So Drama

Kim Rohrer
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Arts

Welcome to the only podcast taking you on the journey from Theater Kid to HR Pro, one story at a time. My theater background has been hugely impactful in my approach to HR. Happily, I've realized over the years that there are more of us out there than I thought...but why? So Drama unpacks the unexpected crossovers and transferrable skills that have created some of the most talented and thoughtful leaders in HR. We're bringing you sordid stories from the stage and wild wisdom from the workplace, highlighting the ways art grounds us in humanity and the weird skills we didn't think we'd ever need again. Find out why so many of your favorite People People started out as Theater People on So Drama. Laugh a little. Learn a little. Laugh some more.

Episodes

  1. 2d ago

    Together Wherever We Go, with Jen Paxton

    In this episode, SVP People Jen Paxton explores the parallels between team building and ensemble-oriented leadership, the power of good feedback, and how chaos in theater teaches resilience in business. Jen also shares how she returned to performing after a 10-year hiatus (and how she ended up performing with her whole family!), what keeps her coming back to the stage while continuing to hold a demanding People Leadership role, and why both worlds are really about logistics, communication, and making other people look good. Highlights include: 🎭 Broadway dreams and HR schemes, from post-rehearsal notes to feedback resiliency 💡 HR leadership looks a lot like backstage leadership: constant juggling, quick decisions, and no two days feeling the same 👶 Unexpected network effects: how a preschool connection helped Jen return to theater after a 10-year break 🎶 Why performing in Pirates of Penzance, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, and Fiddler on the Roof taught her to stay adaptable under pressure 🧠 Why clarity matters in auditions, hiring, and candidate fit — and what happens when leaders don’t know what they’re really looking for Jen is a People leader with a creative heart and agility for days, who knows that the best teams are built with a collaborative form of competitiveness, not an ego-driven or individualistic desire to win. It takes many different roles to make things work, onstage and in the office. Find Jen on LinkedIn and stay tuned for our next episode!

  2. Jul 13

    Louder Than Words, with T. Tara Turk-Haynes

    When it comes to the "theater kid to HR pro" persona, T. Tara Turk-Haynes spends equal time in both worlds. She's a playwright with an off-off-Broadway credit, a Van Lier Fellowship at New York Theatre Workshop, and a Lipkin Playwriting Award, and she's also spent decades doing transformative HR and DEI work in corporate spaces. For a long time, even as she juggled between them, she kept those worlds mentally separate. This episode is about why she stopped. We get into what playwriting teaches you about how to be successful in HR: how to sit with rejection without internalizing it, how to give feedback that people can hear instead of one that makes them defensive, and how to read a room well enough to know when the story you're telling isn't landing. Tara also opens up about the specific tax of doing this work as a Black woman - in both theater and corporate America and how she's learned to fight those battles without becoming a character written by other people. Highlights include: 🎭 Why playwriting builds a thicker skin than almost any other professional training 💡 The power of the reframe: "I am not for everyone AND everyone is not for me." 🪞Show, don't tell: what bad theater and bad leadership have in common 🤝 The "one slot" problem: how gatekeeping in theater mirrors gatekeeping in HR 📚 Why impact outlives title, and what that means for how you measure your own success Tara's not asking anyone to burn it all down. She's asking them to get specific, get strategic, and stop mistaking volume for effectiveness - actions speak louder than words. Find her at equityactivations.com or as T. Tara Turk-Haynes all over the internet (except TikTok; we're done with that).

  3. Jun 18

    Don't Lose UR Head, with Brittany Storie

    🤩 Get ready, superstars, because Episode 2 of So Drama is LIVE and it's an unhinged, slightly chaotic, educational, and emotional rollercoaster. Of course it is, because it's Brittany Storie and I discussing: - HR onstage - HR as pit orchestra - HR's backstage personality - The musical SIX (with appropriate shoutouts to Milly Parker) and how each of Henry VIII's wives is a different HR Archetype. It's a full on Ted Talk, and Brittany came PREPARED. We laughed. We cried. We laughed till we cried. We learned lessons about history and theater and work. And we remembered why any of this matters in the first place: diversity is only as good as the way you utilize your team's diverse skills, experiences, perspectives. Theater kids know that it takes a lot of different people to tell a story, from conception to reception. Good HR leaders know how to develop an org that plays to people's strengths. The skills, they are transferrable. Take a listen. Oh, and click here to get Brittany's Spotify playlist inspired by this episode.

  4. Apr 27

    People Who Need People, with Kate Sargent

    Kate Sargent joins So Drama for our first episode, where we cover everything from the magic of recruiting to adventures with beard glue, from learning to "yes and" to coaching executives, and from making home movies to writing your own story.

  • 4 Episodes

About

Welcome to the only podcast taking you on the journey from Theater Kid to HR Pro, one story at a time. My theater background has been hugely impactful in my approach to HR. Happily, I've realized over the years that there are more of us out there than I thought...but why? So Drama unpacks the unexpected crossovers and transferrable skills that have created some of the most talented and thoughtful leaders in HR. We're bringing you sordid stories from the stage and wild wisdom from the workplace, highlighting the ways art grounds us in humanity and the weird skills we didn't think we'd ever need again. Find out why so many of your favorite People People started out as Theater People on So Drama. Laugh a little. Learn a little. Laugh some more.

Information

  • Creator
    Kim Rohrer
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Kim Rohrer
  • Show Website
    So Drama