Daring ventures to create a more inclusive world.
Josh Miller (they/he)
“I’ve long believed that being visible can shift culture, and that sharing our stories can be the catalyst that changes how people see and move through the world.”
Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, multi-disciplinary artist, outdoor explorer and public speaker who has been described as a "force in our community.”
Their values-based leadership is rooted in curiosity, creativity, courage, and connection.
Miller is the co-founder + Co-Executive Director of IDEAS xLab and co-founder of (Un)Known Project.
They received an Arts Leadership Award from Fund for the Arts in 2024, a Soros Equality Fellowship from Open Society Foundation in 2022, and was recognized as a Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award by Louisville Business First. They were selected for Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 and Louisville Business First's Forty under 40.
Miller is a 2x TEDx speaker who has engaged Fortune 500 and international audiences from Colorado to Salzburg.
As an artist, entrepreneur, and outdoor explorer, they create Wearable Photos through their company Josh Miller Ventures. Miller’s adventures have taken them from summiting Colorado’s highest peaks to running the Gay Games Marathon in 2018 and a 51k self-designed trail ultramarathon in Colorado in 2024.
In addition to his outdoor explorations, they celebrate the brilliance and strength of LGBTQ+ and Black communities through photography and collaborative storytelling - challenging traditional notions of beauty, and working to make spaces inclusive for individuals who don’t drink alcohol.
Their work has been featured by The New York Times, the Aspen Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, Louisville Business First, The Voice of Louisville, Business Equality Magazine, The Renewal Project, Creating Healthy Communities: Arts + Public Health in America, The Advocate, and more.
Miller holds an MBA from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree in Art Administration and Business Administration from Bellarmine University.
Previous fellowships include the Colorado Collective Leadership Initiative, CBCA Leadership Arts, and the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health. Miller served as an advisor to the Derby Diversity & Business Summit and co-chair for the Louisville Health Advisory Board’s Communications Committee, and a founding Board Member of Civitas: Regional LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce headquartered in Louisville, KY.
Josh’s presentation on IDEAS xLab’s Our Emotional Wellbeing starts at 7:45 as part of the “Addressing Social Determinants of Health through the Arts” session during Creating Healthy Communities: Arts in Public Health Florida 2019.
Media Features
We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Josh Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Josh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
“People hear that IDEAS xLab is an arts and culture nonprofit and put us in a very specific box. They underestimate the power of art, and the impact artists can have when it comes to working across sectors to design initiatives to transform systems, people’s sense of belonging, and how we communicate and collaborate.
Our creativity propels what we do, and it’s amplified by how we’ve experienced the world and backgrounds including business development, storytelling, and experience design.”
On a Kentucky Riverbank, a Path to Remembrance by Maggie Jones for The New York Times, features (Un)Known Project in Louisville - both a memorial to enslaved people whose stories will never be uncovered, and a challenge to unearth narratives hidden in attics and archives. Photos by Andrew Cenci.
My piece “Moving From Thin to Strong” in the January 2020 issue of The Voice of Louisville explores how and why I started taking ballet as part of the Louisville Ballet’s Mind Body Balance program.
I am honored to be recognized as part of Business Equality Magazine’s 2020 Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40. You can read my profile and learn more about the class of 2020 here.
See the full Louisville Business First Forty under 40 issue here.
