Always Hustling, with Meridith Grundei

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Meridith Grundei. Meridith knew from a young age that she was born to be a performer, and that meant hearing constant reminders about how she’d starve as an adult. A less resilient person might have been deterred by these warnings, but not Meridith. She’s a self-identified rebel and she was determined to prove that she can make it. This wasn’t easy. She was working in an industry where peers would often work for free to get credits. Free wasn’t part of Meridith’s vocabulary. Along the way she created and ran improv workshops to supplement her acting work. She was always focused on creating her own path to success.

Today, Meridith is the owner of Grundei Coaching, LLC, specializing in public speaking and presentation skills. As an award-winning theatre director, producer, and former Second City improv teacher, she recognized the similarities between performing for audiences on stage every night and presenting to clients/colleagues every day. However, the latter didn’t have the right tools to bring their stories to life.

Grundei Coaching, LLC provides presentation and public speaking consultation, individual training and development and creative team solutions using improvisational theatre techniques to build trust, empathy and out-of-the-box thinking. Meridith’s clients include entrepreneurs looking to expand their brand by appearing on more stages, and managers, leaders and teams in both the tech and medical fields. Some of her most recent clients include Amazon AWS, Merck, Idorsia and the Iowa Department of Health.