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Fresh off this summer’s Olympics in Rio, "renaissance runner" Alexi Pappas takes a break with ALOUD to discuss her far-reaching talents and interests. Beyond representing Greece’s Olympic team in the 10,000 meters race, Pappas writes poetry, essays and makes and stars in films, including a semi-autobiographical movie, Tracktown, which recently premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. A celebrity in the Twitter-sphere—even her signature top bun has its own Twitter account—Pappas will team up with fellow tweeter extraordinaire Sharon Ann Lee of @culturebrain, to muse on the life of a runner, training with men, eating infinite bowls of pasta, and balancing many forms of self-expression on and off the track.
Alexi Pappas is a professional track athlete and an award-winning writer and filmmaker. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Oregon. A Greek-American, she holds the Greek National Record in the 10,000-meter run and will compete for Greece at the 2016 Olympic Games. She was recently profiled in the New York Times, New York Magazine, NPR, and Rolling Stone. She is also the co-founder of the Portland chapter of the Film Fatales, a nationwide group of female directors. As a filmmaker, Alexi co-wrote, co-directed, and stars in the feature film Tracktown which was produced with support from the Sundance Institute and premiered at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Festival. She contributes poetry regularly to Women’s Running Magazine, and most recently, she and her partner Jeremy Teicher created a 5-episode short film series entitled “Speed Goggles” in partnership with Kodak that is being published by the New York Times.
Sharon Ann Lee is a culture and trends analyst, writer, and entrepreneur who has been at the forefront of global trends and youth culture for over 15 years. Sharon studies the big ideas that shape our changing tastes, opinions, and values. Sharon is the founder of CultureBrain, a culture think tank and creative studio. She is also the co-host of the Bruce Lee Podcast, a podcast about the life and philosophies of Bruce Lee. Her work has been featured on PBS, MTV, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time, and CNN. Her work can be followed on Twitter and Instagram at @CultureBrain.
