Why We Play
Discover who we are and what we do.
Our Mission
We seek to redefine play by reimagining work and redesigning the human experience.
Play Can Transform the Way You Work
PlayLab is a collection of former corporate professionals who saw the shifting nature of work coming. Having personally experienced workplace environments that were not fun, created burnout, and lacked productivity and community, each of us individually began looking for solutions and came together to form PlayLab.
We challenge the notion that work and play are opposites. After a decade of collaborating with businesses, organizations, and teams of all sizes and backgrounds, we know that work and play are essential partners to create highly productive workplaces and workers who abound in well-being.
By redefining play and reimagining work we are about to recreate better workplaces and better workers!
Our Values
Be Playful
Tune in to your fun frequency.
Be Present
Bring your conscious self.
Be Positive
Tap in to good energy.
Be Creative
Expand your imagination.
Be Consistent
Lean in to the work.
Be Committed
Do whatever it takes.
Be EQUAL
Encourage diversity of thought.
Be Empathetic
Feel what others are feeling.
Be Engaging
Build unbreakable bonds.
Our Story
10 years ago on a beach, two kids asked a man struggling with depression if he wanted to play. Their infectious nature could elicit only one response — a wholehearted YES! From there our founder went down the rabbit hole of his own imagination and PlayLab had its origins.
Since then, over 250 companies or individuals have been transformed by the unique and proprietary PlayLab process. Unlike other personal and professional development programs, which tend to be content-based and rigidly structured, we are driven by a context-based experiential approach. This design provides an opportunity to literally experiment with play as a catalyst for creating thriving lives and healthy workplace environments.
From focus groups and community forums to social networks and international efforts, PlayLab has already left its mark in North America, Europe, and Africa. We have recently pivoted our business focus with an emphasis on providing tools and resources through the multifaceted modality of play. For us at PlayLab, play is not an event, it’s an environment.
With team members based across the entire country, our company has been a ten-year experiment and is positioned to be a forerunner in the quest for healthy and creative workplaces.
We invite you to join us on the playground and experiment with play!
Meet Our Team
Steve Rix
Chief Experience Officer
Steve Rix has 30 years of experience in human development. From public to private entities and from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, he has a vast array of exposure to how humans perform in the workplace. His playful nature led him on the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship until he planted his stake in the ground when he founded PlayLab. He has a vision to build a legacy where companies create playful happy people everywhere. When Steve isn’t playing with PlayLab clients, you can find him on the golf course, scuba diving, hiking, and enjoying his playground in paradise — Hawaii!
Matt Heinecke
Chief Imagination Officer
Matt Heinecke has over 20 years of engineering experience with several patents to his name. Always an entrepreneur at heart, he sold his first business at age 12 and has founded others since with the latest focusing on games to improve teamwork and communication. Growing up in Utah, he spent many years outdoors playing in the mountains and desert. As a creative, he writes children’s books, designs logos, and creates brain teasers. When not being a champion for play and mental fitness, he can be found in Charlotte playing with his wife, Rahel, and their five children.
Dianna David
Chief Play Officer
Dianna David, a kinetic force, moves through life with bold steps and ignites stages globally as a 20-year veteran artist, speaker, and coach. Play infuses her every move, inspiring joy on her journey. Love for self and others fuels her path, propelling her to create magic on stages worldwide. Recognized as a Global Women Who Rule and Top 9 Female Motivational Speakers to Watch, her TEDxTalk, “Have the Balls to Follow Your Dreams,” encapsulates her fearless artistic spirit.
Stefani Baca
Chief Story Officer
Stefani’s journey from acting to producing led her to work with top companies like Disney and Hulu, eventually becoming a lead producer on an independent web series for Hulu and producing projects with James Franco. Her passion for storytelling and business has driven her to help companies globally achieve significant growth through content creation and marketing, and her goal is to inspire a broader audience about the value of content creation in today’s digital world.
Adam Knihtila
Chief FUNancial Officer
Adam brings 20 years of experience to the PlayLab team. His specialty is guiding businesses to profitable growth. He leads all finance and accounting activities including tax strategy, financial planning and analysis, forecasting, cash flow analysis, and profitability attainment.
Derek Forehand
Chief Creative Officer
Derek Forehand, MBA, is a creative professional with over a decade of experience in marketing, design, business, and entrepreneurship. Through his consulting work, he has worked across multiple industries to develop innovative brand strategies, marketing assets, and digital environments. As an entrepreneur, he has collaborated on the launch of several firms and projects, including his own website management company. Based out of New York City — his own sandbox for playing — you can find him on the ferry out to Rockaway Beach, hitting up new food spots, or listening to 80’s music.
