Unlocking You!

I had just started the first of 15 years as a Board Member of the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater. Melissa Dunphy’s performance of Juliet knocked me off my chair. I was stunned to learn that her primary creative expression is music, having earned a Ph.D. in Composition from the University of Pennsylvania where she was a Benjamin Franklin Fellow. In 2009, her large-scale choral work, the Gonzales Cantata, received national acclaim from media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, National Review, Comedy Central, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. With numerous acting and modeling credits for TV, film, and print, Melissa teaches acting and performance and, along with her husband Matt, is the owner of a soon-to-be renovated theater in Philadelphia. She also speaks on creativity and can be seen performing as a cellist, violist, mandolinist, pianist, singer, and host and performer of the web series, Ukulele Request Time.  (www.melissadunphy.com)

I first heard Natalie Nixon give a TED Talk on jazz and improvisation and knew I had to meet her. In this episode, she describes how wonder and rigor combine to create hybrid thinking. As an innovation strategist and President of Figure 8 Thinking, LLC,, Natalie blends scholarship, dance, and strategic design thinking with a background in global fashion and cultural anthropology. She is an author (Strategic Design Thinking and INC online magazine), lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, and global speaker. Natalie received her Ph.D from the University of Westminster in Design Management, and her A.B. (cum laude) from Vassar College in Anthropology and Africana Studies.