Improv.
Inspiration.
Authenticity.
Change.

These are four of my favorite words.

All my work centers around these ideas.

Reach out if you want to explore how I can help you, your project, or your company.

Discover all the ways improv can unleash your fearless, creative and authentic self

the part of you that’s ready to play big, inspire  others, and make an enormous impact in all that you do.

  • “Hands down the best training I’ve had in my six years here. Most relevant, most eye-opening, and most fun too. Everyone here should do this!”

    — Gary, DIGITAS: Boston / The Power of An Improv Mindset Workshop

  • “Holly’s wisdom, warmth, and emotional intelligence is profoundly life-changing. The work is not about fixing the past. It’s about being magnetized by the future.”

    — Michael, author, theater director // 1:1 Consulting

  • “This talk by Holly Mandel legit changed my life. For me, it is THE answer to understanding & negotiating the tricky mischief of gender dynamics- on stage and off. If I were Queen I’d make every woman, man, and child see this. ”

    — Lindsey, LA: Good Girls Aren’t Funny Seminar

  • "Holly's improv training adamantly established a safe, caring, low-stakes environment that even a stubborn mutt like me could thrive in. Truly awesome."

    — Raffael S, improv student NYC

  • “There are lots of books and seminars about women and leadership but I’ve not seen a hands-on workshop like this — actually tap into real confidence and transform the women in the room.”

    — Kristin C, SKADDEN: NYC // Good Girls Aren’t CEOs Program

  • "Improv...and Holly...teach you how to focus on growth, not problems. How to build and fortify trusting bonds with your co-workers. It was invaluable."

    — Ben W, IBM // Improv for Team Building Workshop

  • "There were so many women in the room, yourself included, who impress me with their achievements, have made me laugh and inspired me with their comedy. To hear them speak about how they have struggled with the exact things as me was a turning point."

    — Clemence, London: Good Girls Aren’t Funny Weekend Workshop

iMergence

new york los angeles washington dc stamford

A business transformation consultancy using improvisation as a key catalyst for your workplace culture to become more productive, positive and thriving. Team workshops with tailored content for groups of 30 or 300.

Good Girls Aren’t Funny

When you learn you can’t win by playing by the rules you were handed - like being perfect, pleasing everyone around you, following whatever script has been written for you - it’s time to shed your GOOD GIRL and claim your powerful, authentic whole self.

Whether it’s in comedy or your career, you want the bold, opinionated, fearless part of you to show up. That part will never be the GOOD GIRL.

Private Professional 1:1 Coaching

Improv is just one of the fabulous tools I use to unlock the version of you that is free from trying to constantly please others or get everything perfect; that gets anxious speaking up in meetings or is confused why you haven’t gotten further at your company.

I’ve worked with business executives as well as entrepreneurs. I’ve learned a ton of cool stuff — brain science, cultural mapping, energetic recipes for either undermining you or liberating you.

Improv Training

After becoming a performing Main Company member of THE GROUNDLINGS in Los Angeles, I began teaching and directing there. Then, I started my own improv school in NYC — the first female-founded, owned and run one by the way (#humblebrag) - bringing CHARACTER-EMPHASIZED improv to the Big Apple for over 24 years.

I've taught and traveled all over the globe to help newer and seasoned improvisers embrace character as well as unique styles of improv I have created over my almost 30 years of teaching: EMERGENT IMPROV and LONGFORM CLAP-INS (the style seen in the CRAZY UNCLE JOE SHOW every Wednesday night at THE GROUNDLINGS, which I also created in 2001!)

I teach at PACE UNIVERSITY in Manhattan, which, yes, makes me a Professor of Improv and Sketch.

The Yes Factory

Where everything is made with a YES.

THE YES FACTORY is where creativity runs on rocket fuel called YES. It’s a playground for improvisers, artists, and big thinkers to make bold, surprising, and joyful things happen. We don’t just say yes—we embody it, express it, and turn it into theater, stories, and experiences that buzz with possibility.

SOME OF MY CLIENTS

Through talks, teaching, and trainings, I inspire you or your company to evolve.

There’s lots of ways it can happen. The how isn’t as important as the why.

Reach out to set up a time to talk so I can find out how I can help you make more impact in everything you do.

KEYNOTES

with INDUSTRY EXPERT and PROFESSIONAL COMEDIAN
Holly Mandel

Bring Holly to your next keynote and give your audience an experience they’ll never forget. As a professional comedian and entertainer trained at The Groundlings—the legendary SNL talent pipeline—Holly knows how to command a stage and engage a crowd. She’s shared the spotlight with some of comedy’s biggest names and brings that same presence and energy to every event.

Beyond the laughs, Holly has worked with Fortune 500s and global brands for over 20 years, including IBM, Disney, Apple, and GE. Her work has helped transform cultures, build agile leaders, and ignite innovation across industries.

Holly’s keynotes blend humor, insight, and practical tools that resonate long after the event ends. Whether your focus is executive development, women and leadership, navigating change, building trust and collaboration, or unlocking creativity, Holly brings fresh insights and actionable strategies that leave audiences motivated and ready to put ideas into practice.

GOOD GIRLS AREN’T CEOs:
Unleashing Confidence & Authentic Leadership in Women

Every woman knows what being a “Good Girl” means: pleasing everyone, playing nice, getting things perfect while never being “too”-fill-in-the-blank. Adhering to a set of roles and rules we’ve been handed in order to gain access to the room where it happens.

We hear endlessly about IMPOSTER SYNDROME, CONFIDENCE GAP and GLASS CEILINGS. Discover what is at the core of these things and how the “Good Girl” in all of us is preventing us from leading, making real change and profound impact.

More importantly, learn how to get beyond the “Good Girl” and claim the fearless, bold, and authentic leader in yourself.

MOST IN-DEMAND KEYNOTES

THE FUTURE IS THE IMPROV MINDSET:
Adapt, Innovate, Lead

The business landscape is shifting at lightning speed—and yesterday’s strategies aren’t built for what’s next. In a world where change is constant, disruption is the norm, and certainty is a luxury, the real competitive advantage isn’t more data or better plans—it’s mindset. Specifically, The Improv Mindset.

What is The Improv Mindset? It’s the ability to adapt quickly, think creatively under pressure, and collaborate without fear. It’s saying “Yes, And” when others freeze up. It’s turning ambiguity into opportunity and challenges into springboards for innovation. This is what allows businesses to stay relevant, leaders to stay confident, and teams to stay connected when the ground beneath them keeps shifting.

This keynote is more than inspiration—it’s an experience that brings these principles to life. Through stories, humor, and interactive moments, you’ll see why companies everywhere are embracing improv as the ultimate leadership and team skill. Your audience will walk away energized, equipped, and ready to apply The Improv Mindset to the real-world challenges that define the future of work.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.

To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

— Buckminster Fuller; American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist

Set up a time to talk

Send me an email