I almost can’t believe it. I knew that this was coming up. At some point in the murky days of July 2020, when the world was flipped on its head and I was looking for a sense of stability, I launched this newsletter.

One year later and it feels like one of the best decisions I’ve made for my life as a writer and storyteller. To mark a year, I want to share back with you the newsletters that seemed to resonate most with you. The ones you sent me notes about, commented on, and shared. They’re also great primers for some of our newer readers to dive in to as you get acquainted with what this is all about.

Here are the top five newsletter posts over the past year.

5. Where Do We Start? A valuable lesson on not burying the lede of your story and starting with the thing that matters most.

4. But Why? On the power of purpose in your stories (and your life). In this I continue to evangelize the idea of understanding why you choose to do what you do as a person, business owner, or storyteller. Still my favourite marketing/storytelling concept.

3. How Do You Craft a Resume? A primer on impactful resume writing that humanizes you to potential hiring managers and brings your professional story to life effectively. So many of you used this and shared with folks in your network looking to expand their professional horizons.

2. An Introduction of Sorts. This was the first post I wrote. It never got sent out via email, but many of you went back to it to get a sense of what I was all about and what this newsletter is all about. I’ve tried to stick to the promises I made in it and you’ve stuck with me and it, for which I am grateful.

1. A (My) Story of Burnout. This was the top post and flew to the top quickly. Your empathy and ability to connect to my experience and share your own made this one my favourite too. Thank you for offering support and well wishes, thank you for  sharing some of your own resources, and thank you for making me feel that I wasn’t alone. THAT is the magic of sharing your story and I’m so glad I shared mine with you.

If you haven’t read these, I encourage you to go back and take a read. People really connected to or learned from them. I also encourage you to share with folks who may find them helpful. The more I share and the more workshops I do to help people uncover and tell their unique stories, the more I believe in the power of storytelling and sharing our unique stories with each other.

I look forward to another year of sharing what I’ve learned (and continue to learn) in my own adventures in storytelling and hope you’ll stick with me on this ride. I hope you continue to gain value from it, learn from it, and reach out with your thoughts and ideas as well. (Remember, you can always hit reply to this email or comment below any post).

I have a lot of really exciting projects I’m building right now and will be sharing with you over the next few months. I can’t wait for you to see them read them and experience them. As I said in that intro post: There’s an art to storytelling, but also a science. And I want to share both with you in this weekly newsletter/adventure/dose of something different in your inbox. I promise to make it useful and actionable and interesting.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Let’s see what another year brings.

A Story Well Told

These story shares are always suggestions, things I hope will bring a new idea, storyteller or way of enjoying stories into your world. The one this week is personal. Not because I know the subject, or am affiliated with the journalistic institution, but because I can relate to the struggle. Nikole Hannah-Jones is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist who lead the New York Times investigative journalism piece, the 1619 Project. It has recently been politicized among American politicians. The saga of her appointment without tenure to UNC Chapel Hill’s journalism school (her alma mater) and the behind the scenes politics behind it wrapped up today satisfyingly—she went to a school that valued and supported her as a highly accomplished professional rather than fight to be acknowledged and treated fairly somewhere she didn’t. This article tells the entire compelling story. I encourage you to read it.

Some additional context:

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones

The story about the discrimination I faced in the UNC tenure debacle was broken by excellent local reporter @JoekillianPW. So I gave him the exclusive print interview. Local news matters. Please support @NCPolicyWatch and other local news. https://t.co/NX856jNRFb

NC Policy Watch @NCPolicyWatch

Nikole Hannah-Jones declines UNC #tenure offer, heads to Howard University @JoekillianPW has the full story https://t.co/71lzgHjD42 #ncpol via @ncpolicywatch #UNC #Highered #nc #ncpol #ncga @UNCHussman

July 6th 2021

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Subscribing and sharing are the two best ways to help me continue to share my own adventure in storytelling. If you know someone who has a story to tell and may need some help crafting it, please share this newsletter with them and encourage them to subscribe.

Have a question? Something you’d like me to cover in a future letter—an element of your storytelling you may be struggling with? Just ask. Leave a comment below. I’m here to help.

You can follow me on Twitter here, and Instagram here. And you can always reach me through my website.

Thanks for reading and I’ll “see” you next week. Whatever the world may bring, there will always be important stories that need you to tell them. I’ll be here to help.

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