Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Greenwalt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jessica, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

What I’m about to attempt to explain is something I’ve been experiencing for over 20 years, but have only become comfortable sharing with people in the past 3 months.

Sometimes, when I encounter another human being, my vision is flooded with a single vivid color, other times a kaleidoscope of hues that manifest in shapes that slip in and out of existence. This visual spectacle is accompanied by a deeper, more profound sensation—a feeling of understanding that extends beyond the present moment.

Sounds can also trigger wild colorful visuals. When I’m immersed in richly layered music or enveloping sound baths, it becomes a psychedelic experience. From what I’ve read, this crossover between auditory and visual senses is referred to as synesthesia.

I’ve kept these experiences to myself, primarily out of a fear that sharing them would negatively impact the way friends and family think about or communicate with me. I worry that the way I perceive can create a disconnect between myself and others because of a mutual inability to relate to each others experience. I also feel I lack the mastery of language—or am perhaps working with the wrong language—to articulate the nuances of my perception accurately, and worry that my feeble attempts at explanation will be met with judgment and skepticism. But I’ve reached a point where my curiosity has surpassed my concern for what people think about me and I want to know if there are other people out there experiencing the same thing or something similar, and if they’ve learned anything about the nature of this phenomenon.

In an attempt to capture these fleeting visions and share them with others, I’ve been drawing the shapes and colors that dance around the people I encounter. I’ve taken to referring to these visuals as “energy”. As a constant traveler, I work with portable art supplies that are easy to throw in a suitcase and pack up at a moment’s notice. Currently, my artistic tools of choice are acrylic paint pens and a black paper art pad.

I strive to draw a little bit every day, gradually progressing on each piece across multiple locations and time zones. To document this process, I wear glasses with embedded cameras that record the development of a piece. I share these progress videos on social media, and interestingly, some of the individuals whose energy I’ve been drawing have liked these videos. I haven’t told anyone that I’ve been drawing their energy yet, but plan on sharing this eventually.

Jessica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve loved the process of creation for as long as I can remember. When I was in preschool I’d draw animals, create comics, make paper dolls, and build anything that came to mind with the materials I could get my hands on. Over time, the things I built got more advanced; at some point I was making radios, videogames, and websites. Then, while I was in high school, I started a design firm, the site for which became the number one Google search result for “freelance graphic designer”. This top placement landed me work with multinational companies and government organizations. Throughout my career, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the world’s biggest brands and tech companies on pioneering projects.

Building on the success of my design firm, I formed Pixelkeet (the name is a mashup of ‘pixel’ and ‘parakeet’—one of my favorite animals—and means ‘pixelated parakeet’), a digital product design and user experience research company that works with startups to create apps, websites, campaigns, brands, and experiences. My team works directly with founders and CEOs to visualize and refine their concept for a product, test their assumptions through observing user behavior, and make adjustments to the user experience to encourage specific behaviors. My personal favorite part of the product design process is the iterative cycle of observing how people interact with a product, then refining their experience until even basic tasks spark joy.

Prior to working with us, business leaders are often operating in the echo chamber of their own heads, making assumptions about users without questioning those assumptions. We make these assumptions tangible and put them to the test, saving startups substantial resources and time that could have been wasted pursuing concepts that fail to resonate with customers.

I’m proud of Pixelkeet’s commitment to creating great experiences, not just for the end-users of the products we design but also for our team members and clients. Everything we do is driven by a desire to improve people’s lives—a principle I believe should be the objective of any company. At their core, companies are groups of people who’ve come together to serve other people. I hope that by operating by our principles, we’ll inspire other organizations to remember that the whole point of their existence is to serve people, hopefully resulting in align their operations with this understanding.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had recognized the importance and power of reaching out to others for guidance and support earlier on. I don’t know where my lone wolf disposition came from, and looking back, I don’t understand why I choose to tackle so many things in isolation without looking for collaborators that could have helped expand the reach and impact of what I was working on. I now know that, in order to play an infinite game, you need to have other players, and that a great team working towards the same goal will outperform any individual, every time.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Historically, I’ve been pessimistic in my expectations of people, largely because I experienced disappointment in their behavior in the past. I think I kept my expectations low to avoid further disappointment. Recently though, I’ve decided it’s better to be optimistic about people’s behavior because my thoughts shape how I respond to them, which in turn influences their responses to me. This collaborative back-and-forth of reflecting our expectations of each other through our interactions can result in better outcomes if I start the cycle off with positivity.

The catalyst for this shift in perspective was reading Jane Goodall’s ‘The Book of Hope’ as part of The Carbonauts book club. In her book, Goodall makes a compelling argument for adopting a mindset of hopefulness and inspiring others to approach life with the belief that we can continually improve ourselves and our circumstances. Since reading her book at the beginning of the year, I view every situation and experience through an optimistic lens of possibility—one that carries with it a sense of responsibility to take action to shape reality in alignment with this uplifting vision for the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pixelkeet.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixelkeet
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pixelkeet/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgreenwalt
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/pixelkeet

Image Credits

Personal Photo and photo of me by the Queen of Coins by Joshua Greenwalt