Playful's host, Crystal Place, is a storyteller and adventurer at heart. She loves diving in to learn the stories and knowledge of others, and considers herself a life-long learner. Like a musician who can’t turn down a jam session, Crystal just loves to interview smart and fascinating people, and then share those insights in ways that benefits others.

Crystal has been studying play in its various forms and from a variety of lenses for over a decade. She is fascinated by the power of play to transform our lives, and uses this in her current role as a Learning Experience Designer and Content Producer. She’s particularly passionate about teaching the topics of emotional intelligence, resilience, self-mastery/habit creation, and sustainable joy. For more on her experience in the field, find her website and portfolio here. 

Before combining her content producing skills with her passion for eLearning and instructional design, Crystal worked as a Producer for 16 years. She enjoyed working on everything from neat training and instructional projects to corporate videos, documentaries, and TV shows. And for nearly 2 years she worked on global ads for one of the most iconic tech brands in the world, *(hint: fruit related).

Crystal is also an experienced (though retired) Voice Artist who enjoyed playing with her voice to tell other people's stories. She hopes these audio chops will help her to make this podcast great.

In 2020, Crystal just finished up a little trip around the world to do some playing of her own, and had the opportunity to visit some pretty magical places, like Tanzania, South Africa, Qatar, Japan, Argentina, Chile, and Patagonia. She’s now back in southern California and enjoying all the sunny days.

In years past, given her interest in the power of play, Crystal became Certified as a Laughter Yoga Teacher. She learned about Laughter Yoga while working on set for a PBS documentary on Alzheimer's Disease in 2008. Several years later, she decided to get certified to lead LY classes herself, and then further certified by Laughter Yoga's founder, Dr. Madan Kataria, to be able to teach and certify others, too.

In addition to her other endeavors, Crystal is also on the board of the important organization Take Back Your Time, who's mission is to "to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine in the United States and Canada that threatens our health, our relationships, our communities, and our environment." They "seek a renewed understanding of the value of leisure time, and the costs of time stress in our lives and workplaces."

Crystal hopes to continue creating and adding content to the world that brings people together, grows their own knowledge and skills, and inspires them to ask themselves the questions they hadn't thought of yet. 

The people that most inspire her are:

• Fresh Air host, Terry Gross, who always asks the most thoughtful questions and can make truly any topic fascinating

• Carl Sagan who has inspired and deepened our appreciation and curiosity for this little pale blue dot of ours and our big unknowable universe

• Rock climber, Steph Davis, who conquers her own fears daily, and inspires those who appreciate her wonderful and personal sport

• Meditation teacher, Tara Brach, who always has wisdom AND a funny anecdote for all of life's experiences, and who spends her time making the world a more loving and peaceful place

• Swing dancer and teacher, Chandrae (Chanzie) Roettig Gomez, who has the warmth of a monk, dancing chops that rival the best dancers in the world, and incredibly effective teaching skills, that help us all to have a piece of the play pie too

• The girl who came up with this Amazing Brownie Recipe* because playful cooking is an art, and there aren't enough chocolate recipes in this world. *(Note: these brownies are worth your time).

• And a bunch of poets and philosophers, like Rumi, who are indeed no longer with us, but left a whole lot for us to think about in their absence.