What do you do?
The question that is synonymous with “who you are.” It’s become a social script, and a way to identify and categorise someone.
When I worked at the BBC, it was a fairly straight forward answer – “I’m a journalist and producer at the BBC.” Nearly two years out, I have been asked this question countless times, and as such have had to rethink my response. I fervently reject labels and being confined to a box because I have always believed that we are so much more than a job title. But, as I have been navigating this new chapter in my own story and figuring out who I am without the BBC, I have also realised that my job is very much ingrained in my DNA.
I am a storyteller.
My whole life has been about stories. From a little girl, I made them up in my head, scribbled them out on endless pages, and escaped into my imaginary world. I was and still am innately curious with an incessant thirst to know more.
Perhaps it is no surprise that I ended up being a journalist, a job that has never really felt like a job. Instead, it has always felt like my duty to find the truth, present the facts and give a voice to others. In a world where everyone has the opportunity to present their own version of the truth – journalism is ever more critical. Inform, educate, entertain – these are the values John Reith used as the foundation for the BBC’s inception in 1922, and regardless of your personal opinion of the BBC these three words have, and always will inspire my work.
When I made the difficult decision to leave, I was full of fear and self-doubt that without such a huge organisation behind me, I would be lost. But just as I help others find their voice, I listened to my own and realised that I just needed to continue to do what I had always done…tell good stories.
Now, my work and purpose in life is to help others do the same and to draw on the one thing that we all have access to – storytelling. Storytelling is an art form and I have spent decades honing my craft to help people figure out who they are talking to, what their story is and how to tell it.
Why?
Because through sharing and listening to each other’s stories, we become a little closer to the truth – a truth that can bring about change. And because above all, stories connect us universally at an emotional level, and to me there is nothing more beautiful than when someone trusts me to help them share theirs.
So, this week listen to a story, tell a story, share a story and think about what you learnt.