Joy is not a luxury.
It’s a vital intelligence.
Meet Vanessa Elle Wilde-the Playologist, writer, and speaker helping humans live their most fruitful and joyful lives.
Play is the Core.
Becoming a mother at a young age taught me early that joy is a necessity. Staying playful, curious, and present wasn’t optional; it was how I survived, connected, and kept imagination alive.
Growing up inside a rigid belief system also taught me how quickly creativity, voice, and choice can disappear when conformity is rewarded.
Play sits at the center of everything I do. It’s the foundation of a two-decade career helping individuals and organizations navigate complexity with clarity, playful ease, and humanity at the center.
THE WORKWhere Creativity Meets Cultural Inquiry.
True innovation is a unique blend of psychology, applied improvisation, and business strategy. As a Playologist, the work focuses on developing Play Intelligence (PQ): the uniquely human capacity to adapt, imagine, and collaborate in real time.
The goal is to create spaces where your team can:
Unlearn RigidityStep past the cultural conditioning that leads to burnout.
Think FreelyAccess the divergent thinking required for real problem-solving.
Speak BoldlyFoster communication rooted in honesty, warmth, and the freedom to "get it wrong.
PROVEN IMPACT & COMMUNITY
From the Boardroom to the Community Lab. Body Copy: Belief systems, power dynamics, and cultural conditioning are explored through programs like The Play Lab, community conversations like Girlside Chats, and the podcast Blooped. This approach blends deep insight with levity, ensuring that even the most "serious" breakthroughs happen with a sense of play.
Community is the ultimate reason for this work. Hosting regular improv sessions invites people out of their heads and into connection and shared laughter. These gatherings aren’t about performance—they’re about remembering how to play together.
THE POMEGRANATE Promise
You are the Seed. We are the Fruit. Body Copy: The philosophy is simple: those who play together, thrive. Every team functions like a pomegranate—a vibrant collective of individual "seeds." When the individuals are "okay on the inside," the collective output gets to be great.
FREQUENT FLYER
Based in Savannah with my dog Daisy, I travel often for work and play. Travel fuels my curiosity, expands perspective, and shapes how I think about people, systems, and connection.
No matter the location, you’ll find me connecting, writing, hosting community improv sessions, and sometimes cloud gazing.
THE INVITATION
Doing meaningful work requires a willingness to do it differently. If your team is ready to collaborate, let’s design an experience—whether a keynote, workshop, or retreat—that is thoughtful, effective and intentionally fun.
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ABOUT VANESSA
Hi, I’m a joy enthusiast with a deep belief in the power of play, truth-telling, and creative intelligence to change how we live, work, and relate. Play isn’t just central to my work, it’s central to my life. Becoming a mother at a young age taught me early that joy is not a luxury. It’s a vital intelligence. Staying playful, curious, and present wasn’t optional, it was how I survived, connected, and kept imagination alive.
For more than two decades, I’ve worked with individuals, organizations, and communities to help them reconnect with their voice, expand their thinking, and move through complexity with more clarity, courage, and humanity.
My work is a creative blend of joy, mindset work, applied improvisation, and cultural inquiry. I’ve facilitated workshops, keynotes, and immersive experiences for leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams who want to communicate more effectively, think more creatively, and stay human in systems that often reward rigidity and burnout. At the heart of everything I do is Play Intelligence, the uniquely human capacity to adapt, imagine, collaborate, and respond in real time.
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Through my work as a Playologist, writer, podcast host, and creator of programs like The Play Lab and Blooped, I explore how belief systems, power dynamics, and cultural conditioning shape our lives, and what it takes to unlearn them. My approach blends insight with levity, depth with play, and honesty with warmth, creating spaces where people can think freely, speak boldly, and try something new without fear of getting it wrong.
Community has always been central to my work. Alongside writing and facilitation, I host community improv sessions that invite people out of their heads and into connection, presence, and shared laughter. These gatherings are less about performance and more about remembering how to play together.
I live in Savannah, Georgia, with my dog Daisy, and travel often between Savannah and San Diego. You’ll usually find me writing, walking, hosting community improv sessions, facilitating conversations, dreaming up new ideas, and finding small, meaningful ways to bring more joy and play into everyday life.