100 Insanely Interesting People You Should Know

Srinivas Rao
Unmistakable Creative
14 min readDec 29, 2015

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It’s a cultural instinct to wait to get picked. To seek out the permission and authority that comes from a publisher or talk show host or even a blogger saying, “I pick you.” Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you — that Prince Charming has chosen another house — then you can actually get to work. — Seth Godin

Every year Magazines like Fast Company and Forbes Create lists of the most creative people in business, 40 under 40, etc, etc. Rather than wait to be picked, our team at Unmistakable Creative decided to create our own list of 100 insanely interesting people we think you should know. Some of them have been guests on our show and others are just people we find fascinating. We’ve done our best to link to something they’ve written, a talk they gave, and a podcast.

Note: In some cases we couldn’t find one of each.

ARTIST, DESIGNERS AND CREATORS

1. elle luna — Artist, Writer, Designer

2. Austin Kleon— Artist/Writer

3. Jennifer Boykin — Creator of Life After Tampons

4. AJ Leon — Designer/Writer

5. Mike Rohde — Author/Designer/Sketchnote Artist

6. Sarah Kathleen Peck— Writer/Designer

7. Jocelyn K. Glei— Writer/Creator/Publisher

8. Mars Dorian— Visual Artist

9. Sarah Cooper— Cartoonist

10. Golriz Lucina — Creative Director, Soulpancake

11. Brad Montague -Filmmaker, Creator of Kid President

12. Steph Halligan — Motivational Cartoonist

13. James Victore— Artist/Designer

14. Sam Jones — Celebrity Photographer/Podcast Host

15. John Bramblitt — Visually Impaired Artist

16. Mayi Carles — Artist/Blogger

17. Paul Gilmartin- Comedian

18. Reema Zaman — Author/Memoirist/Artist

19. Jessica Hagy — Author/Artist

20. Tim Kreider — Author/Cartoonist

21. Lindsey Stirling- Violinist/Youtube Star

22. Hugh MacLeod- Author/Cartoonist

23. Erik Wahl — Speaker/Graffiti Artist

24. RM Drake — Instagram Poet

25. ASAP Science (Mitchell Moffitt and Greg Brown)- Youtube Creators

AUTHORS/THINKERS/BLOGGERS

26. Adam Grant— Author, Professor at Wharton

27. Tara Gentile — Author/Creative Business Strategist

28. Sasha Martin — Author/Blogger

29. Whitney Johnson — Author

30. Dani Shapiro — Author

31. Justine Musk — Author/Writer/Creative Badass

32. Seth Godin — Author/Entrepreneur

33. Tim Grahl- Book Marketing Strategist

34. Rob Bell — Pastor/Writer

35. Pamela Slim— Author/Business Coach

36. Susan Piver — Author/Meditation Coach

37. Bob Goff — Author/Lawyer/Humanitarian

38. Ashley Ambirge — CEO, House of Moxie Inc. Blogger at The Middle Finger Project

39. Cal Newport — Author/Professor at Georgetown

40. Tina Seelig— Author/Professor at Stanford

41. Steve Kamb — Rebel Leader of Nerdfitness

42. Christina Rasmussen- Author

43. Dan Ariely— Author/Behavioral Economist

44. Danielle LaPorte— Author/Firestarter

45. Linda Sivertsen- Midwife for Bestselling Books

46. Colin Wright- Author/Minimalist/Designer

47. Patti Digh — Author

48. Shawn Achor — Author/Happiness Researcher

49. Janelle Hanchett — Blogger/Leader of the Fight Against Meaningful Parenting Advice

50. Steven Kotler — Author/Neuroscience Researcher

51. Simon Sinek — Author

52. Jon Morrow — Blogger/Content Strategist

53. Dan Pink — Author

54. John Corcoran — Former White House Staff Writer

55. Jamie Varon— Designer/Writer

56. Paul Jarvis— Designer/Writer

57. Donald Miller — Author

58. Amber Rae— Writer

59. Sally Hogshead — Author

60. Steven Pressfield — Author

61. Tom Yorton- CEO, Secondcity Works

62. Greg Mckeown- Author

64. Al Pitampalli — Author

65. Jonathan Fields — Author/Speaker

66. Neil Strauss- Author

FOUNDERS, VENTURE CAPITALISTS AND INVESTORS

67. Chris Sacca — Founder/Investor Lowercase Capital

68. Greg Hartle — Founder/Entrepreneur

69. Scott Belsky- Founder, Behance/99u

70. Jeffrey Veen— Designer Partner at True Ventures

71. David Heinemeir Hansson — Co Founder Basecamp (DHH)

72. Mattan Griffel — Founder, OneMonth

73. Victor Saad — Founder, Experience Institute

74. Julien Smith— Founder, Breather

75. Frederick Hutson — Founder, Pigeonly

76. Fred Wilson — Venture Capitalist

77. Jerry Colonna— CEO Coach/Former VC

78. John Maeda — Former Dean at RISD/Partner at Kleiner Perkins

73. Ryan Hoover- Founder, Product Hunt

Follow: Twitter, Instagram

74. Tim Ferris — Author/Angel Investor

75. Peter Diamandis— Founder, Xprize

76. Paul Graham- Founder, Ycombinator

77. Alexis Ohanian- Cofounder, Reddit

78. Biz Stone — Cofounder, Twitter

79. Sam Altman — President, Ycombinator

80. Derek Sivers — Founder, CDBaby

81. Mark Lawrence — Founder, Spothero

PEOPLE THAT ARE UP TO SOMETHING AMAZING

82. Joe Loya— Ex Bank Robber/Talking Head on Criminal Justice

83. Clay Hebert — Crowdfunding Sherpa

84. Josh Spector — Curator of Interesting People

85. Philip Mckernan — Speaker

86. Jayson Gaignard- Creator of Mastermind Talks

87. Peter Young — Former Eco Terrorist/Fugitive

Listen: Communication Lessons from a Fugitive on the Run (Unmistakable Creative Podcast)

Apparently one of those lessons is not to have much of a social media presence.

88. Jadah Sellner— Co-founder Simple Green Smoothies

89. Kevin Honeycutt — Educational Activist

90. Dandapani — Ex Monk

91. Julia Roy- Futurist Exploring the Intersection of Science, Productivity and Technology

92. David Cornthwaite- Speaker/Adventurer

93. Wes Chapman- Speaker/Writer

94. Steve Sims — Founder, Bluefish Concierge

95. Jon Levy, Creator Influencer Dinners

96. Jeff Spencer, Olympic Coach

97. Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastor at The Church for Saints and Sinners

98. Melissa Leon — VP of Client Relations at Misfit Inc.

99. Kirby Ferguson

100. Brandon Stanton, Photographer Humans of New York

Meet more interesting people as well as get a weekly dose of the most unmistakable things you must read, watch, and listen to by signing up for The Sunday Quiver (an Unmistakable Creative Publication)

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Srinivas Rao
Unmistakable Creative

Candidate Conversations with Insanely Interesting People: Listen to the @Unmistakable Creative podcast in iTunes http://apple.co/1GfkvkP