Amy-Louise

Shelver

Amy-Louise Shelver is a next-generation female publisher with a deep passion for creativity, ideation, doing good, and the written word

Biography: Amy-Louise Shelver

By day, Amy-Louise Shelver is a communications chameleon, able to apply her vast skills to all mediums, channels, and platforms. By night she is a creative economy expert with a long track record of advocating for more significant investment in the creative industries.

Over her 15-year career, she has worked on significant communications projects, campaigns, and strategies to drive narrative change, tell compelling stories, influence opinion, and manage crises and reputation, taking her from creative industry basements to world industry boardrooms. She has consulted widely, domestically in South Africa and internationally, across the economic, finance and banking, industrial and manufacturing, retail, the built environment and engineering, tourism, tech, digital and media industries. Her work includes strategic projects for the United Nations, the South African Department of Arts, Ford Motor Company (Africa), Experian (Africa), and Black & Veatch, among others.

This experience gives her a deep understanding of cross-cutting issues and how they interact across a complex socio-economic and political landscape.

When she is not communicating to the world about the trade and development issues of our time, Amy runs Onomatopoeia Publishing. This collaborative digital publishing house brings together artists and writers.

An anthropologist at heart, Amy seeks to make meaningful connections, tell the important stories of our time, and create positive social spaces in the digital dimension that nurture creativity.

Topics

Photos: Amy-Louise Shelver

PAST APPEARANCES

European Union Cultural Leaders Programme
Mandela Washington Fellow
Young African Leader’s Initiative
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Top 40 Under 40

Amy-Louise is a regular attendee, contributor, or panelist at:

to be added soon.

Availbility

Social

TESTIMONIAL

Amy is a dynamic self-starter with a rare gift of being both level-headed and creative. I had the pleasure of working with Amy as part of my team within the United Nations Secretariat. Amy lead our communications portfolio in a complex, challenging, and litigious environment. I was impressed with Amy’s ability to take charge in crisis situations while quickly, and calmly, devising effective communication solutions. She also stood out because of her wide-knowledge in a number of fields, from the creative industries, economics, politics, international affairs, to mention a few. Those who worked with her all came to know the “Amy-effect”, defined as her near-instinctual ability to disarm or befriend almost anybody, with her considerable charm. Amy would make a strong asset to any organization with her combination of smarts and infectious charisma. She has certainly proven this time and again in the ranks of the United Nations.

Anton Ivan Botha

Doctor of Philosophy & Consultant

SHOWCASE: ONOMATOPOEIA BOOK

Onomatopoeia is a digital poetry publication with a life in print. But it is more than that. It is a call to collaborative arms. It draws together more than 70 artists from around the world asking them to respond to the writing. This is the anti-ekphrastic movement: art inspired by text. Normally this happens the other way around, but there is nothing normal about this alliance. Onomatopoeia sets the stage for a digital gallery of the artworks and writing; and offers artists a platform to showcase their work and collaborate with other scribes.

The first publication of more to come, Onomatopoeia follows the coming of poetic age story, back to front, of the author Amy Shelver. Initially a nostalgic project meant to be between Amy and her artist friends, it quickly grew into a bigger production and the seed for a greater ambition to become a platform for future anti-ekphrastic collaborations that tell and sell the stories of our time.