Signature Stories: Amanda Natividad Encounters the Paradox of Business Storytelling [Unthinkable #213]

In our third episode of this mini-series, a prolific creator shares three different possible intros for a powerful new story -- and our dissection takes a surprising turn. (This series is like Song Exploder meets business storytelling!)

In this episode, we're joined by Amanda Natividad, the VP of marketing at SparkToro, who shares a story about the time she met her marketing hero: her now-boss, Rand Fishkin. Amanda is a former tech journalist and also a former test kitchen cook for the LA Times. She writes the newsletter The Menu which includes marketing advice and delicious recipes (for actual food, not marketing). And she takes us inside three different drafts for potential intros of this signature story, where we learn about the paradox in our storytelling: to connect deeper externally, we need to go deeper internally.

But does our work and culture encourage that? Amanda and Jay wrestle with that.

Throughout this series, we'll learn from how inspiring creators and experts craft their most valuable, most original stories that build connection and resonate deeply. We're putting on display the hidden details, tiny choices, and emotional moments, as we seek to go beyond telling stories to instead BECOME storytellers.

Listen in your preferred player:

DEVELOP MORE INSPIRING IDEAS & STORIES:

  1. Jay's free newsletter, with a new idea for communicating in ways that connect shared every other Friday: jayacunzo.com/newsletter

  2. The Creator Kitchen: Jay's membership for quality-obsessed creators, built in partnership with Melanie Deziel (author, speaker, NY Times, TIME, HuffPost). Use code UNTHINKABLE for $100 off membership.

  3. Jay's 1:1 coaching: book an hour or a month of swapping voice memos -- or book Jay as your dedicated collaborator, coach, exec. producer, and creative partner to develop your ideas and tell more effective stories.

INSIDE THIS EPISODE:

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

Creator, host, writer, editor: Jay Acunzo

Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins

Jay Acunzo