What Drives Us
We Believe… Storytelling can lead to radical empathy, promote deep interpersonal connections, and demonstrate we are more similar than we are different.
This is our mission statement. We built “What Is Your Story?” on the core tenants of Empathy, Connection, and Being Heard. From the beginning, “What Is Your Story?” was never about collecting stories to build our own personal agenda — the storyteller and their story was and will always be the heart of the experience provided through this exhibit. We believe in active listening and giving everybody the platform to share their stories in order to foster a culture of good with one another in a world that is seemingly so dark. Today, we want to share with you what the three components of our mission are and how we embody them through the “What Is Your Story?” exhibits and Pop-Ups.
Empathy
/ˈempəTHē/ the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
“What Is Your Story?” is a project steeped in empathy. From the beginning, the goal of “What Is Your Story?” was to show that we are not islands, but a community connected through shared experiences. Allowing space for participants to be anonymous has provided a feeling of safety and lack of judgment for them to share whatever is pressing and on their minds. The postcard component of the exhibition lets the storyteller know they are not alone, and they share experiences with others. One of our goals is to show diversity in thought and experience and to encourage open minds in order to showcase perspectives that would originally not share space. Even if on opposing sides of the spectrum, we believe listening to the thoughts of others will allow us to understand how people grow, learn, and become who they are meant to be.
Connection
/kəˈnekSH(ə)n/ a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else.
What we have seen through the journey of “What Is Your Story?” is that it has brought people together. Whether it be through ideas, experience, shared spaces, postage, sharpies, you name it — people who never had anything to do with one another, have been connected through this exhibition. We want to show storytellers that even anonymously, the world is smaller than we think and boldness in the words we say can impact another’s life in an extremely poignant way. Whether through reading the story or writing to a storyteller, participants in this exhibit have experienced a tangible connection that cannot be changed (or re-written).
Being Heard
/hir/ past tense; listen to all that someone has to say
We all want to be heard. We all want to feel valued. We all want to know that we are important. Those are common traits of the human condition whether or not we verbalize these thoughts out loud. Through the journey of “What Is Your Story?” we wanted to make sure the participants felt like their story was just as important and permanent as those on the pages of a book. There are subversiveness and taboo found in writing in books and profound empowerment placed in elevating one’s backstory to the importance of something professionally published. But, our stories no matter how simple, will always be more than ink on paper — They are alive, human, and meant to be shared.
Ultimately, “What Is Your Story?” is here to ask people just that. What is YOUR story? we want you to know that you are important, your experiences are not meaningless, and you are heard.