Survivor Stories

I’ve decided not to duplicate survivor stories on my personal website, because I know the conversation I had with each survivor as I interviewed them.

We spoke about how they would be identified in their stories (anonimity vs. identified)—and invited them to drive those decisions based on their preferences and safety needs. We also discussed the release we had them sign, which gives REST permission to share their stories in marketing channels and at events. In that decision, I would offer the caveat: If you ever decide you no longer want your story out there, you can ask us to remove it—and we will—but we cannot remove from everything. We cannot retract it in printed documents, email campaigns, or from any website that is outside of REST’s management. In my time after REST, I want to continue to honor that offer, and I do that by avoiding re-publishing any story that may one day be requested for removal from REST’s properties.

In order to share those writing samples with you (and they are some of my favorites!), I’m linking to those stories on REST’s website, so if they’re ever pulled, the links will simply break.

For each of these stories, I had the pleasure of interviewing each survivor, hearing them share their own stories, then turning the interview into a written narrative which then gets reviewed by the survivor for final changes and approval, and finally shared and amplified through REST’s channels. I don’t really consider myself the “storyteller” in these contexts, but the amplifier of a story that was lived and is owned by someone else. I tried to deeply root each story in the survivors own words, with clear and non-sensationalized context to support each quote.

I reject the idea of being a “voice for the voiceless”. They are not voiceless. They’ve had their voices oppressed and silenced, and it is truly a high honor to get to help amplify their voices.

Most of these stories can be found in REST’s Annual Reports from 2017–2021:

REST Annual Report 2021: Featuring the stories of Angelica, R, Sincere, and Ronisha

REST Annual Report 2020: Featuring the stories of Jovie, Hope, Lexie, and Evanna

REST Annual Report 2019: Featuring the stories of Kate, Esmé, Wendy, and Becky

REST Annual Report 2018: Featuring the stories of Amora and Erick

REST Annual Report 2017: Featuring the stories of Stephanie, Chelsea and Piper

REST’s Annual Reports were my babies—I was in charge of gathering stories and data, writing, and designing these documents.

REST’s 2019 Annual Report, the first one after a brand overhaul, earned Silver Awards in the MedCom and Hermes Awards for Non-Profit Annual Reports.