Matt Levy – native Brooklynite, NYC tour guide and urban historian.  Born and bred in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Q&A with Matt Levy:

What is your current job title? Please explain what your job entails.
Lead tour guide and managing partner of The Levys’ Unique New York! NY’s First Family of Tour Guides. Booking private and group tours of NYC, managing guides, updating the blog, talking to media and promoting our tour company as the most unique way to see NYC.

What has been your career path?
I invented my own degree of Performance Art / Poetry at Emerson College, and when my father (and business partner) Mark wanted to start a tour company, and needed my help, I said “sure. Why not?” Its nothing less than a miracle that I parlayed my invent-a-major into a self-sustaining job in which I get to be myself and talk about things that I love to people who want to listen.

How did you figure out what you wanted to do?
It was mostly a lark, then I realized how awesome and interesting history is. It just needs to be related as storytelling and not as a boring professorial dialectic.

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Describe your style.
Selfconsciouslessness – a homemade word which is also tatto’d on my right shoulder. To be self-conscious means to have people watching and talking about you, mostly negatively, and for it to bother you. To be selfconsciousless, means you KNOW the people are watching and talking about you, and you dont care. Selfconsciouslessness is to live life as selfconsciouslessly as possible.

You were wearing quite an outfit for our photo shoot.  Do you dress like this every day?
No, however I like to dress colorfully and creatively. 3 pieces of seersucker is a bit much.

What is one of the most creative things you’ve done?
Gone on 3 cross-country performance poetry road trips.

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Photos taken in Bushwick, Brooklyn, at one of The Levys’ Unique New York tour locations.  Check out Matt and his tours here: www.levysuniqueny.com