Leigh Melander, PhD - Expert

My work and play in the world is to help people imagine past what they think is possible. 

I am a story weaver, a creator, a ridiculous revolutionary (I wrote my doctoral dissertation on frivolity as an opening into imagination – they actually let me get away with that!). Most importantly, I work to help people bring their most beloved wild ideas to life as a fomenter, coach, and speaker. 

I am so lucky to have the most extraordinary launching pad, a Catskills retreat center on a remarkable historic estate, called Spillian: A Place to Revel. We offer public and private events to mark moments of deep imagination and celebration in people’s lives, and it’s the place I share with my clients when we’re doing deep face-to-face work. (And, incidentally, is my wild idea.) 

I’ve been writer as well as a performer in theater, dance and music around the world; a strategic planning and marketing consultant for hundreds of commercial and nonprofit ventures; and have worked in community in a host of ways, from building sustainability tools to asset-based family resource centers. 

My doctorate is in cultural mythology and psychology, and I’m proud to serve on the Board of Directors of the Joseph Campbell Foundation as that organization works with partners bringing myth to life around the world. 

I’ve been featured on the History Channel as an expert on myth and story, and host two radio programs on myth and imagination on an NPR affiliate in New York state (Myth America and The Reveling Radio Hour) and am readying a book for publication – Just That Side of Crazy, a collection of ideas to help you bring your wild idea to life. Hoping by June, but that hope may be slightly on that side of crazy itself…

I look forward to meeting you.