The Spontaneity Shop is run by its three directors, Deborah Frances-White, Alex MacLaren and Tom Salinsky, supported by Gina Decio and Ned Sedgwick.

Deborah Frances-White
Deborah Frances-White
Deborah Frances-White is a comedian best known for her hit podcast The Guilty Feminist which has had 100 million downloads in seven years. She has recorded the show live at The London Palladium, The Sydney Opera House, The London Coliseum and The Barbican.

Deborah’s book The Guilty Feminist is published by Virago and is a Sunday Times Best Seller. She is a screenwriter whose first feature film Say My Name was just produced by Electric Entertainment. It has won multiple film festival awards and was been nominated for Best Screenplay at The London International Filmmaker Festival 2019.

Deborah is in demand as a speaker, regularly delivering seminars on diversity and inclusion. She hosted Stylist’s first ever Remarkable Women Awards in 2019 and regularly hosts the Learning Technologies awards. She is currently working on the screenplay for an animated film and developing a TV series in Australia.

Alex MacLaren
Alex MacLaren
Alex MacLaren’s work for the Spontaneity Shop investigates team co-operation, personal impact, communication and creativity. He has worked as an actor all over the UK and abroad, taught for RADA and the Tisch School of Arts New York, and worked with business clients since 2002.

His experience in the corporate field ranges from law firms to banks, retail companies to advertising agencies and TV production companies; he has worked with clients at all levels, from new hires to CEOs.

Tom Salinsky
Tom Salinsky
Tom Salinsky is one of the co-founders of The Spontaneity Shop. With Deborah Frances-White, he is the author of The Improv Handbook now in its second edition. He produces three podcasts for The Spontaneity Shop – The Guilty Feminist, Global Pillage and Best Pick which he also presents.

Tom is also a writer. With Robert Khan, he is the author of five plays including KINGMAKER (“Sharply satirical ****” – The List) and BREXIT (“Wonderful *****” – The Scotsman) as well as numerous audio plays for Big Finish.

His training work covers a wide range of activities from one-on-one coaching to workshop programmes to speaking at large events. He regularly delivers work on all The Spontaneity Shop’s core themes, but his speciality is communication through storytelling.

Gina DecioPA to Deborah Frances-White
Ned Sedgwick
Ned Sedgwick
Ned started his podcast career in 2016 with The Spontaneity Shop and their podcast Global Pillage in which he was the co-presenter and lead researcher. Ned was commissioned with the Spontaneity Shop by BBC Radio 4 to present their first exclusive podcast, GrownUpLand, which became one of the flagship shows during the launch of BBC Sounds and the creation of the BBC’s podcast department.

Ned became The Spontaneity Shop’s full-time editor of Global Pillage and latterly chief creative consultant in the diversification of their podcast portfolio. He has worked on the production of the award-winning podcast Media Storm, Absolute Power with John Bercow and The FOC it Up! Comedy Club, and he has consulted with companies as diverse as investment firm Crossboundary and The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Over his seven-year career in the industry Ned has been a driving force of the podcasting boom and understands the inherent potential beyond traditional entertainment and comedy. This exciting and unique media, when utilised correctly, can be an indispensable tool for commercial businesses to enhance their communications and strategy.