The Human Code: Five Storytelling Lessons from 10 Years at StoryMade
- rachel4157
- Jan 11
- 5 min read
I can’t believe it’s been a decade since I launched StoryMade Studio. Over the past 10 years, I’ve partnered with visionary founders, scientists, doctors, and entrepreneurs to help them tell their stories. Whether I’m collaborating on a book, shaping a thought leadership platform, or launching a brand narrative, certain patterns keep emerging — lessons that have become the core of this brand.
There is a very real human code that underlies why we tell stories, and I believe its language is the key to storytelling in the age of AI.
Since I'm a neuroscience geek, I have also discovered that these lessons reflect how the human brain responds to meaning, memory, and identity. There is a very real human code that underlies why we tell stories, and I believe its language is the key to storytelling in the age of AI.
Clearly, AI can now research faster than any of us and generate workable text in seconds; so the question isn't whether machines can tell stories. They can. But what AI can't do — at least not yet — is listen deeply, sense emotional context, describe your lived experience, or help someone discover the story they didn’t know they were trying to tell. The future of storytelling isn't about choosing between humans and machines. It's about knowing when to use each — and when the work calls for skills that are only human.
1. Storytelling Is Strategy
A clear story helps others understand what you do, but it is also a decision-making tool, a compass that guides focus, priorities, and growth. Our brains use narrative structure to organize information and assign meaning. When a story has a beginning, middle, and end, and a clear why, what, and how, it creates coherence, a key ingredient in memory formation and executive function.
Grace Arts is the new cultural member program of San Francisco’s iconic Grace Cathedral. When Grace approached StoryMade, the leader sought a way to expand church membership beyond Episcopalian members.
We helped them uncover a new brand story by identifying their key audience segments and writing one that resonates and feels inclusive, while promoting the cathedral’s strong ties to the arts. Through interviews and strategic writing, we developed a new brand narrative and homepage copy. The process helped surface core values and priorities, serving as both a public message and an internal tool for future decision-making. The new positioning quickly grew the membership base and culminated in an article in the New York Times.
2. Humanize Complexity
The more sophisticated the idea, the more important it is to ground it in human experience, especially when it comes to science stories. People remember emotional relevance more than data points. Studies in neuroeconomics show that we’re more likely to act on information when it activates emotional centers like the amygdala, the brain's emotional center. Abstract ideas become actionable when they connect to lived emotion.
For The Female Brain, StoryMade collaborated with Penguin Random House to manage a rewrite and developmental edit that transformed complex neuroscience into an engaging, relatable narrative, which later inspired a major motion picture.
We also contributed to the proposal for Dr. Louann Brizendine’s follow-up book, The Upgrade, which explored how the female brain changes and strengthens in midlife. The work involved translating clinical research into emotionally grounded storytelling that could reach a wide audience without compromising scientific integrity. Both books tackled intricate neurological science — but through narrative, they became tools for empowerment, self-understanding, and broader cultural conversation. This is the core of humanizing complexity: making deep knowledge feel personally meaningful.
3. Build a Story Collective
Great storytelling doesn’t come from algorithms or assembly lines. It comes from collaboration — from curating the right voices, disciplines, and creative chemistry for each story. Mirror neurons, which help us simulate others' intentions, fire more intensely during co-creative work. Collaborative storytelling taps into our brain’s social circuitry, the same system that drives empathy, trust, and shared vision.
As a founding editor of TED Books, we helped launch a first-of-its-kind imprint for short-form nonfiction designed for both digital and print. The project brought together editors, technologists, designers, and multimedia producers to create a new kind of storytelling experience.
We supported book acquisitions, editorial direction, multimedia production, and project management through a deeply collaborative model that blended publishing with TED’s mission of “ideas worth spreading.”
The innovation of TED Books came from its interdisciplinary team structure. Storytelling here wasn’t a siloed process — it was a co-creative act that drew on diverse perspectives to build something original and lasting.
4. Story Shapes Leadership
Telling your story, finding clarity of voice, integrity of vision, and the confidence to take a stand. Leaders communicate through great stories, and these in turn shape the brands that they lead. Research in narrative identity theory suggests that the stories we tell about ourselves literally shape our sense of self over time. Leaders who narrate their purpose create internal alignment and external trust.
The California Partners Project, co-founded by California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, partnered with StoryMade to develop its first Equal Pay Playbook, a digital resource designed to help employers close the wage gap and model equity.
We worked closely with the CPP team to write and shape the guide’s narrative voice, structure its how-to content, and craft employer case studies that made policy personal. The project required translating research and advocacy into a leadership tool that was both actionable and aspirational. This project helped position the First Partner and CPP as national thought leaders on equal pay. The playbook became a platform for influence, giving the organization a strong voice in policy, press, and employer culture change.
5. Content as Brand Continuity
In a world of fleeting attention, what lasts? The stories that accumulate. Content builds a living archive of meaning, a resource people return to again and again. The hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for long-term memory, stores knowledge through repetition and pattern recognition. Continuity strengthens connection — not just to content, but to the person or brand behind it.
When we launched Ornish Living, a digital magazine rooted in the four pillars of lifestyle medicine, we weren’t just building content — we were building continuity. Each article, video, and practice became part of a larger archive that supported patients and practitioners over time. What began as a content challenge became a platform for care, growth, and connection. The work grew to over a million subscribers and continued after the brand was acquired by Sharecare.
Across all our work at StoryMade, the thread is clear: We help people build stories that last — stories that clarify purpose, humanize ideas, and shape how others see and remember you.
Want help uncovering your brand’s deeper narrative? Let’s talk.
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