Ethical Storytelling Shifts the Energy
In 2012, Ashley Gutierrez experienced firsthand how the power of a story can shift the narrative. She took that experience and has brought it to nonprofits all over the world as a master storyteller with impact storytelling group Cliff.co. Working for Invisible Children in Uganda during the KONY 2012 campaign, Ashley's role was to document its effects in East Africa, to tell the story from the perspective of local leaders. As Invisible Children's video went viral, the energy shifted; people felt heard and seen, and they understood that their stories mattered, which encouraged them to share their experiences on an even deeper level. As Ashey notes, the Latin origin of the word "emote" is "to stir, swell, or move", so our natural instinct to sway hearts and minds with emotional tales has a long, storied history