NEW YORK, May 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Each year Choose Creativity, powered by the Lulu & Leo Fund, selects trailblazers who lead with and inspire creativity within their respective industries and beyond for the Choose Creativity Awards. The 2025 honorees are Krisytn Cook, EVP and Chief Agency, Sales & Marketing Officer of State Farm(R); Douglas Hofstadter, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author, Cognitive Scientist, and Professor; and Adriene Mishler, Actress, Yoga Teacher, and Founder/CEO of Find What Feels Good.
Cook, Hofstadter, and Mishler will be honored on June 3, 2025 at The Choose Creativity Awards (“CCAs”) in New York City, the proceeds of which fund the delivery of its flagship curriculum, Learn with Creative Confidence, to under-resourced schools across NYC Public Schools' East Harlem District 4 and beyond. The program is centered on the 10 Principles of Creativity, developed by Marina and Kevin Krim to empower children to develop into confident, resilient learners. To date, Choose Creativity has reached over 1,700 educators and roughly 29,000 children.
“This school year, Choose Creativity more than doubled the number of schools using our unique curriculum to instill confidence and resilience into their students, while helping teachers and families support kids' inherent creativity,” said Marina Krim, who co-founded the organization and serves as Creative Director and board member. “The 2025 CCAs will celebrate the impact of three very special creative heroes, but just as importantly, will showcase how creative confidence leads to success in different fields in people with different backgrounds.”
Kristyn Cook will receive the Inspired Leadership Award. As EVP and Chief Agency, Sales & Marketing Officer at State Farm (R), Kristyn leads the company's brand and marketing efforts, connecting the power of 'Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There(R)' to consumers and communities across America. She has leadership responsibility for more than 19,000 State Farm independent contractor agencies who bring to life the mission of helping people manage the risks of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their dreams. She also oversees the Life & Annuity, Health, and Investment Planning Services lines of business for State Farm. In addition to her leadership responsibilities at State Farm, Kristyn is involved in various community-based initiatives to foster the Good Neighbor spirit. She and her husband, Daniel, reside in Bloomington, IL.
Kristyn's award will be presented by WNBA Commissioner, Cathy Engelbert.
Adriene Mishler will receive the Authentic Entrepreneur award. Adriene Mishler is an international yoga teacher, actor, writer, activist, and entrepreneur. On a mission to make tools for mental, emotional, and physical health accessible for all, Adriene began hosting the YouTube channel Yoga With Adriene, an online community of over 13 million subscribers. YWA provides high-quality practices at no cost to support people across the globe. Adriene is also the co-founder of Find What Feels Good, a subscription app dubbed the first “Netflix For Yoga”, providing a safe community space and creative wellness practices for mental, physical, and emotional health. Adriene has worked in theatre, television, voiceover, film, and dance. She is co-owner of Practice Yoga Austin studio in Austin, TX, and sits on the board of Fusebox Live, an international arts festival, and Medicinal Media, a nonprofit focused on mental health. She has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in Health and Fitness and enjoys traveling to host events in yoga and meditation all across the globe.
Adriene's award will be presented by Co-Anchor of TODAY at NBC News and NBC News' Chief Legal Correspondent, Savannah Guthrie.
Douglas Hofstadter will receive the Curious Cognitive Explorer Award. Douglas Hofstadter is an American professor, author, and philosopher of cognitive science. Hofstadter is best known for his publications Godel, Escher, Bach (1979), which won both the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction and the American Book Award for Science, and his 2007 book I Am a Strange Loop, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology. Additional publications include The Mind's I (1981); Metamagical Themas (1985); Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies (1995); Le Ton beau de Marot (1997); Translator, Trader (2009); and Surfaces and Essences (2013), as well as his 1999 verse translation of Alexander Pushkin's novel-in-verse Eugene Onegin. His newest book, Ambigrammia: Between Creation and Discovery (for short, ABCD), will be published in July 2025. Hofstadter serves as the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Comparative Literature at Indiana University and resides in Bloomington, Indiana, with his wife, Baofen Lin.
Douglas' award will be presented by University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science and co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University, David Chalmers.
“Among many greats, this year's Choose Creativity Award recipients may be the most representative of our mission and message – relentless innovators in wildly different fields. Kristyn, Adriene and Doug could not be more different, except in their deep, shared commitment to the principles of creativity, from Inspired to Authentic to Curious and many more. They have transformed their respective disciplines, lead with genuine humanity, and drive lasting, positive impact in their communities,” said co-founder and chairman Kevin Krim. “We are humbled and thrilled to be celebrating them at the Choose Creativity Awards.”
The Choose Creativity Awards are generously sponsored by Disney, TelevisaUnivision, ASCAP, Acxiom, NBCUniversal, Paramount Advertising, Tubi Media Group, Amazon, Fox, GroupM, Netflix, Taboola, and Spectrum Reach, among others.
For more information about the Choose Creativity Awards, visit: https://choosecreativity.org/choose-creativity-awards/
Press Contact:Danielle DeVorenddevoren@kcsa.com