welcome to talk studios.
We’re on a mission to make conversation skills as teachable, learnable, and widely practiced as reading, writing, and math.
Today, it’s getting easier to talk at each other and harder to talk with each other. Digital distraction and polarization can make face-to-face connection feel surprisingly effortful — especially for kids who have fewer examples of how to listen, ask good questions, and disagree respectfully, at the very moment their habits are most moldable. TALK Studios brings the science of conversation out of the research lab and into the places where relationships are built every day — schools, organizations, and families.
Origin StoryTALK Studios was born at the intersection of rigorous behavioral science and a growing social need.
For more than 15 years, Alison Wood Brooks studied the science of conversation — how people ask questions, build trust, navigate disagreement, and enjoy meaningful relationships. Her course, TALK, quickly became one of the most popular classes at Harvard Business School, in part because it treated conversation as a skill you can learn, practice, and improve.
At the same time, educators, leaders, and parents were noticing a troubling pattern. Our capacity for conversation was quietly eroding. Devices shape, replace, and subtly disrupt most social interactions these days. We are communicating constantly through screens, yet many of us are struggling more than ever with real human conversation. The effects were showing up everywhere, from increased reports of loneliness and fractured attention to fewer expressions of curiosity and listening.
We created TALK Studios to meet this moment and bring the science of conversation out of the research lab and into everyday life, with resources that are as practical and fun as they are research-grounded. TALK resources are designed with the same playful-and-rigorous spirit to support stronger relationships and collaboration wherever people learn, work, and live.
talk in the classroom.
CONVERSATION SKILLS START IN THE CLASSROOM
TALK Studios gives educators simple, research-based ways to help students build stronger conversation skills to support learning, relationships, and classroom culture. In a world where attention is pulled in a thousand directions, we make it approachable and more engaging for students to practice curiosity and listening in real time. Students and teachers alike report feeling more confident, more capable, and more connected to each other.
TALK Daily: A free, teacher-friendly daily ritual that helps students practice conversation skills in just a few minutes a day. No prep required!
TALK Time: Seven repeatable, teacher-friendly, skill-building conversation games that students love.
“Understanding the science of conversation helps us master the art of being ourselves.”
Our Team.
Alison Wood BrooksFOUNDER AND CEO
Alison Wood Brooks has dedicated her career to helping people build conversation skills at every age. At its core, Alison’s work is about staying connected to one another in a world that’s making it easier than ever to opt out of real human interaction. She is the O’Brien Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where she helped pioneer a new field of conversation science and created an oversubscribed course called TALK. Alison holds a PhD from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an AB from Princeton University. In 2025, Alison’s first book, TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves, was named a Next Big Idea Club Must-Read, became a national bestseller, and was published in over a dozen different languages. Her work has been featured in top-tier academic journals, media outlets, podcasts, and in Disney-Pixar’s 2023 movie Inside Out 2.
Lauren Moore ParkFOUNDING HEAD OF LEARNING AND PROGRAMS
Lauren Moore Park is on a mission to help translate conversation science into scalable, teacher-friendly resources. A former classroom teacher, she brings experience in education leadership and curriculum development, having served as a Principal-in-Residence at Achievement First and on the Growth Strategy team for Teach For America-NYC. Most recently, as PTA President during the pandemic, she served the PS41 community in New York City, rebuilding trust to align family resources with administrative priorities and to secure critical funding for students. Lauren holds a Master of Science in Teaching from Pace University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA from Harvard University.
A NETWORK OF SUPPORT.
TALK Studios is larger than just us. We collaborate with educators, researchers, designers, illustrators, facilitators, and organizational partners who help shape the work and bring conversation science into real classrooms and communities. Our broad network of collaborators keeps our programs grounded in research, designed for real life, and continually improved by the people closest to the work.
Our solutions are guided by four core principles.rooted in research
Every tool is grounded in the best available science on human conversation.
ready to use
Practical ideas you can use immediately.
human by design
Designed to strengthen real relationships in an increasingly digital world.
respectful of time
Made to fit into busy lives while making your time together count.
