2025 Alumni Award Recipient
Fall 2025
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Andrea Flack-Wetherald '10
Founder and President, The Center for Brave Communication
Major: Social work with a minor is English as a second language
Andrea Flack-Wetherald, a 2010 Bluffton University graduate with a major in social work and a minor in English as a second language, has built a career rooted in resilience, creativity and communication. While performing as an improviser, Flack-Wetherald discovered that the principles of improv, listening, adaptability, and collaboration, mirror the skills needed to navigate life’s challenges and foster meaningful relationships. During the pandemic, she embraced a clearer purpose: to center her work on peacebuilding and “brave communication.” This became the foundation for The Center for Brave Communication, guided by her mantra: “Love is the source. Improv is the method. Peace is the outcome.”
Flack-Wetherald’s career path has been diverse, ranging from social work research to leading a tech startup to comedy and communication training. Drawing on her social work background and research in intervention methodology, she developed Mindful Improv Thinking®, a framework blending improv, motivational interviewing, mindfulness and restorative practices.
Today, through The Center for Brave Communication, Flack-Wetherald and her team serve clients across the United States and Canada with coaching, training and retreat facilitation for HR, leadership and company-wide initiatives. She is also an accomplished author. Her first book, “The Funny Thing About Forgiveness,” was an Amazon #1 bestselling new release and earned praise from leaders at Google, NASA and Fred Rogers Productions among others. The book’s foreword was written by Colin Mochrie of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Andrea’s second book, “Mindful Improv Thinking: Build a Culture of Resilient Trust,” provides organizations with practical tools for fostering healthier communication.
Flack-Wetherald said Bluffton’s study abroad requirement, her global experiences and the mentorship she received on campus helped prepare her for a career devoted to creativity, compassion and connection.