By every measure that seemed important at the time, Matthew Emerzian had made it. Big music executive working with artists like U2, Coldplay, and Usher. House in the Hollywood Hills. Invitations to all the celebrity parties (and after-parties).
He had it all. Or so he thought.
One morning while tying his shoes, Matt’s chest began to tighten. He thought he was having a heart attack.
After being admitted to the ER, doctors confirmed it wasn’t a heart attack. Matt had a severe panic attack.
Go home and get some rest, they said. But Matt didn’t get better.
Matt’s panic attack turned into chronic anxiety and depression. He couldn’t get out of bed. He couldn’t travel. “My thoughts, feelings, and hope were broken,” he recalls. “I was in crisis.”
Matt found a therapist he now lovingly calls his “expensive friend.” She told him something that changed his life:
“You will never know what it means to truly live until you know it’s not about you.”
To test this theory, she gave Matt weekly homework. Every Saturday morning, he had to go out and do something for others. Soon, his Saturdays became filled with packing lunches for people experiencing homelessness, repainting walls vandalized with graffiti, and picking up trash.
“I felt so much purpose, significance, and meaning picking up litter than I did with any of the other stuff I was previously doing,” Matt said.
Saturday mornings suddenly became Matt’s Zen place — the part of his week he looked forward to most.
“I was looking for purpose in all the wrong places. I found myself again by living a life that wasn’t just about me.”
Finding Power Through Purpose
Through his process of self-discovery, Matt realized that there’s something we all share, regardless of what we believe, where we live, or how much money we make: “We all want to feel our life matters.”
That set Matt on a lifelong journey to understand the concept of mattering and to help individuals and organizations everywhere understand how much and why they matter.
He vividly recalls the moment when he knew he was living his calling. He visited a prison where he spoke to a group of inmates about his work.
One of the men stood up, towering over Matt at 6 feet, 6 inches tall. He said, “No one has ever told me I mattered in my entire life.” Then he started sobbing.
Matt wrote a book (and then two more) and even started a nonprofit called Every Monday Matters.
And that brings us to today.
At the 2026 Nonprofit Leadership Conference, Matthew Emerzian took the stage to talk about why having a mattering mindset is one of the most important things nonprofit professionals can do to move their missions.
The best part is that you can easily implement his framework in your organization.
Recentering Your Purpose with the Mattering Mindset
Matthew Emerzian’s Mattering Mindset™ framework consists of three interconnected dimensions of mattering: I matter. You matter. We Matter.
I Matter
Before we can pour into others or our organizations, we must believe that our own presence, perspective, and purpose are worth something.
Matt says mattering to oneself is about recognizing that “I am here for a reason and choose to embrace who I am and who I want to become.”
Practice: To tap into why and how you matter, Matt suggests finishing this sentence:
I matter because ________________.
You Matter
Do the people around you, such as your staff, volunteers, and community partners, know they matter to you and why? This is where leadership becomes real through the choices you make every day about how you treat people.
Matt describes the You Matter part of his framework as: “I understand how I impact others and choose to accept, empower, and value them.”
Practice: What’s one small act this week that could say you matter to someone who needs to hear it?
We Matter
Nonprofit professionals are good at the “We Matter” part: “I am part of something bigger and choose to contribute and work together for the greater good.”
Mattering is about embracing our role in creating a world where everyone feels seen, heard, and loved.
“The nonprofit sector needs people who are grounded in why they’re here, Matt said. “People who are genuinely rooted in the belief that people matter.”
Mattering, No Matter What
As Matt concluded his talk at the 2026 Nonprofit Leadership Conference, he acknowledged how heavy things are in the world right now. That hope is harder, and burnout is a place many nonprofit professionals live.
But he said life can be both beautiful and really messy at the same time.
He also said this: “Adults make thousands of choices every day, from what to wear to how to treat people. Every day we get to make a choice. This room is one big ‘we.’ The effects of our choices ripple out from us to millions and millions of people. Let’s make them matter.”
I matter, you matter, we matter.
