Welcome to Business Innovators Magazine…Please introduce yourself and a brief thumbnail sketch of your background.
TS: My name is Trevor Smith. My background has been in Therapeutic Recreation, where I have worked for human service organizations where I have designed and delivered community-based recreation programming for individuals with special needs. I have a bachelor’s degree in Education from Curry College and two masters degrees; one in Counseling Psychology from Lesley Unversity and the other in Recreation Management. During my work as a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, I started to get involved in using humor and laughter as a health and wellness program for the people I worked with. In fact, I became certified as a Certified Laughter Leader, which was pretty exciting. While doing this work, I started to getting requests to deliver laughter programs for local community groups. Those requests eventually turned into more and requests. I then got so busy that I quit my “regular job” and started my own business. I now deliver workshops and trainings where I use the applications of laughter and Improvisational theater as learning tools in working with college, community and business groups. I now deliver over 60 trainings a year.
BI: What would you say is the area in business that you are most passionate about and why?
TS: The area that I most passionate about is seeing a change or shifting in peoples behaviors and attitudes. I really enjoy facilitating the trainings and seeing people are thinking outside the box and taking risks is really very satisfying. Also, seeing a shift in how people are able to connect with each other in a way that they have never done before where they are able to communicate with each other at a much deeper level is exciting to see.
BI: How are you different than your competitors?
TS: I have been in the training and development field for over 10 years now. I have a bachelors and two masters degrees in Education and Counseling Psychology. I have continuously kept up with the latest trends in the field by attending trainings and workshops on a consistent basis. I have certifications as a Laughter Wellness Leader, a Laughter Leader through the World Laughter Tour and I am in the process of being certified as a Laughter Yoga Leader Also, I my background in Therapeutic Recreation has helped me become adept in group facilitation and being skilled at effectively managing a variety of different audiences.
BI: Please tell me about any recent business accomplishments that you are most proud of and why?
TS: A business accomplishment that I am most proud of is recently being named the member of the year for my business networking group chapter, Business Networking International (BNI).
BI: What Leadership qualities in Leaders do you most admire and why?
TS: What quality I most admire is when leaders hire really smart people who do their jobs really well. I admire this because it is not always easy to find and hire really good people to work who are really good at what they do. It takes a truly unique leader who is adapt at finding and hiring the right people.
BI: What has been a key element of your success?
TS: Following my passion and never give up.
BI: What are some of the business projects that you are currently working on that you are excited about and why?
BI: I am in the process of doing some projects with some local colleges and universities and the possibility of being a presenter at a local worksite Wellness Conference.
BI: What are 1 or 2 things you would like to say to a prospective client who stumbles across this interview?
TS: I create performance improvements in organizations. I bring great value to organizations in helping them develop happy and healthy work environments.
BI: To wrap this up, what are you most excited about in the upcoming months in your business?
TS: I am most excited about is the opportunity to deliver workshops for college student groups at a variety of universities.
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http:www.blueskyconsulting.us
