Title TBD: Tell Me a Story

I promise this will be the most wholesome and charming story you’ll hear today that includes drinking, smoking, all night gambling and men punching each other in the face repeatedly. Coming home on holiday weekends while in college, Jason and his friends congregated to his family barn where Jason’s dad hosted what came to be known as a Poke ‘n Smoke. An old fashioned poke ‘n smoke included boxing...

Long before Swifties terrorized their enemies on the internet, the only way to show true devotion to a band was to start a fanzine with your friends and follow the band on the road. That’s exactly what Debra did in the 1980s as a teenage Duranie. A Duranie being those devoted to one of those huge ‘80s bands that continues to endure and was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Du...

For those of us who have reached a certain age, there are some inevitable events that are bound to occur. Our parents passing away is one of them. It’s a heavy experience, but it’s also illuminating, heartbreaking, darkly humorous, exhausting and heartening. In this Tell Me a Story , Brindi shares her experience supporting her dad in his last few months, the triumphs and the frustrations, what she...

Tell Me a Story is an audio series of folks sharing moments from their lives - the big and small, fun or heavy. It’s a privilege to have someone share their story with me and to in turn share it with you. Are clowns a key to reclaiming a little joy and humanity in our lives? Maybe. When Terry and his clown troupe visited the Phoenix Children’s Museum a few weeks ago for International Clown Week he...

Tell Me a Story is an audio series of folks sharing moments from their lives - the big and small, fun or heavy. It’s a privilege to have someone share their story with me and to in turn share it with you. We often need to get some space between us and the big events in our lives to be able to tell the story. That’s true for Charlie , who across the last decade has, to put it indelicately… been thr...

"We allowed it to be whatever it was that day." In this episode of Tell Me a Story, Ashley shares her story learning about the power of connection and finding your people through the power of shared experience. She led an event at her company about year into COVID for the women’s employee resource group. It was an opportunity to (virtually) bring together folks for International Women’s Day, but a...

I probably need to clear up that the Zane telling this story is a different Zane than the one who writes this newsletter. If you can believe it, there is another Zane who works in employee communications and is active on LinkedIn. That’s how I “met” Zane. As he was sharing his work and community activities he supports, I knew he’d have a good story to share. I asked and he shared. There are so man...

Recommending Infinite Jest* to your date might not be the key to romantic success, but Windee was willing to overlook it with the man who would become her husband. Among finding literary common ground with your significant other, Windee’s story includes some great questions and even a little advice, such as: * You don’t have to like what each other are reading, but it does help to find audiobooks...

Olha was enjoying maternity leave with her new baby and her young son. And then one morning she woke up to the sound of bombs and messages from friends and family that said, “We’re at war.” In this episode of Tell Me a Story , Olha shares about her path out of Ukraine (packing her small car with as many diapers as would fit), trying to keep two kids safe and comfortable (as she often waited until...

Imagine all the books you’ve read or the movies you’ve seen about the picturesque adventures of young people backpacking across Europe. Meeting strangers who become new friends. The food, museums and the culture of places that many others will never experience. Got it in your mind? Priya did all that. And she did it by herself after her travel partners bailed at the last minute. In this Tell Me a...

David grew up in small town America. He swore he’d never return. The only thing that was going to bring him back was a funeral. That’s exactly what brought him back. In this story, David talks about returning home to take care of family and how it reshaped what he thought his life would be. It all centers around his four-year-old niece who experienced a lot of loss very quickly. Death and losing l...

Tony has lived several lives and survived challenges that really should have been the end. It’s through chasing after what brings him joy that’s kept him going. And he’s finding it in an unusual place, at least it is unusual for a 60-year-old beginner. I don’t want to give too much away because Tony gets deep and vulnerable in his story. I first met Tony when he was working as a photojournalist. A...

Rachel is no stranger to the music stage. She’s also no stranger to taking on challenges that are beyond her comfort zone or thinking deeply on how those challenges can take her new places. Here her talk about attending a summer music camp with her family as well as how her experience singing with bands has influenced her day job and how she views leadership. It’s an interesting glimpse into some...

It’s bloody hot outside. How about a story about Christmas? This isn’t so much a story about Christmas than a story my mom is telling about her grandmother, set at Christmas. I’ve always loved stories about my great grandmother. Her daughter and granddaughter always set her on a pedestal as possibly the most-giving, hardest-working, best-cooking, sweet and patient human being they’ve known. And, h...

As a teenager, Amy went to rock shows and saw someone at the side of the stage with a clipboard. “I want to do that,” she thought. And that’s exactly what she’s done. In this episode of Tell Me a Story , Amy shares some experiences of what it’s like working backstage in the music business as the PR connection between the band and pretty much everyone else in the world. It’s a job that means gettin...

*Quick Warning: This episode talks about depression, suicide and sexual assault. Less of an anecdote and more of a journey, in this episode of Tell Me a Story , Erica talks about her experience with clinical depression. Including overcoming sexual assault, deconstructing and unlearning ingrained messages from family and church, as well as remaining intentional about working on her mental health. F...

Ric launched an Instagram page to share his artwork. It’s bright and fun and charming as heck. It’s also sparking collaboration with his three young children. Ric’s drawing and animating and creating voiceovers to share stories from his childhood. The stories his kids keep asking to hear again and again. In this episode of Tell Me a Story , Ric shares some of the behind the scenes details like whi...

This episode of Tell Me a Story is a little different as almost immediately Anya turned the tables with a question of her own, and this story became more a conversation about being a new parent, enduring the rough first few months with a new baby, our desire to take care of this new life on our own (when we really should be asking for all the help we can get) and more. Anya became a new mother in...

What does today require? Like any thoughtful artist, Jacob asks and works through the big questions. In the last few months of working with a chronic illness, those big questions have been ever more relevant. In this episode of Tell Me a Story, Jacob talks about navigating his health, challenges with ulcerative colitis, by being more present in his body by connecting with the earth, the sun, his b...

You’re most interesting stories from when you were a teenager are likely not the stories you would freely share with your own children. Heaven forbid they get any ideas. In this episode of Tell Me a Story , Chip shares the story he wishes he would have told his friend’s teenagers. “What was dad or mom like at my age?” could be its own story genre. We’re curious what our parents were like and our c...

Add some enthusiasm and a willingness to do whatever (coupled with some talented mentors) and you may find yourself on some unique and uniquely rewarding adventures - like decades of performing in the circus, on stages or really anywhere a crowd might gather. In this episode of Tell Me a Story , Terry shares his start as a performing clown, connecting with Happy Kellems (who would become a friend...

Susan was a volunteer, reading news at a radio station for the benefit of the blind and disabled, when someone from the radio station asked if she’d ever considered becoming a radio DJ. And, oh yeah, there’s an opening on the classical radio station. Susan shares her story of becoming the Saturday night DJ on KBACH for seven years, making classical music more accessible and sneaking her kids onto...

It’s a privilege to have someone share their story with you. An honor to be present with someone offering vulnerability. A blessing for them to share a hard-earned lesson learned with you. That’s exactly what Adolfo offers with his story about growing up in gangs, losing his father at a young age and how it fractured his family, being the first of his family to attend and graduate college and how...

“You better check yo' self before you wreck yo' self.” - Ice Cube - Much like Ice Cube, we’re big fans of self awareness and personal development. In this episode of Tell Me a Story , Kristin shares a unique path to self awareness and personal discovery that you might have overlooked - astrology. Kristin’s experience with astrology stemmed from a difficult time in her life when she was searching f...

It’s a turn-of-the-century love story started in a Yahoo chat room. There’s drama, intrigue, interstate travel, car crashes, wicker furniture, Beatles records and more. In this episode of Tell Me a Story , Daniel recounts growing up with a highly-involved mother, falling in love with a girl on the internet, moving away to be with that girl and flipping his life upside down, both metaphorically and...