191. The Art of Storytelling: Building Abundance Through Personal Narratives with Andrea Sampson

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: to Episode 191 of Girl Take the Lead, where each week we explore womenhood and leadership.

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm your host, Yolkani. Today, Andrea Sampson, Boomer joins us to talk about storytelling,

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and the importance it has for building abundance. Andrea is CEO and founder of Talk boutique.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And she blends her astute listening skills and insights into human behavior to coach leaders

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and speakers in crafting impactful stories. She spent over two decades in marketing and

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: advertising and has transitioned into a role as a TED trained speaker coach.

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to love what she has to say about our innate ability to be a storyteller

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and our ability to impact the future. Topics we covered in the episode were stories we tell ourselves

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: about abundance. Everyone can be a storyteller. Limitations we have around storytelling

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and my personal faith storytelling and personal branding, which we also talked about effective storytelling,

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: benefits of being a storyteller and storytelling skill resources.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Enjoy the listen and here you go. Andrea, welcome to Girl Take Lead and thank you for coming

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: today to talk to us about storytelling. I think it's a great episode.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited. I'm really excited. Yolanda, this is exciting to be chatting with you

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_01]: and learning a little bit more about your audience too and what I how I can support them.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Great. Well, I think they will be very interested in hearing you talk a lot about

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_00]: storytelling as it relates to branding, as it relates to who we are and how it can be more

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: effective with our storytelling. How about we start with you just sort of introducing yourself

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_01]: to the audience so they get to know you a little bit? Sure. Sure. So my name is Andrea Sapsin and

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I have done many things in my life from everything from being a fundraiser to being

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: a director, a brand strategist. And now a speaker's coach and actually what I've always been

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: probably never would have said it until now is a storyteller. And as a storyteller, what I do

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: is I help others to identify and use their stories so that they create impact for others.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And I guess, you know, as a podcast, I kind of feel that sometimes I'm, well, that just

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: sometimes most of the time is a podcast or I'm also storytelling. But I think you have a notion

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: about this that really helped me understand the bigger picture about storytelling and how we are

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: all stories. Yeah, you know, when when I decided so I spent most of my career in advertising

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and in advertising the work that I did was storytelling, of course. But I never really thought of

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_01]: it in that way and no one ever really taught me how to tell stories. And it wasn't until I started

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: working in the Ted World. So I spent a number of years working on a couple of different

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Ted brands. The one that I worked on the most was Ted X Toronto. And what I learned working with

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: in the Ted World was that stories are really carriers for ideas. They are, they hold the context

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_01]: that allow others to connect with those stories. And how I came to understand this was, you know,

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_01]: working as a brand strategist, which is where I was in terms of the work that I was doing at

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01]: time that I started working on the TEDx brands. My job at the time was to, you know, do a lot of

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: consumer research. And I would take large swatches of data because we would do research in the market

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: with consumers and the idea behind that was to come down to what was called a core consumer insight,

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: the way in which to what is the one thing that will, that the consumer actually believes or thinks

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01]: about something and that we want to address as an ad campaign so that we can change or impact

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: or influence their thinking on that thing. So what is the one thing that can, the insight?

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I would have to take these large swatches of data to still them down into an insight

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_01]: and then we would use that insight as the basis for the campaigns that we would put out in market.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, what happened for me was that as I started working with Ted speakers,

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_01]: that was the exact skill that they needed. Because, you know, here we had people who were

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: doing amazing work in the world who were literally changing the world but they were so busy

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: doing the work. They weren't telling anyone about it and when they did of course, no one understood

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: what they were saying because they were often scientists and academics and technologists who

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_01]: were working at a very high level. I mean, you know, I remember them my very first year

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_01]: working on TEDx Toronto, one of my very first speaker coaching clients was he had two PhDs,

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_01]: one in engineering and one in medicine. And I remember going to the very first session with him

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_01]: and you know we both sit down at the table and you know both of us but this was a few years ago

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: we both had still a paper notebooks in those days and we both open our paper notebooks and I

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_01]: happened to glance over and I noticed that his entire notebook was math. I thought, oh my god

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to be able to work with this person. You know I don't speak math but the thing was,

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01]: you know he needed me to be able to take all of that math, all of that, you know,

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_01]: information that is so big and turn it into one idea because that's what Ted is. It's ideas

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_01]: worth sharing and so how do you take a life's worth of work, two PhDs, all of the work that he'd

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_01]: been doing and turn it into one idea. And that's what I was, I had this skill, I didn't even know

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I possessed because I had been doing it for years, narrowing everything down to a core insight.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And so this became the idea behind the story because that's what stories do. They create context

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: for our ideas and it's a powerful way to be able to connect with people because our stories

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: are really about us. And for those of us you know and I hear this all the time,

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't have any stories. Well actually our whole life is a story. It's just we just have to decide

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: what aspect of it do we want to use. Yeah, what are some stories you think that we have about

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: abundance or keeping ourselves from really thriving? You know, having worked with so many people

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_01]: and women in particular because I think that you know not to say that men don't have the same

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_01]: issues. They have them in different ways but I think with women because of the way we've been

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: socialized, abundance is one of those things that we have a challenge with. We often give rather than take

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: you know and that's you know a lot of it comes into the nurturing side of being a woman. And so

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_01]: as a woman, often abundance is something that we feel guilty about. We feel like that if we have

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_01]: more than we need, we should give that away. And I think they're in lies the story. We have more

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_01]: than we need. That's a story in and of itself because the reality is is we all need more than we

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01]: think we have. And we need it because we need not necessarily from you know, I need to have

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: a luxurious life. Maybe you do and that's okay if you do. But it's understanding that's not

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: about need that abundance is a mindset and not a thing or a destination that abundance is how

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_01]: we approach everything and it's the generosity with which we live. And so it's a reframing of the mindset

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: because the story we're telling ourselves is abundance is about things. And when we reframe

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: that to understand that it's about how we what we believe about ourselves, it allows us to grow.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Well I hope our listeners let that sink in because those just some great insights into

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: why storytelling is so important for us to thrive and to have a sense of abundance in our lives.

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I think what you're saying to us is if we keep focusing on what we don't have

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and that story, we need to flip it. Yeah I mean you know I was you know when we there's a saying

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: that what you focus upon expands right? And so what are you focused upon? Are you focused upon

[00:10:20] [SPEAKER_01]: the abundance or are you focused upon the lack? And so often we are most aware of the lack

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and pursuing that with great fervor. You know in some ways right because it's like that's all we

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_01]: can see. And so what you focus upon expands. So again this is where I come back to saying when we look

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_01]: at abundance as a mindset and not as a destination, not as a place to go. But you know I

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_01]: feel abundant in my life and I look around and I see that everywhere you know whether it be

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_01]: in the abundance of love that surrounds me or the abundance of food in my fridge or the

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_01]: abundance of friends who are in my neighborhood or the abundance of emails that I get every

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_01]: day. You know fundamentally abundance is all around us and and you know what are we really

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_01]: focusing on? And I think when we're talking about abundance we forget that it goes beyond

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: financial abundance. And I think that that is often where you know we conflate you know money

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_01]: and abundance. We bring these things to mean the same thing and they're not the same thing.

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_01]: Abundance is a mindset and then you know financial wealth is nothing wrong with that either.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And those are things that we can focus on as well but we're looking at what we don't have

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: rather than what we do have. Yeah. Well you mentioned a little bit about

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: what keeps people from seeing themselves as a storyteller. Because I think

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: we can point to people. We know and we go oh my gosh they can tell a story. They are really, really good.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: But we don't recognize that we have those skills ourselves right? I mean what else do you see there?

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah we're all storytellers. I mean you know I I was like to say that you know we live one

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_01]: long story right? That that's our life is a story and we often you know we'll meet up with somebody

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_01]: and we start by telling them what happened to us the other day. And so we we have these stories

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_01]: that we use quite naturally and that we tell quite naturally but when it comes to the moment where

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_01]: somebody says you know can you can you tell me a story about your life we freeze up

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_01]: why don't have any stories. I don't I don't have a story. Well of course you do you know the

[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_01]: thing that I always I always like to say is that we all live the same life it's just the details

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_01]: that are different right? So when I'm telling you my story you're actually hearing your story

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_01]: told in a new way and and so I think this is the thing that as humans that we we have to start

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_01]: really leaning into because what stories do is they connect us with each other. They let us

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_01]: understand that we're more alike than we are different that we can help each other out in ways

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_01]: that we didn't even know we could because the thing is when we understand that we are in fact

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_01]: living different versions of the same life what I might be maybe have experienced something

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_01]: before you did and you're struggling with that thing. And now I can use my experience of having

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_01]: that struggle to help you get through that very same struggle or an understanding maybe I you know

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_01]: did something and suddenly came to a big understanding and I can see that you need that same

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_01]: understanding or vice versa. So our lives are these stories that are backdrops for the understanding

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_01]: that we're trying to have their context right and so so learning how to be purposeful

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_01]: with our storytelling is key because it allows us to be way more understandable. So rather than just

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_01]: randomly telling facts which is what often happens when somebody says what do you know about this thing

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_01]: and and we tell them what we know well if we start it with a story you know let me take you to a

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_01]: point in my life where that wasn't true for me this is what was happening this thing but because I

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_01]: went through that I now understand this thing that I'm now experiencing in a bigger way and by doing

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_01]: that I'm able to convey to you not just the thing that you were asking me about but the emotional

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_01]: importance of it the ability to connect with you and now what I've also done is I've imparted

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: the the ability for you to remember it because by telling you a story I've actually activated many

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_01]: different sensory cortices within your brain and that's important because memories are held all over

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_01]: so if I'm telling you a story about maybe it's an emotional story about you know my mom's

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_01]: last few days of life and perhaps I'm giving you some of the details behind that and of course

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_01]: it's very emotionally triggering for both of us because as soon as we come to an end of life story

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_01]: we already know that there is deep emotions that are held there and as I give you specifics around

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_01]: things that happened in those final few days but then I sum it up by saying I came to understand

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_01]: my mom so much better in those final days of her life and I came to have greater compassion

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_01]: for who she was as a person as a woman and as a mother well now that idea is imbued with the

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: emotions of the story that I've told you and when you hear that idea of you know having compassion

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_01]: for others the story I told you will be brought up and that understanding will be deeper and that's

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_01]: stories do they connect us as humans through a life that we're all living in different details

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I also think you have a nice connection that you make to branding like personal branding because when

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_00]: you're telling those stories we're telling who we are right what else do you see there about

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: branding and storytelling well I think when we think of ourselves as personal brands and I think it's

[00:17:17] [SPEAKER_01]: one of the things that I you know it's a triggering word personal brand and I've spoken to many people

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_01]: about it and I get pushback from a lot of people and what people aren't brands well I understand how

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_01]: people can think that but I do believe that we have the same attributes as a brand we have a

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_01]: personality we have values we have a promise that we make out to the world through our values and so

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_01]: when we think of ourselves as a personal brand where I go to are those values those are so key

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_01]: to who we are and what we intrinsically put out into the world and being true to those values is essential

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_01]: and so when we're building our personal brand it is about being true to the values but also

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_01]: being true to the idea what is it we stand for in the world for me you know throw my entire life

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and it took me a long time to understand this about myself but I've been deeply deeply concerned

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_01]: about the future that we're creating for ourselves as humans and I've always wanted to do something

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_01]: as well I went into advertising I had this belief that I could use this powerful medium to impact

[00:18:37] [SPEAKER_01]: our future through you know creating better messages in the media and it took me a long time to

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_01]: understand that well you know as much as I was an idealist in that capitalist world I wasn't going

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_01]: to change the way in which that world worked and so my messages were never going to get out and

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_01]: I moved into doing what I'm doing now I'm much more directly impacting that future message you

[00:19:05] [SPEAKER_01]: know they're that message that is impacting the future and so a personal brand is the combination

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_01]: of your personal values and what it is you stand for in the world what is your your core purpose

[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and sometimes that's hard for us to really you know chip away at but it's there and all you need

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_01]: to do is look back through your life and see the things that you've been doing since the beginning

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and if you're early in your career what is it that light to up what's your passion and it's not

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_01]: that you're it's not that it stays exactly the same throughout your entire life but it stays mostly

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_01]: the same you know it's sort of like it's the general direction not the specific direction that's

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: so for me it was about creating impact on that the future that we're creating together I

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_01]: couldn't have said that at 20 but here at you know almost 60 I can confidently say that that is

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_01]: what I what I stand for so that personal brand is my story you know it's who I am I recently went through

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_01]: branding exercise actually on my personal brand and it was really interesting it took me you know I

[00:20:21] [SPEAKER_01]: worked with a branding professional even though I've done branding for many many years doing

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_01]: your own is really hard and so you know spend some time with somebody who can be your mirror and that's

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_01]: what my branding person was Laura Laura Bobo Prohan who has a company called Lab Creative she's amazing

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_01]: and what what she's reflected back to me and which I thought was beautiful you know she

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_01]: although when she reflected it back to me it took me a it took me a few days to really

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_01]: align to it she said what you are is a thought provoker and I was actually I was to fend it

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_01]: but I was taken aback to be honest I never thought of myself in that way it sounded almost

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_01]: rude oh provoker thought wow that feels a little bit you know aggressive but then I realized that in fact

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_01]: it's not about it wasn't a statement on how I did it it was a statement on OEM and I provoked

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_01]: thought that's what I do I'm always thinking and I'm always curious and that curiosity

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_01]: becomes a provocation for others and that's what makes me good at what I do so I'm wondering you

[00:21:38] [SPEAKER_00]: mentioned this a little bit what would you tell your 20's something self today oh gosh my 20's

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_01]: something the first thing I would say to her is slow down you don't have to be in such a rush it all works out

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I think the second thing I would tell her is you are different and that's okay

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01]: it's actually going to be your superpower one day that's why you do the things you do you know I

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_01]: think in a world of sameness being different is important and that makes for a very strong brand

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_01]: absolutely does it absolutely does and you know I think it's one of those things that you know

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_01]: when when you know I think of my own personal brand and when people reflect my brand back to me

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and even though I have hair that changes color often and many many many pairs of glasses

[00:22:38] [SPEAKER_01]: you know those aren't the things that people reflect back to me about my brand and I think

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_01]: that that's important right because we tend to think of a brand as being superficial

[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and a personal brand is not superficial it has a lot of depth oh well that's a great place for us to

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_01]: sign off you'll end I thank you for this opportunity first of all it's been fantastic having this

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_01]: great conversation yeah and you know just I'd like to invite your listeners to tell their story

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_01]: make sure that they that they are learning how to be storytellers and and practice often

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_01]: because it's going to bring them so much joy story telling is a way for us to connect

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and a way for us to learn so much about each other and we're can they find out more and follow you

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: and yeah follow me on YouTube at the Thought Leader Academy I do videos a couple of times a week where

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm teaching things like storytelling and idea creation they can also follow me and link them

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I am very very active there I'm constantly putting content out there and yeah those and they

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_01]: can also go to our website talk boutique.com and sign up for our newsletter

[00:24:05] [SPEAKER_00]: thanks again it was just so fun to talk to someone who gets my world

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_00]: you're letting us in the pentastia thank you for this name today we sure hope you enjoyed this

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[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_00]: here are three takeaways from the episode

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_00]: here are three takeaways from our episode one we are all storytellers it's innate to who we are

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_00]: too storytelling can be learned and Andrea offers steps and resources to help with this

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_00]: three storytelling increases our understanding and helps carry ideas deepens connections with others

[00:25:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and lives within the words we use to tell the story

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_00]: our next episode will feature our guest Chrissy Grigolopoulos the managing attorney for her law firm

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and author of her new book Lady Shark to become a millionaire in your 30s

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_00]: she talks about challenging the conventional wisdom and emphasizing several themes we've

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_00]: covered on our podcast like authenticity resilience and strategic savvy over traditional paths

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: to success I'm also thinking there's a couple books and topics I've been researching

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and so don't be surprised if you see a couple sound bite episodes pop up

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_00]: so please join us again talk to you soon bye