Amanda Slavin wants to change the way we feel about education.

With experiences building marketing departments from the ground up and activating communities to engage with brands, Amanda uses education to grow. Amanda earned her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction and later went on to found her own company, CatalystCreativ, that helps brands tell stories that move people.

A cyclist and a foodie, Amanda balances her busy life with meditation in the mornings and making sure she gets at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Amanda describes a typical day in her life, how she stays inspired and why she loves sharing her personality on about.me.

Describe a typical day in your life.

I’m in so many different time zones, it’s hard to wake up at the same time every day. Our whole company is remote in 5 different cities so I’m all over the map, but I try to wake up at 8:30/9 in any time zone. I will meditate for 20 minutes or if I have a very early meeting, I will unfortunately skip meditation and to get the extra few minutes of sleep and plan to do it later in the day.

I usually have a mix of 4-8 phone calls and meetings per day. I focus a lot on influencer curation of experiences as well as business development. Most of the calls are internal with the CatalystCreativ team or to current clients. Most of my in person meetings are business development related. My day usually ends around 6:30/7:30 PM in LA or Vegas and around 11 PM in NYC. I try to get to NYC every 6 weeks and no matter what I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep.

Who inspires you?

The CatalystCreativ team inspires me. They are some of the most hardworking, loyal, committed people I have ever had the pleasure of working with and growing with. They are remarkable and teach me new things every day.

My personal motivations and drives are really focused on changing the way people feel about “education.” I think that everything is education, particularly advertisements and if we can help brands reach consumers differently and make the world a better place while doing it (which 64% of Millennials care about), then I’m living the dream!

Tell us about CatalystCreativ.

CatalystCreativ is an experience studio. We change the way consumers interact with brands through consulting, strategy, branding and on and offline experiences with an expertise in millennial engagement.

I have a background in Education, receiving my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction, and wrote my thesis on the study of offline engagement. I then went into hospitality industry doing events and marketing for years in NYC and never thought to start a company until I met my business partner, Tony Hsieh at a conference I was working at while at my full time job.

I was at a point in my life where it was really important for me to apply my knowledge of both education and events/marketing to make a change in the world and Tony was looking for someone to create inspirational and educational experiences in Downtown Vegas so he became my business partner and first client. Now we work with clients like Coke, W Hotels, Dell, NPR among numerous others and help them design curriculums to engage Millennials differently.

What’s it like building a Marketing Campaign from the ground up?

It’s not daunting if you have the right team to not only strategize but also implement. It’s really important that each person on your team knows their role(s) and responsibilities. We at CatalystCreativ really try to be the “glue” for marketing campaigns, working with numerous agencies and partners and creating a cohesion with all of them.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I hang out with my boyfriend and puppy in Downtown Vegas and LA. I SoulCycle or ride my bike in all cities. I travel a lot for work and try to take an extra day in any city to explore and learn more about where I am through exploration and discovery. I love to go out to eat and am a huge foodie so I do that very often.

What’s your experience been like with about.me? 

I love it! I use it to express myself differently and send it to others to use it as a way to publicize their personality in a unique way. I think it can really replace the modern day “resume” by being able to show a different side of people for employees and clients.

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