Biography
I help social justice orgs, major brands, Fortune 500 companies, and law firms use storytelling techniques to reach people and get them to understand, empathize, and act.
My work includes coaching attorneys on storytelling in mediation and trials, creating story-based messaging for social justice orgs, and helping brands understand how their product or service fits in the lived stories of their customers.
My background is in storytelling and technology. I studied writing at UCSD, Bennington, and NYU, and lectured on the practical application of storytelling techniques at USC, AFI, UCLA, Rutgers, and CLE classes online and throughout the U.S. I worked at Microsoft for seven years overseeing teams of writers, designers, artists, and coders to meld great stories with software.
I have extensive experience managing teams of researchers, writers, designers, artists, and software developers to create web-based and mobile content and applications.
Career Highlights:
• Interviewed Gen Zers (18–25-year-olds) then created a “messaging kit” of stories that will resonate with them.
• Led a 12- person team of artists, social media community managers and production crew to create a live streaming video show that attracted 60k online viewers per episode.
• Created and implemented strategies for law firms to use storytelling techniques in personal injury narratives, leading to over $3M in damages awards.
• Advised public defenders on over 100 criminal cases with an 80% success rate, including three acquittals where the client was facing life in prison.
• Consulted with nonprofit foundations to capture key stories about racism, gentrification, health care, workplace dynamics, and political campaigns, and advised content creators on effective messaging.
• Performed due diligence and negotiated third-party deals for a major software publisher, with budgets of up to $15M.
• Managed a team of 15 artists, developers, writers, editors, researchers and designers to build and maintain an interactive help system.