Lisa Swarbrick
FROM:
I was born in Limerick, Ireland (mostly farms, tractors, and cows in the surrounding area!). I lived in Dublin, Ireland for my formative years (where there were also tractors, but fewer cows!) and moved to a Northwest Suburb of Chicago to finish out high school. I conducted my undergraduate studies in Ohio and moved to Paris after I obtained my masters degree. I now reside back in the Chicagoland area.
HEROES:
• Margaret Bourke White for her caliber of photography and her pioneering work as one of the first female photojournalists. • Robert Ballard for his work in founding the JASON project where he gives middle school students all over the U.S. the chance to become explorers in a hands-on and creative way. (His discovery of the Titanic wasn’t that bad either!) • Blake Mycoskie for founding TOMS – a company based on a simple premise, “For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One.”
PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT:
Life has held many wonderful accomplishments for me – from overcoming a fear of water when I was 9 years old and teaching myself how to swim to defending my ethnographic thesis dissertation at the University of Chicago. Thus far in life, I don’t believe I am defined by any single accomplishment. Rather, I am proudest of the fact that I dare to strive toward accomplishing my dreams.
SOMETHING YOU MIGHT TEACH AT THE SUMMIT:
I would like to show the power of a photograph; how a two-dimensional image can help create and define the leaders of today and of tomorrow.
SOMETHING YOU HOPE TO LEARN AT THE SUMMIT:
I hope to learn how my peers view the world through their own unique lenses. I also hope to learn what others are doing to actively define and live out their legacies.
SOMETHING YOU ARE STRUGGLING WITH IN YOUR WORK:
As an entrepreneur who is very much NOT an accountant, I’m getting lost in 1099s, 1040s, and all the other “10-something” forms that the government has created to “help” me with my bookkeeping!
SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY:
Fresh flowers, a flavorful bottle of red wine shared amongst friends, cafés in Paris, outdoor swimming pools, loud music, beautiful scarves, the smell of the ocean, laughing until you cry, unexpected adventures
SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU ANGRY:
Arrogance / rudeness – someone who is belittling, impatient, or hateful to people in any situation.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAMILY:
My family is a wonderful and crazy bunch of people that both keeps me sane and drives me nuts!! My immediate family is comprised of my mother and father and four children. We were all born and raised in Ireland and moved to the United States when I turned 16 years old. My father came from humble beginnings and went into engineering. He achieved his lifelong dream of one day becoming a CEO and he is the funniest person I know. My mother is the life and soul of every gathering and her energy is such that you are automatically drawn to her. My older sister is a savvy communicator, a genuine soul, and beyond a doubt, my best friend. My younger brother is an entrepreneur at heart and our family’s technical support department! My youngest brother is musical, artistic, and now embarking his quest for personal understanding as he just graduated high school and started college.
AN IDEA TO MAKE THE 30SUMMIT EVEN BETTER:
If / when the Thirty Summit website is up and running prior to the conference, perhaps there could be a “sign in” area where participants could sign in and be a part of a social network (blogging, sharing thoughts etc.) as a means to get to know one another before meeting at the conference.
BIOGRAPHY:
Visual ethnographer and photographer, Lisa Swarbrick has honed her craft by combining an ethnographic understanding of corporate culture and a uniquely visual product, The Leader's Lens to impact corporate learnings on the industrial, organizational, and individual leadership levels. As a global citizen who has lived and worked in Europe and the United States, Lisa has participated in an international field school sponsored by National Geographic Magazine and has published works in Smithsonian Magazine and major U.S. newspapers. Her fresh ethnographic perspective utilizes immersive qualitative research and branding and has resulted in innovative strategic developments for B2B and B2C clients including: CareerBuilder.com, GOJO Industries, InterContinental Exchange (ICE), Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), Molex, and Honda. Lisa's analysis of marketplace and organizational opportunities enables clients to see the 'outsider' perspective of their industries and make actionable her research recommendations. Lisa's understanding of visual culture prompted the creation The Leader's Lens at Main Captiva LLC, an executive development firm. The Leader's Lens is a process that provides individuals with a self-reflective forum to focus on the uniquely visual qualities that define their leadership. Rather than a written description of what an individual hopes his or her legacy will be, Lisa works with participants to create a visual of that legacy through the photographic process. Lisa earned her Masters Degree from the University of Chicago in Anthropology and holds a Bachelor of Science in Visual Communication and a Bachelor of Arts in French from Ohio University. She has showcased her photographic work extensively and received awards from the Smithsonian Magazine, International Photo Exhibition, and the Barrington Area Arts Council. Lisa serves as co-curator of the Barrington Area Library Arts Advisory Committee and teaches photography at Harper College in Illinois.
