Joanne O'Sullivan

With over 18 years of experience as an executive coach and workshop creator, Joanne has helped businesses and their teams navigate critical conversations, deliver compelling presentations, and build relationships through effective and authentic storytelling. She has created over 20 training programs for clients, including sales, storytelling, and executive-level coaching techniques, and has personally coached over 800 clients. Joanne currently teaches storytelling to veterans and their families through Creative Warrior and the Groundling Theatre Company, and to students and young adults in partnership with Mirvish Productions, and has also worked extensively in the not for profit sector with seniors, refugees and veterans using storytelling to create bridges between cultures, families and all people, to encourage community, healing and trust.

As the creator and host of the podcast Happy Funny Amazing, Joanne invites guests to share their funniest, happiest, and most amazing true stories. Her podcast was invited to record three episodes live in front of an audience as part of the 2022 Meighen Forum at the Stratford Festival. Joanne has also written for the award-winning podcast Trailblazers with Walter Isaacson, and works as a writer and producer for Antica Productions on podcasts including Higher Ed Spotlight and the award-winning podcast Exile, hosted by Mandy Patinkin.

Joanne’s television writing credits include This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Baroness von Sketch Show, and CBC’s From the Vaults. She has also written for the ‘tween show Overruled and has optioned 11 of her own television ideas. Joanne is an in-demand development contributor and has worked as a creative/story consultant for Markham Street Films, DHX Media, CBC, Gordon Pinsent, Shaftesbury, Gear Shift and Amaze Films.

Joanne has worked in the live Canadian arts scene for over 15 years, performing stand-up comedy across Canada and writing and performing in three solo shows. Her third solo show, She Grew Funny, premiered to sold-out audiences at the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was the Factory Theatre Studio Patron’s Pick and one of Now Magazine’s Outstanding New Plays. Her second one-woman show, Any Second Now, was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award, and she has also performed in four seasons of Sin City, Toronto’s live improvised soap opera.

18 years ago, Joanne launched her first Storytelling Room, inspired by Tommy Thompson Park, also known as The Spit. The Spit is a space for true stories told well, bringing together a blend of fresh voices stepping up to the mic and some of the best storytellers in the city. The Room has been revived and reimagined in The Cave, the backroom of The Teddy Beer Bar, in partnership with DG Special Productions.

Joanne O’Sullivan is a multifaceted storyteller, podcaster, writer, and executive coach with extensive experience across various genres of Canadian entertainment. She has written for television shows including This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Baroness von Sketch Show, and CBC’s From the Vaults, and has performed stand-up comedy across Canada and written and performed in three solo shows, including She Grew Funny, which premiered to sold-out audiences at the Toronto Fringe Festival. She is the proud winner of a Writer’s Guild of Canada award, and her second one-woman show, Any Second Now, was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award.