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impactmania (lower case i, italicized) is both a social enterprise and non-governmental organization (NGO) in the form of an internship program created in partnership with the Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara. The firm’s goal is to promote social entrepreneurship by "featuring and connecting people and projects worldwide that accelerate cultural, social, and economic growth."

History
impactmania evolved out of a 2015 book project by Dutch-American academic, social entrepreneur, and UCSB Senior Fellow of Research and Media Paksy Plackis-Cheng, entitled “Impact X: How to Transform Your Wisdom, Work, and Wealth into Meaningful Community Impact.” The book, with a foreword by Czech economist Tomáš Sedláček, profiled 30 diverse “impact makers” including oceanographer Sylvia Earle, pianist and animal conservationist Hélène Grimaud, virtuoso American trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, robotocist Maja Mataric and many more.

impactmania was originally launched as an online magazine at UC Santa Barbara in February, 2016 that “features thinkers and doers who make a social, cultural, or economic impact worldwide,” covering people in different cities involved in arts, culture, technology, science and human interest. Within three years, Plackis-Cheng via impactmania had interviewed more than 300+ impact makers in 30+ countries and connected hundreds of people and programs. Interviewees are invited to work together across sectors to address highly complex social issues and encourage purposeful community involvement. Initial impactmania supporters include UCSB Trustee, Professor Emeritus, Duncan Mellichamp and UCSB Trustee Eva Haller.

In 2018, Elyse A. Gonzales and E. Bruce Robertson at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) partnered with impactmania to develop an interdisciplinary internship program at the University. Previously, Paksy Plackis-Cheng collaborated with Ram Seshadri Co-Director of the Materials Research Lab at UCSB and his students, toward making scientific research more accessible to the public at-large.

Non-Profit Projects
Women of Impact

The impactmania internship program at UCSB offers entrepreneurial learning for students co-creating across disciplines. This includes researching and connecting with change-makers. The first program under the internship culminated in a book entitled “Women of Impact” with a foreword by Pat Mitchell, a Museum exhibition, and a public event at the Art, Design and Architecture Museum. Hundreds of people traveled from 5 continents to attend the July 19, 2018 event. Interviewees from the book, such as the Emmy award-winning senior producer of ABC TV News, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, a Women Hall of Fame inductee, the Senior Vice President of Intel Corp., a Beijing Design Week curator, social entrepreneurs, award-winning scientists, a Broadway producer, a baroness, the former mayor of Santa Barbara, a Marine Corp Veteran, philanthropists, and many others spoke at the event.

The program featured women’s contributions to society by highlighting 130 women in 30 countries. The complete program was a collaboration with UCSB’s AD&A Museum as part of an ongoing initiative to develop “a unique and ongoing collaborative series of exhibitions, events, and student internships related to some of the most pressing issues of our times.” Women featured in the project included activist, media educator and Women Hall of Fame inductee 2015 Jean Kilbourne, with a foreword by media executive and philanthropist Pat Mitchell.

The program was invited by the U.S. Consulate to travel to New Zealand, where impactmania interviewed and connected women impact-makers. in New Zealand with the global Women of Impact network. The program will continue to travel with women from the global network to a different country annually.

Human Mind and Migration

The second program, Human Mind and Migration initiated by impactmania for UCSB is a co-creation with the Neuroscience Research Institute, the Department of Religious Studies, and The Art, Design & Architecture Museum. Students from across disciplines (art, biology, economy, philosophy, psychology, global studies, etc.) delve into various migration paths and uncover the cultural, social, and economic value and challenges of migration. At a later stage, a series of in-depth interviews with scientists and artists will be conducted to better understand people movement and the possible effect on the brain. An anonymous online survey captures the worldviews and migration path of the public-at-large. The public‘s participation will be featured at a future exhibit, event, or presentation.

Interviews
The interviews featured by impactmania represent a broad range of industries, including architecture, art, education, environment, finance, media, music, philanthropy, photography, politics, design, business, science & technology, society & culture, as well as sports. Plackis-Cheng’s interviews have focused on highlighting the achievements of women, including Miho Walsh, head of the Asian Cultural Council, Phiona Mutesi, the first titled female Ugandan chess player and her coach Robert Katende (whose story inspired the 2016 Disney film Queen of Katwe starring Lupita Nyong’o), political scientist Maleeha Lodhi, the first woman to hold the position of Pakistan’s representative to the United Nations, among others.

Many impactmania interviewees went on to receive presidential or major media recognition following their interview:


 * Amir Abo-Shaeer, a 2010 MacArthur Fellow and Founder of Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA), was interviewed by impactmania in 2015 and was a featured speaker at the Impact X book launch. In 2016, Abo-Shaeer and DPEA alumnae presented their Carousel of Physics project at a White House Summit.


 * Kuldeep Dantewadia, founder of Reap Benefit, was interviewed by impactmania in November 2016. In December 2017, Reap Benefit was recognized by former President Barack Obama at an Obama Foundation Town Hall, India event in Dec. 2017


 * Following its August 2016 impactmania interview, The Refugee Company was featured in The New York Times international business section (October 2016)


 * Following his 2016 impactmania interview, Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde went on to be interviewed by Wired and Departure Magazine.


 * Departure Magazine (2018) covered Marcel Wanders after impactmania (2016)


 * impactmania covered Dishcraft in 2016, featured by Techcrunch in 2019.

Interviewees of Note

 * Laurie Ashton is Nuclear Zero’s lead counsel and has been fighting (pro-bono) for the rights of the Marshall Islands and nuclear disarmament.


 * John E. Bowers is an American physicist, engineer, researcher and educator. He is the Fred Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology, the director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency and a distinguished professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials at University of California, Santa Barbara.


 * Charita Castro Chief of Research and Policy; Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking; Bureau of International Labor Affairs; U.S. Department of Labor, leads a team that produced more than 1,000 pages of research that form the foundation of the app Sweat & Toil, launched by and for the U.S. Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking.


 * Miyoung Chun, a molecular biologist with the Kavli Foundation, organized The Brain Activity Map Project, a precursor to the White House's BRAIN Initiative, announced by President Barack Obama in 2013 at the State of the Union. Miyoung Chun was one of the participants who traveled with Paksy Plackis-Cheng for the Women of Impact program to New Zealand.


 * Sandy DeCrescent celebrates 50 years as an orchestra contractor. At one point she worked with 43 of the most talented TV and film composers in Hollywood. Today, she is still selecting the musicians and managing the orchestras for composer John Williams.


 * Isabelle Dumont, French Ambassador to the Ukraine from 2015 to 2019.


 * Elizabeth “Buffy” Easton, Director of New York's Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL), a not-for-profit organization she co-founded to train museum curators in the fundamentals of management and leadership.


 * Kathy Eldon is the mother of Dan Eldon, a British journalist killed at the age of 22 while on assignment in Somalia. Kathy Eldon used the power of the media to bring attention to the ivory trade in Kenya and went on to create an extensive portfolio of books and films.


 * Beatrice Faumuina is a four-time Olympian, the first New Zealander to win a world championship track and field title, is a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medal winner, and was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.


 *  Jeffrey "Jeff" O. Henley is an American businessman and the vice chairman of Oracle Corporation, having previously served as chairman. Henley spoke about his gift to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) of 50 million dollars to build a new building that will house 16 laboratories for the Institute for Energy Efficiency. It is the first building at UCSB funded by private money.


 * Rachel House, Actress and Director, New Zealand Order of Merit and Arts Laureate, Rachel appeared in the award-winning feature film "Whale Rider", director Taika Waititi’s "Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt For The Wilderpeople", "Boy", as well as numerous television productions including the BBC co-production of "Maddigan’s Quest", "The New Legends of Monkey" and "Hope and Wire". She is also a voice-over artist, most notably for the Disney feature film "Moana".


 *  Areta Koopu is part of and spoke at impactmania’s Women of Impact gathering in New Zealand, 2019. In June, 2019, New Zealand named Areta Koopu Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Dame Areta Koopu was previously a member of the New Zealand Māori Council, National President of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, and a Human Rights Commissioner.


 * Suzanne Lacy is among the first generation of  social practice artists who explores gender, race, and class equities.


 * Daan Roosegaarde is a Dutch artist and founder of Studio Roosegaarde, which develops projects that merge technology and art in urban environments.


 * Demet Sabancı Çetindoğan is the first Turkish woman inducted in the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame, and is a third generation member of the  Sabancı Family.


 * Marcel Wanders is a Dutch designer and art director in the Marcel Wanders studio in Amsterdam, who designs architectural, interior and industrial projects. Wanders is known for successful international collaborations with companies such as Alessi, B&B Italia, and Louis Vuitton. Businessweek named Wanders as one of Europe’s 25 Leaders of Change.

Awards & Recognition

 * PSFK names impactmania founder Paksy Plackis-Cheng one of 29 leaders in 2020


 * In 2019 impactmania’s Women of Impact program awarded the U.S. Embassy Public Diplomacy Grant.


 * impactmania film featured by the United Nations (UN) and The My Hero Project "a U.S.-based nonprofit organization established in 1995 by philanthropist Karen Pritzker, Jeanne Meyers and Rita Stern Milch that identifies positive role models from around the world for the online digital storytelling project."


 * impactmania work featured by U.S. Embassy, New Zealand
 * impactmania interview with Robert Zimmermann cited by Harvard Business School and Duke University Press


 * impactmania interview with Sylvia Earle referenced in book "Wild Blue Media: Thinking through Seawater" by Melody Jue, published by Duke University Press


 * impactmania video interview with Eva Haller featured on The Common Good.
 * impactmania interview with Swiss artist Barbara Caveng cited on Page 67 of report by Drs. Feyzi Baban and Kim Rygiel, "Fostering Cultural Pluralism through the Arts" prepared in the scope of the cultural policy studies of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV).


 * impactmania interview with Prof. Celine Parreñas Shimizu cited by San Francisco State University (SFSU) news.


 * impactmania founder, Paksy Plackis-Cheng, speaks at SheVentures


 * Interview with impactmania founder, Paksy Plackis-Cheng on Global Connections Television with Bill Miller, recorded at the United Nations (UN) Studios, New York on August 12, 2017.


 * impactmania founder Paksy Plackis-Cheng speaks at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA)