ABOUT IMPROV COLLAB FOUNDER
HEATHER SMITH LUTKIN
​
Collaboration & Creativity & Communication
These are my passions. They infuse all that I do. 

COLLABORATION. Join a team, build a collab, keep finding circles.  
Life is a team sport, and going it alone is never as fun nor as efficient and productive as doing it with teammates. Where there are no teams, I create them using the tenets of Improv Comedy – Say Yes AND, Don’t push your agenda, Listen with your heart.

CREATIVITY. Survival is a creative endeavor.   
Creativity is an approach to life. If you know you are creative you can face anything – you’ll figure it out. And all of us are creative, we just need to remind ourselves. 

COMMUNICATION. Let Positivity and Authenticity lead.   
Communication is how we connect. My approach is based on authenticity. None of us is perfect in our daily communication. Yet all of us can strive to be honest and supportive - to take a Yes And approach to how we share and communicate.  
BONUS: My 15+ years as a professional Dog Trainer has shown me the power of positive reinforcement - in ALL communication.  Tricks from training dogs also infuse all I do as a communication advisor, collaborator, producer, director, and coach. 

---

JUST MY POV
MORE ABOUT ME...
Back in NYC, I was also in Corporate Communications for more than 15 years, at Deloitte and Ernst & Young, working closely with the CEOs and senior executive teams to develop and execute internal and external communications.

I have also owned my own small business in NYC - VILLAGE DOG TRAINING, launched in Greenwich Village, NYC, then closed due to injury after being clipped by a car in a crosswalk

Still looking for more? Seriously? You can find me on LinkedIn.
​
AND... Here’s a SHORT BIO with more links: 
Heather Smith Lutkin has been acting, improvising, writing, and teaching for more than 25 years and is an avid collaboration enthusiast. Her  Improvisation background led to hosting a “Ted-type Talk” at Ford WHQ, “Just Say Yes, And!” which led to leading Applied Improvisational training workshops across Ford Motor Company. Now, she is building a team of trained Improv Coaches to help spread the power of Applied Improv training across Ford, as invitations keep coming and 500+ employees now take and share games and lessons learned. 
​
Heather’s own professional training includes The Second City in Chicago, The Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in NYC, and she holds an Honorary Clown degree from Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey’s Clown College.

Heather has led improvisational acting workshops around the US, both inside companies and schools and at improv festivals and hubs in Chicago, Kansas City, NYC, and now Detroit.  Her non-verbal communication workshop for teachers was featured in Teachers magazine, very innovative at the time for its ability to connect people on a deep level they remember and carry with them.

​As an actor, Heather has appeared Off-Off-Broadway and on film and television. Her fully improvised film, Unscrewed, won multiple awards at elite indie film fests, including Montreal and Santa Barbara and scored an 88 on the Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer.
check out the trailer here. note: adult humor, turn down sound before playing, trust me!

Heather is also Co-Founder & Producer of Unscripted New York, a celebration of collaborative storytelling through theatre and film, hosted in NYC at Theater 54 and the HBO screening room in Manhattan.