Hailing from The Great State of Connecticut—in case you were wondering, ChaChanna says it’s great simply because she’s here—ChaChanna Simpson is a writer, puzzle addict, astrology curious, karaoke star, and stellar storyteller who specializes in sharing personal stories.

Jim Brulé has been a storyteller all his life. Along the way, he's also been a clinical psychologist, an author and research leader in artificial intelligence, a CIO of a large healthcare organization, and an expert in federal healthcare regulations.

Nevertheless, storytelling has been the core thread through all of these distractions. Over a decade ago he was ordained as a Maggid: a spiritual storyteller in the Jewish tradition. Since then, he has broadened his scope to multifaith spiritual storytelling, runs an online school in transformational storytelling, and consults with communities across the country on how to use storytelling to embrace diversity and overcome isolation.

A twenty-year veteran of performing stories, Cris likes best to tell the old ones.  Folktales of those who solve the problem–and save the day–with their wits.  She has performed at the National Storytelling Conference, and the Stone Soup and Lehigh Valley Festivals.  In 2018, she  celebrated twelve years of receiving grants for telling for summer reading programs in her native western New York state.

Jezrie Marcano-Courtney (Jez), (Human/Latinx/She), New Haven CT

Jezrie’s stories tackle the universal and timely, coming of age. Her stories take listening audiences on thoughtful adventures of lived experience while weaving in the triumphs and trials of being AfroLatinx.Jezrie writes and performs for Ubuntu (OO-BOON-TOO) Storytellers IDEAL, where true experience stories inspire audiences to think about the interconnectedness of being human.

Denise Keyes Page (she, her) is founder of Ubuntu Storytellers I.D.E.A.L. Their productions have been enthusiastically received and attended.  She and/or her team have performed at National Storytelling Network’s Annual Conference, the Women’s Storytelling Festival in VA, Artists Standing Strong Together, “Better Said Than Done,” International Festival of Arts and Ideas and more. Currently Ubuntu Storytellers has three performances airing on WPAA Studio W TV.

A Connecticut native, many of her stories stem from her experience as a multi -generational African American New Englander. Denise believes that sharing and listening to the stories of others has the capacity to deepen understanding. Ubuntu Storytellers brings together her passion for story and social justice.  Denise weaves her professional experience as former teacher, professional storyteller, community advocate and DEI coach and facilitator into a compelling workshop and story experience.

She tells to enlighten and inspire, to laugh and cry and most of all to build bridges of understanding; she can coach you to do the same. You can view her TEDx Talk at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVuU7j0q8YQ

She serves as president on the Boards of Connecticut Storytelling Center and the National Speakers Association; CT Chapter. In addition, she is chair of the Social Justice Committee of NorthEast Storytellers (NEST) and on the Board of Mercy by the Sea.

www.ubuntustorytellers.com

www.denisekeyestells.com

Erin (O'Neil) Lovelien has always appreciated a good story. While working on her first book, "Gui Ren: Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People," she stumbled upon a local storytelling group and became curious. The flair of storytelling met with the challenge of writing was a game changer. Since then, she has performed her storytelling work throughout the country and utilizes her skills across many industries, including as an applied storytelling coach for professionals working in education. As the owner of Fishtail Publishing LLC, Erin has published 4 books of her own and over 12 books for clients nationwide. Curious to know more about her story? Check out www.erinoneil.org.

Michael is a retired attorney, and current storyteller and ski instructor. Bobbie Klau, local storytelling legend directed Michael to take a course with Matthew Dicks, legendary Moth Storytellers, and he found storytelling. He tells with a wonderful group of people in the New Haven -Hartford area, and is proud to be allied with the New Haven Institute Library's Storytelling Group. He produces occasional , shows at the Buttonwood Tree Art Center in Middletown, CT. Michael serves in his community in a variety of ways, most recently he was chosen as the 2023 Big Brother/Big Sister of the Year by Connecticut Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Katie Knutson has spent the last 17 years serving on Boards and several committees of local, regional, and national storytelling organizations. In these roles, she has produced conferences, festivals, and events that featured diverse presenters, stories, and topics. She is honored to be able to put her experience to work to help NEST continue to thrive and help guide the organization into the future. In her 25 years as a storyteller and 18 years as teaching artist, she has delivered residencies, performances, and classes to around 40,000 children and adults on four continents. She has been a featured performer at international storytelling festivals in Italy and the United Arab Emirates, and has performed and taught in Chile and Canada. She also presented two workshops on finding and writing grants at the 2021 Sharing the Fire Conference. Knutson has received three Minnesota State Arts Board grants in partnership with schools to be their Storyteller-in-Residence. In addition to writing and curating the New Voices column in Storytelling Magazine for 9 years, Knutson also contributed to Tomorrow’s Storytellers Today (Cordi, Parkhurst Brothers, 2021), Science with Storytelling: Strategies for the K-5 Classroom (Stenson/Norfolk/Ford, McFarland, 2017), and Storytelling Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Children with Special Needs (Norfolk/Ford, Libraries Unlimited, 2018). She lives outside Minneapolis, MN where you can often find her digging in her garden, snuggling with her cats, playing board games with her family, or enjoying nature. Find out more about Katie and her company, Rippling Stories, at www.ripplingstories.com.