Designing strategic narratives for change. Storytelling for a thriving world.
Regenerative storytelling as activism
We, humans, are storytelling creatures, naturally. So storytelling matters. A LOT. It’s science – it’s brain chemistry. Storytelling works because it plays on our imagination and emotions and brings key areas of our brains into concert. It’s powerful stuff. So powerful that it shapes how we understand the world, how we interact with others, our sense of self and our behaviours, beliefs and worldviews, and when we create shared stories, cultures are formed.
The trouble is, the prevailing narratives of our time are largely degenerative – they perpetuate the crises we face and evoke feelings of doom and gloom. Certainly, things aren’t going well, from climate and ecological breakdown, mass extinction, political corruption, social injustice, corporate greed, the erosion of democracy… But we need to imagine a world beyond this for us to create it. To turn the tide on the myriad issues we face today, we need to be telling positive stories that invite people into a collective imagining of what could be – stories that are joyful and hopeful and inspire creativity, imagination and connection.
I support projects and organisations by leveraging the power of positive storytelling to inspire people, effectively communicate ideas that lead to action and challenge the degenerative narratives of our times. Read below to find out more about my work.
I am also the co-founder of Another Escape and the founder of Rebel Seeds.
Image of Another Escape, The Belonging Volume, by Jody Daunton.
What I do.
Brand Storytelling & Communication Strategy
I work with purpose-driven brands to develop their storytelling and communication strategies. Together, we uncover the stories that lie at the heart of the brand, determine core messaging, develop a tone of voice that reflects the brand values, and craft authentic and meaningful experiences that build brand equity and establish community.
Editorial Direction &
Contract Publishing
I work with clients on editorial projects, both print and digital, to create well-crafted, thought-provoking reading experiences that enlighten, educate and inspire readers. With over a decade working in the publishing world, I have the skills, experience and professional network to successfully bring editorial projects to life.
Content, Editorial & Campaign Projects
I support projects and campaigns that have focussed objectives to communicate specific messages through creating concepts, following a top-line communication strategy and building consistent messaging that engages an intended audience. This includes content editing, style-guide creation, brief writing and copywriting.
Editorial writing
Positive stories have the power to mobilise a shift in culture. In my writing, I speak of how forging a deep connection with the living world can influence the shape of our societies. Everything isn’t doomed. We are not set on our current trajectory of ecological and climate breakdown. We, humans, are not the problem; the systems and societal constructs in which we operate are. And those we can change. Examples are found below.
Let’s work together?
Editorial writing.
The Gift.
There was no hollowness nor feelings of futility to this form of activism. Quite the opposite. Without leaving my garden, while tending to plants, in working with nature’s cycles, not only was I protesting the destruction caused by industrial agriculture, I was fighting back against it. I was preserving and restoring the diversity of food crops. What a remarkable realisation that was – a truly joyful form of activism.
Hope, in times of crisis – the teachings of the living world.
Cosmic conditions make Earth ripe to foster life. And, as such, billions of years ago, life sprung into being. Slowly, over aeons, single-cell organisms evolved into an abundantly colourful and beautifully diverse array of beings, each adapted for life on Earth. From a cosmic perspective, this abundance of life is what defines us.
To Be Wild.
The wild can feel, in many ways, for many people, quite a foreign concept. The wild is out there, somewhere. In dark forests where beasts prowl. In the deep oceans where creatures unknown slink. In the frozen places at the peripheries of our maps. The wild is where we are not. Or we are not where the wild is. Or so myths would have us believe.
A Joyful Act of Resistance
Communities that are empowered custodians of their seed are exercising a radical act of resistance. They are collaborating with both the living world and their community in meaningful ways that respect that nature isn’t a commodity. With every carrot, beetroot or kale we grow and eat, with every seed that we save and share, we are invited to take a step further outside the oppressive capitalist system that afflicts so much pain on our people and planet.
Read now.
What the garden and seed saving teaches us – an act of collaboration with nature.
It’s autumn. Cupped in my palm, caught in the furrowed creases of my hand, are seeds. Their irregularly spherical shapes feel satisfying on my skin when gently rolled with my forefinger as I examine their seemingly delicate forms. I reflect on what I am holding. Life. In each of these tiny specks is what’s needed for a new plant to grow. Incredible…
An autumn reminder — remembering our place in the universe.
A friend recently remarked that woodlands provide a very visual reminder that we live on a lump of rock floating in space, orbiting a star, on a tilt. As I wander the woodland and crunch through the first leaves to have touchdown, I reflect on this. He is right. I’d just never really thought about it like this before.