My Storytelling Background

I haven’t formally introduced myself. I’m Melinda one of the Founding Partners at Re-Vision Labs. I spend the majority of my time working on Communications and Storytelling, both internally and for our clients.  I have an extremely – and some may say overly – diverse background.

My Languages of Storytelling

I majored in Cultural Anthropology (at the UW in Seattle), and during my last quarter I took an art class. Turned out I was good at art, so I went to art school in Manhattan (at SVA), where I lived as an artist for a while.  But I wanted a larger audience than art could give, so I traversed the country again to work in the film industry as an Art Director.  While in LA, I eventually also got a master’s degree in Documentary film (at USC) – with additional classes in cause marketing.

After 10 years in the grind of the LA film industry, I needed to rethink my life plan. So I moved with my new husband to rural Northern California and lived on a vineyard, where we tried to live self-sufficiently – and I blogged about it. Turned out I was pretty good at blogging, but not so good at self-sufficiency (mostly, we found out that it was unsustainable). So I moved back to my hometown of Seattle (after 15 years gone), and hoped to find the life and work I was looking for:

Throughout this entire quest of 20 years, I sought a way to substantially make the world a better place, while leading a life of personal satisfaction and sustainablity.

Have I found this here in Seattle? Resoundingly, YES!! A few months after moving back here, I met the amazing partners I now work with every day – a few months after meeting, we formed Re-Vision Labs. Living in Seattle, I’m able to live more sustainably (which, it turns out, is not the same as self-sufficiently), and I truly enjoy my urban lifestyle here. Better yet, I work on worldchanging projects, and I use every one of those skills I picked up over the last several years:

• Cultural Anthropology (the study of how communities work – very useful)
• Fine Art (graphic design and photography are some of the many things I do here)
• Art Direction/Production Design (all about creating spaces and places where people live and work – and how they evoke a personality in themselves)
• Documentary Filmmaking (we’re working on our own RVL video series, and have already done several documentary shorts for clients)
• Cause Marketing (clearly something we spend a lot of time doing here)
• Blogging (who knew how much I’d need that experience!)
• Oh, and of course the Desire to Change the World, which runs through everything I do and every decision I’ve made.

Well, hopefully my over-education and 20-year exploration into how storytelling can change the world will give me a bit of credibility when writing this series. Storytelling mediums are much like languages: if you know several different languages, it becomes easier and easier to learn new ones. Once one learns photography, painting, filmmaking, and cause marketing, one can easily pick up graphic and web design, social media, blogging, advertising, and so on. The languages get easier and easier to learn.

Onward, then….

BEST PRACTICES IN STORYTELLING #1:

Know Yourself and Cultivate Your Own Personality

Ah, you thought your job was about your business, didn’t you? Well that’s true to a certain extent, but a business is still made up of people. Often Marketers spend way too much time and effort and money trying to create a brand that transcends people. The result? It feels cold, impersonal, and like the product does not apply to “me” on a personal level. That is death for a brand!

Storytelling has changed over the years. Because of social media in particular, the line between personal lives and professional lives is becoming more and more blurred. I have a home life, a blog life, and a business life. And there is no way I can separate them anymore – they are totally intertwined. The way I have found to navigate them is… gasp!… TO BE MYSELF. Yes, that’s the secret!

Marketing is becoming personal.

Marketing is becoming transparent.

Marketing is becoming much more truthful.

Particularly during the current recession, the brands who are surviving best are those who are honest and open and personable with their stakeholders: meaning customers, constituents, donors, and investors.

I am a Storyteller. I have spent years looking for the best, most impactful way to tell a story – that makes me, through and through, a Storyteller. Not just any Storyteller, though, I’m a Storyteller who lives Sustainably and who is working hard to Make the World A Better Place.

I used to hide that, I used to think people didn’t want to hear my motivations, and that I needed to live within the business system where personal goals were separate from work. But alas, with the advent of social media and the internet, where everyone can see all the many things you do whether you want them to or not, I realized it was silly to try to hide who I was.

And you know what?  Once I wore my personality on my sleeve, my blog readership grew from 1,000 a month, to 1,000 a day in a matter of a couple of months! My Twitter readership has grown to 500 in a few months, without my even trying. My work has become much more enriching, and my business has become much more enriched, because I am able to utilize all of my skills and all of my ideas to solve business problems.  And because, lo and behold, my experience in storytelling and my motivation to save the world has become a selling point for our business!

This Is Counter-Intuitive (To Some Of Us)

Becoming a transparent person and cultivating your own personality doesn’t happen overnight, unfortunately. It takes a while to break down your own barriers, and let yourself hang out there. This is especially so if you are over 30, and weren’t born with the internet exposing your life to the world from the beginning. Those of us over 30 have a tougher time letting go, and it’s scary.

Start by letting yourself seep through what you do, what you write, and how you market your business.  It will become easier over time.

I guarantee that once you know yourself and let your true self be a part of your business, your business will be better for it.

Similar Posts:

• Best Practices in Storytelling: What is a Story?
• Seattle Stole My Mojo
• Collaboration, Not Competition, Breeds Success