Nikkolas Smith Reimagines the World Through ‘Artivism’

🎨 Creators, Visionaries, and Changemakers—This One’s for the Revolutionaries with a Paintbrush.

This week on The Optimist Project, Yara Shahidi welcomes celebrated artivist, author, and concept artist Nikkolas Smith for a powerful exploration of optimism through the lens of creativity, justice, and bold imagination.

From designing theme parks as a Disney Imagineer to creating iconic movie posters and illustrating best-selling children's books, Nikkolas has made a career of dreaming aloud. In this conversation, he shares how his signature Sunday Sketch series evolved into a public ritual of art-as-healing—and how optimism fuels his ability to honor lives, amplify marginalized voices, and spark social transformation.

We dive into the art of balancing engineering and expression, the deeply personal process behind The History of We, and why creating moments of pressure can still be rooted in joy. With reflections on empathy, representation, and the mural he painted in tribute to Chadwick Boseman, Nikkolas reminds us that art can be both protest and prayer.

🎨 Nikkolas challenges us to see optimism not as passive hope—but as an active call to reimagine what's possible.

What stories are you telling through your creativity? How are you expressing this through regular practice?

📩 We'd love to hear your story—DM us, send a voice note, or leave a message sharing your vision of optimism.

📲 @optimistprojectpod // The Optimist Project Podcast

✨ Executive Producer: @yarashahidi // Yara Shahidi

✨ Executive Producer: @chocolatemommyluv // Keri Salter-Shahidi

🎙 Guest: @nikkolas_smith // Nikkolas Smith

📚 Explore Nikkolas’s new book The History of We : https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721499/the-history-of-we-by-nikkolas-smith/

📰 Read Nikkolas Smith's National Geographic Article about The History of We: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/nikkolas-smith-book-the-history-of-we

🎧 Tune in—because optimism builds bridges.