Dear CSS community,

Almost a year ago, I stepped into the role of Acting Executive Director at the Center for Story-based Strategy. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous. An Executive Director is a tough role, and in my decades of work in the progressive movement, I’ve seen a lot of people burn out. But I felt the kind of resolve that lives deep inside your spine. That spidey sense that tells you, “stand up.”

CSS has had an amazing transition year, and I’m so excited to announce that I am now the permanent ED. No more “Acting.”

For those who may not know me, my name is Tihi Hayslett. Back in 2015, just over ten years ago, I showed up to a retreat space in Northern California for CSS’ Advanced Training, and it changed the course of my life. At the time, I was a Digital Strategist for the Working Families Party. That meant using the power of the written word, in digital spaces, to move people into collective action, when “online-to-offline” was becoming a buzzword, not just in the movement but across the workforce. I had an ace up my sleeve back then: a Master’s of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing, and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Writing and Linguistics. You see, for my entire life, I’ve always wanted to tell stories. When I was little a boy, I dreamed of being the same kind of traveling oral-history storytellers that visited my Midwest hometown every summer. As a teenager, I was fiercely passionate about filmmaking. But as an adult, I fell in love with the written word. It’s one of humanity’s most ancient technologies, and to this day it still has the power to shift hearts, build new worlds, and capture that intangible, messy quality of what it means to be alive.

created with space type generator KieM.com

I always thought that storytelling and creative writing lived in a different world than organizing and activism. That is, until my Advanced Training at CSS. I felt like CSS opened a third eye for me, that there could be a different way of pushing for justice and social change that also expanded people’s hearts and empathy. After my first Advanced Training, I was determined to spread Story-based Strategy throughout the progressive movement. I spent the next ten years bringing CSS tools to labor and workers rights campaigns, infuse it into local and state candidates’ races. At Demand Progress, I was able to bring Story-based Strategy to fight against digital surveillance, eventually gutting a significant part of the Patriot Act that Trump 1.0 used to spy on Black Lives Matter activists. All while criss-crossing the United States as a lead Trainer for CSS, training and inspiring more and more activists to use our tools to craft different ways of organizing and agitating for change.

All of those experiences were pulsing through my veins when the CSS board asked me to step into the Executive Director role permanently. I knew I had to say yes.

You may be wondering what CSS has been up to these past few years and I’m excited to tell you: we’ve been hard at work! We’re continuing our Intro and Advanced Trainings, just as we’ve always been, and now we’re taking on big new programs like our Police-Free Schools cohort in California. We’ve held a container for Reparations and Indigenous LANDBACK activists to imagine together, in a climate where policy-makers are often pitting them against each other. This year, we’re launching a new California cohort working to redefine dominant narratives on how and who the economy works for.

I’m perhaps most excited to share that we’re in the beginning stages of developing a whole new offering to the progressive movement, utilizing Radical Imagination to build a practice of creativity and bring that to organizing work. There will be more news and developments to share as CSS writes the newest chapter of its nearly 20 years of history.

All of this new energy hasn’t come from just me. CSS has an amazingly talented staff who each bring dynamic insights, intelligence, care, and a commitment to the work. I believe in this team, and it is a complete honor and privilege to work with them each day. (Although not each day, we do have a four-day work week, lol.)

So now that my role has evolved from the Acting ED to just the ED, stay tuned, because you’re going to hear a lot more from us!

Also, don’t be a stranger! CSS has a time-tested curriculum of Story-based Strategy tools to help you strengthen your work without burning yourself out. We’d love to share them with you, your organizations, and your communities.

Click here to take the first step and request a training!

I know we’re living through tough times, where we need each other now more than ever. So don’t forget that CSS is here to help! We offer public Intro and Advanced Trainings as well as custom trainings, and now specifically focused cohort development. If you are interested in any of that please reach out.

Lastly, and I can’t stress this enough, thank you so much to the CSS Board for your dedication and deliberation. And a million thank-you’s to the truly talented team of CSS staff and Practitioner-Trainers. I’m so blessed to call you coworkers.

Thank you all, and I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Tihi Hayslett

Storyteller, author, activist, and the Acting Executive Director at the Center for Story-based Strategy

Welcoming Tihi Hayslett as Our New Executive Director