Jasper Baton Lydon is a non-binary researcher and writer, and one of the nation’s leading experts on radical, communal living.
They are the founder and Executive Director of the Intentional Institute, a 501(c)3 offering research and advising on community policy. They are also developing their research into a nonfiction book.
In 2024, their multidisciplinary Princeton University thesis analyzing community policy was recognized as ‘outstanding,’ awarded the Richard D. Challener Senior Thesis Prize, as well as the 2024 Priscilla Glickman Prize, one of the highest awards conferred to Princeton graduates.
Jasper has found an audience for their research in conferences and community events alike. Their most notable publicity includes an upcoming interview feature with an alternative-living YouTube influencer with 1.98 million subscribers and a personal essay piece in HuffPost which attracted 200,000 readers in its first 24 hours online. In their growing platform, they also generate social media content which attracts thousands of regular viewers, and publish a weekly newsletter whose subscriber base is growing by 125% month-over-month, after having reached 1,000 subscribers in just its first six months.
Endlessly friendly, Jasper maintains close personal connections with communitarians and activists across the country, as well as with some of Princeton’s leading scholars and Pulitzer Prize winning authors.
Jasper is known for roping people into wholesome, quirky activities, such as bringing people together to shuck over 2,000 dried okra husks in ‘Okra Thursdays.’ They are passionate about sharing their experiences being transgender, coping with PTSD, and interviewing some of the coolest people in the country.
Jasper now shares a house in San Francisco, California with six people, two cats, and a dog.
jasper baton lydon 