Why does sharing our stories matter? Many of us want to be heard, or to express how we feel, or even to help others not go through the same pain we’ve experienced. And we want connections and community to lean on and lift us up.
This space is for you to share your important stories, honoring your life, and the things that make you different. We celebrate people that don’t fit in, that live in marginalized communities – from the LGBTQ+ community to people with disabilities to dreamers to people living with mental illness to all other minorities that are living their life the way they want, regardless of what others think.
You Owe It To Yourself to Share Your Stories
YOUR ADVICE MATTERS
Everything you've learned is something someone else has yet to discover – and your experiences will help them.
PEOPLE CARE
There are people just like you that want to hear from you. You'll be surprised how quickly you make meaningful connections.
YOUR STORY HAS VALUE
When you share your story with others, you'll realize it's not ordinary. It's unique to you and that is valuable – and that offers new insights.
YOU'RE NOT SELF ABSORBED
Sharing our stories is a way to help others and free ourselves of burdens. It's helping, not bragging.
It’s Simple To Share
Submit Your Story
We'll Review It
Then It Gets Published
Everything You Need to Know
Share an important personal experience or your big life story. You decide.
These topics naturally connect with our community:
- Not Fitting In/Feeling Different
- Working Through Adversity
- Racism/Anti-Racism/Prejudice
- Mental Health
- Coming Out
- Feeling Lost
- Being Empowered
- Belonging
- Self-Awareness
- My Creative Journey
When telling your story:
- For big life stories, share an experience that helps explain it, or be specific when describing your journey
- For both personal experiences and big life stories, tell us what happened and what actions were taken. Be specific so the audience can better understand the story. And try to answer how your story changed you or what you learned.
Need help with what to say? Consider one of these conversation starters:
- What’s something that happened to you that shaped how you live your life?
- What advice do you wish someone told you earlier in life?
- How has your mental or physical health impacted your life, and what advice would you give others?
- What helped you find your path in life after feeling lost?
- How did coming out affect your life? And how did you grow from it?
Need help writing your story?
Check out these resources: How to Write Winning First-Person Stories and How to Write a ‘Lives’ Essay.
Format and review
- Written stories should be 800 words or less (but not less than 400)
- Stories by videos should be less than 5 minutes
- We typically do not edit stories, unless we find a grammar change. Be sure to proofread and spell check it.
- If we find required changes that prevents us from publishing your story or your story is not accepted, we’ll contact you
- Once you story goes live, we’ll email you
Yes, you can share…
- Anonymous submissions: We do require names when submitting. However, you can use a pseudonym or your initials in place of sharing your name on our site publicly. Just add a note at the beginning of your story, asking us to publish with your pseudonym or your initials. If you’re comfortable and safe, we encourage you to use your name and provide a contact link. This provides opportunities for you to connect with others and build a deeper community.
- Multiple stories: You can submit more than one story. However, each story must be unique and personal. Please submit them in separate forms.
No thank you
- Promotions: Stories are not a place for promotions. If you’re interested in promoting a project or business, contact us here.
Be thoughtful and kind
- Be inclusive and error on the side of kindness. We do not accept stories with hateful speech, obscene sexual content, or intolerant ideas.
- While each story is personal, we strive for each one to share a learning, idea, or lesson in it. This isn’t a hard rule. It’s meant to avoid stories that are only venting or describing a problem.
- We aim to publish diverse stories with unique viewpoints and we do our best to be inclusive with the stories and content we publish
