Every morning, in the early 1990s, Christie drank her coffee and read two flyers: one offering Jay O’Callahan’s “Workshop on the Marsh” and another her GMAT exam appointment letter – both of which were scheduled for the same day. Luckily, three days before either, her intuition kicked in, there was one spot left in Jay’s workshop, and graduate school was in the rearview mirror.
In the three and a half decades since then, while performing, Christie has told personal stories at festivals, coffee houses, schools, churches, Tellabration, fundraisers, hospitals, nursing homes and house parties. She founded a monthly open mic in Saratoga that ran for five years and recently retired as co-host of a monthly storytelling program at Caffe Lena after 16 years. She also chaired the Sharing the Fire conference through its transition from a Boston based to regional conference; moving the venue from MIT to New Hampshire for three years and then to Rhode Island. She left that position after five years. Laughter through tears is a common emotion for her audience as she dances with topics such as love, recovery from grieving, bullying, animals of all sorts, interesting life choices and the occasional epic failure.
Her real love lies in using narrative when working with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault – helping them tell their story, often for the first time, and supporting them in crafting their own new story for the next chapter of their lives. For twenty five years her coaching skills were put to use as she walked a fine line between advocate, counselor, and coach. She asserts that the people she worked with taught her more than she taught them and she carries their stories forward to support others. She has also used narrative to educate the public as well as Middle and High School students, police officers, district attorneys, their staff, and court personnel because stories do a much better job than any Powerpoint presentation!
Christie is excited to serve on the current STF Board and looks forward to supporting the organization as it advances storytelling in various ways in our rapidly changing world. She looks forward to seeing storytelling expand beyond the boundaries of performance to inform practices throughout a wide range of disciplines.