Dionna Griffin-Irons is a Second City Detroit alumna with 20+ years of experience as a performer, producer and facilitator, Dionna has taught 200+ workshops at colleges, women’s shelters, corporate boardrooms and worked with the United States Embassy in Norway and Latvia introducing improv as a tool for social change.

In 2010, Griffin-Irons created the inaugural Bob Curry Fellowship, a master training program for underrepresented comedic voices in her longtime former role as Director of Talent Diversity and Inclusion from 2000 – 2021. In her 20+ year career with Second City, she’s produced Urban Twist, Second City’s Black History Month Show and The Break Out Comedy Festival and mentored hundreds (actually over a thousand) sketch comedy artists many who launched successful careers in TV and Film.

Her outreach work has appeared in Diversity Journal publication, on NPR, ABC, NBC, and numerous academic posts including her 2015 TEDx Talk at the University of Chicago. Her 2014 published work can be found in Rowan/Littlefield’s anthology Women, Writing and Prison. She is currently writing a memoir on the intersection of comedy, diversity and women in prison. @dionnagirons