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Content warning: This episode includes discussion of trauma, systemic harm, and experiences of marginalization, shared with care and intention.

This conversation begins with a truth many of us feel but don’t always name, that while trauma-informed storytelling often centers pain and loss, there is another force that has sustained communities for generations: joy.

In today’s episode of When Bearing Witness, we sit down with the Founder of 4 Da Hood, Frank Velásquez Jr., to explore joy not as an escape from hard work, but as a form of resistance and a pathway back to our full humanity. Frank reflects on what it has meant to reclaim joy personally – as a leader, storyteller, and entrepreneur – and how collective joy shows up in spaces where people of color gather together.

This conversation examines how joy lives alongside grief, how laughter can coexist with difficult conversations, and how choosing to lead with aspiration rather than deficit can fundamentally shift the way stories are told and received. From nonprofit storytelling to leadership culture, this episode invites us to imagine what becomes possible when joy is not an afterthought, but a deliberate, liberatory practice.

About Frank Velásquez Jr.

Storyteller Extraordinaire, Social Justice Warrior and Architect of Relations, Frank Velásquez Jr., relentlessly pursues racial and gender equity, while creatively connecting our stories, preserving the unique flavor of each one like in a yummy bowl of gumbo. As Founder of 4 Da Hood and the mastermind behind the Ascending Leaders in Color leadership program, he’s forging paths for peeps of color to lead with more authenticity, courage, and joy! Because for Frank, advancing equity isn’t just a job – it’s a movement towards building generational wealth for communities of color to thrive! And he's doing it one connection, one story, one courageous conversation at a time.

Connect with Frank Velásquez Jr.

4DaHood Website | LinkedIn

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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As we step into a new year of storytelling, this episode invites you to slow down, take a breath, and ground your practice in deeper care. Trauma-informed storytelling is not just about avoiding harm. It’s about building systems, rhythms, and habits that protect the people at the center of your work — including you.

In this conversation, Maria shares five practical ways to strengthen your trauma-informed storytelling practice in 2026. These approaches don’t require new software or a bigger team. It’s a gentle, practical invitation for anyone who wants to begin this year with intention.

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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In today’s episode of When Bearing Witness, we step into a conversation that sits at the heart of trauma-informed storytelling: what happens when a story intended to inspire instead causes harm, and how we move toward repair. Storytelling is powerful, but it is never neutral. When nonprofits share personal experiences without care, consent, or curiosity, those choices can leave deep emotional and relational wounds. This episode honors the truth that repair is possible, but only when we slow down enough to acknowledge harm and choose a different path forward.

Joining me for this vulnerable and necessary conversation is Rachel D’Souza, the founder of Gladiator Consulting and a proud member of the Community-Centric Fundraising Global Council. Rachel’s work centers on radical collaboration, racial equity, social justice, and decolonization, and her advocacy is deeply informed by her own lived experience of having her story misused for fundraising.

We explore what accountability can look like, why harm repair matters, and how nonprofit storytellers can move toward practices rooted in dignity, agency, and healing.

About Rachel D'Souza

Rachel D'Souza, MPPA, MLS is the founder of Gladiator Consulting in St. Louis, MO, a boutique firm co-creating with nonprofits across the country. As a proud member of the Community-Centric Fundraising Global Council, Rachel works to guide and resource a global initiative to reimagine the nonprofit sector through a lens of radical collaboration, racial equity, social justice, and decolonization. In 2024, Rachel completed her coursework to earn her second Master's Degree at the Washington University School of Law. With this additional training in negotiation, mediation, and cross-cultural conflict resolution, Rachel is eager to shift organizational culture and interpersonal relationships in the direction of healing, collaboration, and systems change.

Connect with Rachel D'Souza

Gladiatorrds Website | LinkedIn

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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Nonprofit storytellers are tasked with sharing stories that move people to act, yet we also carry the responsibility of protecting the dignity and agency of those whose stories we tell. And when we are working on the outside of an organization, as contractors or consultants, the power to ensure ethical and trauma-informed practices can feel limited.

So, how do we uphold care and consent when we are not the final decision makers?

In this episode, we are joined by Kristi Scott, an email marketing consultant who helps small nonprofits transform email campaigns from ineffective to impactful. Rooted in community-centric fundraising and a commitment to equity, Kristi shares how to write emails that are strategic, relational, and rooted in respect, not exploitation, guilt, or false urgency.

We talk about leading by example, planting seeds for organizational change, and building systems that protect story owners long after the first publication.

About Kristi Scott

Kristi Scott is an email marketing and fundraising consultant who works with small nonprofits to transform email campaigns from ineffective to impactful. She has been in the nonprofit sector for more than 15 years in programs, fundraising, and marketing. Her consulting work is rooted in community-centric fundraising, and she is professionally and personally committed to Black liberation and equity for all. Kristi holds an MBA in Marketing with honors and has worked in small businesses, startups, and corporate sales. She was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, the traditional lands of the Tongva (Gabrieleno) peoples.

Connect with Kristi Scott

Fundraising Email Fix | Website | LinkedIn

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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Content Warning: Michelle briefly talks about the death of a loved one. Be mindful of your emotional capacity as you listen in.

Storytelling in the nonprofit world is a powerful act of witness, but it can also take a quiet toll. When we listen to story after story of grief, injustice, or survival, our bodies absorb more than we realize.

This is vicarious trauma, the invisible weight that settles in when we hold space for other people’s pain without tending to our own. Many storytellers and mission-driven leaders find themselves emotionally exhausted not because they don’t care, but because they care deeply and continuously.

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Michelle Vande Hay, a Certified Holistic Life Coach and Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator who works with leaders and teams navigating compassion fatigue, overgiving, and burnout. Michelle helps mission-driven professionals reconnect with their bodies, their purpose, and their boundaries so they don’t lose themselves in the work they feel called to do.

Together, we explore how vicarious trauma shows up in our daily lives and how honoring stories also means honoring the storytellers. This conversation is an invitation to notice what your body carries and to consider that caring well for others begins with caring well for yourself.

About Michelle Vande Hay
Michelle is a Certified Holistic Life Coach & Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator. She empowers mission-driven leaders and teams to overcome the culture of overgiving and self-sacrifice so they don’t lose themselves in their mission. Michelle guides leaders & teams to overcome compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout. Through holistic coaching, trauma-sensitive yoga, and breathwork, clients connect more deeply to themselves, their mission, and their community, which creates long-lasting, sustainable impact.

Connect with Michelle Vande Hay

Download the Self-Care Cheat Sheet | Website | Love Your Life On Purpose Community | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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In this episode of When Bearing Witness, Maria sits down with Angela Soliz, a resilience coach, artist, and founder of Gela Road, a creative resilience agency helping people uncover their identity and build purpose-driven brands from the inside out.

Angela’s journey weaves together artistry, trauma-informed coaching, and the wisdom gained from scaling both real and metaphorical mountains. She brings a grounded and courageous approach to transformation that challenges traditional ideas of success and celebrates the slow, intentional work of healing.

Together, Maria and Angela explore what it means to tell stories from a place of resilience. This conversation serves as a reminder that stories do more than just inform. They transform, helping us reconnect to our shared humanity and the power of belonging.

About Angela Soliz

Angela Soliz is the founder of Gela Road, a creative resilience agency, and an artist, designer, educator, and trauma-informed speaker who helps people uncover their identity and build purpose-driven brands from the inside out. With a multidisciplinary background and a passion for climbing mountains—both literal and metaphorical—Angela brings a grounded, courageous approach to personal and creative transformation.

Connect with Angela Soliz

Gela Road | Link Tree

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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For many nonprofits, earned media is a powerful way to raise awareness, build credibility, and connect with new supporters. But when stories involve lived experiences of trauma, the stakes are high.

On this episode of When Bearing Witness, I’m joined by Amanda Clelland, Director of Communications and Advocacy at Thistle Farms in Nashville. Amanda has spent nearly 15 years in nonprofit and government communications, and today she leads the messaging, media, and advocacy work for an organization that supports women survivors.

Amanda and I talk about why nonprofit communicators must approach journalists with both strategy and care, ensuring that press opportunities do not come at the expense of the very people they aim to serve.

This episode will encourage you to think critically about your media relationships, the guidelines you set, and the culture of consent you create.

About Amanda Clelland

Amanda is the Director of Communications and Advocacy at Thistle Farms, a Nashville-based nonprofit and social enterprise that serves women survivors of human trafficking and prostitution. There, she leverages earned media and storytelling to educate and advocate for change. Amanda's passion for storytelling and creating positive change through communications has led her to work in both government and nonprofit sectors for nearly 15 years in legislative, membership, and media relations. She guides the Thistle Farms' messaging, storytelling, and media strategies as well as oversees the organization's public policy and advocacy work on the local, state, and federal levels. She is a longtime volunteer and advocate for women's health and domestic violence organizations in Nashville.

Connect with Amanda Clelland

Thistle Farms Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

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What happens when storytelling isn’t just about raising awareness or driving donations, but about creating a space where survivors can be truly seen, heard, and supported?

On today’s episode of When Bearing Witness, I sit down with Anne Ream, founder of The Center for Story & Witness. Anne has spent two decades alongside survivors of gender-based violence, facilitating writing workshops and initiatives that honor lived experience while protecting the dignity and agency of each storyteller.

We discuss what she has learned about the healing potential of storytelling, how to create trauma-informed spaces that prioritize care, and the fine line between empowerment and exploitation in nonprofit storytelling.

About Anne K. Ream

Anne K. Ream is the founder of The Voices and Faces Project, a global testimonial writing program for survivors of gender-based violence and other human rights violations (now Center for Story & Witness); co-founder of World Without Exploitation, the national coalition to end human trafficking; and author of Lived Through This, a critically praised memoir that documents Anne’s multi-country journey listening to sexual violence and trafficking survivors. The recipient of numerous awards for her work using story to create social change, Anne is a regular contributor to New City Chicago and currently serves as board president at Justice for Migrant Women.

Connect with Anne K. Ream

Center for Story and Witness | Story and Witness Instagram | Anne K Ream Instagram | Anne K Ream LinkedIn

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

Connect with Maria

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