Own the moment. Move the room.
Talent isn’t the differentiator. Presence is.
Blending performance psychology with practical leadership tools
After 25 years leading companies on Broadway, Tony Award nominee and Grammy Award winner Jenn Colella now partners with organizations, universities, and leaders who want to understand the psychology of high performance and show up powerfully when the moment matters most.
Jenn delivers keynotes, master classes, and curated concert experiences that help people quiet the inner critic, command the room, and connect in ways that inspire action.
Jenn’s Offerings
Keynote Speaker
Performance is not theoretical. It happens in real time.
In her keynote experiences, Jenn teaches performance psychology and demonstrates it live. Through strategic insight, storytelling, and powerful musical performance, she models what it looks like to recover from failure, regulate under pressure, and command a room when the stakes are high.
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At the core of her work is one powerful idea: how you show up shapes what becomes possible.
Her keynote experiences explore:
Presence under pressure
Managing the inner critic in high-stakes moments
Communication that builds trust and momentum
Mastering power and influence in team dynamics
Through transformative shifts in awareness, participants strengthen confidence, sharpen delivery, and elevate the way they lead.
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Every audience is different. Every room carries its own dynamics.
Jenn partners closely with event leaders to understand organizational goals, culture, and challenges. Each keynote is thoughtfully tailored to ensure the experience feels specific, relevant, and immediately applicable.
Master Classes
Jenn Colella brings Broadway-level craft and academic rigor to every master class she leads.
A professor at Columbia University and Pace University and the recipient of an honorary doctorate for her contributions to the arts, she has led hundreds of master classes nationwide and internationally.
Her sessions are interactive and focused, creating a supportive space where insight becomes action.
Acting Through Song:
Authentic Character Work in Musical Performance
This immersive master class explores how to embody character truthfully within a musical theatre song.
Ideal for: BFA and BA theatre programs, conservatories, and professional training environments.
Sparking Your Joy in the Classroom: Sustainable Passion for Educators
Designed for educators across disciplines, this interactive workshop helps teachers reconnect with the sense of purpose that first drew them to the profession.
Ideal for: K–12 educators, university faculty, pedagogy programs, and professional development conferences.
Presence & Performance for Leaders: Communication Tools for High-Stakes Environments
This dynamic workshop translates performance principles into practical leadership tools.
Ideal for: Corporate teams, executive cohorts, interdisciplinary programs, and leadership retreats.
Event Host
With roots in stand-up comedy and decades of live performance experience, Jenn Colella brings confidence, quick wit, and steady command to every event she hosts. Whether emceeing a theatrical gala, moderating a high-profile panel, leading a corporate celebration, or hosting a book launch, Jenn reads the room with ease, keeps the energy alive, and ensures the program flows effortlessly.
She partners closely with event teams to align tone, pacing, and messaging with each organization’s goals, creating an experience that feels polished, purposeful, and distinctly human.
As comfortable honoring a mission-driven fundraiser as she is elevating a corporate event, Jenn balances warmth and professionalism with just the right touch of humor.
She doesn’t simply keep events on schedule. She keeps audiences engaged, speakers supported, and the energy exactly where it needs to be.
Available for:
Theater galas and fundraisers
Corporate events and award ceremonies
Panel moderation and live conversations
Book launches and special events
Concert Performer
An evening with Jenn Colella is more than a concert. It’s a shared experience.
Jenn blends storytelling, musical range, and the emotional precision of a seasoned Broadway actor to create evenings that feel both grand and personal. Best known for her award-winning turn as Captain Beverley Bass in the Broadway hit Come From Away, Jenn brings that same depth, humor, and command to the concert stage.
Audiences may come for the showstoppers, but they stay for the honesty, the unexpected stories, and the sense of connection that builds over the course of the evening.
Whether presenting a Broadway-centered program, a pop and rock set, or a dynamic mix of both, Jenn crafts each concert to reflect the audience in front of her.
Booking Options: Intimate duo evenings with her longtime musical director and pianist, or full-band performances designed for larger venues and celebratory events.
Client Testimonials
Meet Jenn Colella
Jenn Colella is a Tony Award–nominated and Grammy Award–winning actor whose career spans Broadway, television, film, and higher education.
Most recently, she starred as Carrie Chapman Catt in SUFFS on Broadway, earning a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performer. SUFFS will premiere on PBS’ Great Performances in May 2026.
Jenn is widely known for her portrayal of Captain Beverley Bass in the Tony Award–winning hit Come From Away, a performance that earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, along with Craig Noel, Helen Hayes, and Dora Awards for the production’s pre-Broadway runs. She also won a Grammy Award for her work on the Dear Evan Hansen cast recording.
Her Broadway credits include If/Then, Chaplin, High Fidelity, and Urban Cowboy (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination). Off Broadway, she has appeared in SUFFS (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, Lucky Guy, Slut, and Closer Than Ever. Select regional credits include Come From Away (La Jolla Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, Toronto), Peter Pan (Sacramento Music Circus and PCLO), and Side Show at the Kennedy Center.
On television, Jenn has appeared in Feed the Beast, Elementary, All My Children, Rescue Me, The Good Wife, The Code, Madam Secretary, FBI: Most Wanted, Evil, and Beast in Me. She currently plays Captain Alison Kershaw on CBS’s Elsbeth. Her film credits include Uncertainty with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the live capture film of Come From Away, streaming on Apple TV+.
In addition to her performance career, Jenn is a proud adjunct associate professor at Columbia University and Pace University. She holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and an honorary doctorate from Columbia College.
Drawing from decades of high-stakes performance and teaching, Jenn now brings her expertise in presence, communication, and leadership to organizations, universities, and live audiences nationwide. Her work centers on a simple but powerful truth: how we show up shapes what becomes possible.
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