Words of Nourishment for Your Soul by Josh Miller

Waking up the day after the 2025 Inauguration, over coffee and during my meditation, I thought about what I would have needed to hear as a young queer person that morning. Or, as a young Black person, young immigrant, young person struggling with their mental health, or generally, as a human being in America right now. As someone questioning – what does the future under this administration hold? Am I safe? Can I be myself? What will happen to the people I love?

Below are the words that flowed through me that morning that I hope can be nourishment for your soul.

It is so cold outside I can see my breath

My inner heat and fire made real in the air

It is in you too

Know that you are not alone

You are meant for great things

To inspire and impact the world

Believe in yourself as I do

In your value and your worth

Stay strong during these times

That can feel scary and overwhelming

You will make it through

You are part of the change that is needed

You are part of our community

I stand with you

We are in this together, all of us

Don’t let them dim your light

Don’t cover who you are because they are afraid and uncomfortable

They lack vision and foresight

We have always and will always be here

Beginning and end

We are creation, we birth new worlds and new ways of being

Don’t forget who you are

Let yourself be open to becoming

The brightest, most beautiful version of yourself

You are embraced by the cosmos

Part of the divine tapestry of existence

Loved and cherished

I am proud of you, all that you are

Strength and scars, tender openness

Your self-confidence and courage are needed in the world

They are a reminder that we are here

We are community

We are everlasting

No one gets to tell us who we are

Find your community, your people, your practice

Be an accomplice with those who are targeted

Be strategic together

That is how we turn the tide

There will be many challenges ahead

But don’t sacrifice who you are at the altar of limited acceptance

Not everyone has the vision and expansive wisdom to see it

But I see you, all that you are

For you move through the world with love

Remember your why, that you can make positive changes for future generations

That they may experience a new level of freedom and existence

Be what you didn’t get to see

The main character in the movie of your life

Be sunshine and glacial waters

As Rumi said, “Be the sky and the clouds that create the rain, not the gutter that carries it to the drain.”

Be hope everlasting

Your ancestors are with you

Your spirit guides are by your side

In this moment, here and now

You are past, present and future

Grieve what you need to grieve

Feel what must be felt

You cannot bury your feelings and be the change that is needed

Rest when you need to rest

Remember that it is together we change and shape the future

Many small actions creating ripples through time and space

Your allies are all around you

Don’t assume you know who they are

Or what they look like

Be open, let empathy be your guide

Our liberation requires collective action

Sustained strategic engagement

Open your mind and your heart

Listen to your vibes

Trust your intuition

Remember, you have choices

You get to choose who you are

You get to write the definition of your existence

What you believe

Who you support

How you vote

The way you show up

Who you love

What you value

What religion you embrace or spiritual practice you adopt

Who you are – as a human, as a being on the planet with hopes and dreams

And how you think about the future

We may be in dark and troubling times

But we are stronger than their hate and their fear

The time has come, you are ready

Move hand in hand in community

For we can create the world we are worthy of, together.

Ventures into the Wild – I am an explorer not a runner, a human not a man.

It has been during my solo hikes and ventures into the wild that I have excavated deep within myself - step by step and layer by layer - to understand, let go of, and evolve the labels that I use to articulate my identity and who I am.

Over the past few months, I’ve been synthesizing – the word my husband Theo Edmonds used for the journey we’ve each been on during this season in life. While different yet interconnected, our journeys hold tremendous similarities in how we are melding learnings, experiences and insights into an expansive framework for who we are, how we relate to the world, what we value and want to dedicate our time to.

Because…
The person you knew ten years ago
Isn’t the person you are now, who
Won’t be the person you are in a decade.

While hiking through the snow to Bear Peak in Colorado this spring, I thought about how constraining labels can be.

And how,
When we release narrowly defined labels, and instead
Articulate our underlying values and beliefs
Allowing the way we put them into action to evolve over time
We free ourselves to move through a world of possibility.

For example, for more than a decade I labeled myself as “a runner.” Almost all of my outdoor activities and exercise were running in some form. I didn’t carve out time for hiking (too slow) or other activities because I’d have to trade off running, and running was my identity.

Freedom and expansive futures came as I stepped into the mindset of being “an explorer.” I love to experience the natural world, seeing awe-inspiring vistas, testing the limits of what I can do, and doing that through evolving pathways. 2022 was the season of cycling as I trained for and rode the 110-mile Triple Bypass Ride, 2023 was the season of long hikes featuring Colorado’s highest peaks including Mt Elbert and Mt Massive, and 2024 is shaping up to be the season of trail running.

Across these seasons, I still snowshoed, skied, went to the gym, ran, hiked and cycled as forms of exploration. The shift from being “a runner” to being “an explorer” expanded my world immensely, and I didn’t even realize it until recently. By articulating my all-encompassing, broader value - exploration - I freed myself to try out and evolve through the many ways one can embody it. And it’s been beautiful to experience.

There are other labels that have confined me in the past, and through mental exploration, I asked myself, “What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be human?” What happens if we imagine who we could become before expectations were imposed and our possibilities limited?

Over the past few years, I’ve tried to imagine that, and sought to understand what covering is and how it has manifested in my life. Covering being the ways that we downplay, hide, filter or mask parts of ourselves at work, with different social groups, at school and with family. I’ve done a great deal to reflect on my own journey and to uncover my queerness, my joy, and my voice. Working - piece by piece and adventures by adventure - to make visible the many parts of myself that were hidden. To question, if I leave the labels behind, what is left? Or rather, what can I become?!

This past year brought much more clarity. I meditated to understand our interconnectedness and my role within it. I explored at the intersection of the physical and the awe-inspiring. As I told a friend, I found the realm where the elves live (And yes, Colorado has many) – because there are magical places in this world if only we go in search of them. In asking questions and going into the unknown, I found fertile ground for growth.

It has been through this ongoing process that I finally released another one of the labels that constricted me. What is it to be a “man,” I asked again?

As many people as exist on the planet, that is how many definitions there are. If I span the masculine and feminine, and everything beyond, is that a label I believe in or claim for myself?

Finally during a hike in the wilderness (You may be picking up on a theme here, being out in nature has been transformative for understanding who I am and what I can be), the answer came forward quietly yet firmly.

No, for I am human.
That encompasses it all.

These revelations, this synthesis, has been like delving into the filing cabinets of my mind and pulling out dusty files labeled “man” and “runner.” Opening them to find that the contents were outdated, and based on faulty research, with pages of contradicting edits in pencil and red ink, and sliding them into the recycling bin. Creating space for new files and new mindsets to fill that void.

Remembering at each turn along life’s many trails, to dream expansively and to take ambitious steps forward. To remember, that your very presence shifts spaces, energy and minds. To know that transformation is possible, and can be experienced everywhere we go - if only we are open to it.

Opportunity for reflection:

What labels do you cling to?
How do they shape what you do and do not try?
What world exists beyond them, if only you’d let yourself imagine it?
How can embracing ventures into the wild help you uncover new ways of being?

Click here to read a variation of this piece published by The Advocate.

Learn more about my Uncovering our value work

Seema Sheth on the impact of assimilation, non-negotiables and the power of TikTok to help us understand each other.

Josh · Uncovering Our Value Featuring Seema Sheth

My conversation with Seema Sheth, Senior Vice President & Regional Executive at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reminded me of a quote from Walt Whitman, “I contain multitudes.” Seema is multiracial, neurodivergent, queer, a wife and mother, witty, engaging, and endlessly curious with a love for finance and economics. We talked until we had to sprint out the door for our respective meetings and could have kept going.

Seema and I parsed through language used to describe a universal yet different experience based on who you are – covering: downplaying, hiding, filtering or masking parts of ourselves at work, with different social groups, at school and with family. We mined personal experiences and the impact of covering on us as individuals and on the places where we work, and even more broadly, the economy. Later on, we talked about the role of privilege and changing the places we step into as a demonstration of what’s possible. Through each example and question, demonstrating the role that vulnerability plays in expanding how we relate to each other, what we understand about people’s lived experience, and as a way to reflect on our own journey.

“Assimilation,” said Seema when I asked what word or language she used and how she felt about the term covering. She often heard code-switching, and “masking is one that I hear a lot,” she said, “especially for those of us that are neurodivergent.”

As someone who is multiracial – half African and half Indian – with parents from Sudan and India, she has never fit into one racial box, and assimilation is how she tried to fit into culture in Kentucky as a first generation American. “The way to navigate the world was just to fit in,” she shared. “Then, you find yourself in new realities…. And when you do that sometimes you lose the thread of what is real.” As she became an adult, she began a discovery process, asking, “Of all the things I can do, of all these environments that I can operate within, which one feels authentic to me? And, what am I going to choose moving forward?”

The covering, or assimilation as Seema described, also directly impacted her identity. “Growing up, [identity] felt like a luxury,” she said. Fitting in was “a privilege I didn’t have access to.” Through middle and high school, what she wore was one way of assimilating. This cascaded into the professional sphere as she got older. “I work in finance… and I wanted to express myself,” Seema recounted, sitting across from me in a bright yellow sleeveless vest and sleeveless white button up, gold calculator watch and bootcut jeans. Her blazer, draped across the arm of the couch. It was Seema’s version of corporate. Years ago, when she stepped into the corporate finance world, there were constraints. “One must wear a pinstripe suit that is blue,” and “your shirt must always be white in color,” she said of the norm deemed “professional.” As a theatre person and fashion love, Seema wanted to express herself through color and pieces that represented her.

As her positional power expanded, and she stepped into roles with more visibility and influence, she began carving out space for herself. “You try to find the kernels that are non-negotiable,” she said.

Both of us are millennials, and what she shared about evolving how she dressed and how she showed up over time really resonated with me, it’s been a big part of my uncovering journey the past 8 years as well. Because of our ages, we were steeped in productivity culture. “You want to be as productive as possible,” she said, when I asked about why she started uncovering as a professional. “I found that I couldn’t be as productive because I was spending so much damn time managing expectations of other people,” Seema shared. “Figuring out how to fit in. Every choice I made down to nail color… what is this going to say about me? How do I need to make sure that they’re comfortable with me so I can have the best outcome?”

All of this mental work - this cognitive strain - from trying to cover 24/7 in the workplace meant that Seema was “unable to produce in the way I wanted to produce.” She elaborated further, “If I’m spending so much time thinking about how other people are going to perceive me, I don’t have enough time to be creative in the work I’m doing. There was no space for any of that. So part of me was like, this is unsustainable.” This internal process, the reflection on what was being experienced and how much it directly impacted a realm like work, was something we both went through, and her journey resonated so much with my own, and that of leaders I have talked to and interviewed. And, as we both experienced, as you start to uncover and evolve as a person, some of the relationships around you fall away. “I had a lot of relationships that were not very real,” Seema said. Relationships that changed or ended because “the person that you were really close with, it wasn’t me.”

When you combine all of this inner work and sharing who you really are, from being on the edge of burnout to relationships changing as you allow yourself to step into the world differently, it can be bittersweet. “It was a little bit of heartbreak,” recounted Seema.

“Thank god for therapists, because my therapist was like, ‘Who are you back bending for? What do you think the end goal is, that you imposter so well that you can be successful?’” Doing this inner work allowed Seema to “navigate away from places where even little pieces of authenticity were going to make me unsuccessful, or make me feel badly about myself, or make me think that I’m the problem,” she shared. As we’d both experienced, the environment matters. It often won’t be perfect and can create additional work for those of us who move through spaces as outliers of the norm, but part of why we do it is “so the next person after you doesn’t have to do quite the same amount of gymnastics to what you’re trying to do,” Seema said.

One thing we both acknowledge is that privilege comes into play when you start to uncover, as you “evaluate the root cause of what’s making you feel this way” [hollow, unhappy, like it’s your fault]. “Authority breeds privilege,” Seema explained. “The more hierarchical stature you get, the more leeway you earn. I’ve sort of navigated becoming more authentic as a person, employee, and leader.” Having started her job at the St. Louis Fed in the past few years, I asked how she asses the culture and environment she’ll be stepping into. “The way I do it is I show up so authentically in the interview… to a freaky extent,” she said smiling. Rather than straightening her hair, “I’m gonna make my hair as big as possible. I’m going to wear the brightest. I’m just gonna do all the things that I felt for a long time invalidated my credentials and credibility. I am going to show you what you are getting. I’ve learned to ask a lot of questions upfront, and to be okay with the answer. Sometimes it’s yes, that is our culture, and I’ll know I’m not going to be able to be successful in that environment.”

As many of us have seen and experienced over the past few years, there is a push and pull happening when it comes to covering and how people present and act in the workplace. What parts of themselves and their identities they can bring and share. “There is a need for people to show up authentically so that they can feel comfortable, and there’s also so much polarization happening in our world that people’s authenticity is often triggering,” Seema explained.

“Do you want people to show up as their full authentic selves without the tools to manage that internally? Or do you want to shut people down so that you don’t have to deal with the conflict that arises?”

From employers to employees, this becomes the challenge, with economic implications for all parties involved including places like downtown business districts. “We talk a lot about trying to get people back into the office and the prevalence of remote work,” she said. “I think a lot of that is because people like that they can be themselves at home. They don’t have to go to work and put on a show for people. But, I also think there is a huge relational loss for people that are just working at home all the time. It can make your work lifeless, horrible, tedious, and boring.”

Seema and I sit at the cusp from a generational perspective, in between the older generations who have been in the workforce for longer than us, and Gen Z, whose continues each year to shift what the workforce looks like. “They’re [Gen Z] walking into places where they don’t feel comfortable, it’s a weird, alien and unnecessarily structured environment a lot of the time. So it’s not that they don’t have soft skills to do well in the workplace, it’s that the workplace they are trying to do well in was made for someone fifty years their senior.”

This brings forward the larger question, how do we coexist and be respectful of difference, seeing “how that difference is robust and makes us all better?” Seema asked.

These various facets of our personal and professional experience, whether it’s how we show up in the workplace or how we think and talk about money are ones that Seema often creates videos about on TikTok (@bobeema). One such video, which led to our conversation taking place, was about people with positional power showing up authentically in the workplace, for the reasons we’ve explored already. TikTok in particular, has provided a lens through which to understand a variety of lived experiences and things that happen for people internally, that we may not have been exposed too. “It’s a validation of your experience all the time,” Seema said. “I’m also a person with ADHD that didn’t know it, right? Because obviously, I’m female. So we get under diagnosed, and, I’m highly productive. I make all my deadlines, I don’t miss anything. But, the amount of work it is for that to be my reality – the amount of systems I’ve had to set up, the false trigger points, the fake deadlines, and the amount of anxiety I had to like whip up in myself to get myself to do things, I didn’t know that was what was happening for me until I was given a peak into somebody else’s life on TikTok.”

Seeing those videos made Seema think, “Wait, excuse me, not everyone has to do this?” After seeing the videos that described so accurately how her mind worked, she showed her husband, asking, “Do you do this in your brain?” He asked, “What is that?” For twenty years they had functioned so differently, not understanding the internal process of the other. Similarly, TikTok has helped me understand my husband, who is also neurodivergent. It’s made me think, “Oh, now I understand.” It’s given me some tools and language to inquire and also talk about things differently. In the video that Seema shared that sparked our discussion, she is calling on people who have earned trust and respect and have positional power to “show up in these spaces differently.” She outlined why. “The reason why things are so importance is cognitive bias… it is informed by what you’ve seen. If you see it, you can be it right? So if we can show up in these spaces differently then what people have seen will change. So the idea of a president can change, the idea of a leader can change. So if you’ve earned it, use it. Show up to the board meeting where everybody else is dressed differently than you and be a little bit unconformable, but do it anyway, because that’s how we can create some more space.”

TikTok demonstrated a way to learn about and gain understanding of other people’s experiences. And, as our conversation moved forward, we talked about how “professionalism” and norms in the workplace can rob us of connection because people feel forced to conform. Whether it’s the formal language of emails (or the issue of using AI to generate messages that can mean losing the personal touch and humanity we often infuse between the lines), or the way many diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs have been implemented, we create more separation than connection. As Seema explained, she had a DEI workshop experience for a Board where she was the collateral damage of them trying to be “inclusive.” She reiterated that she is a person that “lives in intersectionality.” The two-day training culminated in five breakout groups, delineated by race. She asked the facilitator, “I’m not one race, but two, what should I do?” They said, “Well, pick the one that you identify with the most.” Being 50/50, Seema didn’t identify with one more than the other. “I was like, ‘That’s messed up. I don’t identify with one the most, where would you like me to do?’

Their response made her the problem, “You’re just making this difficult, pick one.” Rather than participating, she abstained. Later, the moderator said it was a learning moment, in their effort to celebrate attendee’s identities, they excluded someone. Seema said, “Yes, but also recognize that there’s a person that is your fallout.”

Like the discussion with her husband about having ADHD, stepping into rooms with people who look or identify different than us, and working to understand their experience can shed a lot of light on how people feel in different spaces, from board rooms to parties. For many people, Black women, queer folks, and others, there is a scan that takes place. But, sometimes, we avoid doing the scan because stepping into that room already took courage. For me, I don’t step into rooms as an androgynous queer person not recognizing how confusing many people find me or that there may be issues with safety at times. But I would rather risk a little bit to feel more whole.

Whether it’s your spouse, like how Seema and her husband – a white man - talk about what they observe and experience moving through life together, or with friends and colleagues, like the conversations Hannah Drake and I have about our experiences with work and life outside of it, being able to share those moments allows us to move beyond just existing, to being co-conspirators with each other. For many of us, we also develop internal “hacks” to make it through the uncomfortable times. “You describe the things you don’t pay attention to because you wouldn’t be able to navigate,” Seema said, reflecting on our conversation. “I resonate with that. Growing up here, going to the State Fair, everybody was staring at us. I felt so unsafe.

My mom would be like, ‘Here’s what you do when this happens, because it’s gonna happen your whole life. Just think, They’re staring at me because I’m beautiful. Not because they want to kill me.’ And I’m like, trying to get gas in Kentucky, and I’m thinking, they’re all staring at me, it’s because I’m beautiful.”

Learn more about my Uncovering Our Value series along with my public speaking at www.joshmiller.ventures and join the conversation by Following me on LinkedIn and engaging on TikTok and Instagram with at @JoshMillerVentures.

Written While Running - Barcelona 2022

Written While Running - Barcelona, 2022

By Josh Miller

For it is above the city

Where land meets sky

Where light wakes the world

That I run

Buenos días the roosters crow

As pink to peach tinged water ripples in the distance

Dogs appear over the ridge

A space shared in the early hours by humans and creatures

Speaking different tongues

Each moment a new painting appears in the sky

You’ve awoken a voice I’ve missed

That of my running mind

Dormant, waiting for the inspiration to return

How I’ve missed you my friend.

Photos by Josh Miller taken on 2 different runs in Barcelona up the roads and trails to the hilltop above the Gaudi House Museum.

______________________________________________________________________________________

About: Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, public speaker, photographer, and outdoor explorer. He is the owner of Josh Miller Ventures and the co-founder + CEO of IDEAS xLab—an organization that uses the art of storytelling and community collaboration to impact public health. Miller’s work has been featured by The New York Times, the Aspen Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a Soros Equality Fellow, received the 2022 Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award from Louisville Business First, and was selected for Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 and Louisville Business First's Forty under 40. Miller is a two-time TEDx speaker and has been described as a "force in our community.” He holds an MBA from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University. Previously, he served as an advisor to the Derby Diversity & Business Summit and co-chair for the Louisville Health advisory board’s communications committee.

Being misgendered at the airport ✈️ and how Virgin Atlantic's approach to inclusion is paying off.

“I’m not a ma’am, and I’d like two cups of water, please,” I replied to the flight attendant on my recent Delta flight from Denver to Cincinnati. I was flying in for a funeral - my husband Theo’s grandmother passed away on the last day of her 103rd year on earth. She went peacefully, and the service was a beautiful tribute to her life.

Thirty-six hours after arriving in Cinci, we went back through TSA for our return flight home. I heard a loud voice say, “Ma’am, ma’am.”

My husband touched my elbow while turning to correct them, “He’s not a ma’am” Theo said.

It's 4 am ET (2 am MT - the time zone my body thinks I’m in), so I'm exhausted. Thankfully I didn’t have to correct them again.

A few months ago, Virgin Atlantic expanded its dress code requirements to allow employees to choose the uniform that best fits who they are; this led to a 100% increase in applications! From dress code requirements to the training of employees, it takes a comprehensive strategy to create long-term change when it comes to inclusion. And although I’m talking specifically about airlines while sitting on my flight home, this should be a focus for all of us and across all sectors. There are many ways to be polite without gendering someone, and that’s only one part of creating an inclusive environment. This isn’t a new conversation or the first time I’ve written about this - people have been misgendering me for years.

So why haven't gender-neutral greetings been more readily adopted? As ✨Theo Edmonds✨ said during CU Denver's Imaginator Academy's Imaginator Summit, "It’s the readiness of the culture into which the idea is being introduced that matters most." From cognitive bias to people wanting to stick with the status quo and being resistant to change, it can take consistency and priming the pump to make change happen over time and at a broad, systems-wide level.

So, what helped fuel Virgin Atlantic's decision to make these changes? They engaged 3Gem to conduct research with their employees, and the findings showed that:

Enabling employees to express their true selves at work boosts happiness (65%), increases mental well-being (49%), creates a more positive workplace culture (36%), and provides a better experience for customers (24%).
Employees reported feeling more accepted and comfortable when able to be their true selves at work (26%) and an increased sense of loyalty to their employer (21%).
25% of Brits have felt pressure to hide their true selves at work, and (38%) covered up parts of their personality, all in an attempt to fit in.

Virgin Atlantic also created “mandatory inclusivity training [that] was also rolled out for its people at all levels across Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Atlantic Holidays as well as a series of inclusivity learning initiatives for tourism partners and hotels within destinations such as the Caribbean to ensure all our customers feel welcome despite barriers to LGBT+ equality.”

These are great steps toward shaping an inclusive travel environment. One where employees don’t have to cover who they are, and one where customers don’t feel disrespected or uncomfortable. Their approach also addressed a broader change with partners in the travel industry.

I hope their newly developed training goes beyond a PowerPoint and includes activities, discussions, and time for introspection as participants work on revising outdated mental models and developing new mindsets and approaches to do their work.

If we’re being honest, the way our language was structured and the focus on pronouns was designed to reinforce a belief by some that there are only two genders, which is false. Historically, indigenous communities celebrated two-spirited people, and there is evidence showing the ever-present nature of trans, queer and gender-nonconforming people throughout the centuries - and the structure of our language sought to erase that. The expansion of singular pronouns to include they/them (and others) serve a role for now, but I believe that they are a placeholder. They are the step between what our language was - and what it will be. In the long term, they’ll go the way of dial-up internet and pagers. If we think long and hard about it, we are all humans, and we should restructure our language to prioritize names or other ways of identifying each other without gender being part of the equation. We should embrace people’s autonomy to tell us who they are without assuming how they present correlates to their gender identity or sexual orientation.

I don't expect perfection, but I hope for a mindset open to learning, evolving how we relate to each other, and being gracious as people make their way through these changes. It is sometimes challenging for me to unlearn and relearn people's names and pronouns if they've transitioned or started to identify differently. There are many times I've gotten it wrong. I apologize, correct myself, and move forward. Sometimes, I’ll repeat a person's first name over and over if I continue to mess up their pronouns. We're all learning how to communicate differently in a way that honors who people are.

I hope that people will ask themselves what it means to create intentionally inclusive spaces and ways of working, from the greetings we use to our focus on accessibility. What does that mean for you, and how do you greet people and design spaces? What does it mean for those training to offer consumer experiences? Wouldn’t it be better for me to remember the positive facets of a flight rather than the negative? To recall the stage performance of the concert I attended rather than how I was addressed in line for the bathroom and the laughter that ensued around me?

And while we are on the subject of restrooms, this is a friendly reminder that you are not the bathroom police.

I can read, and I can see the signs, and I’m choosing the restroom that’s best for me. Don’t worry about it - worry about you. I laugh a little inside every time someone does a double take and leaves the bathroom to re-read the sign outside after spotting me at the urinal or the sink washing my hands. You can see the question like a sign above their head - Did I go into the wrong bathroom? At the Kentucky Derby a few years ago, someone opened the door to the bathroom, saw me washing my hands, and literally threw themselves backward, knocking someone else over. It was comical. After looking at the signage again, they returned through the door and dashed for a stall without making eye contact.

Ok, so after that detour, back to greetings and language. If you need ideas for what language to use instead of ma’am or sir and ladies and gents, here are some recommendations:

Use they or them until you know someone’s pronouns
Describe people by something they are wearing (For example, I can help the person in the striped shirt next)
Greet people with "Hey y'all," or “Welcome friends and family,” or “Hey folks!”

Do any of these experiences resonate with you? Are there questions that it brings to mind? I'd love to hear from you!

Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, and responses in the comments, send me a DM, or email me at connect@joshmiller.ventures

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About: Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, public speaker, photographer, and outdoor explorer. He is the owner of Josh Miller Ventures and the co-founder + CEO of IDEAS xLab—an organization that uses the art of storytelling and community collaboration to impact public health. Miller’s work has been featured by The New York Times, the Aspen Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a Soros Equality Fellow, received the 2022 Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award from Louisville Business First, and was selected for Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 and Louisville Business First's Forty under 40. Miller is a two-time TEDx speaker and has been described as a "force in our community.” He holds an MBA from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University. Previously, he served as an advisor to the Derby Diversity & Business Summit and co-chair for the Louisville Health advisory board’s communications committee.

The Luxury and Challenge of Public Spaces - Josh Miller

Since childhood, I’ve loved being outside. I enjoyed climbing bluffs, playing basketball, frisbee in the park and rollerblading on the walking bridge in Chattanooga, TN. It wasn’t until the past eight to 10 years that running became my obsession. It wasn’t just the act of running, it was the exploration of new places, the view through a camera lens and a fence of a city slowly starting to wake up. I noticed the occasional nod and smile as I passed someone while the sun rose, honoring the briefly shared space we inhabited.

I run early. A 5 a.m. cup of coffee and out the door is how I like to start my day. I feel safer when the world is half asleep. It’s when my mind is clearest. I can strategize and connect disparate ideas. I can write — I outlined this piece while running. This, I have come to realize, is even more of a luxury than I knew. I’ve never felt like my life was at risk. Yes, vehicles turn without looking and I’ve had to hit a car-hood or two. As I got leaner and grew out my hair, I started getting more and more catcalls, and in the summer, weird looks because some people have a hard time understanding “what” I am. A man, a woman, trans? For the record, I’m a gay man who is slightly curvy and wears short shorts. Yet, none of this compares to other experiences, like shifts due to COVID-19, those faced by women and communities of color when we talk about being in public spaces.

In March as COVID-19 started to impact our lives in more drastic ways, I started putting in a lot more running miles, afraid that one day Governor Andy Beshear would say, “You can’t be doing that” when it came to being outside. And while that didn’t happen, over the weeks, attitudes have changed and the number of people outside has drastically jumped.

With warmer weather brought more people out on the Big Four Bridge in the afternoons and on the trails of Jefferson Memorial Forest. It brought confusion surrounding how to navigate physical distancing while passing each other. How to share space with bikes, strollers, wheelchairs, dogs and kids.

Biking on the Big Four Bridge one afternoon, I encountered people walking together, but on separate sides of the bridge for physical distancing, who got visibly angry when I rang my bell and announced that I needed to pass. I’ve had to dodge children and families of five to six people taking up 2/3rds of a path. And, the smaller motions, such as a smile, a nod or a wave, have for many been replaced with glares, a quickened pace or refusal to make eye contact.

As I thought about the many benefits of being outside, I harkened back to the words of Florence Williams who I met in Aspen, Colorado in 2017 at the Aspen Ideas Health Festival.

“We need quick incursions to natural areas that engage our senses. Everyone needs access to clean, quiet and safe natural refuges in a city,” she writes in her book The Nature Fix. “Short exposures to nature can make us less aggressive, more creative, more civic minded and healthier overall.” Williams researched the effect of time spent in nature all across the world.

Being outdoors — whether it’s in a forest, a park or just taking a stroll downtown — can provide benefits.

Community members catching up while physically-distancing at Louisville’s waterfront park.

The question becomes, how do we evolve mental models and shift attitudes so that everyone feels safe and welcome to go out and engage with each other outside? This is a question of safety, public health and overall community wellbeing. If a gym is closed, and you don’t feel safe going to a park or walking down the sidewalk, how will you practice healthy physical activity that we know can impact not only our bodies, but our emotional, social and mental health?

“When I think about going in public spaces, I enter with a bit of caution,” said Louisville Ballet dancer Brandon Ragland. “Right now, especially, I feel like tensions are so high and people (myself included) are tired of being stuck at home, so I try to get fresh air whenever possible. With that being said, as a Black man, it is hard to feel like I have the freedom to enter public spaces without fear of other people perceiving me as a threat. For the most part, I tend to stay in my neighborhood, which has a variety of people of different racial backgrounds. Thankfully, I have not felt unsafe walking or running outside during the day. I generally try to keep all my outside activities to during the day.”

Yet, even in broad daylight — as we saw recently with the shooting of Black runner Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, who was chased down by two White men — does not guarantee safety. When I heard about Arbery’s murder, something hurt deep in my stomach for him, for his family. I thought about what it would do to me as a person to know that I was held prisoner in my home because of my skin color, when all I wanted to do was go outside. I cannot comprehend what it is like. I’m White, my skin is so fair I almost glow. I do know that my weight and physical strength, my mental and emotional health and the unhealthy coping mechanisms I seek to avoid, would all be impacted and exacerbated.

Add the stress and uncertainty of COVID-19 on top of the existing racism and other phobias in our country — homophobia, sexism, etc. — and it’s the perfect storm. “As for what I’ve noticed when I’m out and about, people have gone far beyond ‘cautious’ and ‘basic safety.’ They have gone straight up crazy!” said runner Melissa Joyce, who I met as a 2016 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon Ambassador. “There’s rudeness, yelling and even violence when people think you’re ‘invading’ their space. The public at large has started operating from a stance of fear, and logic and common sense has died. Maybe that’s not everywhere, but it’s what I notice in my circle of life.”

I’ve seen what Joyce describes, and also people demonstrating the positive ways we can engage in public spaces. It gives me hope knowing that together we can change this. It’s our role as community members who value each other’s health and wellbeing to shape the public spaces we use every day.

“I try to make eye contact and nod my head,” said Yvonne Austin about being out in public. “When maneuvering outside, I always take the lead to maintain distance.”

Artist and Quappi Project owner John Brooks, who often takes his poodle Ludwig out for walks, said, “There has been a noticeable difference in the number of people in the park [Cherokee] since they closed the loop to automobile traffic. I have mixed feelings about this because of accessibility to public spaces, but at the same time, it’s a much more pleasant place to be. It even feels bucolic at times and, of course, there is much more space to practice social distancing. The traffic flow of pedestrians and bicycles typically is to the right, and while it is somewhat random because people go in both directions, everyone seems to find the rhythm. No one is bumping into each other. Most everyone seems to be respecting the practice of social distancing.”

Athlete Melissa Christensen recommended, “Walk single file when you are with your household and encounter someone else on a path or trail to increase room. Definitely call out passes [when you need to go around someone] and do it with plenty of notice to allow the person to react. There are a lot of people who aren’t used to using trails and walkways using them right now that might not be familiar with trail etiquette. Definitely wave or nod since it’s hard to see smiles if you have on a mask.”

All good recommendations and things to consider. If we take the Big Four Bridge as an example, could we collectively consider the flow of traffic like a multi-lane road, staying on the right as we head across and leaving the middle for passing? Can we infuse these spaces with grace if someone’s bell surprises us, or we must slow down or move to make way for a child? And, can we go out of our way to ensure that spaces are welcoming for everyone? I don’t have all of the answers, but collectively, we can change that.

In Paris, they converted miles of roadway into multi-modal paths because of the number of people outside and an increase in biking as a primary mode of transportation. As we look ahead, I believe COVID-19 is going to fundamentally change what it means to share space in the long-term – on sidewalks, in parks, on roads. The question is, will you be part of that solution? Will you be an ally and trained accomplice to ensure that our public spaces support a different approach to health and wellbeing so that we can, in the words of Governor Beshear, “Get through this together”? I certainly hope so. V

Story and Photos by Josh Miller

Published May 28, 2020 https://voice-tribune.com/_/life-style-2/the-luxury-and-challenge-of-public-spaces/

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About: Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, public speaker, photographer, and outdoor explorer. He is the owner of Josh Miller Ventures and the co-founder + CEO of IDEAS xLab—an organization that uses the art of storytelling and community collaboration to impact public health. Miller’s work has been featured by The New York Times, the Aspen Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a Soros Equality Fellow, received the 2022 Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award from Louisville Business First, and was selected for Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 and Louisville Business First's Forty under 40. Miller is a two-time TEDx speaker and has been described as a "force in our community.” He holds an MBA from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University. Previously, he served as an advisor to the Derby Diversity & Business Summit and co-chair for the Louisville Health advisory board’s communications committee.

Creativity and Innovation: Reflecting on the Cross-Atlantic Creativity Congress

Until recently, creativity was one of those words that was hard for me to define, and easy to use. We often hear phrases like "That's so creative" and sometimes I find myself asking, "Is it though?"

Just like understanding hope in terms of hope theory - with hope being comprised of goals, pathways, and agency, understanding some of the research behind creativity provided me with new language and insights.

As Margaret Boden wrote, “A creative idea is one which is novel, surprising, and valuable (interesting, useful, beautiful…).”

It was the topic of creativity that brought together creativity researchers, experience designers, artists and business leaders from the U.S. and the EU to advance creativity across the world this past week in Salzburg, Austria for the first Cross-Atlantic Creativity Congress (CACC).

"Behind all innovations are a group of people who can imagine a different or better future for all of us," said CACC co-curator and Sonophilia Foundation founder Seda Röder, who reminded us that creativity is 5th in the World Economic Forum's Top 10 Job Skills of Tomorrow list.

Before CACC, I hadn’t realized how many myths there are about creativity. “Children are more creative than adults” – false. “Creativity is essentially the same as art” – false. “Creative accomplishments are usually the result of a sudden inspiration” – false. What research has shown, according to Benedek et al. is that “achieving a creative breakthrough in a domain (i.e. publishing a successful novel) typically requires at least 10 years of deliberate work,” and “creativity is an important part of mathematical thinking.”

From business leadership to creating art and developing research studies to map how our brain accesses our memories – creativity in its many forms are present across industries. And, that was what my presentation during CACC focused on, the “Creativity of Artists” and how our work at IDEAS xLab has supported corporate innovation, transdisciplinary work with public health, and community collaborations.

Memories, relationships, cultural context, the zeitgeist, our willingness to participate in new experiences – all things that can impact how creativity presents itself in our lives. These insights made me think about how my mind uses the time when I am merging cycling and running with photography to be creative - to connect disparate ideas, experiences and bodies of knowledge in new and useful ways.

I departed Salzburg and Berlin with a new understanding of creativity – mine and others, both personal and professional.

It makes me wonder - What does creativity look like to you? How do you see it in your life?

With gratitude -
Josh

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Above: Photo from the Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron terrace after breakfast before CACC 2022.

Additional Quotes from CACC that resonated with me.

"Creativity is the infrastructure of the future." - Faye Hobson, Associate Director of Salzburg Global Seminar

“Creativity is big international business… simulations will be the conveyor belt of the circular economy.” - Bernd Fesel, Director of the European Creative Business Network

“Creativity has been the driving force behind every human innovation and problem we have solved, and isn’t replicable by AI.” - Hannah Merseal, Penn State

Read CACC co-curator Theo Edmonds’ reflection here: imagination bones

Photos from the first Cross-Atlantic Creativity Congress

Photos from Salzburg, Austria

Photos from Berlin, Germany

A Reorientation to Time

I don’t know about you, but the pandemic changed how I relate to time. Not just the collapse of time that’s made many of us ask, “Did that happen last week or two years ago?” But, at a more foundational level of how I structure my days, how my days are connected across weeks and months, and how I find harmony as things evolve.

Before COVID, the idea of taking two hours in an afternoon to bike or rollerblade was unthinkable. The very thought that we might need to push a huge deadline or clear multiple days of meetings would have sent my blood pressure through the roof. But, after two years, that’s changed.

I’ve done away with the idea of a 40-hour Monday-Friday work week. I’ve moved beyond the notion that there isn’t time to create harmony between work, personal life, and the things that bring us joy and refuel us to make an impact. Each morning, I look at the entire week, I look at seven days. I consider workload and deadlines, the weather, travel, personal commitments, how I feel, it all informs how things get prioritized that day. It isn’t about balance, it’s about harmony. One day may be primarily at a computer for work starting before the sun rises. Another may find me biking for three hours on a weekday while my mind examines our work from 30,000 feet, putting together the disparate pieces for how to move a project forward – unleashed by being outside, the awe of the mountains, and synergy between mind and body.

I am grateful that I have the autonomy to approach time in this way, knowing that isn't the case for everyone. Hannah Drake and I lead IDEAS xLab, collectively embracing a flexible schedule - something we've talked about explicitly. If you are in a position to give people autonomy for how they use their time, I encourage you to do so. The world isn't going back to what it was, and with the erasure of the dividing line between work and out-of-work time, finding harmony has become even harder when old work-week rules and expectations apply.

In Tim Ferris’ recent podcast, Boyd Varty quotes the Shangaan men he works with - a quote that has stuck with me. “I don’t know where we are going, but I know exactly how to get there.” Varty was talking about tracking animals in the wilds of South Africa. Finding the next bent blade of grass, paw print, clue that led you to the next, and the next. An inner knowing and belief in the process, even if the path wasn’t laid out like a paved road ahead of you.

A different relationship to time has allowed me to embrace that feeling more. An openness to what will unfold, to how creative endeavors will be built piece by piece as new ways of working and fresh ideas take it to the next level. That is how it's been with my Wearable Photos, experimentation and trying something a little different each time to see how the outcomes change. I don't know where it's all going or how long it will take, but I do know how to get there - one step at a time.

With gratitude -
Josh Miller

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Josh Miller Ventures Photo Essay: February - March 2022

Denver Fashion Week Fall 2021

For Denver Fashion Week Fall 2021, I walked in two runway shows at the McNichols Civic Center.

November 20, 2021 I walked for KetiVani - who paired one of my “Cherry Creek” silk Wearable Photos prints with a Louis Vuitton bag for my first look that included a leather skirt, silk top and leather and Italian wool jacket, and incorporated a “Pink Moon” silk Wearable Photos print into my second look with a black leather and cashmere coat and hat and leather skirt.

Photo above of Look 2 by Roxanna Carrasco for 303 Magazine.

Watch my IG Reel with show finally and bts photos here.

Center photo and KetiVani gallery below by Roxanna Carrasco for 303 Magazine. Left and Right: “Cherry Creek” silk Wearable Photos print with Louis Vuitton bag for Look 1.

November 21, 2021 I walked for Denver Rummage Shop as part of the Garage Sale Segment, wearing all silk and gold stockings with gold accessories and a lightning bolt earring.

Photo 1 is bts with fellow model Susan Zager. Photos 2-4 below by Adrienne Thomas for 303 Magazine.

Watch my IG Reel with show footage and bts photos here.

Processed with Lensa with Auto Adjustments

Josh Miller Denver Fashion Week Denver Rummage Sale Photo by Adrienne Thomas for 303 Magazine 1 low.jpg

Josh Miller Denver Fashion Week Denver Rummage Sale Photo by Adrienne Thomas for 303 Magazine 2 low.jpg

Josh Miller Denver Fashion Week Denver Rummage Sale Photo by Adrienne Thomas for 303 Magazine 3 low.jpg

Below - Josh Miller in KetiVani Look 2 with “Pink Moon” silk Wearable Photos, Theo Edmonds in “Curious Gaze” chiffon Wearable Photos, and on right - Josh Miller in custom Gunnar Deatherage bodysuit with “Energy & Light” chiffon Wearable Photos print.

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About: Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, public speaker, photographer, and outdoor explorer. He is the owner of Josh Miller Ventures and the co-founder + CEO of IDEAS xLab—an organization that uses the art of storytelling and community collaboration to impact public health. Miller’s work has been featured by The New York Times, the Aspen Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a Soros Equality Fellow, received the 2022 Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award from Louisville Business First, and was selected for Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 and Louisville Business First's Forty under 40. Miller is a two-time TEDx speaker and has been described as a "force in our community.” He holds an MBA from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University. Previously, he served as an advisor to the Derby Diversity & Business Summit and co-chair for the Louisville Health advisory board’s communications committee.

Colorado and Kentucky photographs featured in F/W 2021 Wearable Photos Collection

Denver, CO – From Denver, CO to Louisville, KY, Josh Miller Ventures’ Fall/Winter 2021 Wearable Photos Collection includes 14 photographs taken while running, hiking, and cycling. Created by combining photography, fashion design and outdoor explorations, the Wearable Photos are available in both silk and chiffon square prints, draped cardigans and two dresses.

“My Fall/Winter 2021 Wearable Photos Collection celebrates where I lived for over twelve years - Kentucky, and where I am now - Colorado,” said artist and designer Josh Miller, owner of Josh Miller Ventures. “From long-exposure cityscapes to photos of awe-inspiring places like the Colorado National Monument, I’m excited to see how people integrate Wearable Photos into their lives, creating a new art installation each time they wear them.”

The Wearable Photos square print sizes range from 16x16" - great as a pocket square, cravat, small scarf, and to accessorize your bag - up to 36x36" and 50x50" prints that can be worn as everything from a scarf to a belt, head wrap, sarong, draped cross-body and more.

"I love the movement in these wearable photos - I sense it even in the still images. They provide a statement accessory to simple solids - as I wore them - yet they are versatile enough to pair with a more daring print as others did,” said Nubia Bennett. “Wearing these photos, I felt inspired to BE art."

Josh Miller Ventures seeks to be as eco-friendly as possible, so Wearable Photos are printed on-demand and shipped directly to collectors – please allow for approximately two-weeks for them to arrive at your door.

Wholesale pricing is available to retailers, and corporations, resorts and tourism departments who want to offer Wearable Photos for VIP clients or as an exclusive offering can email connect@joshmiller.ventures to discuss custom options.

Shop the collection and explore the F/W 2021 Wearable Photos Collection Lookbook: https://joshmiller.ventures/

Photos above by Amanda Tipton.

Josh Miller Ventures is a queer-owned small business creating Wearable Photos, and offering free-lance photography, public speaking, and inclusive storytelling consulting.

Josh Miller, MBA (he/him) is the owner of Josh Miller Ventures, and co-founder + CEO of IDEAS xLab. He is a 2021 National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health Fellow, a CBCA Leadership Arts Fellow, and a 2x TEDx speaker.

Josh has been described as a "force in our community,” and was selected for Louisville Business First's Forty under 40 (2018), Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 (2020), and is a CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion signatory. Josh is a runner and cyclist having participated in the 2018 Gay Games Marathon in Paris, FR and the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon.

All You Need Is Love - Josh Miller & Theo Edmonds tie the knot in St. James Court

Originally published by The Voice of Louisville

Theo proposed moments before we jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet to skydive in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in August 2019. The ring he gave me is inscribed on the inside with a line from a James Baldwin poem we love. It says, “More human dwelling place,” which is a reference to the world and life we are creating together. Heading into 2020, we planned to get married at the Frazier History Museum on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2020. Little did we know what the year would hold.

In March, COVID-19 started to disrupt all facets of our lives and we had to consider what that meant for our wedding. It would have brought together almost 150 people inside, something that was no longer possible. So, we made the tough, but necessary, decision to move the bigger wedding celebration to May 2021 and to hold a very small, outdoor ceremony in November 2020.

Planning one wedding is stressful, but planning two different events and taking pandemic limitations into consideration was another story. Our wedding officiant extraordinaire, Karan Chavis, offered to host the wedding and cupcake reception outdoors in St. James Court with her husband Craig Blakely. We limited attendance, required masks, encouraged people to dress warmly and assigned people to “pods” to maintain physical distancing. We got tested for COVID-19 leading up to the ceremony, and hired someone to help live stream the ceremony since we couldn’t invite everyone we wanted to be with us, also recognizing that people at higher risk or with possible COVID-19 symptoms could not attend. As a last surprise, the baker who was supposed to do the cupcakes had to quarantine due to a possible COVID-19 exposure, so, the day before Thanksgiving and three days before the ceremony, we were searching for a new baker.

So what does one wear to an outdoor wedding amidst a pandemic? I started working with Gunnar Deatherage on my wedding outfit early in the year, creating a set of multiple interchangeable pieces that can be worn together, layered or as separates and not just for the wedding, but work, dates and more. Theo donned a plaid Brooks Brothers suit with navy flourishes. Our dear friend Hannah Drake wore an off-the-shoulder floor-length black sequin gown with a matching black sequin mask. She gifted both Theo and me with wedding presents right before the ceremony to be worn down the aisle. For me, to be my “something borrowed, something blue,” she gave a topaz ring which “coincides with the throat chakra,” Hannah said. “As he got married, Josh was speaking his truth.” For Theo, she gave him a crown-shaped pendant from All is Fair in Love and Fashion. “I wanted him to have flair, that’s Theo’s nature. His soul is rhinestones and pearls,” Hannah said.

Guests were invited to wear black, white and fall tones, and of course, masks. One attendee paired a beaded collar with a paisley print mask, another mixed textures with a leather dress and sequin mask. Other guests wore masks in floral fabrics, with leather trim or stripes, and simple masks paired with a fur or fascinator.

While walking down the aisle, Theo was joined for the ceremony by his cousin Rhonda, and friends Sabrina, Eleisha and Hannah. My brother Chad and his daughter Ada walked down the aisle, as Ada carefully dropped fall leaves along the walkway. My sisters Patsy, Anna and Meg followed them, as I walked to meet Theo at the altar, stopping to check-in on the live streamer as technology was not our best friend that day and the connection had gone down.

Karan reminded all of us why, during a pandemic, we had come together: for love. Karan said, “That thing which is most powerful, that thing that is unending, love. We see couples who commit to a life together under the ties that love brings. Today, Josh and Theo join in this journey.”

Theo pulled his vows from his jacket pocket, and talked about our marriage as a privilege, saying, “When you are by my side, I don’t consider the enormous limits of life. I know your heart for it sings loudly like my own.” My vows opened with earlier memories from our almost eight-year relationship. I said, “Mustard corduroys, paint-speckled glasses and your smile and energy that embody Dolly Parton’s words, ‘Never leave a rhinestone unturned.’ Those early moments in our relationship are forever seared into my memory. Hanna Benjamin asking, ‘Do you like him?’ and I replied, ‘Yes, I believe I do.’”

We exchanged rings and Theo’s was black titanium and inscribed with “Our corner of the sky,” a reference to our engagement, the musical he loves and what our union symbolizes. Mine was antler and titanium. After being pronounced husband and husband, we walked back to Karan and Craig’s backyard, where socially distanced “pods” were set up as small tables with their own bottles of champagne to reduce contact and where people could enjoy cupcakes. Lifting glasses of champagne and sparkling cider, we toasted the guests who made our day so magical.

It was more meaningful than we can put into words that we were joined amidst a pandemic by a small group of family and friends who we love, on a day that is such a milestone in our lives. Friends and family who tuned in for the live stream sent emails, photos of them watching from home and texts of joy. While it was not what we had initially planned, it was everything we could have dreamed of. V

By Josh Miller

Photos by Denisha McCauley

Human limits, savory fortitude.

In January 2020, my story “Moving From Thin to Strong” ran in The Voice of Louisville. I described how “I wanted to expand my relationship with being active, including my understanding of my body and what it could achieve, beyond running and going to the gym.” Was that just a year ago? Feels like a decade.

In January 2021, I had a different story that appeared in the January issue, one that detailed getting married during a pandemic. As I consider both stories and their parallels, and all that has transpired over the past year, I think of the quote from diver William Trubridge that really resonates with me. “We have not found the human limits, we never will. It is just a matter of stretching out the grey area of possibility and finding an approximation… our job as athletes is to stretch into that zone and redefine human limits as much as we can.”