Design + Business: StoryLab 2015-2016
In 2014, the Sanger Leadership Center and the student-run Design + Business club launched StoryLab, an initiative aimed to equip Ross students with storytelling skills. In its second year, I led a team of three students to design and implement the curriculum.
StoryLab 2015-2016 launched on December 8, 2015 with three stories from:
Glynn Washington, founder and host of Snap Judgement, NPR’s weekly radio show about storytelling with a beat
Bobbie Carlton, founder of Innovation Women and Innovation Nights
Gregg Fraley, partner and founder of KILN Ideas consultancy
I cold-emailed all three of these speakers inviting them to participate in the StoryLab Premiere. On the day of the event, I emceed the event, including a live interview with Glynn Washington.
From January through March, we organized storytelling workshops with distinguished storytellers, such as:
Jessica Abel, author of Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars and host of Out on the Wire podcast
Jimmie Briggs, journalist and founder of LOVE-US (Leave Out Violence) and Man Up Campaign
Gayle Lemmon, journalist and author of Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield and The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
Zeba Khan, a writer and commentator from the OpEd Project
Jonathan Awori, a former professional actor and Theater professor and now a practicing doctor
Again, I found all of these speakers through my network or through cold emails.
StoryLab concluded with an event called Ross Diaries, where Ross students integrate their learnings over the course of the program and share their stories in a Moth storyslam type of event. I participated as one of the stories, which you can listen to here.
