The 5 Most Creative Influencers in Colorado

We must give thanks to the people who stand for difference and act towards change. After all, if it weren’t for the confident and creative risk-takers in our society, our world would be bland.

The many innovative cities across Colorado are home to a countless number of passionate creatives who have followed their hearts, and in turn are boosting the creative soul within others. Here are my Top 5 Creative Colorado influencers:

1. Alex Bogusky

Alex Bogusky, retired executive of Crispin Porter, is a prominent figure in the advertising world, morphing the industry towards transparency and customer priority. When he left his home at CP+B, Fast Company published this article attempting to explain the move and Bogusky quickly rebutted with his corrections on his own blog.  

Whatever his reason for leaving CP+B, Bogusky now runs the Fearless Revolution, a movement encouraging the change in relationship between consumers and brands. From his local Boulder cottage, he shares his beliefs on sustainable and conscious consumption and interviews highly acclaimed guests. Each episode of the Fearless Revolution aspires to inspire and influence up-and-coming creative minds. What’s next for Mr. Bogusky? On February 27th, Bogusky announced the start up of his new agency, COMMON. You can watch the fascinating unveiling…right here!

2. Waylon Lewis

Living in Boulder, Colorado, Waylon Lewis thrives as a child of Buddhism.  Waylon’s parents, students of Chygyam Trungpa Rinpoche, created a Buddhist trainee out of Waylon. As an advocate for the well being of others, Waylon took his communications degree, mixed it with his humorous writing style and created The Elephant Journal.  The Elephant Journal is a magazine on a mission to unite the creative community as advocates of an enlightened society–featuring articles yoga, sustainability, politics and other important societal topics. With The Huffington Post’s recent $315M acquistion by AOL (where both parties claim it as “a merger of visions”…woof), I dare to say Waylon’s Elephant Journal is now one of the powerhouse independent magazines online.  Waylon has not only created success from his passions, he is spreading his enlightenment to readers as well as listeners through “Walk the Talk with Waylon Lewis,” a monthly taping which advocates the arts, wellness, politics, spirituality, adventure, fun and sustainability in life.

3. Gwen Bell

Gwen Bell, dubbed one of Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology as well as one of Forbes 14 Power Women, lives right here in Boulder, Colorado.  She is the social media guru of our time, as well as a daily meditator and yoga practitioner.  Bell works as a social media strategist with her own practice at her Urban Retreat.  Reflecting on her passion for meditation and yoga as well as for the web, Bell helps the over-indulged web-goers “unplug” in order to communicate in our tangible world.  Applying her passions of peace and tranquility to the consuming web, Bell helps others clarify their motives for work as well as life.

4. Rick Griffith

Rick Griffith is Denver’s typography expert.  For Rick, graphic design fills a large part of his heart.  His passion rides on letters, words, fonts and texts.  Griffith’s relentless drive to succeed in typography led him to form Matter, a five-person design studio that creates edgy posters, fliers and stationary for businesses, museums, and universities.  Griffith is now holding classes at the University of Denver teaching typography and spreading his passions.

5. Anthony Hull

Anthony Hull, who lives in Boulder, Colorado, is a man of many traits. As an actor, director and producer, Anthony has a passion for meeting people, doing things and capturing all of this excitement on film. From this, Anthony is currently living through his web series called “Ant’s World.” This web series documents all of the people, conversations and experiences in Anthony’s life that inspire him. He aims to capture inspirational people and events on film to inspire his followers.

Anthony is a self-motivated person who documents art, fashion, music and all the other creative aspects of life. I’m excited to see what he does next.

As for the rest of us? There’s never been a greater time for us to create, design, innovate, and pave our own way. Now is the time to zone in on your passions and continue to shape Colorado, The Creative State. Who are your creative influencers?
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Tagged: Alex Bogusky, Anthony Hull, Bogusky, Elephant Journal, fast company, forbes, Gwen Bell, matter design, Rick Griffith, social media icons, Waylon Lewis

Categorized: Crispin Porter

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