Secret Life of Our Cultivators: Andrew Linderman
28Muses cultivator Andrew Linderman is one that makes us laugh at every meeting. Also a storytelling, improv, and communications coach based in New York City.
He is the founder of The Story Source, a consultancy that helps artists, business people, and entrepreneurs communicate more authentically, powerfully, and persuasively. He's run workshops with over a hundred non-profits, startups, and Fortune 1000 companies (including Google, American Express, and Adobe) and has coached scores of people to get promotions, land investor funding, and revamp their personal and professional stories.
Prior Andrew worked as a story coach with The Moth, a MacArthur award-winning non-profit dedicated to the craft of storytelling, and trained as an actor and improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade and the Atlantic Theater Company. Andrew is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and has worked as a city planner, a radio DJ, an economist, and promises never to talk about himself in the third person again.
What are 3 fun facts about you?
1. While I don't have pets currently, I'm obsessed with my partner's mom's cat, Fred (pronounced Freh-dj-eh). He's a 12-year old, cream-colored Persian cat who lives in the hills above Rio de Janeiro, loves carpaccio, and often falls asleep on top of printers. I regularly request videos of him.
2.. For many years, I spent upwards of $100/year to hold on to roughly a dozen website domains. The only one that remains is New York Sitty (www.newyorksitty.com), which was supposed to be a tumblr about interesting places to sit in New York City (it may still happen!). I hope you chuckled while reading this, because I paid A LOT for that one joke.
c. I've kept a journal for the last 22 years. I spend 20-30 minutes (minimum) every morning jotting down thoughts and observations, which sometimes work their way into my other work. Most of the time, it's just dedicated time without my phone to just be present and set intentions for the day.
What's the most meaningful part of your work with clients?
Helping clients relax, reframe, and reconnect with themselves and their teams. Many of my clients feel stuck in their work and lives and my job is to help them work through the stuckness. The most meaningful part is to see them turn something that feels heavy and difficult into something exciting and fun, even if the topic isn't necessarily light.
For improv, what's the best way to overcome fear?
Accept and embrace it! As the old saying goes, the way over is the way through. Fear never fully goes away, and that's totally ok. Improv is about accepting the fear when it shows up, and using it to propel you forward.
What do you say to someone who doesn't feel creative?
Don't listen to that voice! Creativity is a practice and a perspective, but most of all it's about permission to be yourself.
What's your favorite 28Muses experience and why?
Suminagashi. There's something beautiful about watching ink move around in water that reminds me of the importance of finding serenity every day.
Any fun off the beaten path, creative spots in NYC that you recommend?
Yes! I absolutely love Pioneer Works, an arts and event space in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Beautiful garden, amazing artists and staff, and fantastic curation.