39. Karen Hough, CEO, ImprovEdge

Women Of Influence

Karen Hough has built her business around her improv background, but it came in handy in a way she never could have expected amid the challenges of 2020. "We proved to ourselves that we are truly improvisers," said Hough, founder and CEO of ImrovEdge, a Powell-based business that provides business training workshops "with an improv twist." Prior to the pandemic, Powell said, about 5% of the firm's clients had taken advantage of its services virtually. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a quick pivot. "We had to then go to our clients help them understand that we have the ability to provide the same services, the same programs we were already contracted for, but do it virtually on any platform they choose," Hough said. "So I have this amazing group of producers, you name a technology platform, they have mastered it. And so we literally went from serving 5% of our clients virtually to 100% of our clients in a space of about two to three weeks." Check out the latest episode of our Women of Influence podcast to hear more from Hough about how the company tackled that task – it required a lot of 20-hour days for the founder – as well as more on how she used her performance background to build an unusual business.

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