Michele White Creative

“Stories are about people,” my journalism professors used to say.  “Shoot more people.”  In television news, that meant,  “Show me the PEOPLE.”  And not standing around, which they affectionately called BOPSA.  Show me people doing something.

I have been a storyteller since I was a little girl.  Voraciously reading, writing, writing, writing and writing ever since I could.  I’m a dogged journalist and a dynamic storyteller.  I have a knack for getting inspiring people to give me great sound bites.  I love to educate and inspire audiences.  Even when I write complicated political or business stories, I break it down into its basic components and tell the story through the eyes of the people most affected by it. I loved working in a job that paid me to read, write and learn something new every day.

Storytelling:  The New Strategic Imperative of Business

Before I studied journalism in college, I studied interior design and architecture.  It was in architecture school that one of my professors told me that my thesis for the cottage I designed, “was the most well-written and articulate thesis he had ever read.”  I wrote it in 15 minutes in the loud and cramped basement laundromat close to campus. I realized I had missed my calling. I took a journalism class the next semester and got an A without even trying.  The rest, as they say, is history.

But, I was always sad about not being as naturally talented a designer as my classmates in architecture school.  Ironically, my best friend in journalism school had the same passion for architecture that I do, which throws that whole right brain vs. left brain theory out the window.  We operated out of both sides of our brains.  Or maybe that was our perfectionist spirits.

My love of pretty things and journalism brought me to Alaska.  I could have taken a job in the lower 48 in a bigger television market than Anchorage, and I almost did.  But, the wonder and untouched beauty of Alaska beckoned me.  I thought I’d stay two years and then leave for another reporting job.  But, my job was eliminated after 6 months and I began looking for reporting jobs immediately.  Still, part of me wasn’t ready to leave when I hadn’t really unpacked yet.  There were adventures to be had and I wasn’t leaving without them.  So, I took my oldest daughter on some wild Alaskan adventures like ice-climbing, white water rafting and taking cruises to remote glaciers out of Seward and Prince William Sound.  I started hiking in the mountains and saw some of the back country and I was hooked.

When journalism jobs were hard to come by in a very competitive field in a sparsely populated state and isolation in Alaska made it harder to just move to another city for a job in my field, I looked for other ways to use my talents. I wrote freelance stories, web content and corporate newsletters but that wasn’t enough to make a living or to satisfy my writer’s itch or my passion for investigating.

Then, another beauty came into my life — my youngest daughter. I was meant to stay in Alaska long enough to have her 5 years ago. But, then I started looking for ways to use my talent and stay home with her. My priorities had changed dramatically. I wanted to be home more for her.

I went back to school to take classes in photography, web design, graphic design and videography.  My goal was finish school and create my own media company, using my talents and new skills in time to home school my daughter.

That is how Michele White Creative was born.  I excel in writing, photography and videography but I also love creating and designing and the symbiotic relationship between all of these art forms.  As a T.V. journalist, I loved reporting (news gathering), writing a news script, editing video, putting together a package for broadcast.  It allowed me to have a creative hand in every part of the story.  Similarly, I now enjoy writing a short film script, shooting video, editing and designing media projects that help my clients market their businesses.

 

Why Storytelling is Important for Business

 

The Value of Community Connections

What I call my tribe includes the smartest, most talented people I know — faculty and fellow alumni from my alma mater — affectionately called the Missouri Mafia because we hire our own.  It also includes other talented colleagues I’ve worked with, my fellow board members, and my big, loving church family. I connect with my fellow classmates from my media classes at Peninsula College and watch their work for inspiration.

The benefits of having a community like this are not only enriching personally and relationally but also professionally when we can collaborate on projects.  I trade recording studio use for voice-over work with another creative business owner in town.  I comment on his social media pages about his work.  I also donate my video work to businesses and organizations I support in order to build my portfolio and my business and to help their businesses grow.  With projects done in trade or in-kind, I give to my relationships in my life:  my daughter’s school, my midwifery, the board on which I serve.

What I want to do is to expand my professional circle and do more commercial projects.  I’d like to develop a team to work with me:  another editor and photographer, a back-end web developer and more voice-over artists.

We benefit from this kind of relationship because we strengthen our networking as artists and share our talents and resources.  By being in community, we draw inspiration from each others’ work, which is critical as creators, designers and artists.  Our clients also benefit from the flow of creative ideas and sharing of expertise, which ultimately produces a better work product.