Every individual has a story that needs to be told, and the Arizona Republic’s Arizona Storytellers Project allows individuals to do so.
The Storytellers Project featured the theme “Big Ideas, Big Lessons,” a collaboration with coworking space CO+HOOTS on 12th and Washington streets. The event took place in the CO+HOOTS parking lot Thursday.
The Arizona Storytellers Project hosts an event with a different theme each month that brings together a group of people to share their stories.
“Big Ideas, Big Lessons,” was about overcoming obstacles in the workforce and in personal life. Two local food trucks provided food and snacks.
The speakers for Thursday’s event included Gabe Williams of the band Bears of Manitou and on-demand driving service UBER Phoenix, Ty Largo of Salt PR Agency, Feliciano Vera of Urban Sol Development, Kelsey Wong of CO+HOOTS, Blaine Light of UBER Phoenix, Kate Milliken of Milligrace video production company, Tanya Moushi of Greater Than Coffee and Alan Earl of search engine optimization company Local One.
Williams spoke about his experience with his current band, Bears of Manitou, and how he almost let his ego get in the way of the band moving forward.
Bears of Manitou began playing shows in 2010, he said. His story was largely based around a contract that a subsidiary division of MTV wanted them to sign, which asked the band to sell the subsidiary three of their songs.
Williams said he did not feel signing the contract was a good idea. His decision to disagree with the rest of the band began to tear them apart, but the experience made them realize no band decisions would be made unless everyone agreed.
Following Williams was Largo, who shared his experience of trying to get his dream client, chef and restaurant owner Kevin Binkley, represented by his PR agency.
Largo began to hesitantly explain the day he planned on approaching Binkley. Largo and his friend went to one of Binkley’s first restaurants and decided to go with a tasting option for their dining experience. The tasting, which included over 30 mini-dishes, ended embarrassingly for Largo.
“It was just so much food and it just squeezed out of me,” he said.
However, he did not let that get in the way of landing his dream client. The day after his tasting fiasco, Largo contacted Binkley, whom he now represents.
Vera’s story was a roller coaster ride. In 2003, he thought of building a transportation system similar to those found in major cities like Boston and New York.
He mentioned the crazy ride he had due to the changes in the economy. Yet, he said, he never gave up, even when times got hard.
Wong spoke about her last year at Arizona State University. In her last semester, two weeks before she was supposed to graduate, her advisor informed her that she was missing a course.
Wong decided she would take the course in a study abroad program in Prague. After she completed the course, she remained in Europe.
When she moved back to Phoenix, she ran into some obstacles, but never let them get in her way. She got a job at CO+HOOTS making only $350 a month.
Wong now has a full-time job at CO+HOOTS and said she plans most of their events.
Wong ended her story by telling everyone to “keep creating your own opportunities and embrace your failures because they’ll lead to something way awesome.”
Milliken’s story was about finding true love and battling multiple sclerosis but not letting either get in the way of creating a successful business. Moushi’s story revolved around breaking from the “norms” of culture to creating one’s own happiness.
The final speaker, Earl, spoke about when he was divorced from partners in two different businesses.
His first experience was with someone who he said looked at him as an employee rather than a partner, even though Earl felt like he was doing majority of the work for the company. That led him to leave the company altogether.
The second experience was with his current company, Local One. He said he felt as though everything was going well with the company, until one day a few of his partners approached him and said, “We’re all leaving you.”
Earl began to wonder what was wrong with him because he felt like “a bride who got left at the altar … twice.” However, he now owns Local One and works with his wife. His experiences have taught him that there are different types of people in the world and not everyone thinks the same.
Next month’s Arizona Storytellers Project will be themed “Back Road: Stories of Detours in Our Cars, and In Our Lives.” It will be held at Marcellino Ristorante in Scottsdale on May 21 at 7 p.m.
Contact the reporter at lianna.meyer@asu.edu
