I sat at a table in the back of a crowded bar, watching a woman tell a story from her past. Following her every word, I marveled at her pacing and tone of voice as she told the crowd about a story from her adolescence when she sought employment from a talent agency. I won’t give too many details here. It’s her story and reading it here won’t do it justice. It suffices to say that she was very talented and I’ll never forget her tale. Even thinking about it while writing makes me smile.

Days earlier, I posted a comment on Reddit asking for some advice regarding my podcast. It was still a pipedream and I wanted to learn more about storytelling and to meet potential guests before moving forward. Someone immediately suggested that I check out StoryOly, a monthly event in downtown Olympia. That is where I found myself days later. One of the event’s organizers is Elizabeth Lord, the individual who enthralled me with the story about her employment. I later learned that Elizabeth is a professional storyteller who has made a career of sharing her stories and encouraging others to do the same. I knew that if I was going to start this podcast, she needed to be a guest, preferably the first.

After a brief email exchange where I explained my project, Elizabeth said that she was totally on board and agreed to sit down for a recording. It is the perfect first episode. Elizabeth embraces the idea that everyone has interesting stories to tell and explores that idea in this episode. We also talk about the power of stories and how they can leave a lasting impression on both the listener and the storyteller alike. To borrow an excerpt from her website, “If you think about it, storytelling and the love of narrative, the love of basic stories: beginning, middle/conflict, end/resolution is inherent in our culture here in the United States and elsewhere in the world. We all love a good story. “

Luckily for us, she shared a few of her own stories for the podcast.

If you enjoy the episode and want to find out more about Elizabeth and her projects, you can check out her webpage at www.professionaltalker.com. You can also listen to recordings of the Olympia Story Slam events on the Story Oly podcast.

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