WORLD'S LEADING INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Dreamer Spotlight: Lauri Roggenkamp

University of Dreams alum Lauri Roggenkamp is pursuing her dream just three minutes at a time.

Lauri participated in the Chicago 2005 program, where she interned for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But working behind a desk completing mundane tasks reassured her that she didn’t want to live her life working a day job. She decided she’d rather work on a stage in front of a laughing audience.

“My passion is making people laugh, and I want to do that for the rest of my life,” Lauri says. “If I can make a living making people laugh, I don't care what the circumstances are, I will be happy.”

So, Lauri is pursuing a career in comedy. She takes improv classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles and works part-time at a gym to pay the bills. She’s currently a regular at the Hollywood Improv, and she has auditioned for a Comedy Central show and the Jimmy Kimmel Show.  She is also part of a newly formed improv troupe and has written and filmed a couple of sketches that will hopefully be online soon.

Lauri came to University of Dreams a bit anxious about whether or not she should work toward working in comedy, but after her internship, she knew.

“The program gave me a lot of self-confidence, which I needed because I have done my fair share of bombing on stage,” Lauri says.

What Lauri gained from UofDreams gave her the motivation to step away from a desk job and onto a stage for three-minute steps toward her dream.

“Most new material isn't that funny, so you need to find places where people won't care if you suck, and those places only allow comedians to do between three and six minutes,” she says.
Within five years, Lauri hopes to be living in New York and to have at least an hour of material.

Lauri says that even if what you’re doing doesn’t seem to be something that you’re interested in—like working a day job when you know your passion is elsewhere—you can use it to your advantage to learn something about yourself.