Andi Stevenson is a speaker, facilitator, consultant and coach who has spent the last 25 years strengthening women and communities through arts and culture, dialogue and education.
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, she speaks to business, nonprofit and women's audiences about risk, empathy, innovation and leadership. Her 2015 TedX talk, “The Importance of Being a Rookie,” clearly and warmly defines the costs of perfectionism and explains the benefits of risk-taking, lifelong learning and the willingness to step outside our circles of competence. Her keynote address, "Past Perfect: In Praise of Adventurously Messy Lives," walks women through the outrageous ways we push ourselves to be flawless and offers specific steps to embrace a celebratory, unapologetic imperfection. She recently shared "Past Perfect" at the One Woman Fearless Summit in Montreal.
She translates her experience as a competitive ballroom dancer—where she is an intensely sequined Latin amateur —into a case for innovation in both our work and personal lives, for surprising ourselves, and for moving toward, not away from, the opportunity to be a novice.
She is the founder and principal of Stevenson Wallace LLC, where she leads strategic planning, organizational development and public engagement projects for small businesses and nonprofit clients. Previously, she served as executive director of The Lee institute and president of Community School of the Arts (Charlotte) and as a vice president of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia). Early in her career, she worked for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (Fort Worth), the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall (Fort Worth), and the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation (eventually the AT&T Performing Arts Center).
A native of Arlington, Texas, Andi earned an MBA from Queens University of Charlotte and a B.A. in English and political science from Texas A&M University.
She credits her parents and brother (hilarious, all) for enabling her to be an un-boring nonprofit governance consultant and an amused observer of professional life and women's leadership.
