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Unlock Your Story

Everyone has a story. Let’s unlock yours.

Our mission is to help women and organizations leverage storytelling and movement for liberation, community-building, and social change.

We recognize that stories are both packaged and expressed in a wide variety of ways — including writing, content development, public speaking, and movement — and we harness the transformative power of each of these modes of expression in our work. We coach you through the process of leaning wholeheartedly into your story through deep reflection and encourage you through the development and implementation of a strategic plan for using storytelling within your work. We also consult businesses, organizations, schools, universities, and colleges on how to use storytelling strategies to lean into authentic engagement and relationship-building as a means of promoting social justice and building community.

Our vision is to build a global community of storytellers committed to healing, justice, and narrative change through the transformative power of storytelling.

The core values that guide our work include: connection, equity, truth-telling, and empowerment.

Through our coaching, workshops, or consulting, you will learn how to:

• Make sure you’re clear on the work you’re meant to do and the message you’re meant to bring to the world

• Brainstorm and organize your ideas

• Move from simply sharing facts to creating a human connection (and why that matters)

• Build trust and credibility with your audience by leaning into vulnerability

• Look for sparks of inspiration in everyday moments when you experience a creative block

• Ask questions that engage and create meaningful conversation

• Tell a story that connects with vast audiences and helps illustrate powerful and tangible solutions

• Communicate intentionally, thoughtfully, clearly, and mindfully

• Build confidence and practice techniques that will help curb nerves and imposter syndrome

• Explain how stories throughout history have acted as a tool for influence and express how to harness that power today

• Facilitate difficult conversations about social justice issues using a storytelling framework

• Be critical of stock stories and center counterstories to refute the status quo

• Use the research-proven building blocks of effective stories to drive emotional connections with target audiences

• Develop a strategic plan for using storytelling within your work and to maximize your role as a storyteller

• Build a proactive plan for radical self-love and collective care when you experience storytelling fatigue

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Let's talk about your particular needs, and answer your questions about storytelling, coaching, consulting, or our community offerings.

Based in Washington, D.C./Remote

Dr. Cierra Kaler-Jones, Ph.D. is a social justice educator, writer, researcher, narrative coach, movement + meditation instructor, and speaker based in Washington, DC. From a young age, Cierra was drawn to the transformative power of storytelling. She would lock herself in her room, engrossed in a book, which would take her to far away places she had not yet seen and connect with characters she would only meet between the pages of a paperback. She was always scribbling in a notebook and crafted imaginary scenes about people she would see in her neighborhood. One of her favorite past times was discovering new vocabulary in the thesaurus to better describe elements of human experience. Since then, she has dedicated her life to not only sharing her own story as a source of inspiration, but also to encouraging others to recognize and harness the power of their own voices.

She received her Ph.D. in education from the University of Maryland - College Park. She is also the Director of Storytelling with Communities for Just Schools Fund, in which she works to help shift national narratives in education by centering youth, family, and educator organizers’ experiences and stories in education work.

She has had her writing featured in Education Post, Nia Magazine, Midnight and Indigo, Ebony.com, and Rethinking Schools. She’s written book chapters in Strong Black Girls: Reclaiming Schools in Their Own Image, Black Girl Civics: Expanding and Navigating the Boundaries of Civic Engagement, and Teaching Brilliant, Beautiful Black Girls. Her academic work was most recently published in the Middle School Journal. In addition, she’s been contracted to write research papers and briefs, commissioned by entities including the federal government and the National Geographic Society. In 2015, she created and implemented the Speak Your Truth series, which has since given over 1,000 college students a space to discuss social justice issues in relation to their own experiences through monthly events rooted in a storytelling for social justice framework.

She was an invited guest speaker at the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans and the United States Department of Education. Her speaking credits also include the 2015 Mark Conference, a TED talk at the 2018 TEDxFoggyBottom conference, and SXSW Edu in 2020. She’s given keynotes at the Midwest Mental Health conference and the upcoming Council for Exceptional Children 100th anniversary convening. She’s led workshops for Ladies Wine & Design DC, DC Design Week, WeWork, 305 Fitness, ESPN, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, Pennsylvania State University, Louisiana State University, as well and professional development for school district administrators and educators, including District of Columbia Public Schools and Alexandria Public Schools.

In 2014, Kaler-Jones was the second Black woman to earn the title of Miss New Jersey, and dedicated her year of service to offering free visual and performing arts lessons to students along the East Coast and advocating for equity in education. Through this platform, she traveled the country giving over 200 keynote speeches, invited talks, lectures, and hosted hands-on workshops at colleges and universities (including Rutgers University, Monmouth University, and Montclair State University), and with business executives and non-profit leaders. Additionally, she spoke at over 30 K-12 schools and over 3,000 students. She lived out her childhood dream of competing for Miss America in 2015, her interview was featured on the interview DVD, and she was a Quality of Life finalist.

As a professional dancer, a fitness instructor, yoga + meditation instructor, and dance educator, Cierra also uses movement and art as a way to encourage others to take care of their minds, bodies, and souls throughout the process of sharing stories. Her training as a dance and fitness professional guides her coaching on presentation and confidence-building strategies.

Alisa Vasquez is a storyteller and communications strategist who helps companies and individuals tap into their God given power. She has traveled to Puerto Rico to report on the economic development of the island after Hurricane Maria, coached pre-law students on their self-confidence and networking skills, while also hosting a show on PBS entitled “Digging Deeper” with Penn State President Dr. Eric Barron. 

As someone who struggled with their identity their whole lives, she has scripted and produced her own digital web series entitled “THE OREO.” The show takes a deep dive into specific race issues such as color blindness, tokenism, intersectionality, and Respectability Politics. She believes that the key to transformative change in this nation is giving people the tools and the resources that they need to understand systematic racism and oppression. 

A former Miss New York’s Outstanding Teen 2015, and Penn State University graduate (GO NITTANY LIONS!) Alisa is dedicated to creating spaces where people of color are not only seen, but also understood and heard. She is incredibly thankful and excited to work as the Communications Director for Unlock Your Story. As a storyteller herself, she understands the life changing power that comes with discovering your own narrative, and then using that narrative to cultivate tangible change in society.