Improved

This week’s episode features Kimberly (Kim) Bryden.

Kim Bryden runs a small business called Cureate where they focus on shifting the dollar back into our local communities by building an empowered supply to meet a changing consumer demand. They do this through food & beverage entrepreneurship education and local procurement for institutional foodservice. 

During this episode we discuss…

• Her business, Cureat...

This week’s episode features Max Housner.

Max Housner works as an aerospace engineer focused in digital mission engineering, but creatively, he is also a musician, writer, and improvisor. Max has a passion for space exploration, discovery, and gets to work with a variety of exciting space programs, but also has a passion for the art of improv comedy and music. Max's experience in improv ranges from masterclasses at iO Chic...

This week's episode features Gayaneh Davoodian.

Gayaneh took improv classes in high school, college, and the Upright Citizens Brigade. Currently she works as a venture capital (VC) Scout for an accelerator and a couple of seed stage funds. 

Previously she was Chief of Staff at Sequel.io, Head of Enablement at a Stealth Startup, and Program Manager of People Operations and Talent Acquisition at Curated, where she devel...

This week's episode features Matthew Goodman, Ph.D.

Matthew Goodman, Ph.D. is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY32423), consultant, speaker, and mindfulness teacher. He is Founder of The Middle Way Consulting, where he supports organizations with wellness, team-building, and communication skills through purposeful play (including improv!), awareness-based practices (e.g., deep listening), and behavioral science principl...

This week's episode features Ali Farahnakian. 

Ali is an American actor, writer, and improvisational comedian. He is the founder of The Peoples Improv Theater in NYC. Ali studied improv in the 1990s at the ImprovOlympic and was a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade. He was a writer on Saturday Night Live during its 25th anniversary season and received a Writers Guild Award Nomination. Ali’s television credits i...

This week's episode features Alec Brown.

Alec Brown is a content creator, writer, improviser, stand-up, and musical comedy entertainer. His latest project is the viral TikTok series “Challah At Ya Goy!”A play on words celebrating delicious bread and a Yiddish term for gentiles, “CAYG!” takes viewers on double entendre-laden two-minute riotous recipe revues that climax in tasty test fests: oy vey! 

In pre-Covid times, ...

This week's episode features Melanie (Mel) Rubin.

Mel Rubin is a tech support specialist, hip hop improv performer, instructor and beatboxer based out of New York City. She studied long-form improv and musical improv comedy at the Magnet Theater (NYC), and is a performer on the hip hop improv team North Coast, who has been featured in The New York Times and Time Out New York. Mel is also an active performer, workshop facil...

This week's episode features Gus Vieweg

Gus is a musician, micro-entrepreneur, programmer, student, playwright, and, of course, improviser.

He got his start with improv in college with the Comedic Improvisational Alliance (CIA) at North Carolina State University. He has also improvised in San Diego and North Carolina, where he started an improv Meetup group and performed in the 2019 North Carolina Comedy Festival with...

This week's episode features Candace Swaninger…

Candace is a Talent Development manager, passionate about leadership development & onboarding. As the Senior Specialist of Talent Development at Petco she leverages strategy, relationship building, creativity and problem solving to help others become their best selves through impactful Talent Development programs. She also is a mom, Louisiana State University alum, and l...

This week's episode features Jason Moore…

Jason Moore is an entrepreneur in health tech, currently the Founder and CEO of Spren. He has spent over a decade building sensor and data systems to make people's lives easier, safer, and more productive. Globally recognized HRV expert — health and performance consultant to pro sports teams, first responders, and medical research teams, he is really fascinated about why humans...

This week's episode features Justyn Williams…

Justyn is a man of many interests. His mission in life is “Build bridges, and break barriers for myself and others. Whatever I do, do it with intention." He has an immense level of curiosity and an overflowing sense of imagination. He daydreams a lot. He empathizes heavily. His experiences as a D1 college athlete majoring in psychology (at the University of Pennsylvania) i...

This week's episode features Samantha (Sammy) Cole…

Sammy is a Communications Coordinator at Schmidt Futures, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to use a broad set of tools—including gifts, grants, investments, and startup activity—for charitable, educational, and commercial efforts with a public purpose.

Sammy tried improv for the first time in college and fell in love with it. She was a member of ComCo, the Universit...

This week's episode features Kate Axelsson…

Kate is at User Experience Researcher at Microsoft, TEDx speaker (she gave a talk about comedy when she was 19), and a passionate, curious creative who loves understanding how things work and isn't afraid to be a newbie or be seen trying. She seeks to infuse her work with joy and make wholehearted, authentic connections. As a self-proclaimed multipotentialite who wants to be ...

This week's episode features Bart Sumner…

In 2009 Bart Sumner’s life was shattered when his 10-year-old son, David, suffered a traumatic brain injury at football practice and died in his arms. Finding a way back to the road forward in a world where mourners are told “He’s in a better place” or to “Get over it” is a daunting and painful journey. He came to realize that the twenty-five plus years he spent as a performer and ...

This week’s episode features longtime HR executive, Lauren Schaad. In this episode:

• Lauren shares about her background in HR and her improv origin story
• She talks about the importance of leaning into who you are
• We discuss how improv allows us to try out different hats 
• We talk about the connection between improv and business 
• Lauren shares how improv helped her be her authentic self at work and why that’s imperat...

This week's episode features David Fessell, M.D. 

David is an executive coach, faculty associate at Ross School of Business, and a recently retired Professor of Radiology at the University of Michigan. As an author, he publishes in HBR, JAMA, Psychology Today, and many other venues. He speaks and facilitates webinars & workshops on wellness, resilience, EQ, & humor. He loves to help individuals & groups strengt...

This week's episode features Nicholas Hamlett. In this episode…

• Nicholas shares why and where he took his first improv class
• Learn why warm up improv exercises are imperative to mentally preparing to improvise (for improv and life)
• Hear how improv helped Nicholas in his role at Twitter and how improv changed how he reacted to challenges and opportunities at work
• Get to know how adopting a “yes, and” mindset at w...

This week's episode features actress and two time cancer survivor, Aniela McGuinness. In this gift of an episode…

• Aniela shares what inspired her to take an improv class
• Learn how improv helped her through her mother’s cancer diagnosis and death and her own cancer diagnosis and treatment
• Find out why and how improv is a “brain brake” and “oasis” that provides presence, joy, and support when going through hard time...

This week's episode features, Jordana Cole. In this gem of an episode…

• Jordana shares her improv origin story (i.e. how and when she started improvising)
• Find out what Jordana does for her ukuleles at Thanksgiving
• Learn about athletes as improvisers
• Learn about positive psychology - what it is, why it matters, and how improv relates
• Discover why improv is so much more than team building
• Hear how and why improv c...