Latest news with #storytelling
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Inner Circle acknowledges Diana B. Roberts as a Pinnacle Professional Member Inner Circle of Excellence
MILTON, Mass., July 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Prominently featured in The Inner Circle, Diana B. Roberts is acknowledged as a Pinnacle Professional Member Inner Circle of Excellence for her contributions to Combining Fundraising Expertise and Literary Talent to Inspire Change Through Storytelling. Diana B. Roberts, a seasoned fundraising professional, accomplished author, and community leader, continues to shape public dialogue through her writing and decades-long dedication to non-profit service. With over 40 years of experience in institutional advancement and leadership, Ms. Roberts brings a strategic, mission-driven approach to both fundraising and authorship. A graduate of Drake University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications, Ms. Roberts furthered her studies at Hunter College, CUNY, and Simmons University. Her professional journey began with the Peace Corps in the late 1960s, serving in Tunisia and later Washington, D.C., and evolved into senior fundraising roles at leading cultural institutions, including Milton Academy, Boston Medical Center, the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and the Gore Place Society. Notably, she played a key role in a $30 million capital campaign to renovate Boston Conservatory's major campus theater. As a writer, Ms. Roberts has authored a memoir and two biographical novels—Farrago: A Memoir of Markie and Me, Spare Parts: A Rollicking Ride through the Late 60s and 70s, and Missing Parts—which reflect her life's observations with insight, humor, and historical context. Her work has earned her media appearances, including on This Week in America, and she is currently developing a fourth novel centered on a carnival theme. She also hopes to adapt her written work for film. Ms. Roberts is a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and the Vincent Club of Boston at Massachusetts General Hospital. She was honored as a "Super Volunteer" at Saint Michael's Episcopal Church in 2024 and credits Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a key mentor in her life. She dedicates her continued work to the memory of her grandmother, Grace Elizabeth Pierce, and is committed to using storytelling and philanthropy to inspire transformation across generations. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, editorialteam@ Cision View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Inner Circle
Telegraph
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Jimmy McGovern's new drama Unforgivable proves he is TV's best writer
'This is my third time working with Jimmy,' says Anna Friel. 'And I've never finished a script that I've been offered without crying.' She's talking about Jimmy McGovern, the writer of Cracker, Hillsborough and Accused, who for the past four decades has been delivering dramas of great emotional power and moral seriousness, staking a claim as the pre-eminent TV writer of our time. No one writes with such acute insight into the lives of ordinary people – and the hopes and struggles behind closed doors. From searing dramas, such as Priest, The Lakes and Hearts and Minds, he has gone on to campaigning works such as Common, Anthony and Time, splintering prejudice, demanding justice and a fairer country. In an age in which our screens have been hijacked by cosy crime and fantasy, as viewers escape into stories about the conspicuous wealth of the spoilt rich while everyone else's living standards fall, McGovern never gives up on realism or humanity. That he can still draw audiences to such subjects says everything about his gift for storytelling. Friel first worked with McGovern on The Street (2006-2009), which explored the lives of people on a single Manchester street, then later on Broken (2017), playing a woman who conceals her mother's death for financial reasons. In his new one-off drama for BBC Two, Unforgivable, the 75-year-old examines paedophilia – a crime of which he was himself a victim as a boy at a Catholic school. Friel plays the sister of a man who has abused his nephew – her son – and hates him for it. 'I'm writing a drama now that's about a sex offender,' McGovern told me himself in 2023. 'And I ask the question, is his sin forgivable, too? Does he not deserve the right to start all over again?' McGovern's answer to that question left its first preview audience stunned into silence, Friel reports. 'He's a writer that can take your breath away.' McGovern admitted this week that he thought the BBC would say no to the drama, which airs on Thursday, and that he had worried about a backlash from people who may think it offered a sympathetic view of child abusers. 'To be honest with you, it was so controversial, I think the BBC sat on it for a year,' says his long-time executive producer Colin McKeown. 'People always think that if Jimmy drops a betting slip, it will get produced. That isn't true. The journey of all the projects is always difficult, and it's always an awful lot of persuasion.' Much depends on McGovern 'being passionate enough to want to overcome the hurdles', McKeown insists. The producer has worked with McGovern since his very earliest days in television, writing on Channel 4's Brookside – the Liverpool soap created by Grange Hill supremo Phil Redmond. Redmond recalls they were on the hunt for 'really authentic Scouse voices', and McGovern's name was mentioned – he was Liverpool-born, had had three children in his early twenties, and was working as an English teacher at a city comprehensive; he had also begun writing plays for the Liverpool Playhouse. 'Right away you could see a grasp and understanding of dialogue, passion, a really good narrative,' McKeown, who helped launch Brookside, says. Redmond met McGovern in a pub – 'the aptly named Slaughter House', he recalls. 'Jimmy was Jimmy. He had that great sense of truth and justice… we talked a bit about the times when none of us had any money, and we survived. I just immediately knew this was a guy who would not be afraid to talk about life the way it is. I liked his humour, his empathy, his compassion. He also had that touch of sentimentality, which he tries to hide. 'I knew as soon as his first script came in that he had something,' he adds. From 1982 to 1989, McGovern would write 86 episodes of the show, not without clashes. 'Trying to get Jimmy to bottle what he had within the television regulations, that was a challenge,' Redmond says. 'We had a few ding dongs as we went along.' The classic one, he notes, was sparked by McGovern's anger towards the government of Margaret Thatcher. 'He couldn't even mention her name in the room before he'd start shaking.' McGovern, he recalls, 'wrote this fantastic, impassioned monologue' for one of the characters about the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands War in 1982. 'I said, you can't have that... it's too political.' It was too close to a general election, he believed, and could fall foul of electoral regulations. McGovern, though, wouldn't let it lie. 'He'd be doing a comedy [sequence] with [Michael Starke's perennial ne'er-do-well] Sinbad or something, and suddenly Sinbad would say, 'This reminds me of the Falklands War'. My red pen would go through it.' The saga went on for three years, until the show sent four of its characters away on a trip to Torquay. McGovern had discovered an interesting geographical feature just off the coast. 'And in the screenplay one of them turns round and says, 'D'you know what that rock's called? Thatcher's Rock. … Do you remember the Falklands?'' Redmond laughs. He let him have it. 'That's what I used to love about him: that Scouse tenacity and resilience.' Friel, of course, also shot to fame on Brookside, joining at 16 as Beth Jordache, a role that encompassed not only British TV's first primetime lesbian kiss but also a prison sentence for Beth, for her part in hiding her abusive father's body under the patio in the show's most talked-about storyline. She and McGovern did not cross paths on the show – he'd departed four years earlier – but she has vivid memories of watching Cracker (his 1993 post-Brookside breakthrough) at home with her parents. 'It's wonderful drama. He's still, to this day, one of my very, very, favourite writers. And I think he's one of Britain's most important writers.' And the wheel has come full circle, she notes. 'My daughter Grace has just turned 20; she's at Bristol University, and one of the things she had to break down as part of the film course was Cracker. It's now on university courses – because it was so groundbreaking.' Gwyneth Hughes, who wrote the campaigning drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office that aired last January, also remembers 'weeping buckets' watching Cracker while staying with a friend, and her 'helpless shuddering sobs' when Christopher Eccleston's DCI Bilborough was killed at the beginning of the second series. 'I'm a policeman's daughter,' she explains. McGovern's ability to tap into the feelings of his audience is a key facet of his talent, which he used with unflinching emotional force in his 1996 drama about the Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool fans were killed. 'He is so socially aware, it hurts,' says the writer of The Responder, Tony Schumacher, who was later mentored by McGovern. Again and again, McGovern has taken on dramas around single issues, while putting his characters first, without resorting to proselytising sermons. 'I think what jumps off the page immediately with Jimmy's work is that there's never a wasted word in the script,' Friel says. 'Every single word matters and is used with impact and power. It's always straight to the point,' McKeown describes watching McGovern work as a story editor on the daytime drama series Moving On. 'He scribbled something on a script, then he buggered off to the loo. I had a look at it and he'd just crossed out, 'she tosses and turns in her sleep', and put down, 'sleep won't come'.' McGovern spent years bringing new writers through on Moving On. It was a long time later when he mentored Schumacher, but the former policeman notes that the English teacher in him was still strong. He would invite the younger man round, make him 'terrible soup' and quiz him at length about his life. Finally, weeks later, after asking him to pitch three ideas for TV shows, McGovern told him his own story should be his first show – 'and that was The Responder,' he says, 'it was my past as a bobby and everything else. 'He changed my life,' he says. McGovern, like Boys from the Blackstuff creator Alan Bleasdale before him, Schumacher believes, has become now 'part of the DNA of the city'. Redmond, meanwhile, hints at a still untapped reserve: 'Jimmy is brilliant at comedy, you know. I think he's still got a fantastic sitcom in him. He obviously gets it in the stuff he does, but if he sat down and decided to write a pure comedy, it'd be brilliant.' Unforgivable is on BBC Two on Thursday 24 July at 9pm
Entrepreneur
19 hours ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
How Las Vegas' Refined Hospitality Group Got Its Start
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Before there were lines out the door, Alexandra Lourdes and Steve Jerome were just trying to solve different problems. Lourdes, then a Ph.D. student at UNLV, had started collaborating on campus events with her friend Lin Smith Jerome, who was married to Jerome and would soon become her closest creative partner. At the time, Jerome was running a high-end steakhouse and needed to boost foot traffic. He asked Lourdes and Smith Jerome to organize a happy hour at the restaurant. The event packed the patio, and it lit a spark for a new business. The happy hour worked so well that the restaurant wanted more — weekly events, full-on marketing support, a real partnership. There was just one issue: Lourdes and Smith Jerome didn't technically have a company. So they made one. That night, Smith Jerome filed the LLC paperwork. Lourdes mocked up a logo at the dining room table. Suddenly, they were in the restaurant marketing world, prioritizing storytelling, community and in-person energy over traditional ads. What started as a one-off collaboration quickly became The Refined Agency — and eventually, the foundation for Refined Hospitality Group. Related: How An Unmarked Dive Bar in Vegas Became One of America's Must-See Destinations — Within 3 Years of Opening Bouncing from coffee shop to coffee shop with their laptops, Lourdes and Smith Jerome eventually thought, Why not just create one we actually like working in? They brought Jerome in as a partner, and their idea became Café Lola: part creative hub, part coffee shop and the first concept the three of them built together. Building on that momentum, they launched Saint Honoré — a boutique doughnut shop tucked into a hard-to-find parking lot, where they decorated pastries by hand and hoped someone would come in. "We were throwing more doughnuts away than we were selling," Jerome says. "One customer would trickle in. That was it." Lourdes decided to document what life looked like as a small business owner. "I ended up doing a day-in-the-life [video], and I just started filming everything I was doing, decorating doughnuts, and that video blew up to like a million views," she says. "All of a sudden, I became a storyteller." Lourdes has since grown her audience to more than a million followers on Instagram and 2.5 million on TikTok. Related: This Restaurant Tech Cost Him a Client — Then Changed Everything for His Business Built different, built together Jerome will be the first to tell you he's not on social media. He prefers to let the food and hospitality speak for themselves. But he also knows the power of what Lourdes does with a phone and a story. "She brings people in. I try to keep them coming back," he says. That line isn't just a catchphrase. It's how Refined Restaurant Group works. Lourdes leads content and community, drawing audiences through authentic storytelling. Jerome handles operations, quality and guest experience. They don't compete for the same role. They complement each other in every one. Related: How This Massive Food Company Turned Its Fleet of Trucks into Rolling Billboards — And the Lesson It Teaches About Brand-Building That clarity has allowed them to stay small, fast and deeply connected to their guests. Refined doesn't need corporate approval to pivot. If a menu item isn't resonating or a customer comment surfaces something new, they can adjust the same day. New ideas come from staff, followers and sometimes their own kids. The gap between idea and execution is often just 24 hours. The team's agility shows in the concepts they've built: five Café Lola locations, two Saint Honoré shops (also home to their pizza spinoff, Pizza Anonymous), the fried chicken brand 3 Little Chicks, and two full-service restaurants, Sorellina and Emilio's, each a tribute to their families. What ties it all together isn't a cuisine. It's a point of view. They care about quality. They care about speed. And they care about the people on both sides of the counter. What started as a happy hour experiment and a quiet doughnut shop has become a model for how to build something bigger without losing your voice. They didn't just grow a restaurant group. They built trust, one story at a time. Related: Jon Taffer Teamed Up With This $300 Million Franchise Company to Build Something Bigger Than Restaurants About Restaurant Influencers Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience. Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about Toast. Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.
Fast Company
a day ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Storytelling isn't just for marketing
In an era where consumers are flooded with choices and noise, the most enduring brands aren't just the ones with the best features, they're the ones that make people feel seen. That philosophy guides us at Michael Graves Design, as we believe that great design begins with listening. Our products, from the iconic Alessi teakettle to our Quick Fold cane, are never created in isolation. They emerge from stories: personal, emotional, and deeply human. This commitment to storytelling isn't just a marketing strategy; it's a design principle, one that bridges purposeful delight to create pioneering products. We rely on our ' Design With ' process that embodies collaboration. Instead of designing for users, we design with them. This approach involves ethnographic research, empathy-based brainstorming sessions, and consumer preference testing, which provides us direct engagement with our community. By involving a diverse pool of users, we ensure that our products resonate on a personal level with a broad audience. This collaborative storytelling helps us uncover product opportunity gaps and ensures that our designs reflect real experiences and needs. Designs rooted in story Take our Whistling Bird Teakettle for Alessi. Beyond its functional design, with a shape that makes water boil faster, the kettle uses color to tell a purposeful story of hot and cold, and a story of morning rituals of waking up to the sound of birds chirping. This narrative transforms a simple kitchen appliance into an experience, making daily routines delightful. Likewise, our canes are designed not just for support, but to empower. Typical canes seem institutional, carry stigma, and remind users of their limitations. Our designs incorporate vibrant colors and ergonomic features, turning them into symbols of independence and style. Design transforms them from needed medical devices into desired consumer products. It's the straightforward difference between focusing on the negative and focusing on the positive. 3 lessons for entrepreneurs and brands At Michael Graves Design, we live these lessons daily, not just as best practices, but as core beliefs. These three underlying principles are adaptable across industries and team sizes. Whether you're launching a new product or building a brand from scratch, these are three powerful ways to bring people into your process and create meaningful offerings. 1. Engage your community Involving your customers early in the product development process opens a feedback loop that strengthens both the product and the relationship. At MGD, we regularly incorporate community voices through ethnographic visits and ideation sessions. Other companies can do this too by building small advisory panels, running beta programs, or simply inviting feedback and listening actively. Cocreation not only improves the end result, but it also turns customers into brand advocates. 2. Design with empathy Real empathy fuels innovation. Understand how people live, struggle, and express themselves, then design from that insight. It's the best way to increase the chances that new products will resonate with consumers and sell really well. Conduct consumer preference testing sessions where consumers can interact with 'works-like' prototypes. This invaluable feedback informed all final design refinements and assortment selection for our recent Pottery Barn collection. 3. Lead with story, not specs At MGD, every product is anchored in a story—not invented after the fact, but woven into the design process from the beginning. Specs matter, but emotional connection drives decisions. Other companies can tap into this by asking: What does this product represent to the people who use it? How do we know? Build your marketing around those stories, and you'll move from selling features to creating emotional resonance. Community storytelling with real impact This storytelling approach extends from the product design process into marketing. Our email newsletter, Monthly Delights, captures the essence of how storytelling becomes a powerful marketing force, not through sales language, but through the lived experiences of our consumers and influences. A few examples: Delaney ('Lanes'), a vibrant college senior navigating life in New York City, began using a cane during a chronic illness flare-up. Tired of dull, clinical designs, she discovered the C-Grip cane in sage green and finally found a mobility aid that matched her personality. 'This is the most comfortable cane handle I've ever used,' she shared. 'It was nice to pick a cane that felt like me.' Her story reinforces how design that honors individuality can turn a necessity into a point of pride. Greg: Design that elevates communities Greg, founder of Little Deeds, helps make homes safer for older adults and people with disabilities. He discovered our products at a CVS and was struck by how they elevated both form and function. As someone who advocates for universal design, Greg appreciated how thoughtful details, like intuitive touch points and sophisticated styling, help dissolve stigma and spark joy. 'Design like this causes us to pause for a second and think about what exactly brought that sudden sense of joy,' he said. Lindsey: Turning diagnosis into artistic empowerment Lindsey, a mixed-media artist living with multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, channels her journey into creativity. She paints vibrant abstractions of brain MRI scans, including hundreds for others living with chronic illness. When she found our red sunbaked-clay C-Grip cane, it wasn't just a mobility tool, it became a part of her expressive identity. 'It's stylish, supportive, and makes even a rough day feel a bit more put together,' she explained. At MGD, storytelling isn't a tool we add later, it's embedded from the very beginning. Listening to and telling stories helps us stay curious, unleashes our creativity, and most importantly, keeps us connected with our consumers. For brands looking to stand out, the lesson is simple: Build with people, not for them, and the story telling opportunities will follow.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Stephen Fry 'extraordinarily grateful for life' after being 'mocked in school'
Former Blackadder star and QI host Stephen Fry has spoken candidly about his "gratitude" for life. Speaking at Newport Beach Film Festival just a few months ago, Fry took to the stage and spoke about his past in a rare public appearance. The star-studded event at Raffles at The OWO celebrated the best and brightest of the UK and Ireland's creative industries. Final ep #WhatIBelieve out now with none other than Stephen Fry! From the uncomfortable truth of AI to the peril of being 'right' over being 'effective', it's a fascinating 40mins covering his beliefs/values. Here he is discussing the dichotomy of humanity — Humanists UK (@Humanists_UK) July 17, 2025 The prestigious Icon Award was presented to Fry in recognition of his remarkable contribution across a varied career spanning more than 25 years. Speaking on stage, he said: 'I have every reason to be extraordinarily grateful for my life. I grew up as someone who was pretty much hopeless at everything; I couldn't sing, I couldn't catch a ball. "I was one of those rather unfortunate uncoordinated children who would clap their hands when it came towards them – I was mocked in school for not being able to dance, to play music, to draw, to paint. But I discovered I loved telling stories.' Reflecting upon his time at Uppingham boys' boarding school in Rutland, he would tell stories after 'lights out', which ignited his passion for performing. 'I would […] play with words and language, and to my enormous surprise this one thing we all share – the ability to speak to each other, the ability to make up stories – is not as grand as being able to run fast, catch, jump, or paint or draw, or play music, because we can all do it. "It is that very fact that we can all do it that makes it so extraordinarily wonderful; when actors get together, tell stories, become other people and entertain the world. Recommended reading: Nationwide customers angry at 'controversial' decision - 'They have no say' John Torode and Gregg Wallace 'off with each other' and 'were never friends' Do you have to pay council tax on a caravan? Rules and regulations explained 'I have learnt everything in the past 45 years since I was let loose [in the world of acting] and I've had nothing but the most extraordinary pleasure working with incredible people, people who are so fascinating and interesting. "I spend a great deal of time not in the trailer because I love talking to crew people, and craftspeople, and technicians, and fellow actors, gossiping and laughing. It is the greatest privilege in the world. '[Playwright] Noel Coward had a sign above his desk that said 'work is more fun than fun', and if you are lucky enough to find work is more fun than fun, then really you have drawn first prize in the lottery of life.'
