Strategic Storytelling Consulting

Most organizations know that authentic stories matter.
Fewer know how to design the conditions that make those stories possible.

We work with youth-serving organizations to develop ethical, effective storytelling practices grounded in behavioral science, positive youth development, and decades of real-world experience. This work supports organizations that want to elevate youth voice — not as performance, but as genuine participation.

Rather than focusing solely on production or one-off campaigns, this consulting work helps institutions build story capacity: the skills, structures, and practices that allow meaningful stories to emerge consistently and responsibly.

Depending on your needs, this work may include:

  • Designing trauma-informed interview frameworks

  • Developing ethical storytelling guidelines and practices

  • Training staff and facilitators on participatory media approaches

  • Advising on story strategy for campaigns, fundraising, or internal culture

  • Helping organizations align narrative, mission, and audience

  • Supporting production teams by shaping the human side of the process

Organizations often struggle with:

  • Wanting authentic youth stories, but not knowing how to ask for them

  • Interviews that feel flat, performative, or overly polished

  • Staff who care deeply, but lack training in trauma-informed or participatory approaches

  • Production partners who understand cameras, but not people

  • Stories that technically “work,” but fail to connect or inspire action

Our consulting addresses those gaps — before the camera ever turns on.

The goal is not just better stories — but better systems for telling them.

This work is particularly well suited to:

  • Youth-serving nonprofits

  • Mentorship and scholarship programs

  • Education and leadership development organizations

  • Foundations and funders supporting youth voice

  • Teams seeking thoughtful, systems-aware approaches to storytelling

This is often the first way organizations engage our
work
, and can stand alone or serve as a foundation for deeper creative collaboration.

At the core of this work is a simple belief:

Meaningful stories don’t come from extraction — they come from relationship, care, and design.

Our role is to help organizations slow down, listen more carefully, and build storytelling practices that honor the people they serve while still meeting institutional goals.

Kenny makes the work appear effortless in spite of the sometimes hard to engage populations with which he works.
— Carol Lemus, National Award-Winning, innovative senior public health professional bridging science with community-based, participatory programming