Lisa Linke grew up Champaign, Illinois with her parents and brother. Linke is “Big Ten” educated, having attended Indiana University at Bloomington for her Undergraduate studies. After working in Atlanta for a few years, she returned to the University of Illinois, earning an MBA and a Masters in Labor and Employment Relations. During Grad School, Linke started doing improv to relieve stress from studying. After graduation, she began working as a consultant in Chicago for Deloitte and continued to foster her love for acting by formally training at The Second City. After being promoted to Senior Consultant, Linke made a life-changing decision to pursue her passion for acting full-time. She spent over a decade in Chicago performing, writing, teaching, and producing before moving to Los Angeles.

Linke is known for her role on Successful People, a comedic web series about a songwriting duo struggling to make it big surrounded by a world full of successful people. She plays Kimberly Hawkes, a former high school classmate of the lead character, who attempts to help him jumpstart his career. The show is streaming now on Amazon Prime. Linke has also recurred on the television show Teachers. Other roles include guest spots on Black-ish, Modern Family, Shameless, This Is Us, Netflix’s LOVE, Bunk’d, Grey’s Anatomy and, most recently, For the People.

Expanding her creative endeavors beyond acting, she co-created, wrote, produced, and starred in the web series Rick & Len Fix Sh!t In Your House. Linke and the series have been honored with several awards including “Lead Actress” at The LAWebfest and “Overall Web Series” at the Chicago Comedy Film Festival. She is also known for her portrayal of Abby Lee’s equivalent, Waggy Lee, in Dog Moms - another web series she created. The series is a satirical parody of Lifetime’s Dance Moms. The show has gotten the attention of numerous critics, earning nominations at the New Media Film Festival and Austin Revolution Film Festival.

Off-screen, Linke has continued to use her education and experience by working for several companies including The Second City’s B2B arm, Second City Works, where she traveled around the world teaching corporate communication workshops. In this work, she focused on leadership and showcased her expertise in storytelling, allowing her to apply her education, experience, and passion for performing. Linke also remains passionate about creating new content including the #SuggestionSundayShow, a weekly Instagram Live show where she invites special guests to perform improv with her based on viewer suggestions. Additionally, she recently teamed up with comedian Misty Stinnett to create the Go Help Yourself podcast, which reviews self-help books with a comedic twist. It is available on iTunes.

When she is not acting and creating content, Linke loves to spend time with her two rescue dogs, Wrigley and Zoey. She also enjoys hosting game nights with her friends.  Linke currently resides in Los Angeles. 

RAINE: From an early age your love for being dramatic flourished allowing you to become comfortable as the center of attention Can you describe your experiences and how they helped fine-tune your craft?

LISA: Sure! My Mom’s best friend always used to call me Sarah Bernhardt, because everything was so dramatic with me. I would march into the dining room where the adults were having supper club and announce what drastic thing my brother had done to offend me. They always got a kick out of it, and I loved the attention.

 RAINE: What’s been a funny behind the scenes moment that you could share?

LISA: When I was on the set of Modern Family, Chris Martin was in that episode. He kept playing his guitar between takes, and once he played “The Girl From Ipanema”, and one of the crew sang the entire song in Portuguese! After that, it was really hard to go back to work that day because it was super special. Also, he is truly the nicest person in the world.

RAINE: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you have given yourself 5 years ago?

LISA: Keep your eyes on your own paper, and don’t worry about what other people are doing – your path is your own.

RAINE: How would you describe a creative entrepreneur in your own words?

LISA: After reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, I think of the word “creative” as redundant to describe humans. We are by our very nature creative! When people use the phrase “creative entrepreneur”, I think what they mean is someone who brings art to the world of business, or finds a way to tailor their unique point of view to the work that they do or the medium or process they use to do the work.

RAINE: If you had to relate what you do to sports, how would you describe how you have followed, changed or distributed the game?

LISA: As an improviser, people often ask what we do in rehearsal, because isn’t it all made up? And it is! We often explain it like a basketball game. No one knows what exactly will happen within the game itself, but there are basic parameters, and the players on the team need to run drills and endurance and form group cohesion to think like a team. Do they know exactly what will happen at the 13-minute mark? Nope. But rehearsing will allow them to react best in the moment to whatever does happen. Being an improviser has allowed me to shift gears in the moment rather quickly, and not hang on to what was but instead focus on what now is. That has translated beyond a scene or performance, and into my life on a larger scale. When the industry shifts, when I make career moves, I am not stuck in where I was but instead assess the current moment and see how I can add value, with what skills I have for this new set of circumstances.

RAINE: If someone asked you how could they stimulate their creativity, what advice would you give?

LISA: Stop doing things the same way every day. People go into the same meetings at the same time on the same days with the same people in the same rooms, sitting in the same seats, using the same pens and coffee cups and expect their brains to do something different? How is that supposed to happen? Set yourself up for success and stimulate your brain with at least a different seat at the table. Make it easy on your brain to generate new material and new ideas by giving it something new to work with. 

RAINE: What three traits do you feel are most needed to pursue entrepreneurship?

LISA: In Hollywood, they say you only need two of three things to be successful: luck, talent, and perseverance. Any combination of the two will help you find success, it just may take longer with some combinations. For me, I think knowing what you can control and having an ability to focus on that is paramount. I can’t control luck, so you can be damn sure that I’m working on my talent and making sure I can grit it out. Other than awareness and grit, I think you have to really believe in what you’re doing. Otherwise people can see right through that.

RAINE: Have you ever faced the issue of burnout in your career? If so, how did you overcome it?

LISA: Of course! Who doesn’t? As an actor and a creative, you hear “no” more than you hear “yes”. I chose a profession where I will be unemployed more often than employed. But I don’t have control over that, so I focus on what I can control: my craft, my skills, and creating my own content. Nothing prevents me from making what I want to make, just for me. Nothing prevents me from getting in a class or rehearsing with talented people. It’s all about process, not product. If I measured success and happiness with product, it would be a very unhappy life.

RAINE: Name your top three hacks for battling the loneliness of entrepreneurship.   

LISA:

1. Having friends who get it. Not everyone will understand what it’s like to do what you do, but having someone who knows the ins and outs of your challenges really helps.

2. Having a life outside of my business. I could spend 24 hours a day thinking about furthering my career but honestly how boring would I be? How insufferable to be around would I be? Having a hobby or a side hustle or something where I get out of my own head and stop making my job into my life keeps me out of the “I am an island” thinking.

 3. Rescue a dog. Multiple dogs. It’s hard to be lonely when you have unconditionally-loving eyes looking at you.

RAINE: What wellness tips do you swear by?

LISA: To not listen to wellness tips from anyone. If there are almost 8 billion people on the planet, there are probably just as many opinions about what to do to stay healthy. And truly, everybody is unique. If I can be in tune with my own body and know what’s best for it, that’s the gold standard for me. Also, what makes me so special that I could tell everyone else what to do? There are no gurus, you are your own genius. The time you take seeing what works for everyone else – in my opinion – could be better spent truly getting to know yourself and your own body and needs. The time spent telling everyone else about your cool method – in my opinion – could be better spent getting to know yourself and your own body and needs even more. Health is a very personal, very complex matter, and right now in our culture we’ve made it very popular to be invasive into individuals’ health. Can you tell I have feelings about it?

RAINE: What is your best advice in battling boredom in creative pursuits or creative entrepreneurship?

LISA: Do something different. The brain is designed to find patterns, so if you take a pottery class, go out and learn photography, or attend a lecture on the history of the Berlin Wall, your brain will naturally make connections with what you know and do. You don’t have to do all the work, you’ll learn and find new ways to strengthen your understanding of your expertise and how it relates to the world at large by engaging with a new topic. It doesn’t mean you have to become an expert or jump ship or start becoming a new type of creative, but giving yourself more connections to the world at large through your viewpoint can only strengthen your understanding of your practice or discipline.

RAINE: What do you want to be when you grow up?  Has this stayed the same or changed throughout the years?

LISA: I’ve always done what I wanted to do. I love being in front of audiences. I love doing comedy. I love making people laugh. I love giving people an experience and escape and understanding of something new. I love acting! It’s stayed the same and I’ve found different ways to explore and express this desire over my life. I’ve been incredibly fortunate and I’m so grateful that I’ve been on this specific path.

RAINE: What major project coming up are you most excited about?

LISA: I have been fortunate enough to work with a few amazing actors in the past few months on shows that will be released in 2019. The other two projects I’ve been putting a lot of my time and energy into is a podcast and a live streaming improv show. The podcast I co-host with my friend Misty Stinnett is called Go Help Yourself. It’s a comedy self-help podcast where we review popular self-help books through our unique perspectives: she loves them and I hate anyone telling me what to do. We have a great time and so far, the response has been great! It’s a nice way to preview a book to see if you want to buy it or pass. Plus, we have a great time. The live streaming show is called #SuggestionSundayShow, and it takes place every week on Instagram Live. It is a free improv show you can view in the comfort of your own home! I take suggestions via the comments from viewers, and create character monologues on the spot. I have special guests – with the Instagram platform I can invite people in and we’re on a split screen. It’s really fun! People can participate as much or as little as they like. I’ve been doing it for two years this May, and I’m loving all the special guests I’ve had in over the past year.

RAINE: Who have been the most memorable people you have worked alongside and why? 

LISA: I had the chance to work with RuPaul this year and I was able to ask him a few questions about producing, as I have a lot of projects going on at once. He said to work on what was in front of you and not anything else at the moment. I love that because I often work like a buckshot – doing 10 things at once, and it’s not effective, but it feels like I need to be everywhere at once. Even though we know that multitasking isn’t helpful or efficient, sometimes it just feels like there is too much to do, so I’m going to make that my goal for 2019: to just do what’s in front of me. Also, he’s wonderful!

RAINE: Word to the wise: What advice would you lend to a budding talent on the rise in your chosen field?

LISA: To create your own content from the get-go. You can’t be just one thing anymore, you have to really know how to do several things, so start honing those skills now so you only get better and better.

RAINE: How have you overcome the setbacks, letdowns and obstacles of your career?

LISA: In my chosen profession, I’ll spend most of my time unemployed. So, if I didn’t expect to have setbacks, I’d be in the wrong profession. I just focus on controlling what I can, which is my preparation and my execution. Everything else is out of my control, so it seems futile to try and focus on that. I have built a great support system of friends and colleagues to help get me through tough times.

RAINE: What is your viewpoint of failure and how best to deal with it?

LISA: Failure is relative. I’m in a creative field where I lack a lot of the control to determine my outcome. If I focus on product over process, I’ll often feel like I’m a failure. By focusing on process, I can figure out when I’m executing what I need to be doing and when I need to do more.

RAINE: Describe yourself in five words or less.

LISA: I talk for your pets.

RAINE: What are your superpowers? How have they helped you excel?

LISA: I’m stubborn as hell. It helps me excel because I dig in my heels and I won’t give up until I figure something out or find a way.

RAINE: Talk about how technology has changed your industry for newcomers?

LISA: Everyone has movie production available in their phone! Content creation no longer has a high barrier to entry! So yes, the entire industry is upended. It’s an exciting time. New platforms, more scripted shows than ever on more platforms…it’s amazing.

RAINE: What tech do you use to increase your productivity? Name up to 3 

LISA: Unroll.me to manage subscription emails and to declutter junk mail, I synchronize all my appointments with iCal and third-party apps to help keep me on time (Waze, etc.), and I use WordSwag to make cool social media content.

RAINE: How does being an independent brand or artist allow you to have more creative freedom?

LISA: As a satirist, I enjoy not having to answer to anyone for the content I create. I have a specific point of view, and I love creating content that reflects my take on the world.

RINE: Regarding fashion, what would you describe as your signature “look”?

LISA: Mmmm. Probably “I should wash my hair.”

RAINE: Do your fashion choices affect your success in meetings or pitches?

LISA: Of course! It would be crazy to think otherwise. On auditions, looking like the character is paramount. Choosing wardrobe that helps the producers see me as a good fit for the character is important.

RAINE: What is your favorite city for work and play and why?

LISA: I love Paris. I could go to Paris for every vacation, ever. I just love walking for hours and looking at the architecture. I also love visiting New York City, after years of visiting for work and play I finally know my way around Manhattan. And Chicago is my heart. Growing up in the Midwest, I love my Chicago! Great food, great people, great improv.