I am a professional listener. Who loves to talk. It's complicated.
I am a professional listener. Who loves to talk. It's complicated.
Meaningful, memorable stories connect people over the work they do and the principles they stand for. With more than 6,000 stories coached using my proprietary methods, I know that when people share stories, listeners feel more connected, and more willing to invest — in all ways.
I help everyday people share true, first-person stories about who they are, what they do, and why it matters. I connect people to their communities using authentic stories to drive changes in behavior and perception. I help create rituals using story that make rooms of thousands feel close, and online meetings feel intimate.
I am a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and storytelling consultant who creates transformation for nonprofits, brands and communities. And I am an empathetic, energetic, civic-minded leader, storytelling expert and journalism-idea machine. I was part of a team of journalists who won the 2018 Pulitzer for explanatory journalism. And as founder and former director of the Storytellers Project, a nationwide series of live storytelling events from Gannett/The USA TODAY Network, I’ve driven subscriptions, revenue and brand affinity for a Fortune 500 media company and collaborating with everyone from NASA to the NAACP.
As founder of the Storytellers Brand Studio, and the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director of Vox Media's Epic Stories, I’ve created branded content and experiential marketing for clients including Verizon, Humana, Sequoia Capital, Victoria's Secret, Spark Therapeutics and Southwest Airlines.
As a narrative consultant and storytelling coach, I’ve worked with national boards, Silicon Valley startups, Fortune 100 organizations, and more. Prior to all this, I was a reporter at The Arizona Republic for 14 years, taking notes while perched atop a rodeo bull; GoPro-ing a hike through the Grand Canyon; and texting in stories from gun-control rallies and the Super Bowl. I also appeared on KPNX TV for three years, once hosting a segment while ice skating.
SELECT AWARDS & HONORS
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, The Arizona Republic and the USA TODAYNetwork, 2018. Curated and directed three-city border storytelling tour, part of The Wall, a series dedicated to illuminating the consequences of expanding the border wall
Best Use of an Event to Build a News Brand, INMA World Congress, 2016
Editor & Publisher’s 25 under 35 legacy newsroom leaders, 2015
National Headliner Award for Journalistic Innovation, 2012