Michelle Wilson
Michelle Wilson
(she/her)
Senior Facilitator
Michelle is a Creative Lead and Senior Facilitator for ImprovEdge. She is also a New York City based actress, director and facilitator. For the last 15 years, this Tony-nominated actress has been facilitating the exploration of where art and business principles meet.
Karen Hewitt, M. Ed.
Karen Hewitt, M. Ed.
(ze/she/they)
Senior Facilitator
Culture Creator. Leader. Writer. Poet. Artist. Karen earned her MS in Mathematics at St. Francis University (PA) and her Master of Arts in Educational Policy and Leadership at The Ohio State University. Ze has been speaking, facilitating, and coaching since 2005. Her career began as a collegiate Women’s Basketball Coach and evolved into a Workforce Development focus. Her areas of expertise are Culture and Diversity Management, Leadership Development, Intersectionality and Gender and Sexuality. Karen is a creative. She is an improv comedian and improv poet and singer. Ze is a 2020 recipient of the Create Columbus Visionary Award, a 2022 CEO Columbus Future 50 fellow, a 2023 African- American Leadership Academy (AALA) fellow, a 2021 Cohort Poet in Scott Woods’ Rhapsody and Refrain, and an ensemble member in Counterfeit Madison’s Aretha Franklin Tribute; which performed in front of a sold out Lincoln Theatre (Columbus, Ohio) in February 2020. In 2019, Karen published their first book of poetry, Grounded; and released Fire: Poetic Memoirs of a Movement in August of 2021. They are also an author in the April 2021 released anthology, The Black Woman’s Guide To Love and Business: A Blueprint To Self-Mastery. Karen is a Senior Facilitator for ImprovEdge and is in their fourth year with the ensemble. Karen lives in Columbus, Ohio with her wife, Erin and cat, Temple.
April Olt
April Olt
(she/her)
Senior Director of Content and Talent
April received her B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from Illinois Wesleyan University and her M.F.A. in Directing/Dramaturgy from Roosevelt University in Chicago. April has worked with theatre companies and creative artists as a coach, director, producer, instructor and dramaturg in NYC, Chicago, Columbus, and LA where she currently resides. As an educator and award-winning director, she teaches and directs productions for high schools and theatres across the country. She has created specialty workshops and camps for children and youth to promote confidence, inclusivity, and collaboration. Along with designing and facilitating workshops for clients on five continents, April has designed and taught courses in theatre, humanities and composition at Ohio Dominican University, Sinclair Community College, and Central Ohio Technical College.
Michael Shepperd
Michael Shepperd
(he/him)
Senior Facilitator
Michael has led the way in creating meaningful, memorable experiences for groups from insurance professionals to accounting partners. He is also the Artistic Director of Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles.
Dionysia Williams
Dionysia Williams
(she/her)
Executive Facilitator
Dionysia is a Broadway dancer, singer and actor. A proud graduate of Wright State University, Williams has toured across the country and internationally (China, Europe) performing Broadway musicals.
Jason Sudy
Jason Sudy
(he/him)
Executive Facilitator
Jason is the founder of Side Street Planning, and a Principal at OHM Advisors, a city planning firm headquartered in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Jason has 15 years of professional urban planning experience, is a senior facilitator with ImprovEdge and an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University.
Melissa Smolko
Melissa Smolko
(she/her)
Chief Operating Officer
Melissa is an accomplished program/project manager and strategist with specific expertise in operations, business development, marketing and training development. A graduate of John Carroll University, she currently resides in Cleveland, OH.
Karen Hough
Karen Hough
(she/her)
Founder and Culture & Experience Officer
Karen Hough is the Founder & CEO of ImprovEdge, www.ImprovEdge.com, and has been using improvisation as a catalyst for business training and consulting since 1998. ImprovEdge won the silver International Stevie Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year 2012, and Karen was recognized in 2016 as an Inspiring Woman by the WNBA’s Indiana Fever and won the WBENC Pitch Pivot Award in 2020 in the first virtual competition of its kind. Karen is also the #1 Amazon Bestselling author in category and 800CEORead Top 25 Business Books for “The Improvisation Edge: Secrets to Building Trust and Radical Collaboration at Work” published by Berrett-Koehler, and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, Inc magazine and Investor’s Business Daily. Her second book, “Be the Best Bad Presenter Ever: Break the Rules, Make Mistakes and Win Them Over” published by BK in 2014 won the Benjamin Franklin Gold Award. Karen’s third book on using improvisation to drive innovation, “Go with It: Embrace the Unexpected to Drive Change” was published in 2017 by the Association for Talent Development.
She is the recipient of the Athena PowerLink Award for outstanding woman-owned business and was named a Semi-Finalist in TechColumbus’ Innovation Awards 2011 for Outstanding Service. She is the creator/author of the Yes! Deck, “Managing Tough Conversations: The Everyday Coaching Model”, and numerous articles and blogs including publication in ASTD’s T&D magazine, Mashable.com and BusinessInsider.com. She is a Certified Speaking Professional and a national conference keynote speaker internationally on topics such as the hybrid present and future, negotiation, DEI, leadership, executive presence, and sales.
ImprovEdge is a government certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and Ms. Hough served on the board of Key Bank’s Key4Women initiative and the board of WELD (Women for Economic and Leadership Development) and the board of The Matriots Ohio. She currently serves on the CAPA Board (Columbus Association for the Performing Arts). Ms. Hough was honored as a Deloitte & Touche Wise Woman for their inaugural breakfast event in Columbus, Ohio, and she represented women entrepreneurs for the State of Ohio for the Saitama, Japan Women’s Contingent.
Ms. Hough is a graduate of Yale University and La Sorbonne, Paris IV. She worked for many years as a senior sales executive in the network engineering industry in New York and Chicago. She originated and expanded the sales and management efforts of three separate technology start-ups, launched partner programs and assisted in East Coast and National expansions. Ms. Hough has been a professional improviser and actor for 30 years. Her improvisational training and performance credits include over 100 live productions with the Second City of Chicago, Metraform/Annoyance Theatre, the Organic Theatre and the Purple Crayon of Yale, and many others. She was formerly the International Spokesperson for Stratacom, a spokesperson for Tivoli and Infiniti, and her TV and radio credits include CBS, Miller, Earthshare, Eli Lilly and S.C. Johnson.
Since 1998, ImprovEdge principles and exercises have been vetted through research projects led by Ms. Hough with MBA students at: Wharton School of Business, the Ohio State University, University of Massachusetts, Otterbein University.
Ms. Hough is deeply committed to volunteer activities and philanthropy. She is a mentor for the Otterbein Women’s Network Initiative, and a portion of ImprovEdge profits go each year to support The American Heart Association, Computers for Youth, the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, kiva.org and DonorsChoose. Her volunteer activities include teaching improv classes for high school students in rural Kansas and confidence-building workshops for Chicago City schoolchildren. She is a former board member of the Yale Whim ‘n Rhythm Alumnae Association, and is a volunteer for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee and the Yale Alumni Fund. She resides in Columbus with her husband, three children and two dogs.
Karen Hough is an international keynote for conferences and client events for:
• Association for Talent Development: ICE, Core 4, Taiwan
• Simmons Women’s Leadership Conference
• National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL)
• Legal Marketing Association (LMA)
• Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
• Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA)
• Association for Change Management Professionals (ACMP)
• Plus more – learn more about our clients
• Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellows Alumni (LCLD)
• American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
• Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA)
• KeyBank’s Key4Women Forum (13-city tour)
• Ohio Women’s Bar Association (OWBA)
• Philanthropy Ohio
• Insights
Meet the Ensemble
Made by Professionals, About Professionals, for Professionals
Our diverse team from a wide range of professional backgrounds combines real-world business experience with improv training to help you harvest the strength and confidence needed to tackle uncomfortable situations head on.
Our facilitators are proud to partner with you—acting as an extension of your business—to provide 100% customized programs, training, and insights designed with your specific needs in mind.
Meet the Ensemble
Karen Hough
Founder & CEO
She is an Amazon #1 bestselling author, Founder of a Top 1% in the US – Woman-Owned business, Yale grad and passionate improviser.
Why ImprovEdge
Your Pain Points Are Our Sweet Spots
Those difficult (but necessary) situations you’d rather avoid. Those conversations you dread having. The ice in your veins when it comes to public speaking…Your pain points are our sweet spots!
The first company in the world to use improv and neuroscience training to drive human behavior, ImprovEdge offers practical business training solutions that empower you to think on your feet by thinking differently.
Where others back down, you’ll buck up!
Doing Business With ImprovEdge
ImprovEdge is proud to provide customized corporate service solutions that transform performance and drive behavior change in businesses and entities within the public sector.
NAICS Codes
NAICS 611430 | Professional and Management Development Training – Primary |
NAICS 541611 | Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services |
NAICS 541612 | Human Resources Consulting Services |
NAICS 611699 | All Other Miscellaneous Schools and Instruction |
UNSPSC 60105
421 |
Understanding or dealing with cultural diversity instructional materials |
UNSPSC 80101500 | Business and corporate management consultation services |
UNSPSC 86000000 | Education and Training Services |
UNSPSC 86101701 | Communications vocational training services |
Central Contractor Registration
DUNS: 796849532
CAGE: 4QV59
UEI: MVYCNM1EHKW6
Small Business Certification
Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE)
Awards
"Our ImprovEdge experience included a full-day Presentation Skills workshop (beyond my expectations!) and 1:1 coaching for some of my leaders (what a difference in three sessions!). Their approach was thorough and customized to each individual – they helped my team leads build a confident, authentic presence for important presentations at our annual sales meeting. ImprovEdge heard our pain points and addressed the challenges in a thoughtful, efficient way."
- Nicole Miller, AVP, Distribution Marketing, Nationwide
"You analyzed my specific needs, designed and assigned coaches, giving me some tools and coaching me in using them. I would sign up with ImprovEdge again."
- Senior Leader, Global Pharmaceutical Company
"The classes with ImprovEdge proved stimulating, challenging and rewarding for all…an engaging development of leadership and teamwork skills…a “must” for all future offerings of my course."
Professor Michael Useem - Director of Center for Leadership, Wharton Business School