Think about everybody round you seems like they’re shouting underwater. That’s my world with out listening to aids—a actuality I’ve hidden since I used to be a child.
Phrases attain me as a cacophony of blended vowels, forcing me to piece collectively which means out of your lips, your expressions, your gestures. And a 12 months in the past, if you happen to’d informed me synthetic intelligence would assist me lastly embrace this a part of myself, I might’ve laughed in your face.
Let me clarify.
Within the days earlier than social media may join you to “others such as you” with a single swipe, I used to be the one child I knew who wanted listening to aids. So at a younger age, I decided to cover this in any respect prices. And I turned an knowledgeable at it.
But, paradoxically, I’ve constructed my complete profession round serving to others share their fact. As a As we speak Present producer after which a enterprise storytelling coach, I spent years in management rooms and convention rooms, creating secure areas for folks to be susceptible. But there I used to be perfecting my very own day by day disguise—strategic hair placement (by no means up), rigorously tilted headphones to keep away from management room suggestions, and limitless excuses for why I wanted to take a seat in sure spots throughout conferences. I used to be the grasp of creating others really feel seen so as to share their tales whereas doing every little thing doable to cover a significant a part of my very own.
Quick-forward to 2023. Working my video storytelling firm, I watched in frustration as college students submitted soulless AI-generated scripts. Months of serving to them join the dots on their founder tales, solely to have them feed every little thing into ChatGPT for completely polished—however totally lifeless—ultimate scripts. I hated this new expertise.
However the journalist in me couldn’t ignore one nagging query: Might we use AI to assist us inform extra susceptible, extra human tales?
Late one night time, I made a decision to check this concept on myself. I opened ChatGPT and typed: “I wish to discover one thing I’ve been hiding my complete life. I put on listening to aids, and I’m exhausted from concealing them. Are you able to assist me perceive why I’m struggling to be open about this?”
The AI’s response stopped me chilly. As an alternative of the same old generic recommendation, it mirrored again patterns in my very own writing—how usually I used phrases like “conceal,” “masks,” and “cowl.”
AI confirmed me that my biggest power as a storytelling coach was serving to others embrace precisely what made them totally different, and that I wanted to do the identical for myself. Tears streamed down my face as I noticed my very own story in a totally new gentle.
This surprising second began me on a journey to assist others use AI to inform their genuine tales.
However first, I used myself because the guinea pig. I started utilizing AI as a journal—writing down my observations about my purchasers and college students’ greatest fears, their late-night worries, their secret desires of what their companies may grow to be, what triggered them on social media or within the office. (Anonymized, after all, to guard their privateness.) After which I ventured onto extra sinister ideas from my very own entrepreneurial journey: “Am I actually certified to do that?” “What if everybody realizes I’m making this up as I am going?” Then I’d ask AI to assist me discover moments from my very own life that might construct bridges to the struggles of my viewers.
The method was iterative, collaborative, tough, and therapeutic.
The place I as soon as noticed random life experiences that had no bearing on my present life or enterprise hat, AI helped me spot golden threads of connection. That point I bombed a reside TV section and virtually bought fired? Instantly I noticed the way it related to my viewers’s concern of visibility. My rocky transition from community TV to entrepreneurship? An ideal mirror for their very own profession pivot anxieties. That second I used to be mendacity on my Brooklyn house flooring with a new child and toddler, terrified about getting let go from my “model new fancy” startup job? It spoke on to my viewers’s fears about taking dangers and making large modifications.
It was like having a mirror that might see previous my blind spots—exhibiting me connections I used to be too shut to note, patterns I used to be too wrapped up in to acknowledge, and which means in moments I’d dismissed as simply “stuff that occurred.”
I started weaving these AI-sparked revelations into my enterprise storytelling, testing how this new vulnerability landed with my viewers. The response was fast.
Tales I’d dismissed as “not that attention-grabbing” immediately revealed their energy by AI as “she” recognized golden threads of connection I used to be too near see.
My storytelling library cracked broad open. I turned excited to dig into among the uncomfortable life moments with AI as my thought-provoking information.
The true breakthrough got here once I began instructing this reflective strategy to different enterprise leaders. Along with AI, we excavated the deeper meanings behind their enterprise selections, revealing tales they by no means thought to inform.
Collectively we used prompts like this:
“What themes emerge in how I speak about my work trip?”
“The place would possibly I be holding again out of concern?”
“How may my struggles really assist my viewers?”
I watched founders who’d hidden behind their logos for years lastly step into the highlight with confidence. A cleaning soap firm founder revealed her actual cause for leaving finance for ocean conservation.
Hastily, her sharing about herself “wasn’t bragging” however needed to connect with her clients.
One other founder realized her obsession with constructing nurturing company cultures stemmed from dropping her dad as a toddler.
These weren’t simply higher advertising and marketing tales—they had been moments of profound readability. I watched as “skilled facades” crumbled as they realized their private experiences weren’t distractions from their enterprise tales—they only wanted to see these moments in one other gentle.
These transformations had been so highly effective that I knew I wanted to make this course of accessible to extra folks. The issue was, most AI instruments weren’t constructed for this type of deep, reflective storytelling work. They had been designed to generate content material, not unlock genuine human tales.
So I constructed StoryPro, an AI storytelling software particularly designed for this intersection of humanity and expertise. To not write tales for folks (though it would as soon as it feels you’ve gone deep sufficient), however to assist them uncover the tales inside themselves that have to be informed.
It combines the pattern-recognition energy of AI with prompts and frameworks I’ve developed over a long time of serving to folks share their genuine experiences.
It’s like having a storytelling coach in your pocket—one which helps you see the importance in experiences you might need ignored and exhibits you the way these moments may resonate together with your viewers.
Then got here my second of fact . . .
I made a decision it was time to inform my listening to assist story publicly for the primary time ever.
Utilizing a mixture of Google Pocket book LLM and StoryPro, the storytelling software I created, I started exploring my very own narrative in a deeper approach.
I wrote a video script story about my listening to aids freely and with a readability I had by no means felt earlier than.
After I lastly shared the video on LinkedIn, the submit went viral, producing hundreds of thousands of impressions. Talking invites and podcast appearances adopted.
However the actual transformation wasn’t within the metrics. It was in how I lastly noticed myself: I internalized for the primary time how my listening to loss wasn’t a weak spot to cover.
The previous 18 months have remodeled every little thing I believed I knew about AI and authenticity. AI isn’t right here to exchange our creativity—it’s a mirror, reflecting again the tales we’ve saved locked inside ourselves. It’s a software that may assist us see ourselves extra clearly and discover braveness in our vulnerability. It may possibly even be a associate in therapeutic our wounded self-image.
These listening to aids I spent a long time hiding?
They’re now proudly seen in each video name and talking engagement. Not as a result of AI wrote me an ideal story, however as a result of it helped me see the story that was there all alongside—and personal it proudly.
Need to begin your individual journey of discovery? Right here’s a immediate that modified every little thing for me:
“The Mirror Immediate”
1. Open your favourite AI software and paste this:
“I want your assist exploring one thing I’ve been hesitant to share. I’ll begin by sharing a few of my previous writing so you possibly can perceive my voice. Then I’ll let you know about one thing I really feel referred to as to share with my viewers who’re {insert a bit of information in your viewers and the way you serve them} however haven’t discovered the proper technique to specific it. Are you able to assist me spot patterns and connections I is likely to be lacking? Be at liberty to ask follow-up questions.”
2. After the AI responds, go deeper with:
“Assist me see this by contemporary eyes—what hidden strengths would possibly lie in what I’ve seen as weaknesses? How may this assist me join extra authentically with my viewers?”
3. Lastly, ask for:
“Present me three small methods to start sharing this story, beginning with the gentlest first step I may take right now.”
You is likely to be stunned—like I used to be—to search out your self feeling actually seen and understood . . . sure, by AI. Typically essentially the most highly effective insights come from surprising locations.
