STORYQUO COLLECTIVE
Content doesn't change the world. Story does.
Most of what is called storytelling is manufactured to hold attention and sell it.
We work with people and organizations building a better world that almost nobody can picture yet.
We make it visible.
OUR BELIEFS
Words are magic
Story is the oldest technology we have. It shapes what we think is real, what we think is possible, and whose side we're on.
Storytelling has always been a dialogue. People believe the stories they help tell.
A better message can't fix a structural problem. The work is helping a better story exist in the first place.
Story has the power to change the world.
You're happy with run-of-the-mill marketing agencies.
You don't care about the substances within your stories.
FuYou just want to tweak your messaging, rather than radically reimagine it.
You just want more content, made faster
We're wrong for you if:
We work with:
Movements whose mission has outrun their story.
Funders who want narrative strength across a whole portfolio.
Climate, life sciences, and emerging technology teams already living in a future the rest of us can't see.
Leadership cohorts that need a shared story before they can trust each other.
THE WORK
We call it Storyhacking
We identify the narratives at the core of an organization, community, or sector, and surface, expand, and (where necessary) redesign them: structurally, culturally, strategically, and in how they travel.
Culture
Shifting the dominant narratives shaping a sector, community, or movement.
Systems
Redesigning the story architecture inside an organization: how it understands itself, mobilizes others, and makes meaning.
Form
Building new ways to experience a story: roleplay, simulation, playable futures. Imagination that meets the moment.
Signal
Reshaping stories for how people actually encounter them now: short, ephemeral, algorithmic, and on every screen.
Chanel · Comcast NBCUniversal · Disney · Dominican Artists Collective · The Global Fund · Google
Hearst · iHeartMedia · Intel · Johnson · & Johnson · The League of Intrapreneurs · Meta · NFL · Nike · NYU Phillips 66 · Showtime · Spotify · TikTok · Univision · WeWork
WHO WE'VE WORKED WITH
Start with a day, or stay for the rebuild.
WAYS TO WORK WITH US
TRAIN THE TRAINER
One day, on site
We teach your team the narrative and roleplay devices directly, so you can run them yourselves from then on.
Typically $25,000 plus travel
EMBEDDED ENGAGEMENT
Inside your process
We design and run the story work inside a planning, leadership, or strategy process you already have under way.
Scoped to your timeline
FULL-STACK ENGAGEMENT
The full rebuild
Storyhacking at all three levels, as a longer partnership.
Scoped together
THE CONVERSATION
What we're writing, what we're passing around, and what has us arguing, one voice at a time, with room for yours. Read, listen, and answer back.
Story Circle
The Collective
WHO WE ARE
Catherine Connors
Astrid Scholz
Julissa Contreras
Michael Streefland
Finds the story
Makes it hold
Brings people in
Gets it heard
Narrative visionary and story architect. Leads the deep story work that surfaces an organization's purpose.
Systems thinker and structural architect. Organizes people, governance, and operations around the story.
Community builder and cultural catalyst. Builds the conditions for a group to imagine together.
Strategic communicator. Chooses the formats and channels that carry the story to the people it's for.
GET IN TOUCH
Connect with Us
Tell us what you're trying to change and what has stopped working. We'll come back with a specific proposal for how we can help.
