Chris on the Power of Story

I had a moment of realizing the power of story; in Atlanta I watched a national panel of five experts talk about prevention. They were asked to share a story of success with policy development. They were all good responses and when it got to one woman, Patricia, she put love into her story. She was a doctor and had a position with some tribal organization, but her story stood out right away because she used the word ‘love’ and talked about going to tribal leaders to talk about how they could impact future babies. Her story stood above all the others because she wasn’t afraid to express emotion. Her story aroused an emotion in me – I don’t remember what the others said. It empowered me... “I’m like you lady”! I want to show policy makers that I’m smart, but I really want to be my authentic self and put the love into my work. I will always remember her because she taught me to put my professional side away sometimes – it’s not me.