We recently connected with Nancy Hayden and have shared our conversation below.

Nancy, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful project is the work I do now. I’m the Executive Director of a youth arts education nonprofit and I truly feel as though working with this organization is the joyful culmination of all I’ve learned and achieved throughout my career. The Detroit Creativity Project sends teaching artists into Detroit schools to teach improvisation. Improv is a skill that changed my life as an actor, writer and human being. And the training The DCP provides makes those same deep changes in the lives of the students. They learn self confidence, the courage to voice their opinions, to make mistakes, to work as a team and to creatively solve problems.

As far as my journey goes, like most creatives I’ve worked on many projects I’ve loved and many others that seemed like a bit of a chore, to put it mildly. But this work at The DCP, the remarkable team of teachers and administrators I get to spend my days with, is truly a wonderful pinnacle in my career.

Nancy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I began performing in plays and musicals as a young girl. I believe I was 8 when I played the Nana in The Velveteen Rabbit and I never looked back. After receiving a degree in musical theater I was all set for a life in that type of theater when I auditioned on a whim for The Second City Theatre and got cast in the Detroit Mainstage ensemble. My life and career were turned upside down in the most wonderful way as I became a performer, creator, instructor and writer of comedy.

The skills that I’ve learned through improvisation and comedy creation provided me with an incredibly unique way of seeing the world and the ability to help others sharpen their own skills. As a writer and coach I’ve helped countless clients to not only draft dynamic and unforgettable speeches or presentations, but I also utilize improv skills to help them build a presence that exudes confidence and ease.

With so much information coming at us every second of the day, it is no longer enough to draft the wittiest or most clever speech. Executives truly need presentation skills to help them stand out in the corporate landscape. Teaching those skills is my strong suit.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

One of the things that brings the most joy is the fact that over the years my personal creative mission has shifted from being self-focused to wanting to help others. Many creatives, and people in general, spend a lot of years focused on ladder climbing, achieving goals that mostly benefit them. But for me the beauty of time has brought a very welcome shift in my outlook and priorities.

My goal now is simply to provide creative training to as many people as possible. Whether that’s middle and high school students who learn through the teaching artists of The Detroit Creativity Project, or my writing or corporate clients. Helping people discover the joy and confidence that comes this type of training is the most fulfilling mission I can think of. And it’s exactly where I want to be in life.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Absolutely. I wish when I was just starting out I had fully understood the irreplaceable resource that is other people. Creatives work wonderfully together, we often find ourselves as part of an ensemble, but outside of the creative space it can be a very lonely and scary career road. People pursuing work in the arts are pitted against one another, competing for too few jobs. But when I began to join writers’ groups and support networks with other creatives I realized the true benefit of collaboration in a field with so much rejection and alienation.

Comparison is the true enemy of the artist. The sooner one realizes that their journey needn’t look like anyone else’s, the sooner they can rediscover the joy that brought them into the arts in the first place. It took me a very long time to truly learn that lesson and I think it’s one of the reasons why my outlook, mission and goals changed. I began to seek out work that truly makes me happy and fulfilled and it’s funny, I feel more successful than ever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://detroitcreativityproject.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancymhayden/?next=%2F
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyhayden33/