Shannon Polly, MAPP
Shannon M. Polly is a corporate communications trainer, facilitator and speaker and founder of Shannon Polly & Associates, a leadership development company in downtown D.C.
Shannon works with executives, managers and employees of Fortune 500 companies in two domain areas: executive presence/presentation skills (based on over a decade of experience as a professional actor/singer/playwright in New York) and positive psychology. Shannon uses the empirical research from positive psychology with her organizational clients to foster positive and flourishing workplaces. She is passionate about giving people the confidence to present themselves powerfully in front of a room and overcome the anxiety that often besieges public speakers. She is equally as passionate about sharing the science of well-being and increasing the ‘tonnage of happiness’ in the world.
She has been an assistant instructor in the MAPP program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a contributor to the book, Positive Psychology at Work, has developed curriculum for the higher education version of the movie, Happy and is a facilitator for the Master Resiliency Training (MRT) program for the U.S. Army. The Army is the largest consumer of positive psychology in the world today and has plans to train all 1.1 million soldiers in resilience.
Shannon is one of less than 400 people in the world who have received her Master in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree from the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Martin Seligman. She also holds a graduate degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in classical acting and a B.A. with honors from Yale University. She lives with her husband and two young daughters in downtown D. C. True to her Kansas roots, she loves baking and sharing it with others. She hopes to get back to her love of international travel and live theater when her children are a little older.
Her strengths are: Social intelligence, kindness, honesty, humor, the capacity to love and be loved and perseverance.