Storytelling—it’s what got me started on this multimedia creative path. As a kid, I remember sitting by the window in the den at my family’s farmhouse reading the Chronicles of Narnia with the warmth of the fireplace burning nearby. I paused and looked out at the fields and woods just beyond the glass pane and wondered if there was a secret portal to another world hidden somewhere out there. That’s when the power of storytelling struck me. I felt this longing to be seen, heard, and remembered, like Lucy and the other Pevensie kids in Lewis’ beloved books. I wanted to tell stories that transported people to other planes of existence and cause them to look at their own world and wonder, “What if I was in this story?”

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Years of rigorous experimentation with writing as a craft proved how difficult it would be to tell genuine stories. I began working on a fantasy series that never really found its arc, so later I wrote short stories and poems that got me closer to finding my voice. But it wasn’t until I let go of my presuppositions of “original” storytelling that I found my love for digital media production. Since college, I have worked for various nonprofits as a communications professional, uplifting local narratives around racial disparities and economic injustices. Through this work, I gained new skills in video and audio production, paired with written interviews and articles of everyday people who are making a difference. To this day, I utilize my creative skills to transport readers and viewers into other people’s lives to ask the same question: “What if I was in this story?” and spur them toward social action.

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