Patti Dobrowolski

The Only Keynote Speaker Who Gives Every Person in Your Audience A Hand-Drawn Map of Their Future - backed. by 30 years of neuroscience-informed change work and a TEDx talk with 7 million views.

Patti Dobrowolski has spent three decades at the intersection of brain science, visual thinking, and human change — working with organizations like Nike, Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help people see, draw, and step into the futures they want most.

Her signature methodology, Draw Your Future®, is not a metaphor. It’s a neuroscience-backed process in which participants literally draw their current reality, their desired future, and the three bold steps that bridge the gap. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cites it as one of three evidence-based tools for helping people connect to their future selves. Research shows it increases goal achievement by 42%.

She is a 3x TEDx speaker. Her talk “Draw Your Future” has surpassed 7 million views. She is the author of four books, a live illustrator, a trained drama therapist, and one of the few people in the world who can run a room and draw a large-scale strategic illustration at the same time.

When Patti is in the building, something different happens. People pick up pens. The room gets loud in the best way. And nobody checks their phone.

Patti Dobrowolski

Some of the fantastic client's I've worked with

Patti Dobrowolski illustrating and keynote speaker at biohive live 2026

Illustrator, Author, Keynote Speaker

Patti began as a graphic recorder at a time when fewer than a dozen people in the world were doing it professionally.

Since then, she has illustrated for some of the most influential leaders and organizations on the planet — including Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, and individuals like Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama — and has trained hundreds of graphic recorders worldwide.

She is the author of The Non-Obvious Guide to Drawing Your Future, Drawing Solutions: How Visual Goal Setting Will Change Your Life, Creative Genius You, and 9 Tips to Up Your Creative Genius.

My Story

None of this started with a business plan. It started with a fantasy about a red velvet curtain.  Many years ago, I went to New York City to take acting classes. Like many artists, I would sometimes do street theater to make a little spare change. One day, I was sharing my spoils with a friend when he asked me if I would ever perform on Broadway, “Me?” I replied with a laugh, “I’m a performance artist. I would only perform Off-Broadway.”​

The Pit of Despair

Later, his question haunted me and I began to wonder what it would feel like to perform on Broadway. I let myself fantasize about walking through the stage door into the dressing room with my name on the door. I imagined myself getting ready and waiting behind the thick red velvet curtain for the house lights to dim.

​I told myself to snap out of it, but the lingering sensations of my Broadway fantasy stuck with me when I returned home to Seattle where my career as a performance artist had sunk to an all-time low.

From the Pit to Broadway

Through a sequence of amazing events, within the year that dream came to be my new reality — a successful performer doing what I loved on Broadway. Since that day I have been studying and testing the power of using inner and outer visuals to help individuals, teams and organizations around the world create an inner and outer focus to achieve their dreams.

The Pivot to Keynote Speaking

Broadway led to drama therapy. Drama therapy led to change work in Fortune 500 boardrooms. Change work led to keynotes on the world’s biggest stages. The throughline in all of it: when people can picture where they’re going, they get there. Every performance, every facilitation, every keynote has been a laboratory for that one idea — and 30 years of evidence keeps proving it right.

Patti is a 3x TEDx speaker: Draw Your Future (TEDxRainier), Imagination Changes Everything (TEDxSacramento), and Creative Genius YOU (TEDxBend).

How A Picture Changes Everything

In 30 years of working with entrepreneurs, nonprofits, governments, and global corporations, Patti has drawn thousands of pictures. Those drawings don’t just document conversations — they change them. When a team sees their ideas captured in a large, vivid illustration, something shifts. People feel heard. Alignment deepens. The future becomes real in a way that a slide deck never quite achieves. The picture stays on the wall long after the meeting ends. So does the momentum. 

If you’re planning a conference, summit, or all-hands — and you want your people to leave with more than a good feeling — let’s talk. Call or text: (206) 618-1030 

What my fantastic clients say

Empowering!

“Articulating goals in words is valuable but visualizing a desired state and how to get there has been a powerful unlock for our team at Brooks. Dobrowolski’s Drawing Your Future will help you create clarity and tangible dimension for your world of possibility.”
Brooks Shoes

Dan Sheridan, CEO, Brooks Running Co.

Manifest Your Vision!

“Drawing Your Future has helped me to transform my life. Over the past decade, I’ve manifested every aspect of my vision. This creative guide offers the tools to harness your visual thinking and make you the most powerful change agent in realizing your dreams.”
Tory Burch Foundation logo

Tiffany Dufu, Bestselling author, podcaster, inspirator, and president, Tory Burch Foundation

Transformational!

“When Patti Dobrowolski shows you how to use a picture to help you, you’ll become a change genie standing before a magic road map to your future. I’ve seen this process help countless entrepreneurs succeed—this book will truly change your life.”
Women in Cloud logo

Chaitra Vedullapalli, Cofounder and president, Women in Cloud

Visual Listening + Your Meeting = Live Illustration

A live illustrator elevates any meeting or presentation by capturing the conversation using a unique skill of visual listening. With words and pictures, they create a graphic recording of the meeting content. This often beautiful illustration is a valuable asset that you can bring into your meetings so you know where you are, can track your progress and continue to use it to inspire your team.
Patti Dobrowolski doing live illustration
Patti Dobrowolski mail
Patti Dobrowolski picture holding markers

Practical tips, brain science, and creative tools — delivered straight to your inbox every week. Used by teams at Nike, Starbucks, Microsoft and more.

Formal Education

Patti attended The Evergreen State College at the same time as cartoonists Matt Groening (The Simpsons) and Lynda Barry — part of a remarkably creative community that shaped her artistic sensibility. She went on to earn her MA in Psychology and Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies, studying with Angeles Arrien and psychologist Jonathan Rosenfeld — coach to some of the world’s top CEOs.

That combination — artistic training, psychological depth, and corporate change experience — is what makes a Patti Dobrowolski keynote unlike anything else on a conference program.

  • The Evergreen State College — BA Liberal Arts
  • California Institute of Integral Studies — MA Psychology / Drama Therapy

Therapy

My Core Skills

Patti brings a rare combination of capabilities to every engagement: keynote speaking, live illustration, graphic recording and facilitation, visual thinking and strategy, gamestorming and workshop design, change management, team alignment, and business consulting. After 30 years, the skill that underlies all of them is the same: the ability to listen to what a room is really saying — and draw it into something everyone can see.

Up Your Creative Genius