For over 20 years, Alex Leviton’s wide-ranging career has centered around one single concept: Creativity changes the world.
Working Artist Alex has worked as a journalist, guidebook author, one-time standup comic, poetry mentor in a juvenile psychiatric hospital, board game co-creator, editorial director, start-up co-founder, et al. Alex is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and has been a Lonely Planet author since 2002. She is the author of Explore Every Day and co-author of over two dozen Lonely Planet guidebooks (and one with the co-founding editor of The Onion). She’s been a Creativity at Work columnist for the Seattle Times; a creative side hustle series editor at The Guardian; and she’s covered culture, creativity and travel for the Independent Weekly, BBC Travel, USA Today, etc.
Business and Leadership Alex is the rare writer/artist who also thrives in business and leadership roles; she was Editorial Director of Gogobot.com (Trip.com) in Silicon Valley, Author Liaison Manager for Lonely Planet, Senior Editor of Solimar magazine, and Executive Editorial Director and Co-Founder of Firef.ly in London. High-level problem-solving is kind of her jam, and she thrives working with creative professionals, business leaders and policymakers on coming up with out-of-the-box, innovative solutions to complex issues.
Creativity Whisperer Alex is fascinated by the creative process itself. After struggles with her own Inner Critic and mentoring hundreds of creatives, she developed a talent for helping her employees, interns and students build their foundations, establish creative safety, and elicit their own creative bravery and flow. She now has over 120 exercises she layers to help create a safe space for creativity to connect and grow, whether that’s individually or in a group setting.
Success Rate Alex was so intrigued by how well this process was working, she even hired a research assistant from the University of Washington’s psychology department to help triangulate all the various elements. (Ask her about applied improvisation, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, trauma-informed care, humor studies, quantified self and statistics, et al.) According to her feedback forms, Alex currently has a 100% success rate in ‘Did this help your creative process?’
The Third Layer Alex now works with individuals, organizations and companies to help them find, express and celebrate each person’s unique voice. She works mostly with folks in science, policy, media and education, but hey, surprise her with a new field. Whether they’re writers or dancers, economists or policymakers, or students or just plain human beings, those who work with Alex learn to blend their sharp critical-thinking skills with the hidden corners of their magical creative genius brain so they can change their worlds.
What Third Layer work might look like:
Interactive, supportive and playful workshops, classes or coaching (or keynote presentations) where each participant will get insights into how their creativity grows, flourishes and thrives.
What’s the ‘team’ part: When we share and build our creative voice in a safe and encouraging environment, openness and collaboration also has a tendency to grow, flourish and thrive. We don’t do ‘creative team-building,’ but teams are often brought closer together through this work. (Including one ten-year-and-counting marriage!)
How long: Take your pick: from one 90-minute, half-day or full-day session to a series of weekly or monthly sessions to build creative confidence layer by layer over time and collaboration.
What does it look like: We have 90+ unique exercises: lists, quadrants, games, writing prompts. Tell us where you’re stuck or what barriers you need help with, and we’ll create a workshop or keynote tailored to exactly where you are.
The results: In our feedback, we have a 100% ‘Yes!’ rate to ‘Did you get at least one insight into creativity or your creative process?’
