Samantha Cole on Improvising at University, Mental Health, Freedom, and Greece

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 University of Michigan’s oldest (and according to Sammy, best :) improv group. She has led improv workshops in classes throughout her college career and was an intern at Improve. 

She lives in NYC and continues to improvise in life and work, and through classes, going to improv jams, and watching improv shows.

In this episode we discuss…

• Sammy’s improv origin story
• Her experience improvising and pursuing Greek life while at university
• The way she unlocked her sense of self-reliance 
• Why choosing to pursue improv was the most difficult and best decision she’s ever made
• How improvising regularly during college affected her life offstage and especially how improvising improved her mental health
• How improv helped her find her identity
• The time she improvised her way through Greece
• How improvising helps us become the best listeners 
• Why she describes improve as the most genuine freeing feeling in the world 
• Whether improv is more freeing than skydiving
• How improv is good for our nervous system 
• Improv as a form of moving meditation
• The power of improv as a way to really practice presence 
• The difference between improvising with people we know and trust, versus improvising with new people that we haven’t met or don’t yet know well

From Sammy, when asked how improv has improved her life offstage, “It has made me a better listener, inspired me to be authentic and creative, helped me to inspire others around me to do the same.”

Connect with Sammy on Instagram @samanatee and LinkedIn

Note: Mary introduces the episode as “Improv’ed” which was the original name of the show before calling it “Improved”. We recorded this episode before that brilliant revelation :) 

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