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Alexa Clay

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Alexa Clay in 2019

Alexa Clay (born March 21, 1984 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American writer, public speaker and researcher with a focus on subculture, informal economy, and new economic thinking.[1]

Biography

Clay grew up the daughter of two anthropologists. She has written about her experience growing up with psychiatrist and alien abduction research Dr. John E. Mack for Aeon magazine.[2] Clay received her BA from Brown University and an MSc in economic history from Oxford University.[3]

In 2013, Clay started performing as "the Amish Futurist", an alter ego she developed to bring more existential reflection into the tech scene.[4][5] The Amish Futurist has performed at SXSW, re:publica, Tech Open Air Berlin, and the DEAF Biennale.[6]

Clay led work focused on scaling social innovation at Ashoka[7] and co-founded the League of Intrapreneurs, a network focused on scaling the movement of social intrapreneurship.[8] Along with John Elkington and Maggie de Pree she was the co-author of The Social Intrapreneur: A Field Guide for Corporate Changemakers, a report sponsored by the Skoll Foundation.[9]

Clay is the co-author of The Misfit Economy, a book published by Simon & Schuster[10] in 2015, that examines the role of creative thinking and ingenuity among society's "misfits".[11] The Economist called the book "a paean to the quirkier members of society."[12] The book was named a top business book to read by The Telegraph[13] and the World Economic Forum.[14] The Misfit Economy has also been reviewed by the Financial Times,[15] Salon.com,[16] the New Statesman, and the BBC.[17] Clay has appeared in Dazed Digital,[18] Vice,[19] on public radio's Marketplace,[20] The Takeaway,[21] Australia's morning show Weekend Sunrise[22] and the Laura Flanders Show. The Misfit Economy loosely inspired the NatGeo show Underworld Inc, for which Clay was a consulting producer.[23]

Currently, Clay leads the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce in the U.S. working on topics like universal basic income, inclusive growth, and creativity in education.[24] Clay has been active in the fields of social business, technology studies, and social change.[25][26] She has been an advocate for "inclusive innovation", examining the ways in which entrepreneurs in the black market and informal economy are given access to economic opportunity.[27]

References

  1. ^ "8.01.15 Icons and Infamy". Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Aeon - a world of ideas". Aeon. Archived from the original on 2015-05-12. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Speakers - World Affairs Council". www.worldaffairs.org. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Sinnfrage: Performance-Künstlerin greift Technologie-Kult an". Zeit Online. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Can Monasteries be a Model for Reclaiming Tech Culture for Good," The Nation (August 27, 2014)
  6. ^ Amish futurist and power buttermilk
  7. ^ "Open Innovation: A Muse for Scaling," Stanford Social Innovation Review (Fall 2012).
  8. ^ "The Rise Of The Intrapreneur". 18 May 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-11-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ Clay, Alexa; Phillips, Kyra Maya (25 October 2016). The Misfit Economy. ISBN 9781451688832.
  11. ^ "What Criminals Can Teach us About Creativity". Time (June 18, 2015).
  12. ^ "In praise of misfits". The Economist. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  13. ^ Elizabeth Anderson (January 15, 2015). "Top Business Books to Read in 2015". The Telegraph.
  14. ^ Adam Grant (January 7, 2015). "15 New Books All Leaders Should Read". World Economic Forum
  15. ^ Emma Jacobs (May 17, 2015). "Review: The Misfit Economy". Financial Times.
  16. ^ Clay, Alexa; Phillips, Kyra Maya (28 June 2015). "Violence is contagious: Stopping its transmission became the mission of the man who'd fought TB and cholera in Somalia". Salon.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  17. ^ Rayasam, Renuka. "Life lessons from villains, crooks and gangsters". BBC. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  18. ^ "What we can learn from hackers, pirates and drug dealers". Dazed. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  19. ^ "I Drank Moonshine and Camel Milk with Black Market Legends". Vice. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  20. ^ "Marketplace Tech for Monday, July 6, 2015". Marketplace. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  21. ^ "People - Alexa Clay". www.thetakeaway.org. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  22. ^ "Lessons in creativity from crooks and criminals". Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  23. ^ "Alexa Clay". IMDb. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  24. ^ "RSA US team". The RSA. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  25. ^ "Why business needs misfits". www.newstatesman.com. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  26. ^ "Hacking our way to a better world". kernelmag.dailydot.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  27. ^ Phillips, Kyra Maya. "Why using ex-convicts could give start-ups an edge". Wired UK. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
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