent hundreds of hours researching trauma, social-emotional development, and healing. In less than a year, her son went from flipping tables to calmly confronting his second-grade bully. The tools that healed her family became Sweet Emotion: How to Parent Calmly When Feelings Run Hot (Balboa Press/Hay House, 2025), which won the Hay House Writer's Competition. Today, through her company Feelings Unbound and her private 1:1 parent coaching practice, Molly teaches families, corporate teams, and professional groups practical strategies for emotional freedom.

Book Description

Sweet Emotion: How to Parent Calmly When Feelings Run Hot is a practical guide to teaching your family how to feel, process, and release emotions. Most of us were raised in a culture of emotional repression. This book changes that pattern, starting with you and rippling outward to your children. Through research-backed techniques and real-world examples, Molly offers the missing manual for emotional freedom that transforms how families respond to life's biggest moments.

Copy Text Sweet Emotion: How to Parent Calmly When Feelings Run Hot is a practical guide to teaching your family how to feel, process, and release emotions. Most of us were raised in a culture of emotional repression. This book changes that pattern, starting with you and rippling outward to your children. Through research-backed techniques and real-world examples, Molly offers the missing manual for emotional freedom that transforms how families respond to life's biggest moments.

ISBN & Publisher Information

Title: Sweet Emotion: How to Parent Calmly When Feelings Run Hot

Author: Molly B. Zielezinski, Ph.D.

ISBNs: 979-8-7652-6405-8 (softcover), 979-8-7652-6404-1 (hardcover), 979-8-7652-6403-4 (e-book)

Publisher: Balboa Press, a division of Hay House

Publication Date: 2025

Copy Text Title: Sweet Emotion: How to Parent Calmly When Feelings Run Hot Author: Molly B. Zielezinski, Ph.D. ISBNs: 979-8-7652-6405-8 (softcover), 979-8-7652-6404-1 (hardcover), 979-8-7652-6403-4 (e-book) Publisher: Balboa Press, a division of Hay House Publication Date: 2025