TEAM
CO-FOUNDERS
Emporia Meng
Co-Founder, CEO & CMO
Emporia is the Co-Founder, CEO, and CMO of EMPI DREAM, overseeing operations and marketing, while collaborating closely with the product and content teams. She also leads Sense of Agency, a boutique marketing agency that has supported over 30 startups across wellness, tech, and consumer goods. Emporia holds an M.S. in Information Management and Human-Computer Interaction from Syracuse University and is currently pursuing a part-time M.S. in Sustainability Management at Columbia University. Her interest in sleep and dreaming began with personal experiences navigating nightmares and insomnia, and continues to shape her commitment to building tools that support mental wellness.
Tyler S.
Co-Founder, CPO
Tyler leads product development at EMPI DREAM, overseeing the platform’s functionality, coding its foundation, and managing the development team. With a background in founding a development studio and leading teams at tech startups, Tyler ensures the product is designed for seamless user interaction. His interest in lucid dreaming, sparked in high school, drives his commitment to building tools that empower users to master their dreams. More information available upon request.
DREAM SCIENTIST
Dr. Antonio Zadra
Chief Dream Scientist and Board Advisor
Dr. Antonio Zadra is a world-renowned expert in dream science, holding a PhD from McGill University. Over the course of his distinguished career, he has made groundbreaking contributions to the scientific understanding of dreams, nightmares, and parasomnias, helping to bridge the gap between dream research and mental health. Dr. Zadra’s work focuses on how dreams can influence waking life, offering critical insights into their role in emotional regulation, trauma recovery, and cognitive processes.
With over 100 published works, Dr. Zadra has developed innovative tools for treating nightmares, particularly for individuals experiencing anxiety, PTSD, and other sleep-related disorders. His research has pioneered new methods of dream management, influencing the way clinicians and researchers approach nightmares and parasomnias in therapeutic settings.
Dr. Zadra is also the co-author of When Brains Dream, a critically acclaimed book that explores the neuroscience of dreaming and debunks myths about the nature of dreams. The book has been praised for its ability to make complex dream science accessible to a broad audience, from academics to the general public.
Beyond his research, Dr. Zadra is a sought-after international speaker, having delivered over 150 presentations at conferences across the U.S., Canada, Japan, and beyond. His ability to engage audiences and translate dream science into practical applications has cemented his status as a thought leader in the field. Through his work, Dr. Zadra continues to inspire a deeper understanding of the importance of dreams in both clinical and personal contexts.