JOIN ELEPHANT ACADEMY

WHAT IS ELEPHANT ACADEMY?

Through refining your writing, editing, & journalism ethics knowledge; through mentorship, live trainings & online quizzes; through hands-on experience working with Elephant’s 5 million readers & your community of peers, you will gain skills to empower your career or start your dream job.  

Throughout the course, Elephant's family of teachers will offer mindfulness tools for your everyday life.

JOURNALISM ETHICS WITH WAYLON LEWIS

GET SCHOOLED BY MINDFUL PROS

TAKE A LEAP INTO YOUR FUTURE.

JOIN A VIRTUAL NEWSROOM

Learn the art of writing Facebook and Instagram posts, blogs, even a book. Your teachers: authors, editors & social media stars.

Glimpse the day-to-day runnings 

of Elephant Journal—an indie giant with 5-23 million readers a month.

In this age of corporate overreach, fake news & inequality, fall in love with the practice of truth-telling.

MINDFULNESS
PRACTICES FOR WORK

PRACTICE SOCIAL MEDIA LIVE

Get hands-on experience curating & posting live to an audience of 5 million fans on 60 Facebook pages. Learn how to get quality to go viral.

Fill out our application and join a course designed to nurture your heart and skills, both. Do well and do good.

Tess, California
"I signed up the Fall of 2015 when my heart was broken, spirit in tatters, and fingers in perpetual freeze over a keyboard. Elephant Academy was my soul and career CPR. I hope one of you goes into this Apprenticeship 'jungle' for 3 months and comes out a mighty Elephant."

Monika, Poland
"The Academy challenged me to show up for myself as a writer. And that was my biggest take-away, because as much as we say that we want to show up for our readers, we must first show up bravely for ourselves...and not sabotage our talent with excuses. Our abilities were tested during that summer, as I'm sure every alumni will agree. Since then, I have written and published two novels, with a third on its way. I've learned to trust my writing process, my voice, and my inspiration.

The Academy was a lesson in confidence and courage."

Kat, Maine
"The course is absolutely fantastic! Honestly, I didn’t think it would be as gently rigorous as it is. I feel both challenged and supported, and feel like we’re a community. You’ve got this virtual thing down."

Find your path. Find your voice. Find your community.

Section Three

Learn how to save the world (seriously) through words, and uncover the craft of truth-telling.

Write with intention, and learn how to cut through the noise to connect with readers' good hearts. From making friends with writer's block to finding your voice, we'll impart the skills you need to write from your heart—and be heard.

Section One

Section Four

Too busy? Too expensive? Want something self-guided? You can Audit Elephant Academy—an affordable, self-paced alternative path that gives you access to our video and study lessons, quizzes & community—but without the 15 hours a week that the full Academy can take.
Get started here >

The best, and most-ignored way to become a better writer. Through peer-editing, self-editing, and guidance from the pros at Elephant Journal, learn to write words that leave their mark.

Learn to connect through social media without being salesey—without adding to the hype and noise. We've achieved epic results through genuine connection, and we'll teach you how—all from a mission point-of-view.

Section Two

LINDA LEWIS
BUDDHIST TEACHER

Former Managing Editor of Elephant Journal, Merete is a successful writer and filmmaker whose award-winning first film, TINY (which helped bring the tiny house movement to the masses), premiered at SXSW & was featured on Netflix. She works with The New York Times,
The Atlantic, and VICE.

Linda "Mommy" Lewis is a senior Buddhist teacher and longtime writing professor at Naropa University & elsewhere. Her writing exercises and sweet, calm inspiration never fails to get
your pen moving. 

DANIELLE RADULSKI
SOCIAL MEDIA STAR

Ada Calhoun is the author of several of the New York Times' most viral Modern Love essays, and author of various books you should go out get right now, then read in the tub. A practicing writer and journalist, her work represents a writer's voice at its fullest and simplest—a hard-won skill she'll share with you.

Danielle Radulski is a yoga teacher, fitness enthusiast and wannabe chef in Westchester, New York. She'll share her 

success and expertise on Instagram growth and marketing your mission without narcissism.

MERETE MUELLER
WRITER & VIDEOGRAPHER

ADA CALHOUN

AUTHOR

Note: a different mix of stars appears in each Academy.

WAYLON H. LEWIS

MENTOR at ELEPHANT ACADEMY

Waylon Lewis is the founder of Elephant Journal, host of the award-winning Walk the Talk Show video series, and author of "Things I Would Like to Do With You."
He’s been named #1 in U.S. on Twitter for #green content twice, Discovery Network’s Planet Green: Green Hero, “Greatest” 25 in Health & Wellness in the U.S., & Prominent Buddhist by Lion’s Roar, & a host of other awards. His life goal: to change the world for the kinder—and have some fun along the way.

The cost to apply is $108. The remaining tuition will be due after your acceptance into the program. If you are accepted to the program but you request a refund before the first day of class, your tuition will be refunded within seven business days, less the $108 application fee. If you request a refund during the first week of the program, you’ll receive 75% of your tuition back. There are no refunds for the Auditing program.

Summer: June 6, 2018 - August 29, 2018
Fall: September 2018 - December 2018
Winter: January 2019 - April 2019

Commitment: 15 hours each week. (Too much? Audit.)

Meetings: 60-75 minute live group meetings on Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. MST & one weekly small support group with an Elephant Academy Teaching Assistant.

Can’t commit? Audit Elephant Academy on your own schedule. 

• You must have a reliable connection to the internet and access to a working computer on a regular basis. Connecting to meetings via phone works but is not ideal.
  
• You must have or create an active Facebook account and an (affordable) Elephant Journal subscription. 
  
• You will get the opportunity to gain hands-on experience running one or two Elephant Journal pages on social media (Green, Adventure, Wellness, Family, Ecofashion, Food, Bicycling, Politics, and 55 other options—we cover just about all aspects of the mindful life). It's optional, but a rare chance to learn live with community.
  
• The Apprenticeship takes 15 hours every week with a commitment of three months. We pack in a ton of fun, meaningful learning. 
  
• Meetings can be attended from anywhere in the world. We recommend you attend our weekly meetings to get the most out of the program (you can ask questions, comment)
  but you’re welcome to review the meeting material afterward if you an occasional conflict. 
  
• If your time zone doesn’t allow you to regularly attend meetings, you can review meeting materials and catch up on what you’ve missed just as long as you’re completing assignments and small group meeting responsibilities.  
  
• We have fun and laugh a lot, but we also take our learning seriously. Only join if you can commit. 
• Take a look at our syllabus here.

Program Tuition: $850 USD

Do the Academy with a Buddy—and you're both way cheaper. Find our how to choose your Buddy in our FAQs.

So what do you say, are you ready to change your life and the world for the better? Take a leap. Find your joy.

The Academy Buddy System.

Accountability is a huge help in staying motivated, so we created the Buddy System to help you have fun, succeed, and save money. Work together in cafés, enjoy movie nights with our video library, or call each other up to figure out challenging segments of the course. Your friend can be local or a world away (but you two only save $$$ if you both get accepted, so choose your friend wisely).

The total cost when you join with a friend is $1,200 USD (a savings of $500). Each of your $108 application fees are processed individually, and one of you pays the remaining balance: $984. Venmo, PayPal, or buy your buddy coffee (for-here!) for the next year to split the cost.

How do you apply? Simple: fill out an application and enter your friend’s name and email address at the end—we’ll send them their very own application to fill out, and you’re on your way to empowering your path forward—together.

Will I get to work with Elephant staff? Who is actually training me?

You will be working with the crème de la crème of Elephant Journal: Waylon Lewis, our Editor-in-Chief, will lead the weekly meetings. The Academy team are all fully-trained Elephant editors and social media masters, and the Editorial team who provide personal feedback on your writing have 20+ years of editing experience between them.

I have a full-time job, so most of this course work would need to be done in the evening and weekends. Does that work for this program?

Full participation in the course requires about 20 hours a week, and there is often a learning curve for the first week or two that may require some additional time and patience. If this feels like it may impede too heavily on post-dinner Netflix binge-watching, our Audit program may be better fit. 

Do I need expertise in journalism to be a part of the program?

Oh hell no. 

I have no idea how to run a Facebook page for a business, should I still apply?

Neither did Elephant, in 2009. Sometimes we still don’t, in 2018—things change every other month. That said, we’ve built up over 60 Facebook pages, with 5 million fans. We'll teach you what we’ve learned, and are still learning every day, about using Facebook (and other social media) to cultivate your business with mindfulness, intention, and authenticity. No experience needed.

You say “run a social media page” with Elephant Journal. Can you explain specifically what this means? Can we create an Instagram or Facebook from scratch or will they all be preexisting?

If you choose to participate, you will be running one of Elephant Journal’s actual Facebook pages—that means you will have a direct impact on our business, engage directly with our readers, be responsible for curating content. Kind of a big deal, right? That’s because we firmly believe the best way to learn is first-hand. You’ll learn how to share content, create community, and build reach on the page, which are directly transferable to your own personal or business pages. 

If you choose not to participate in the challenge, you still get all the video and written training we offer, plus you’ll be a part of the weekly meetings where we discuss the techniques in depth. 

Who are the Teaching Assistants inside the Academy and what are the small groups?

Teaching Assistants are Academy graduates who have decided we just might be cool enough to hang around with a little longer. They are trained in the field, can help you navigate the ins and outs of the Academy, and they are one of the kindest and most mission-oriented crews you’ll ever meet. Each TA holds a weekly small group meeting to provide additional guidance and support for you; we usually have five to seven choices to pick between, and you will have the opportunity to choose one meeting time that works best for you.

What are my chances of being hired by Elephant after this Apprenticeship?

Apprenticing with us doesn’t guarantee you a job, but it can get you noticed. When we do have open positions, we look to Academy alumni first. 

I want to do the Academy to improve my writing, do I have to do all the other stuff? Also, I’m kind of nervous about writing, does it matter that I’m inexperienced? Also, I just love words, and want to hear your general thoughts on that.

Great news: we love words too, and there are few things we enjoy more than helping writers find their voice and hone their skills. While we do value a grammatically correct sentence (a lot), we also have Apprentices join us from all over the world, and whose most poetic compositions are their Sunday grocery lists (which, by the way, can be extremely poetic). All we ask is that you have a willingness to learn, an openness to constructive feedback, and a dedication to improving your craft. 

Oh, and about all that other stuff—we have designed this program so that each section builds on the others. The things you learn about writing a personal introduction on Facebook will be directly relevant to how you identify fake news, and insight on how to ethically and interestingly write a news story will inform how you construct a personal essay, and then share it to your friends and family on social media. See how that came full circle? 

Will the blogging and Facebooking I learn here apply to other websites as well, or just Elephant?

We will teach you Elephant-specific editing guidelines and social media practices, but they will absolutely be relevant beyond the Academy. How to find your voice, how to help a writer find their voice, and how to connect with your readers are universal skills—you may even find they extend beyond your writing and publishing goals. 

Why should I do the Academy if I get the same information in the Auditing course?

So, basically, you want to know why you should pay us a bunch of money when you can pay us less money for mostly the same thing? Great question. Here’s the answer: it’s not mostly the same. We put a ton of time and love into our Auditing course, and recommend it to anyone who needs a self-paced program to gain the skills we offer. But the community of Apprentices, interaction with the Elephant team, and hands-on experience the Academy offers is invaluable—except, you know, for the value we put on it. You will have a team of experts ready and willing to answer your questions, give you personalized guidance and support, and, as we mentioned before, the opportunity to leave your mark on Elephant by curating one of our Facebook pages.

What forms of payment do you accept?

We accept payments from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, and PayPal. Want to know more about PayPal's financing options? Email [email protected] for more information. For additional information regarding payment, please take a gander at our program Terms and Conditions.

Do you have more questions?
Contact the Academy team. 

INTERESTED, BUT NOT READY?

We'll send you a heads up about future programs.

Copyright © 2018 Waylon H. Lewis Enterprises. All rights reserved. Questions about the Academy? Contact us.