Meet Sabrina Odigie

We recently connected with Sabrina Odigie and have shared our conversation below.

Sabrina, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Short answer: I love an underdog story.

Long answer… I saw a post on Tumblr or Twitter or something many years ago, that said something to effect of “you have survived 100% of your worst days.” I think that’s really the essence of resilience. No matter how sad or bad a day can be, no matter how foggy or defeated I might feel, I always come back.

Of course, coming back doesn’t mean returning to the same version of you that was interrupted by life. There’s a very real mourning that happens there. But there’s a trade off. For every thing that makes us think, “holy shit, this is it. this is how i go,” whether it’s a brief moment of public humiliation because we told the usher to enjoy the movie too, or a genuine near death experience, like telling the usher to enjoy the movie too, we change and meet ourselves again.

I have cried and changed and cried and changed enough times that I know the truth. I always come back (even if I don’t want to). Most of the time, cooler than the last time.

Besides, it all makes excellent material.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Like many artists, I’m a multi-hyphenate — namely, I’m an actor and comedian! One of the best things about the comedy community is how flexible it is for someone who’s curious to move between modes of expression. I started here as a writer and an Assistant Director at Second City and am now part of a few sketch teams, and each one helps me exercise a different part of myself and my brain.

You can catch me in the short film premiere circuit in Chicago this summer, promoting my microshort The Last Goodbye! I’m also in Spades Table, a monthly revue by iO’s premiere and extremely dope all-Black sketch comedy group, as well as iO Theater’s premiere MainStage sketch group! We put up a brand new, totally original sketch comedy revue every two months, and our next run kicks off soon. Catch us every Friday in September at 7:30!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1) Just try it. Seriously. That class or skill or entirely new rebrand you’ve been wanting to try? Whatever it is, just throw yourself at it completely. Even if it doesn’t “work”, at least you tried something new. Chances are though, you’ll take the knowledge from that new class or skill or rebrand into the next chapter of your life, and you’ll thank yourself for it.

2) Advocate for yourself. You don’t need to print a flag and wave it from the ramparts, but definitely don’t let yourself be a doormat. You’re a whole person, and your self-worth is not your art, how it’s received, or the barrier of entry. You’ve got this 🙂

3) Don’t wait for someone to “rescue” you. You will only waste time doing this. Look, the time is gonna pass anyway. You might as well spend it doing something rewarding, like resting or practicing your craft or hanging out with your loved ones. But whatever you do, don’t wait.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Absolutely! I’m always looking for people to collaborate with on bringing short film scripts or proof of concepts to life. The goal is always to make money by making projects with my friends. The best way to do that is to meet more people and make more friends!

Dream 1: Make the best rom com ever.
Dream 2: Make the best thriller ever.

If you’re in, hit me up on instagram! @sabroomafoo

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Pic of me in security shirt + glasses + sequin gloves: Photographer is Arthur Kobin

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