Episode 43: Kevin Urban

This week on the podcast, Allison sits down with Kevin Urban — coach, speaker, strategist, and the self-described Possibleist. With roots as a New York City actor, competitive athlete, and business builder, Kevin brings a rare mix of creativity, discipline, and straight-up grit to his work helping people evolve authentically.

In This Episode, We Dive Into:

✨ Range as a superpower

Kevin talks about growing up as an only child, struggling to “fit,” and eventually discovering that his eclectic mix of interests wasn’t a flaw — it was fuel. A post Allison once made about the book Range becomes a touchstone as Kevin unpacks why multipotentiality can be both a blessing and a curse for artists.

✨ Early anxieties, identity, and belonging

From feeling judged in gym class to navigating body awareness and social dynamics as a kid, Kevin traces how early experiences shaped his internal landscape — and eventually his coaching lens.

✨ Following strengths vs. following expectations

Kevin found success in swimming and singing, which gave him early clues about leadership, empathy, and showing up for others. But he also shares how deviating from his own intuition — such as packaging himself as a “Broadway leading man” — led to anxiety, misalignment, and burnout.

✨ The danger of misrepresenting yourself

This part hits home for so many artists: Kevin opens up about how trying to mold himself into what he thought the industry wanted created a mismatch between who he was and who he was selling. Meanwhile, simply showing up as himself is what led him to start booking commercially.

✨ Reinvention and the ‘second act’

Now a business coach for creatives, Kevin focuses on helping people move through the pivotal transitions of midlife — when outdated identities no longer fit and new versions of ourselves start knocking. He and Allison dig into how artists, in particular, are pros at evolving (even when it feels terrifying).

✨ Social anxiety for creatives

Allison and Kevin crack open the big topic: social anxiety.Kevin describes it as a kind of internal misfiring — where your spirit is ready and willing, but your nervous system is screaming danger. They talk about why creatives often swing between being “on” in a room or shrinking into awkwardness, and what awareness can do to reshape that dynamic.

If you’ve ever…

• Felt like you’re “too many things”

• Struggled with how the industry perceives you

• Reinvented yourself (or know you need to)

• Walked into a networking event and wanted to crawl into a plant…this episode is your cozy, clarifying companion.

  
  

Connect with Kevin Urban

Business Coaching for Creatives

KevinUrban.com

Kevin Urban is a coach, speaker, strategist, and the self-described Possibleist. He began his professional journey as a competitive swimmer and an actor in New York City before expanding into communications, marketing, and business development. He holds a master’s degree in Positive Leadership and Coaching, where he blends positive psychology with performance and leadership training to help people evolve authentically.

Kevin has worked across multiple creative and corporate sectors, taught artists how to package and market themselves, and spent 13 years working at a camp for children with juvenile arthritis — a role that profoundly shaped his understanding of resilience, reframing, and human behavior.

Today, he focuses on coaching creatives and professionals through transitions, reinvention, and the complicated emotional terrain that comes with stepping into a new chapter of life. He brings humor, empathy, and a deeply personal understanding of anxiety, identity, and the power of authenticity to everything he does.

Keywords: social anxiety, creative anxiety, artist anxiety, authenticity for artists, creative reinvention, midlife transition for creatives, Kevin Urban, Allison Sheff, the Possibleist, creative coaching, overcoming social anxiety, networking tips for artists, performance nerves, creative identity, imposter syndrome for artists, creative career transitions, actor branding, performer marketing, acting career advice, confidence for creatives, managing social anxiety as an artist, creative mindset, artist wellness, reinvention for artists, creative life coaching