Costa Michailidis

Costa began life as a creative misfit, using his imagination to spur havoc, laughter, and the occasional unintended success. Come to think of it, he hasn’t changed much over the years. Some of his recent adventures include working with NASA scientists to rethink the search for life beyond Earth, designing an innovation tournament inside of a Fortune 500 to seed innovation projects, speaking at the United Nations in New York as part of the first TEDx event there, working with a group of cyber security experts (including one of the original creators of the internet—not Al Gore) to make recommendations to the Obama Administration, and that’s just the compulsory who’s who. Some of the most impactful and beautiful work he’s done has been with college students, young entrepreneurs, and nonprofit organizations. Costa’s passion, and by some cosmic coincidence his job, is to help people be more creative, so they can solve new and meaningful problems in the world. He takes great joy and pride in skillfully priming the human brain, and the human heart, for creative breakthrough. He co-founded an innovation consultancy, Innovation Bound, and has joined a team of academics, entrepreneurs, consultants, and other creativity & innovation experts just like him to help accelerate innovation efforts in science, business, and the citizen sector. Costa grew up in the world of competitive gymnastics. To this day, he still chalks up to swing high bar on Wednesday nights. If you spend enough time with him, you’re sure to catch a glimpse of him flying through the air or standing on his hands. ...And now, he's running for United States Congress.