Meet Our New Imagination Creativity Consultant: Dee Kimbrell!

Last year we introduced 5 Imagination Creativity Consultants (ICCs), then known as Ambassadors. Each graciously agreed to serve in an advisory position to the Imagination Team, and to assist in mentoring others and supporting the efforts and activities of Imagination.org and fellow Chapter Leaders. This year, much as we have added new Chapters, we are also inviting some new ICCs to work with the existing team. Today,we have the pleasure of introducing you to the first of our new ICCs, Dee Kimbrell!

Hendersonville, Tennessee — USA

“I became a Chapter Leader in 2014. The first time I saw the Caine’s Arcade video I was hooked — I thought ‘this is my tribe!!’ I contacted Imagination Foundation and had missed the Chapter Leader application process by 2 weeks and I was really bummed. The following year, I applied as soon as they announced they were looking for Chapter Leaders and was accepted. I’m super proud to be a part of this group.

My VERY CAPable Creative Kids stretch from Kindergarten to Middle School and all attend an after school program called Children Are People (or C.A.P.) that promotes character building, mentoring and tutoring. We meet bi weekly to monthly, depending on homework workloads. Others might say they have challenges to overcome, but I say they are full of opportunities and it has been such a joy to watch them grow in their creative problem solving and leadership skills through play. They love participating in the various Challenges.

Last year, for our Global Cardboard Challenge, we gave it a bit of a social issue twist. We decided to respond to a great deal of press about issues between police officers and neighborhoods of color in the United States. We wanted to use our cardboard games as a way of building relationships with our local community helpers. So the kids designed games based on different community workers of their choosing and then we invited those community helpers to come and play our games. All of the students did such a wonderful job, but I have to say the highlight for me was the 2 and 3rd grade’s jail. They arrested adults (teachers, police officers, firefighters) all day long, then the student Judge sentenced them and they were put in “jail” where the adults had to work out a sentence of their choice: (1) Play a game with a student (2) Tell a knock knock joke (3) Teach a secret handshake (4) Tell their most embarrassing moment. It was such a joy to see the students and police officers laughing and being silly together and building positive relationships.

As a teaching artist, I also specialize in using recycled materials to build community relationships. I work with students and teachers in schools, libraries and nonprofit organizations nationwide, promoting creative ways to bring STEAM subjects to life. I am also the founder of Creative Genius In You, an educational consulting business.

My favorite inventor is Albert Einstein — because he had the coolest hair on the planet before there was hair product — and that hair covered an amazing mind.

I’ve been a rock hound since childhood. I find and collect heart shaped rocks that I find on the ground. Once I came back from a visit at a beach in Boston with a suitcase FULL of heart shaped stones. The suitcase was a carry on, but I couldn’t lift it to get it into the overhead bin, so I checked it. When I arrived at my destination, there was a note saying it had been inspected. Can you imagine the conversation?”