About
creativeLIVE unleashes the creative potential of millions of people by connecting them live with the world's most inspiring instructors.
creativeLIVE will help you grow your creative and entrepreneurial expertise. Learn from renowned professionals in photography, business, productivity, software development, design, film, video and more. Join us at creativeLIVE and get ready to expand your business, further your career or launch into a brand new field.
creativeLIVE’s instructors include New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling authors like Tim Ferriss, Pulitzer Prize winners such as photographer Vince Laforet, Emmy nominated directors like Gale Tattersall, Director of Photography of the TV series House, and such award-winning professionals as master photographer Sue Bryce.
Watch in-depth, live seminars for free in an interactive social platform. Ask the instructor questions, or connect with other course participants, via Twitter. Stay in touch after the seminar and become part of a community of dedicated creative professionals. If you missed a class or want to know more, you can purchase copies of each course at any time.
Our History.
In 2010 renowned sports photographer Chase Jarvis partnered with Craig Swanson to create an online space where professionals photographers could teach specific skills in multi-day seminars to aspiring photographers via live video.
The results were astounding. Within months, tens of thousands of individuals had watched the live, free classes and a huge number of
them had purchased copies of the courses. creativeLIVE’s most popular classes have drawn over 150,000 participants at a time. More than one million individuals from over 200 countries have participated in creativeLIVE’s free online seminars since the company began in 2010, and creativeLIVE has paid out millions to its instructors.
Founders
Chase Jarvis
Founder and Chairman
Award winning photographer, director, and media maven Chase Jarvis, co-founded creativeLIVE in 2010 to share free creative education with aspiring artists and entrepreneurs worldwide. In addition to his work creating campaigns for Nike, Apple, RedBull, Starbucks and other Fortune 100 companies Chase is widely recognized for creating Best Camera - the world's first photo app to share images to social networks - which kicked off the mobile photography/sharing craze.
Craig Swanson
Founder / Head of Curriculum Development
Craig co-founded creativeLIVE in 2010. He previously founded CreativeTechs, Seattle's premiere team of Macintosh experts and consultants for Seattle photographers, design firms, ad agencies and in-house creative departments. Craig brings a depth of experience built on almost two decades supporting creative teams of all shapes and sizes.
Board
James Slavet
Board Member
James is a partner at Greylock Partners, where he focuses on e-commerce, online advertising and Web-enabled business services. James has been a founder and early employee of several startups, as well as a senior executive leading business units with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. James was named to the 2012 Forbes Midas List, which recognizes top VC tech investors.
Caterina Fake
Board Member
Caterina is a leading Internet entrepreneur. She co-founded Flickr, one of largest photo hosting and sharing sites in the world, and Hunch, which connects users with products and places that match their interest. Caterina is also CEO and founder of Findery and Chairman of Etsy, the most popular marketplace for handmade crafts. Fake has also been advisor to and investor in numerous business start-ups.
Team
Mika Salmi
CEO and Board Member
Mika founded AtomFilms, which pioneered short-form digital content and later merged with game company shockwave.com, eventually selling to Viacom for $200 million in 2006. Mika served as President of Global Digital Media at Viacom, where he led over 1,500 employees worldwide and helped Viacom quadruple its digital revenues. Mika began his career in the music business with independent label TVT where he discovered and signed Nine Inch Nails.
Jon Cunningham
COO and Board Member
In 1998 Jon co-founded Groovetech, Inc., a pioneering streaming media and ecommerce venture, leading the company to a public offering on the LSE/AIM and its subsequent acquisition. Jon has extensive experience managing all aspects of digital business strategy and a proven track record leading companies from startup to maturity with a focus on operational efficiency.
Brent Ayrey
VP, Product
Prior to joining creativeLIVE, Brent was VP of Product Innovation at Netflix, where he helped Netflix transition from a US-only DVD company into a global streaming company with over 25M streaming subscribers. Brent earlier held product roles at Yahoo! and with tech companies in his native New Zealand.
Greg Dotson
VP, Engineering
Greg has held top engineering positions at several technology start-ups, including Unicru, Guru and adam.com. Most recently he was CTO at Blurb, where he led their growth from startup phase into a global self-publishing platform, shipping over 2M books and eBooks annually to over 70 countries.
Rick Silvestrini
Head of Marketing
Prior to joining creativeLIVE, Rick spent 5 years at YouTube helping revolutionize online video. As a Product Manager for Monetization, he oversaw ad products with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. He later built and ran a Global Product Marketing Team supporting over 20 countries. Before YouTube, Rick spent several years in New York advertising agencies, including McCann Erickson and Grey Worldwide.
George Varanakis
GM of Talent
George comes to creativeLIVE with over a decade of experience in the photography space. He was previously Executive VP/Group Publisher at Rangefinder Publishing, the leading magazine for professional photographers and WPPI, the largest trade show and convention in the photo industry. In 2006 George launched After Capture Magazine, which won a Maggie Award in 2007 for "Best New Magazine Launch."
Megan Acree Zengerle
Head of Recruiting & People Operations
Megan knows how to team up talented professionals with the most ambitious start-ups in the marketplace. She was previously Head of Talent at the successful Y Combinator digital document library, Scribd. Megan is also the founder of MPower Recruiting where she specialized in early stage start-up recruiting and hiring infrastructure, partnering with many top technology clients to create industry changing teams.
