The Creative Genius
Heather HodgesAn Organizational Psychologist, Keynote Speaker, and Live Artist on a mission to help people recognize and develop their own creative potential.
Heather’s work centers on one core belief:
Everyone is creative, and we need everyone's creativity.
My mission is to help organizations turn untapped talent into unstoppable innovation through the science of creativity, the same science behind
The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius®.
Put Your Artist's Eyes On
Heather Hodges Life Story
WHERE IT ALL STARTED.
When I was a little girl, I was banned from scissors. Not because of safety, but because I had an insatiable desire to cut things up and remake them. Fabric, paper, cardboard, anything I could get my hands on. I even cut my own hair once, which left me with a patch of half-inch bangs that took months to grow out. That was a mistake. But I couldn't help myself. I saw raw material everywhere, and my hands itched to transform it into something new.
My childhood bedroom held a hoard of art supplies. I collected colored pencils, markers, watercolors, and brushes like they were treasure. When we visited my grandparents, I'd join my grandmother, Ola Mae, in her art studio for painting lessons. I'll never forget standing beside her at the easel, learning to see the world the way she did. She told me, "Put your artist's eyes on. See it like an artist sees it."
I can't remember a time when I didn't consider myself creative. It's simply who I've always been.
WHERE IT WAS NURTURED.
A portrait tells a person's story. That's where art started meeting psychology for me, and it's part of why I still paint on stage today. The people I paint live, in front of an audience, lived stories that seem extraordinary, but really aren't that different from ours. They were often overlooked. Dismissed early on. Or they faced something enormous and found a way through it anyway. Their story gives audiences hope that they can do the same and have courage to use their creativity to make an impact in the world, like them.
THE TURNING POINT.
We lived internationally growing up, and my parents dragged us to museum after museum. When my brothers and I were very little, this was absolute torture, I remember playing hide-and-seek in the Louvre with my brothers just to make the experience bearable. By high school, it had become a joy.
The Impressionists who inspired me early on like: Claude Monet, Pierre-August Renoir, Bertha Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, and then the Post-Impressionists, Van Gogh, Cezanne. Later I studied and copied George de la Tour, Johannes Vermeer, and John Singer Sargent. I spent years and years copying the greats before I had the courage to paint something mine. I started with landscapes but switched to portraiture, because of how fascinating, emotional, and beautiful I think people are. In a portrait, I'm reaching for the essence of someone's spirit: their joy, their pain, their hope — their humanness.
WHERE IT CONVERGES.
I witnessed live speed-painting for the first time around 2008, at a large worship conference. I was mesmerized. I thought, "I can do that." I started practicing. I would paint a full biblical scene during worship at churches in about an hour. By 2018, I'd brought that same live-painting practice into corporate keynotes.
Around that same time, my doctoral research was underway, exploring what organizational conditions nurture or hinder employee creativity. I asked my participants a simple question: did they consider themselves creative? Not one said yes. That answer astonished me. So in my post-doctoral work, I changed the question, not "are you creative," but "how are you creative?" That single shift changed everything. Through The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius®, I discovered twelve distinct ways people naturally solve problems and generate ideas, aligned to three centers of intelligence: cognitive, affective, and behavioral. I call your top three your Creative Genius Trifecta, your unique creative superpowers.
WHERE IT’S GOING.
We're standing at a pivotal moment, one where the problems we face demand the full scope of human creativity. Our collective problems won't be solved by algorithms alone. They'll be solved by humans who dare to imagine something different, and have the courage to create it.
I believe, with all my heart, that you have always been creative. It's in your nature as a human. When you rediscover your true creative strengths, you come into your own, and you find the best you have to offer the world.
Every portrait on stage is a story, and a reminder that creativity has always been human.
The Proof in the Work
Two earned doctorates: PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and Doctor of Ministry
National Speaking Association (NSA) Member
SHRM-Senior Certified Professional
Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
Member, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychologists (SIOP)
Certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator
iEQ9 Integrative Enneagram Accredited Practitioner
What Heather Stands For
Five values that shape how she shows up, on stage, in front of a blank canvas, in business and in life.
Heather doesn't just preach about creativity. She personally lives it, on canvas, on stage, in how she approaches every problem.
The question that changed everything for her was simple: not "are you creative," but "how are you creative?" Curiosity is where all her best work starts.
The paintings she creates on stage are always being donated to the event she speaks at.
Not one of her doctoral research participants believed they were creative. She's spent her career proving them wrong and helping them realize that they are indeed creative.
100% of her clients say they'd hire her again. It’s a standard she holds herself to.
When She’s Not On Stage
She lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Wade. They have two grown sons. When she’s not speaking or writing, you'll find her painting, gardening, or planning her next adventure.
Creativity: In Their Words
The impact Heather leaves behind
“Heather is BY FAR my favorite speaker. She is inspiring, encouraging, motivating…AND she has always kept ME engaged (which says a lot for itself). I’ve sat through many classes and speaking events…and she’s #1 for me.”
BRANDY ARNOLD
Enhabit Home Health & Hospice
“Heather has a rare ability to take meaningful content and deliver it in a way that is educational, entertaining, and truly memorable. There's a sense of pure joy in the way she delivers her message, her passion, knowledge, leadership and energy are infectious…"
JASON BANKS
Olli Health
“Heather’s down to earth presentation skills brought clarity to a topic that has always confused me. Her expertise in the topic was evident, not by fancy words or ambiguous phrases, but by real life experiences and obvious passion…”
DAN BOGGS
Board Certified Chaplain
Creative Genius