First Person Essay Series

Stories are the base of the structure that history is made from. Without them, we do not have the context, the reasoning or the impact of the events that brought us to where we are now in the world. Often, stories within underserved communities have gone unheard, misunderstood and overlooked. We reached out to begin a collaboration with Pittsburgh’s PublicSource, who has had a running series of first-person essays that they release consistently. Through this collaboration, we used our connection to leaders in the communities we have worked with to create a direct pathway for them to tell their stories, share their inspirations and give their thoughts on the world around them and why they aspire to make it better.

We have had multiple stories told throught his pipeline, ranging from Terri Minor Spenser’s story of creating a chance for a better future for ex-incarcerated individuals to Qiyam Ansari’s story of turning a near-death experience into providing life changing improvements to air quality of people in his community. We love the work that the leaders in our circle are able to do to advance the world around them. Their ability and willingness to do this work is often a direct response to their lived stories, and their ability to tell these stories will serve to inspire their peers and the next generations of change-makers to also create an impact on the world around them.