Telling Stories (under 500 words)”
I’ve often been told I have an “old soul.” Guilty. My thoughts run deeper than small talk, and they demand space. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I filled journals before dinner and lost myself in books after. Through words, I could be whoever I wanted, wherever I wanted. What I didn’t realize then was that my pastime was quietly shaping how I made sense of myself.
As one of triplets, individuality wasn’t something that came easily. Imagine a small city apartment with six kids and one parent, matching outfits, shared bedrooms and competing voices. Life was loud and fast. I loved the rhythm of our non-traditional home, but I also craved room to be heard and seen.
That room found me in an unexpected way — through my seventh-grade English teacher, Ms. G, who helped me uncover a new part of myself.
At the Edison School, Ms. G was perceptive, the right mix of nerdy and no-nonsense. She noticed I was breezing through assignments and needed more of a challenge. One afternoon, she slid a worn paperback across my desk: Ender’s Game. “We’re going to try something different,” she said with a knowing smile. From that moment, she created an entirely new lesson plan just for me.
I don’t know what transported me more, the book or the special attention. Don’t get me wrong, the book was gripping. But for what felt like the first time, someone saw beyond my sibling counterparts. She saw the beginnings of a storyteller, someone more interested in the why than the what.
That summer, Ms. G sent me home with a box of books: Nancy Drew mysteries and A Series of Unfortunate Events. I devoured them, convinced I would one day be an investigative journalist or the first woman engineer in my family. But what stayed with me wasn’t just the stories themselves, it was the feeling of being recognized, of having someone believe I was capable of more than I imagined.
Today, that’s what drives me. I write to capture other people’s stories, to celebrate their successes, and to make them feel seen the way Ms. G made me feel. Across every path I’ve explored — from photography to web design — one purpose has remained: using storytelling to connect people. I believe stories can bridge communities, strengthen understanding, and inspire confidence. I see myself in the people I interview, and that empathy shapes how I tell their stories. Growing up, I fought to be seen as an individual. Now, through storytelling, I help others see themselves. That, I’ve realized, is what truly sets me apart. It’s what inspires me to keep finding new ways to tell stories that matter.
