Storytelling with Dr. Ruth Walkup
Spark | L'Étincelle | Cheche | شرارة
Are you making a positive impact and looking for more effective ways to make your voice heard? Looking to take your work from a local to national level? Or just aspiring to be a better communicator in your day-to-day?
Presidential Precinct Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumni are invited to submit an idea for a story via video recording, built around the theme of "Spark!". Submissions are due by Wednesday, May 5. Full submission instructions are available below.
After being notified of their selection on Friday, May 7, select applicants will develop their stories for a broad, global audience with one-on-one coaching support and deliver their stories at a special StoryShare event on Wednesday, May 26.
Click below to watch a video recording of our April 21 storytelling workshop with Dr. Ruth Walkup before recording your own video submission.
Watch the storytelling workshop Read story submission instructions
Why the theme of "spark"?
A "spark" can be defined as a trace of a specified quality or intense feeling; a sense of liveliness and excitement; or even, in verb form, to provide the stimulus for. The stories told at our StoryShare will be inspired by the concept of a Spark! That could be a particular person who motivated you, an event that really kickstarted a personal conviction for you, an idea that captivated you, or an ongoing experience that continues to drive you. We are eager to see how our storytellers define the word and describe an example from their lives.
Wednesday, April 21 | 3PM GMT
Our introductory workshop covered the purpose of storytelling, what is a story, why do we use them, and how we construct them. Watch the recording below to learn basics about the concept of storytelling and how best to leverage your stories for effective communication.
Call for Applications
After watching the storytelling workshop linked above, all Precinct Fellowship Alumni are invited to submit a one minute video describing the story they would like to tell. A select number of Fellows will be chosen for personalized coaching with Dr. Ruth Walkup and participation in a final Zoom event for community sharing. Submissions are due Wednesday, May 5.
Personalized Coaching
Fellows chosen from the application pool will earn a one-on-one coaching opportunity with Dr. Ruth Walkup to develop and perfect their story.
Wednesday, May 26 | 3PM GMT
In our final event, a select number of storytellers will participate in a true StoryShare format, where they tell their stories for a live audience via Zoom webinar. Participants will receive an edited video recording of their story. This event will also be open to all Presidential Precinct Fellowship Alumni.
Dr. Ruth Walkup is a cultural anthropologist, an executive leadership coach and consultant, and a university professor and lecturer. She has served as a senior-level diplomat to Zimbabwe and India, as a Washington, D.C.-based public health manager focusing on refugees resettled in the U.S. and on government representation teams to the UNICEF Board. She uses, teaches, and encourages storytelling in advocacy, business, and education settings. Dr. Walkup was born in Liberia and grew up in the DRC, Cameroon, and Tunisia to medical missionary parents. She has worked and traveled in many other countries around the world as an expert in foreign development and leadership. She speaks French and Haitian Creole and lives just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia.
Questions? Contact Hanna Strauss, Alumni Engagement Officer
Email Hanna