Grace Andrews: Storytelling

Technical Storyteller and Digital Anthropologist, Grace Andrews, joins us on the podcast to impart wisdom from her education, cultural and family upbringing, and passion for storytelling. In the episode, Grace shares how she brings the power of storytelling to her work as a product marketer, content creator, and speaking coach. We discuss picking your own title, the evolution of a storyteller, and authenticity in storytelling.

Find Grace on instagram @grace_ewuraesi, her website  asprinklingofgrace.com, or email her at  grace@asprinklingofgrace.com.

Transcript

Intro : Welcome to humanizing tech. We interview people to dig below the surface of their achievements and challenges showcasing the story behind the story. We believe that focusing on the person and humanizing their lived experiences will help us shape the future of tech.

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Dawn Mott: Hi everyone. And welcome back to another wonderful riveting episode of humanizing tech. Today. We have a guest that I am extremely excited about, someone I've been trying to get on this podcast since I started on this podcast, she is a technical storyteller and a digital anthropologist and her name is Grace Andrews. Grace. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Grace Andrews: Hi, thank you for having me.

Dawn: Well, like I said, you are a technical storyteller, digital anthropologist, some of the coolest titles I've ever gotten to say on this podcast.

Grace: That's what happens when you pick your own titles [laughs] 

Dawn: Well, perfect. Maybe we should pick our titles more. 

Grace: We should, we should all pick our titles more.

Dawn: So how did you get there? This is what you do for work.

Grace: Yes. Great question. I would say that I, you know, I studied anthropology and sociology in undergraduate and I did not intend to, I intended to study business and Mandarin because well, that would have made my father very happy. And I always loved policy. So I went in thinking I would be a political scientist and I would, you know, wind up working on someone's Capitol Hill, which is definitely not the trajectory of my life, but I went into school thinking that's what I really wanted to do. And I just really fell in love with anthropology and sociology. I had a sociology focus initially, that was my main thing. But towards the end of my undergraduate career, I realized that anthropology was really where my heart was at because sociology is looking at moments in time. And anthropology is looking at the entire continuum of the human existence and not just like a movement or a moment - it's kind of the evolution.

So I really loved that because I love what I call, the why of the why, that's always been my driver ever since I was a little kid. I've always been the well why and then why but then why and people are like, okay, that's enough whys, right? Like most kids stop at two or three. I'm like 14 whys in. And even the people who are the experts are like what's happening now. And so that's always been a passion of mine is to just understand the fundamental elements, like the atoms of things, how they work at a molecular level, even if it's not something with a molecule we can see or identify. So that's where I think my passion for technology also comes into play. I was the kind of kid who was really interested in taking things apart and putting them together. And I had a big brother who was really helpful and who was happy to help take things apart and put them together for me, he's the same way. So he was a computer science and management of information systems major when he was in college and he was five years older. So he would give me his old books and I would read them because it just all felt so fascinating to me. And where I saw a really interesting interaction between technology and people were when I was in high school. I did DECA, which I don't know if anybody knows what DECA is..

Dawn: Me too! 

Grace: You did DECA?! 

Dawn: I was in DECA too! 

Grace: Yes! And for those listeners who don't know what DECA is, DECA is a business role-play that is based in high schools. And it's very much like mock trial, but instead of mock trial being where you pretend lawyer and pretend witness and pretend judge, DECA is where you pretend business entrepreneur CEO, and the category that I was in with one of my close friends from childhood was e-commerce and this was the early 2000s. So e-commerce was like not really a thing. And what was so interesting to me is my DECA teacher picked us because she was like, oh, you all are kind of creative. And I did at that time online shopping, which was unheard of in 2003, 2004. 

Dawn: Look at you, innovator! 

Grace: And not only did I do online shopping, I would get things from Ebay and I would buy them in bulk like jackets. And then my parents would like, help me sell them. Yes. And so, I did e-commerce and my teammate focused a lot on the visual storefront elements of it. And I had to focus a lot on the actual technology. So we went to DECA nationals, we got second in the nation. And what that process really showed me was that, that was a type of understanding that a lot of people didn't have, like, they didn't have it one, because I think even now it's not super accessible. And also because a lot of folks will hear the terms e-commerce or technology, and may immediately remove themselves from the equation of understanding it deeper or being good at it, or even attempting to utilize it because they're like, why, no, I don't understand that. That sounds, you know, insert whatever adjective here for what you might insert for when you feel like something is beyond what your scope might be in that moment.

So I found that I really liked that part of DECA, especially because some people were focused on and more traditional business, like hospitality or tourism or whatever, cause there's categories in DECA. I didn’t choose e-commerce, you know, e-commerce chose me. [laughs] No, but, my teacher from the marketing class I was in, she chose me. But I think that reasoning was very interesting. Right? She's like, I've heard you talk about this, you do this, so you'll do it now. And that's the story of my life where someone's like, I think you've mentioned this once. Can you, you do it? And I'm like, I read a book about it. No, I absolutely can't do that. They're like, yeah, it's your job now. So that’s how I kind of got to the place where I am now. Right. And so when I started learning more about sociology and anthropology, I started really seeing my identity more in the form of movements.

So, because I identify as a Native and Indigenous person, just not of the Americas. And because I believe I've had a Native and Indigenous upbringing as well, I've always felt like this hybrid, like a Native person in a modern world. I've never considered myself a super modern person. I happen to work in a super modern field, but I, myself don't identify as such. So it's always been interesting to be in that space because it's almost like I see the paradigms around me so much differently than people who are in it and studying it. I have the vocabulary to discuss it. And that's what really started to speak to me is the understanding of the intersection between those spaces, the gaps for expansion that exist there. And so that's also how I kind of picked my titles, right? I consider myself a storyteller by occupation even.

The kind of work I've done in technology is to be a technical translator. So I now do, I'm a principal product evangelist at Equinix, but before I did that, I was a solutions consultant or I've done solution engineering work. Which, what that basically means is that I was working with customers, helping them to use my company's products. And the products required a couple of things when teaching, when adapting and to myself, continuing to learn, because the products evolve and the ecosystem we're in evolves. So I've always been that person, relayed information. And that's what a storyteller is in the Native sense, they are Historian, they are timekeeper, they are Almanac. They are Babysitter. They are Elder Keeper. They are so many things. All of it embodied in one person who shares information by observing and taking in information and then presenting it in a way where other people can receive that knowledge and where it can.

You know, I always say the story transforms, the storyteller. Everyone thinks that a story is supposed to transform the hearer, but it's not. It's actually supposed to adapt and evolve the person who speaks it and that evolution allows them to continue receiving different versions of the story, keep adapting different ideas behind the story and even present in different modalities for telling stories. And so I think that in essence, that's what a lot of the work I've done in technology has been. And so that's why I was saying technical storyteller, because usually in the stories I tell are in or around or about technology, even if it is about, you know, one thing I specialized in, in school, especially in grad school was Indigenous and cultural preservation, and...

Dawn: Of course there’s an and.

Grace: And economic access, because I don't think that it's an either or equation I never have.

I don't think that, you know, you have to sacrifice Native ways in order to access modern opportunities. And so that really propelled the work I was doing. And it really shaped how I even see what I call digital anthropology. Because a lot of times you say digital anthropology, it's about the study of people intersecting with technology. But sometimes I think it's also about understanding and addressing the way in which technology is shaping our existence and the people who choose to either modify that or not participate at all. So I think that in that understanding, the evolution exists, right? This idea of holistic approaches, as opposed to, you know, linear solutions really drive what I do in my work. And I think it requires creativity. And I think it requires a non-traditional lens. And  my upbringing provides me with that and I think, you know, my personal orientation as a human being, I always say I'm kind of a floater, a wanderer I'm kind of, I'm like in this body, but not in this world. So that's never been an uncomfortable place for me to occupy.

Dawn: How do you think that wandering spirit affects your life or job performance or the careers that you choose or companies you work with? 

Grace: Totally. I think I've had the good fortune of doing a lot of different things. And when people hear about what I do in my free time, they're like, wait, what? Because they think it sounds a little disconnected from what I do and what I guess they perceive to be my, I don't know on time, [laughs] I don't know what the concept of free time is in of itself kind of laughable, but I think I'm just open. I just always have been like, I was the kind of kid who, and I'm the kind of adult, like, I've always done the things I've been terrified of. Like I used to be terrified of heights. So what did I do in school? I would climb to the top of the monkey bars and sit there and just look down because why not?

Dawn: That's really wonderful. I feel like I see a lot of myself aligned in you, and I love how you present it because your storytelling skills, you can tell that it's something that you've worked at for years. Have you always been a storyteller, like ever since you were a child? 

Grace: Yeah, you know, it's funny, my parents love telling stories. So I think it's, you know, we believe that storytelling is one of those things that it's like in your DNA. Like you come from a line of storytellers, you don't become a storyteller. I divert a little bit, because I think everyone has the capacity to be a storyteller, but I also do believe it's something that's in your DNA as well. And so I feel like I come from a line of storytellers. I come from people who tell captivating stories and intriguing presentations of reality and the truth. And so I think that I really learned from watching and I come from the kind of family where if you are like, I'm going to tell a story, we're open to that. But I think about it. And it's like, I was literally making mixed tapes at like eight years old. Right? And I used to make CDs. I used to burn CDs. I used to like all this stuff, and I think about it and I'm like, well, why didn't I do something with that? But then if I continue to think about it, I use it in my storytelling. So even in the way that I think of my podcasts, right? If I'm like, Oh, if I were to ever be sponsored to be able to get some copyright access to these songs I like. Or I'm working on a script. And when I think of my scripts, I think of the music. And because I've had so much exposure to all kinds of music, ‘cause I was listening to everything. ‘Cause my brother loved rock. So I was listening to everything from Metallica. It's like the other day we were just talking about the Red Hot Chili Peppers and how he played Stadium Arcadia for his kids.

But then he's also really into Afrobeat. So he plays a lot of modern and it's more Afropop than Afrobeat. Cause it's not like Fela Kuti or anything. It's more like, you know, the more modern artists like Shatta Wale or things like that. So I think about all that stuff, right? So here we are, we're mixing all of these different influences and I was like really hands on into it. I was like, I got that! But I was like pushing, play, pushing, pause. Fast forward playing it 2X, like I was doing all the things that are the absolute most. And yet it's now so alive in my work. Whether it's my technology work, whether it's my public speaking, whether it's my narrative coaching, it's all there in different pieces. Right. And so even when I coach people and they tell me what they're into, I'm like, okay, your homework assignment is to write a poem or to write a spoken word or to write a song.

And they're like, wait, what? But that's because I can bring in these influences from my past life, right? That are still part of my everyday life, but not necessarily in a very forward or presenting way. And I can talk about those things in that way. And so I think it's, it's such an interesting thing to go back to the titles, these are the titles that I feel like truly define me. And I think that we live in a moment where we are returning to where we once were. So what I mean by that is, I think that these paradigms and these constructs around labels have always been pretty harmful because you've never had a lot of autonomy. And the irony is if you look at a lot of Native or Indigenous societies around the world, there's been actually more identity flexibility there than in any other place.

And yet we, as modern people might say that it's modernity, that brings freedom. But I make the argument that it's a return to the origin that breeds freedom because the closer you are to the source, the more open you can be to what is. And, and I think that, when I used to hear about jobs where you picked your job title or universities, where you could pick your major, I was like, what is that? I'm just like, wait, why aren't huh? But then I participated in those things and I was like, this is great. And it just really is a good reminder that you speak into existence, who you want to become. And there was a long time where I didn't identify as a storyteller. And so once I started claiming that title for myself, I found that more and more opportunities began to present itself because I began to say, well, this is how I'm going to occupy this space.

And that in of itself was a shift within me. And so, you know, even my current job, I got it because they needed storytellers. 

Dawn: Hmm... 

Grace: Cause I now work as a part of a marketing team, as opposed to before it was part of a technical sales team, but very heavy on the technical part. And so now bringing in that experience where, when I hear engineering or product talking about the product, I fully grasp what they're saying, because I've been working on building solutions like that for almost a decade. Right? So it's one of those things where you just, this is the biggest difference between the storyteller and the non storyteller is the storyteller understands that they're always weaving together chapters. Even when the chapters feel disconnected, they know that the narrative they’re writing is the book of their life and that every chapter is significant.

And I think that the non storyteller sees it as the past and the future and the storyteller sees it as the spectrum and the flow. It's always moving. And sometimes not just forward. Sometimes you have to kind of ebb and flow, move back, move up, move around, then go forward. And so for me, really having the ability to now work in still tech, but more creative elements that still are, you know, supporting like sales, orgs and sales teams and still supporting the overall vision of the company and things like that. It's a powerful intersection that I couldn't have reached without all of the things around me. Right? And even like working on a podcast in my job, I never thought that that would be a thing. When I started my podcast like three years ago, I was like, why is this? This is going to be a hobby. I'm gonna be a hobbyist. And you know, one of the reasons they hired me is because they looked at my website, listen to my podcasts. They're like, you have the ability to create content and self-manage. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I do! So exciting, right? So it's one of those things where you just never know how those influences are going to be the seeds that bear fruit.

Dawn: I would love to be a storyteller. I try, I feel like written, sure, maybe ‘cause I can come back to it and edit it. But, I didn't have some of the things that you had. I didn't have a family welcoming me in all of my creative pursuits or anyone to stare eyes on me and pay attention. Like as adults, now it sounds like you do some coaching around this subject, but like, how can we like, do you have any quick, how do we become storytellers?

Grace: The number one narrative rule, even though it's super trite and everyone says, this is you gotta be yourself. So I will never tell a story that is 300% serious. I'm not 300% serious, but I'm not silly. Right? I'm more in the vein of like witty than silly. So you're not going to see me tell him the story where I'm like, then I flailed my arms. Like, that's just like, not the way I tell a story. And the way I tell a story is pretty much kind of like your grandma telling you a story. You're like, well, and then, we looked over, you know, it's very much kind of like an old lady tells the story. That's my style. That's who I am. So the first thing you have to do is you have to figure out what is your communication style? And that's why telling a story isn't just about becoming a storyteller. It's about being intimately aware of who you are as a human being or an entity, a person, a spirit. Because until I knew that my communication style wasn't silly, I may have been more apt to try to tell a silly story that didn't sound or feel like me. The more I realized those kinds of things about myself, it helped me begin to frame my stories. And then I realized that I always loved stories that were about the deeper, like emotional elements of being. Right? So you probably won't hear me telling a story about, I don't know, like the latest thing on television. Not that that's a bad story to tell or an angle to take, but everything for me is about the why of the why, like what I mentioned earlier. So all my stories are centered in deep understanding.

So the first secret to being a storyteller is what kind of story do you want to tell? And a lot of people can't answer that question. So even the folks that I coach, we work on understanding that to even answer that question, because that's why people aren't storytellers, because they've only seen stories told in so many different ways. And so they say, I couldn't be a storyteller. Why not? That's just the kinds of storytellers that are out there, but that doesn't mean your story isn't a powerful enough one to be told. And that's also the thing that I also recommend people start with. If you want to be a better storyteller, start looking for the stories around you. Because sometimes we can't tell a story because not only do we not have models for storytelling, but we're not looking for stories, everything is telling a story, the wind blowing through the trees and the leaves falling off of them is a story. I just told you a story - it had a beginning, it had a middle, it had an end, right? Whether it's narratives based on misconceptions of others, whether it's narratives that are based on our understanding of how things in the world work, whether it's narratives about even how we frame our dreams and our hopes, it's all a story. And a lot of people are telling a lot of fiction.

I'm gonna leave that there. But that's like the number two thing is to just figure out what are those stories around you? Because sometimes you can't tell a story because the stories around you are blocking you from telling your story. Some of us live in realities where the stories around us are very hard. They're very difficult. And you know, the thing about storytelling is you have to kind of rise above the story in order to be the storyteller. If you… or you have to place yourself in the center of the story and the story has to move around you. But if you were so blocked by the stories around you, it becomes very hard to find the voice that drives your story. So, you know, being observer and observant, but not becoming overwhelmed is something that a lot of people haven’t navigated so they can't tell a story, and you have to start really doing deep introspection because you have to understand your motives.

So another thing, I think the fundamental thing is, why do you want to tell or not tell your story? And some people will say, I don't like to talk about myself, which I totally understand that one. Or they're like, well, I can't think of anything, or I don't think I'm that creative. And so once you start asking why you don't think you could tell a story or why you don't see yourself as a storyteller, we start to get to the heart of the matter or the psyche of the matter. And the more you understand those elements, the more powerful your story becomes. I think like for me, when I started kind of telling more stories around my upbringing whether it was because we were immigrants or low income, or whether it's because we've lived in a place where literally they're like no other immigrants really here and no other Africans or whatever it was, even though those stories were very specific to like my upbringing, my heritage, my experience, they had a universal truth element to them that really resonated with all kinds of people, because it became the story about being different.

This story about not always fitting in, this story of realizing that you didn't have something that a lot of other people had. And there's a lot of folks, no matter how people identify socioeconomics, occupations, geographies, that is a very human part of us. And when I started to tell stories that were centered in that kind of humanity, it began to open up more opportunities to see myself as the kind of storyteller I wanted to be. But more importantly, it began to create space for other people to see their stories within mine. And that is the job of the storyteller. It's not just to give you a presentation of the world. It is to shape a world that you can see yourself within.

Dawn: I love how it brings so much connection, because like you're saying your story while it has nothing to do with how I grew up, could resonate with me because of those themes of being different or I mean any of them really, that's so powerful. I'm like knocked off my seat right now, but yeah. So you named yourself storyteller, do you feel that people should go out there and name themselves as these different concepts of what they would like to be, and then that's how you kind of get there as the first step of believing it?

Grace: Absolutely. So my parents are really big believers in the power of manifestation. So when we were little kids, they would always say like, say, the thing, like I would say some ridiculous things. And they were always like, okay, if it's God's will and your will and you are in alignment and moving towards it, why not? Right? And I was like, wait, what? Then they're like, if you want to be the first African in space and the first female president and you wanna to discover a new dinosaur called the Graceasaurus and a new people called the Gracieians, you do it! I was like, even as a kid, I was like, wow, I think I've gotten very ridiculous here, but you all are being very supportive. [laughs] So, you know, I just was like, Imma ride this, but it's interesting because it's powerful because I grew up in an environment where a lot of people were telling me, I couldn't. A lot of people, for a lot of reasons.

And I don't think a lot of people outside of my family realized how much I struggled with some of that, because I came across so confident, because in the house when I would struggle, there'd be like, well, why can't you do it? And, some people they say, why can't you do it to create this like crazy pressure on their kids? And, you know, Africans actually do do this, but my parents would say, why can't you do it from a place of like, why do you doubt? Like for them, this concept of unwavering faith is something that has always driven their personal philosophy and their personal life. And so that's the thing that they, I think really gifted to my brother and I - was this idea of the impossible is only impossible if your mouth forms the words and makes the noises that say this is impossible. Or to not be able to, it's like, if your hands make the signs, you know, or whatever, your mind thinks, thoughts that say, this is impossible.

So things are only impossible because other people maybe are not where you are in their imaginative world to imagine something different. Right? You know, when the first people were like fire, other first people were like, what is that? Right? Or what, you know what I'm saying? Like, they were really shocked, big eyed, confused. They were like, no one's ever done this. We’ve just been eating cold food. 

Dawn: No they were probably like, put it out! That's scary! 

Grace: Exactly. Or you're going to burn, you're going to burn down our transient village until our next migration. And what about the animals? They will come to the fire and eat us. So it's one of those things. The first people to develop fire, which was an independent invention across the globe for early humans. And our early ancestors that was, you know, Australopithecus was probably looking at Homo sapien or Neanderthal most likely, like, what is that?

Right? And it's kind of what started to separate us from our cousins. So, I bring up that example because it's this idea of manifestation, right? To go back to that fire analogy, that is what your words are about the worlds you live in. I've always believed that words construct their reality, the same way that words begin to shape the mind or the same way that words begin to shape and transform your heart. And it's why mantras work. Even people who laugh at mantras and they're like, that's so silly. It's okay, say a mantra five times a day for the next two weeks. And let's reconnect. And let's say, the mantra is, I love myself. I am worthy. I am free. Super approachable mantra, nothing to elaborate. Say that every day, when you wake up, in the middle of your day, before you go to bed, do it everyday for two weeks, and then come back and talk to me.

You will be transformed, even reluctantly, because your words are shaping you. They're shaping you. That's why we have to be very careful about our words. And that's why we have to be respectful about the words that people ask us to call them. Because then when we are in unity with each other about the words we want to be called, or the things we think we are, or the identities we think we possess, we begin to give freedom to other people and to ourselves. Once again, this is why the story is so important. This is why the storyteller is so important. They are the first person to give life to the words. 

Because I bet if I could go back in a little time ship, which I'm currently not working on, but maybe I should, since I got bit by that radioactive worm [laughs] that, you know, we would probably see the first inventors, right? Of things like fire being accompanied by the storytellers who were spreading the reality of the possibility of fire. There probably was a storyteller who was like, I know it's scary. I know it's flaming over there, but it's warm. Come closer. Let me tell you my story, a little closer to the fire. And let's talk about what is fire? What can we do with fire? Right? So even that, we see that, like it can shape worlds and it does every day, every day, I think we see it more in the last, you know, maybe 50, 60 years of human history than anything else.

How words have started wars, how words have stopped wars, how words have invented diseases and cures. And you know, even in our everyday, today, how words are transforming security, how words are making some people insecure, how the not knowing of stories makes people vulnerable, right? Like it's all of these things, all about speaking, which always has to accompany listening, right? So you can speak words into the space, but somebody’s something has to hear, and that's a big part of speaking things into existence as well is - you have to be ready to hear them. You have to be open to the message that they might carry, which is why we really should be courteous and cautious with how we encourage or discourage people's words and self identify, you know, whatever terms, occupations, labels, whatever they might be. Because it is not our job to tell someone who or what they are. It is our job to receive their story.

Dawn: That's amazing. I definitely know that I could use those tips. I've been taking notes this whole time, for myself. I hope other people listening have been taking notes too. And honestly, like, you know, I would love to follow up with you and do more storytelling. Like if people in the audience want to do the same. 

Grace: Yeah. Totally. If you want to do the same, a few places you can find me, you can find me on my Instagram. I am taking a brief hiatus. I'm on, quote-unquote break until the first weekend of January. But you can find me kind of musing about these kinds of concepts on what I call Gracefully Opinionated. That usually is every Friday on IG. So it just drops at some point in the day. I try to do it earlier than later, but you know, it's 2020, so it is what it is. And then I also have started a series called Storytelling with Grace and my parents were my first two guests. So that was really fun. But you can also find all in IG. And my handle is @grace_ewuraesi, so that's Grace Ewuraesi, which Ewuraesi is my tribal name.

So a lot of people like what’s that? So they're like, that's a name. And I'm like, it sure is. So that's the name? And you can also just give them a DM or you can email me. So you can email me at grace@asprinklingofgrace.com. And I am pretty bad at checking that email sometimes during the workweek, but I try to always check it on the weekend and you know, it's a great way to get in contact with me if you ever want to talk about something. And I always say you don't have to be a client to just check in. So, you know, people just have a question, need some support, but don't necessarily want to be a client that's okay. So it is, it's actually absolutely okay. It's a difficult time for everybody, not everyone can afford everything and that's real. And so that doesn't mean we can't still help each other. So you can always find me in those two places and get in contact with me.

Dawn: Thank you everyone so much for listening to this episode of Humanizing Tech. Thank you, Grace Andrews, for being with us today, we're going to put a lot of her information in the show notes so if you'd like to follow up with her, please do, she welcomes it all. And this has been great. Dawn Mott signing out. Thank you. 

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