Story Collider's Upcoming Leadership Transition

Hi everyone,

I want to share an update about a leadership transition at Story Collider. This change reflects both the financial realities we’re facing and our commitment to making thoughtful decisions about how we carry this work forward.

I’ve been part of Story Collider’s leadership since the very beginning, and I’ve served as Executive Director since 2021. Like many science and arts organizations right now, we’re navigating a much tighter financial landscape. Federal cuts to science funding have had ripple effects across the entire ecosystem, and many arts and culture nonprofits are facing similar pressures. In this environment, we’ve had to make careful decisions about how to sustain our work with fewer resources.

Given these constraints, we’ve made the difficult decision to move from three staff leadership roles to two. I’ll be stepping out of a staff position and into a contractor role as Executive Producer, focused on Story Collider’s live shows, workshops, and producer support. This shift allows the organization to remain financially stable while keeping me closely connected to the creative work that has long been central to our mission. I will also remain on the Board of Directors for as long as Story Collider will have me.

At the same time, I’m really glad to share that Misha Gajewski and Lindsay Cooper will be stepping up as co-directors, with Misha serving as Artistic Director and Lindsay serving as Executive Director. They’ve each worked with Story Collider for more than six years and bring deep knowledge of the organization, its values, and its community.

This kind of transition isn’t easy, but it does give us clarity. It allows us to focus our energy on the work we know has the greatest impact: supporting storytellers, creating meaningful shows and workshops, and continuing to make space for honest, human stories about science. We’re entering this next phase with a renewed sense of what matters most.

I’m deeply grateful to our storytellers, listeners, partners, and supporters for continuing to believe in this mission and in the people who carry it forward. I’m proud of what we’ve built together over the past fifteen years, and hopeful about where we’re headed.

With gratitude,
Erin Barker, Executive Director

 

Protecting our storytellers' privacy

Fans of the Story Collider podcast may notice that recently some names, biographical details, photos, or even stories have been removed from our site. After receiving several requests from storytellers who were concerned about being targeted for various aspects of their identity (whether it’s immigration status or gender/sexuality or something else entirely) under new government policies, we decided to reach out to all podcast storytellers and invite them to request changes to their pages. While we will always be proud to share these stories, we also believe that the safety, well-being, and livelihoods of those who have entrusted us with their stories must come first.

We hope that in the future these storytellers will be comfortable restoring their stories and/or full biographical information to our site. Until then, we hope our listeners will understand.

If you are an alumnus of Story Collider and you would like us to remove any of the above information from our website, please feel free to reach out to us at stories@storycollider.org.

This year on the Story Collider podcast -- new hosts and episode formats!

As they say… “A New Year, A New You!” So obviously, a few changes are coming to the Story Collider podcast in 2023!

We took your podcast survey feedback to heart and are implementing some of your suggestions. As podcast host Misha Gajewski shared in our most recent episode, in addition to our well-loved two-story episodes, we will be adding episodes that delve deeper into the science behind our stories and storytelling craft.

And while Misha will still be the main host of our podcast, we’re also adding a few new hosts to our roster!

So without further ado, here are some of the new voices you can expect to hear in the coming months. Drum roll please!

Gastor Almonte

Story Collider board member and bestselling comedian Gastor Almonte will be hosting occasional episodes that feature our more humorous stories, from both comedians and scientists.

Katherine J. Wu

Story Collider senior producer and award-winning journalist Katherine J. Wu will be hosting episodes with interview segments that delve deeper into the science behind the featured story.

Eric Jankowski

Our board president, engineering professor, researcher, and experienced storyteller Eric Jankowski (who can be heard on next week’s episode!)

Erin Barker

Previous full-time host (and Story Collider executive director) Erin Barker, who will continue to host occasional “classic” Story Collider episodes that feature stories from our back catalog.

You can learn more about the podcast and our new hosts on our new podcast page here.

 

THE HOSTS

The Story Collider EN ESPAÑOL

Last month, The Story Collider held its very first in-person show that was entirely in the Spanish language. This very special show, produced and hosted by Story Collider’s Lily Be and Juan Carlos Martinez Jr., was held at the Pocantico Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and featured stories from Mark Pagán, Eduardo Placer, Ro Moran, and Ana Maria Porras. Ana Maria was, in fact, the original inspiration for our Spanish-language programming, as she sponsored our very first Spanish-language show, which was held online in December 2020, with support from the IF/THEN Initiative. We’re so grateful to Ana Maria, Lily and Juan Carlos, the Pocantico Center, and all of our storytellers for making this show possible! Two of the stories from the show are airing today in a special episode of the podcast, hosted by Lily Be, but you can watch the full show, featuring all four stories, below.

The Story Collider's Second Annual Proton Prom

The Story Collider celebrated its second annual Proton Prom last week on June 1st at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York. The annual fundraiser was a great success and because of your support, we have raised over $40,000. This funding will help to support all of our Story Collider programming. We are so grateful for everyone’s support and to everyone who attended in-person as well as those who tuned in online. You all made it a night to remember.

Below is a selection of photos from the night’s festivities.

 

Photos by Zhen Qin.

The Story Collider welcomes two new staff members!

This spring, The Story Collider is adding two new positions to our staff! Two of our Senior Producers, Lily Be and Misha Gajewski, will be taking on the roles of Education Director and Managing Producer, respectively, as Program Director Nisse Greenberg leaves the staff this June. Previously, Nisse has supervised both our Education Program and our Shows, but under this new structure, Lily will lead our Education Program and Misha will lead our team in show production.

An acclaimed Chicago storyteller and veteran storytelling coach, Lily Be, who joined The Story Collider’s producer team in 2019, is the first Latinx winner of a Moth GrandSLAM storytelling championship, as well as the creator and producer of Stoop Style Stories (formerly The Stoop) in Chicago. She has taught storytelling at Second City and at colleges and universities around the world.

Misha Gajewski, who joined The Story Collider’s producer team in 2017, is a Toronto-based journalist whose work has appeared on Vice, Forbes, BlogTO, CTV News, and BBC, among others. She holds a master’s degree in science journalism from City University London and has written scripts for the award-winning YouTube channel SciShow. She is also the co-founder of the world’s first 24-hour true storytelling festival. In addition to leading our team in show production, Misha also contributes to The Story Collider podcast as an assistant producer and part-time host.

The Story Collider recognized by the Anthem Awards!

I’m thrilled to share that The Story Collider is being recognized by The Anthem Awards this year for our work fostering diversity and inclusion in STEM through storytelling!

The Anthem Awards are a new initiative of the Webby Awards that celebrates purpose and mission-driven work from people, companies, and organizations around the world. We are proud to be among this group of inaugural winners, which were selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and include the 1619 Project, the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, The Moth, CNN, and many more.

The Story Collider has won a Bronze award for Best Strategy in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, for our strategy of leveraging personal storytelling about science to shift perception of who can be a scientist or have a voice within science. (Read more about the philosophy behind our work in this 2020 paper published in Frontiers in Communication.) We have also won a Silver award for Best Collaboration in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for our work with The Scientist Spotlights Initiative and Boise State University’s Micron School of Material Science and Engineering.

The Scientists Spotlights Initiative is a community of students and educators that promotes diversity and inclusion in science through stories and other curriculum supplements. In a 2016 study published in Life Sciences Education, several scientists behind this initiative found that students who listened to Story Collider stories (and read other biographical stories about scientists) came away with a less stereotyped view of scientists and expressed more interest in science than students who were not assigned this work — and they even got a better grade in the class! It speaks to the incredible power that stories have to show us what’s possible and challenge our ideas of whom science belongs to. Ever since this study, we’ve been proud science education partners to The Scientist Spotlights Initiative, which is funded by the SEPA Program at the National Institutes of Health.

We have also been proud to collaborate with Boise State University’s Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering since 2017. This collaboration centers around the power of telling a story, and found that many students identified more as materials scientists after they wrote their stories. The impact was even more pronounced for those students who had been historically marginalized in this field — before writing their stories, 58% of women students identified as materials scientists, and afterward, 86% did. Dr. Eric Jankowski, Boise State Associate Professor of Engineering and the President of The Story Collider’s Board, shares more in the video below.

I’m so grateful to The Anthem Awards for this recognition, to our very deserving collaborators for their tireless work, to all of our storytellers for their transformative work, and to the whole Story Collider team, who continues to place DEI at the forefront of all that we do.

Thank you!

Erin Barker, Executive Director

Celebrating Black History Month with The Story Collider

This year, The Story Collider is celebrating Black History Month by remembering that Black history is happening every day in science. Please enjoy our playlist of stories about Black science, life, and joy!

Best of The Story Collider 2021!

This year, The Story Collider aired more than a hundred stories on its podcast, and many more at its live shows online and across the United States. As we reach the end of the year, our team is reflecting on the stories that moved us most — here are a few highlights below!


”Absolutely, Positively” by Ken Haller from Stories of COVID-19: Masks

“Finding someone with the historical context, necessary medical context, and storytelling acumen to convey his story about the parallels of the AIDS crisis and COVID-19 is incredibly rare. Ken didn't just do a good job on what would be a great story for anyone; he made it sing.”

—Zack Stovall, Producer - New York

 

“Roadkill Girl” by Edith Gonzalez from Human Nature: Confidence

“To me, this is the perfect science story. Edith tells it so beautifully and so vividly. She’s doing science through the entire story, but the focus is so clearly on her experience. It’s so funny but not a joke. I was so invested and immersed in this story.”

—Lindsay Cooper, Operations Manager

 

”My Heroes” by Jenice Matias from the Two Sides mini-series

“Working with Jenice on her two-sides story was one of the most profound experiences in my storytelling coach career. It was heartbreaking but inspiring to watch Jenice process her experiences in real time and use it for her art. I'm so honored I got the chance to meet Jenice and help her bring her powerful stories to the Story Collider podcast.”

—Misha Gajewski, Program Manager

 

“The Dentist,” by Fabrizzio Subia, from Apprentices

“Integrating a political message into a personal story is difficult, but Fabrizzio does such an incredible job of painting the world where he developed his political ideology that it becomes impossible for you not to sympathize. I also love the way Fabrizzio consistently uses the Spanish words for the dentistry terms he learned because it undermines the English-centric view of ‘jargon.’ I love personal stories because they pull the curtain back on a life I haven't led, and Fabrizzio generously shares this experience that I hope everybody can hear and understand.”

—Nisse Greenberg, Program Director

See also: “La Dentista” — the Spanish language version of Fabrizzio’s story — from this Spanish language live show in September.

“A story about latinidad and science!”

—Lily Be, Senior Producer - Chicago

 

“Singing on 2 North” by Jude Treder-Wolff, from Inspiring

“I was so moved by Jude Treder-Wolff’s story of the power and joy of science and art woven together — I think because it sums up the essence of Story Collider! Also, it includes this incredible song, which I defy you not to get stuck in your head.”

—Erin Barker, Executive Director

Welcoming our first Science Advisory Fellow, and our new intern!

This week, The Story Collider welcomed Dr. Edith Gonzalez to our team as our inaugural Science Advisory Fellow!

The Story Collider’s new two-year Science Advisory Fellowship, a rare example of a science fellowship at an arts organization, is intended to complement a Fellow’s existing academic work and/or science research appointment. The Fellow will enrich The Story Collider’s capacity to maintain and expand its network of scientist and university partners, assist with the development of science communication research directions and collaborations, and help inform the continual improvement of our science communication educational initiatives.

Last spring, The Story Collider’s board conducted a two-month search before selecting Dr. Edith Gonzalez as our first Fellow in June. Edith is an archaeologist studying the global flow of ecological knowledge within the context of transatlantic slavery. Beginning this fall, she will be an Assistant Professor of Archaeology and Critical Museum Studies at the University at Buffalo SUNY. She is an Eccles Centre Fellow with the British Library and her current research is funded by the Society of Antiquaries.

Edith is also an accomplished storyteller. She’s told stories at many shows across New York City and has appeared on The Story Collider’s podcast several times. Check out her first Story Collider story here!

This week, The Story Collider also welcomes intern Jamie Banks. Jamie is a PhD student in Classics at the CUNY Graduate Center and a former middle and high school teacher of "twice-exceptional" students. Their work at Story Collider will be focused on creating a resource for educators to use our stories in the classroom, as well as enriching our new Spanish-language programming. Jamie shared a story at The Story Collider’s online Pride in STEM show last May.

The Story Collider Returns to the Stage!

The Story Collider is excited to return to the stage this month after an 18-month hiatus, with our first post-COVID show at Caveat in New York City on Aug. 24!

In March 2020, we pressed pause on in-person shows when it became clear that it was no longer safe to hold in-person gatherings. Since then, we’ve been producing online shows straight from our homes, and the homes of our storytellers, to yours. Now, we’re delighted to return to our venues and begin hosting in-person events again.

Our return to the stage will be a gradual process, and we’ll be proceeding with caution, starting slow with outdoor and hybrid shows, reduced capacities, and venues like Caveat that have invested in COVID precautions such as improved HVAC systems.

We’ll also be working with our indoor venues to ensure all attendees are fully vaccinated, or have presented a recent negative test. Whenever possible, we intend to make these hybrid shows, with livestream tickets available to those who prefer to attend virtually. In the event that the local case rate surges, we will move the show fully online.

Story Collider will also continue to offer many of its COVID-era online products, though less often. We will hold three more of our online Science Story Slams, hosted by Gastor Almonte, in 2021, as well as three introductory workshops and three advanced courses. Our Home Stage cities where it is currently not safe to reopen will also continue producing online shows for their communities as well. International cities in particular -- such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Cambridge, UK -- will be slower to relaunch.

In order to support our venues, we will unfortunately need to raise ticket prices in many locations. However, we will continue to offer coupon codes periodically to newsletter subscribers (subscribe here!), and additional discounts to our Patreon supporters (sign up here!), who also have permanent access to all of our online shows. Our podcast will remain free to all listeners.

We have appreciated feedback from our audience as we put together this plan, and still welcome your feedback here!

Welcoming new members of our team!

The Story Collider is delighted to welcome several new team members this summer! As announced in April, Story Collider cofounder and longtime artistic director Erin Barker will assume the role of Executive Director starting today. In addition to this, our Managing Director, Marketing Manager, and Science Advisory Fellow will also be stepping into their newly created roles over the summer.

Managing Director Ann Marie Lonsdale comes to Story Collider from a deep background in nonprofit management and fundraising. She began her career as a performer, stage manager, and producer in theater and dance in Chicago and New York before her passion turned to supporting artists and arts organizations. Since then, she has worked as an administrator at Creative Capital, Center for Performance Research, and Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, among others. Ann Marie has also worked in the performing arts community as an educator, facilitator, grant panelist, and speaker, and is the founder of Partake Arts, a consulting practice focused on individual artists and artist-led projects. As Managing Director, Ann Marie will report to Executive Director, and will oversee The Story Collider’s finance, operations, and fundraising administration. 

As Ann Marie begins her work at Story Collider this week, Deputy Director Nisse Greenberg’s title will become Program Director in order to better distinguish between their two roles.

Nakeysha Roberts Washington, who has been a Story Collider producer since 2019, joined the staff as our part-time marketing manager last month. In this role, Nakeysha manages Story Collider’s social media accounts as well as other marketing and outreach efforts. In her other work, Nakeysha is an educator, as well as the founder and creative director of Genre: Urban Arts, an inclusive, multimedia platform for artists. 

Finally, our board has selected our inaugural Science Advisory Fellow! The Story Collider’s board created the two-year Story Collider Science Advisory Fellowship to bring a dedicated science seat back to the executive team of the organization for the first time since Barker’s co-founders, physicists Ben Lillie and Brian Wecht, stepped away from day-to-day management in 2015. Archaeologist Edith Gonzalez will assume this role in September. Edith is an Eccles Centre Fellow with the British Library and her current research is funded by the Society of Antiquaries. (A more detailed announcement on the fellowship will follow.)

The Story Collider also wishes to thank Interim Executive Director Leslie Griesbach Schultz for her guidance and mentorship over the past eight months. Her support has been invaluable, and we wish her well on her next adventure!