Member Profile: Josh Naaman
1. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I’m a creator and builder at heart. I’ve been working in design, marketing, and creative technology for close to two decades. I taught at The Art Institute of Indianapolis for six years. Since 2021 I’ve run Naaman Creative, a creative production and marketing company. I also founded a leadership development organization called Sun Leaders in 2023 to strengthen, educate, and elevate leaders in the community. And earlier this year I co-founded OppKo, a cutting edge venture software studio.
Music has always been the other half of me. I’ve played drums and performed professionally for years, and now I’m writing and releasing my own music as Picky Dancer. I also serve on the board of the Recovery Epicenter Foundation, which supports people in recovery. Whatever the project, I’m building things that help people connect, create, and grow.
2. What was your first job?
My first job was at Mike’s Carwash in Carmel, Indiana. I was named Salesperson of the Year in my first year there, in 2005. It turns out selling someone the premium wash teaches you a lot about people, and I still use those lessons.
3. Where did you complete your formal education?
- B.S. in Computer Graphics Technology, Purdue University
- M.S. in Media Arts and Science, Indiana University
4. How did you first get involved with ACM SIGGRAPH?
I joined the SIGGRAPH student chapter at Purdue University Indianapolis as Event Coordinator, and a year later the members voted me in as chapter President. My first conference was SIGGRAPH 2008 in Los Angeles. Right after that, I signed up as a student volunteer and worked the very first SIGGRAPH Asia in Singapore later that year. I was hooked! So I’ve been involved ever since.
Today I’m the Website Coordinator for the Early Career Development Committee. I’m also onboarding as the new Webmaster of siggraph.org with the Communications and Membership Committee.
5. What is your favorite memory of a SIGGRAPH conference?
Easy: the Chapters party at SIGGRAPH 2014 in Vancouver, because that’s where I met my wife. SIGGRAPH has given me a career, a community, lifelong friends, business partners, and then it gave me my partner too. I’m forever grateful.
6. Describe a project that you would like to share with the ACM SIGGRAPH community.
At OppKo, my partner and I build custom software platforms for organizations that usually get stuck with generic, off-the-shelf tools. Our work is currently with industry associations and healthcare groups, but we are unconstrained.
Our first internal product is The Intel Club. It delivers daily executive intelligence briefings, so business owners and leaders get the news, trends, and competitor activity that matter to their industry without countless hours of digging. We’re tuning each briefing to the reader’s niche, so it reads like it was written for one person instead of a general audience.
We’ve also built ReddySite, a robust website platform with SEO and generative engine optimization (GEO) built in, lead capture, analytics, the ability to update via prompts, and so much more. All of it comes from one belief: good design and smart technology should be within reach for organizations of every size.
7. If you could have dinner with one living or non-living person, who would it be and why?
Carl Sagan. He cared deeply about humanity, and he shared the beauty of science and the cosmos with more elegance than almost anyone. He was a pioneering science communicator who made millions of people feel connected to the universe. I’d love to hear what he’d make of where we are and what we know today, and I’d probably ask far too many questions before dessert.
8. What is something most people don’t know about you?
I belong to an organization called Inekawa, which facilitates profound conscious awakenings. Everything I do, and want to do more of, aims at the same thing: doing good in the world, helping people wake up, and helping us feel truly connected to one another, to the oneness of the universe, and to our own callings and divine nature.
9. From which single individual have you learned the most in your life? What did they teach you?
Honestly? Me. Before that sounds wildly arrogant, let me explain. I’m a lifelong seeker of knowledge and answers, and I’ve learned from more mentors, friends, and strangers than I could ever count. But the one teacher who has been there for every lesson, every mistake, every late night, and every “well, that didn’t work” is me. My life experiences have been my greatest teacher. He’s tough, he makes me repeat a lot of classes, and he has never once given me a day off. Highly recommend.
10. Is there someone in particular who has influenced your decision to work with ACM SIGGRAPH?
Zeb Wood of Indiana University. He was my professor, then my colleague, and now he’s just an incredible friend. He’s the one who encouraged me to go to that first student chapter meeting, and that one nudge changed my life. Zeb has guided countless students onto this same path. I’m forever grateful to him, and a lot of people in this community could say the same.
11. What can you point to in your career as your proudest moment?
Starting my own business, Naaman Creative, in 2021. Going out on my own meant betting on myself, on everything I’d learned in graphics, media, music, and SIGGRAPH, and on the idea that I could build something meaningful on my own terms.
That one step opened every door that came after it. Naaman Creative led to new partnerships, to founding Sun Leaders, to co-founding OppKo, and to the freedom to put my time into causes I care about, like the Recovery Epicenter Foundation, the Florida Harm Reduction Collective, The Museum of Motherhood, The National EMS Management Association, and so many other organizations moving the needle positively in the world. It wasn’t always easy, but it was the moment I stopped waiting for permission and just started building…for good. I’m proud of the business, my team, and even prouder of the person it pushed me to become.