Fi Marchant

I discovered a love of the stage early and was an eager participant in my local pantos from age 6. Since moving to Jersey in 2009 I have embraced that love of performance, 

I'm an active member of Arts Centre Theatre and have nearly 20 years of experience doing formal and informal public speaking, to groups of every age and ranging from 1 person to over 400.

I hope to bring my enthusiasm for performance in its varied forms to my role as a mentor.

My first ever job was taking John Inman's trousers off six nights a week and it's been downhill all the way since then! This was around the time that I first ventured onto the stage hiding (not very well being taller than everyone else) at the back of the men's chorus in the JADC's panto Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In that show I was shy, quiet, timid, unconfident and had two left feet; after 139 shows I'm no longer bothered about what people think of me so the shyness hides away, the quietness is drowned out by my booming voice, timidity has trundled off and the two left feet have learnt to occasionally work together... though not necessarily at the same time or tempo. 

I have performed in comedies, tragedies, operetta, musicals and farce mostly in Jersey, but also a few in Dorset and an armful on the Isle of Wight whilst I was doing a two-and-a-half year stretch for bookselling. I hope that some of my experience can help support my mentee (is that even a word) on their journey to stand-up glory!

I am Nicki Kennedy, a former opera singer turned executive coach with a specialism in the techniques and psychology of presentation and communication.

I have a deep interest in the human voice, how it works, how people use it effectively as they move through the world, and what it means when it's taken away.  I have a coaching business, Kennedy High-Performance Coaching, and I also work as a mentor and coach for the National Youth Choir in the U.K. and for Vocal Health Education, a training organisation around vocal health and rehabilitation. I also have a podcast about voice. 

I had my own turn at comedy, performing comedic roles as an actor and singer, but also performing for several years at an annual event at the London Hilton, back in the days when there were fewer female comedians than there are now.  (I have a funny story to tell about that, but it's probably not for polite company... you'll have to ask...)