We recently connected with Shawn Apostel and have shared our conversation below.

Shawn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

They let me explore and didn’t focus on my grades. I drew, interacted with fish and other animals, surfed, and sailed my Hobby Cat. I’m a dyslexic thinker, and they let me explore my interests.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Dr. Shawn, an Associate Professor of Communication at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY. I am also the license holder and co-organizer of TEDxBellarmineU. The podcast I co-host, Dyslexics Untied has listeners in 24 countries and can be found on every major podcast and social media platform. I teach undergraduates and graduate students multimedia communication, digital portfolio, graphic communication, SEO strategy, and technical communication.

​My involvement with TEDx has allowed me to harness student desire to use technology, achieve challenging goals as a team, create high-quality products, and organize many successful live events that reach the campus and the local community. Our YouTube videos and live stream give our event a worldwide audience with millions of views via TEDx’s YouTube channel.

As a professor, I enjoy incorporating multimedia assignments in an academic setting. I teach Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign on the Adobe platforms. I also teach various free and open-source programs like Prezi, Gimp, Infogram, Canvas and PowToon. I’m currently learning Adobe Animate.

As an instructional technology specialist, I oversaw the award-winning, campus-wide LMS transfer from Blackboard to Moodle at Bellarmine University in 2014. I’ve also worked with professors, facilities, and IT to redesign classrooms to incorporate new technology and facilitate broader pedagogical styles and learning differences.

While I love working in academia, I didn’t always enjoy education. I’m a former high-school dropout, musician, and artist; however, I discovered I’m a dyslexic while learning Adobe programs at Miami Dade College. This information changed the way I felt about education. I realized standardized assessment wasn’t designed for my brain, and I made a game out of earning degrees. (I stopped at Ph.D. because my wife won’t let me get an MFA in graphic design.)

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What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Creating digital and physical projects is a form of therapy for me. For example, all my ,TEDx Core Team members have “trail name,” and I have to spend less than 15 minutes to create a logo for them that breaks at least two graphic design principles. We have a large team, so that’s one example. I have other creative outlets, but that one stands out to me first.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Gorgias: “Encomium of Helen” had a huge impact on my life. I learned to “argue the lesser.” Use your ability to stand up for those who are oppressed or degraded.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shawnapostel.com/
• Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apostel/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apostel/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMxATOrh9vISLojN8Kz3Vlw