I’m getting a speaker ready to hit the TEDx stage. He has a completely unique take on what it means to be of service in the hospitality industry. So I ask him:

“What story are you going to tell to set up your Idea Worth Spreading?”

He says that he has a story about a client… and another about a vendor… which is when I interject:

“Hang on, hang on. What personal story do you have that allows us to feel how committed and passionate you are about this idea?”

His response? “The audience doesn’t want to hear about me.”

“What if they do?” I reply. “What if by sharing a real, even vulnerable story, the audience can get to know, like, and ultimately trust you?”

He goes for it, and his Talk ends up being a huge success! Several weeks after it goes live, he tells me he wants to do it again. The process of sharing his personal story was incredibly valuable for the audience and very therapeutic for him, as well.

My special guest today, Alisha Kalisher, has also found therapeutic value in her passion. She’s a professional vocalist and songwriter and has a Master’s degree in Depth Psychology and Creativity with an emphasis on Arts and Humanities. And in this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, you’ll learn how she uses creative expression as a mechanism to help heal the stories of trauma survivors, as well as get answers to questions such as:

Why is the area of creative expression so important to study? How can people get around the fear of stories they don’t want to tell? Why is play in creative expression essential for both the mind and body? And how does vulnerability in storytelling connect us all?

• How untold stories affect you (either when you keep them to yourself or finally share them)
• How creative expression can help you with the stories you fear telling
• How using a playful storytelling process can influence songwriting

Alisha Kalisher is a professional vocalist and songwriter living in Altadena, California. She has achieved many accolades and awards, performed on late-night television, awards shows, with orchestras across the United States, and some of LA’s most notable venues, as well as written many songs for film, and television with her husband. She also collaborated with her husband on their project The Sheen, as contributors to the Meta Music Initiative. 

While music has been a big part of her life, she has always been an avid seeker and student in the study of humanity. In conjunction with her studies as a graduate student, receiving a master’s degree in Depth Psychology and Creativity with an emphasis in the Arts and Humanities, she has gathered a collection of songs to release her album Center Line.

Alisha’s graduate education ignited a passion for the therapeutic value of creative expression. She is currently a student at the Expressive Arts Institute where she is training to become an Expressive Arts Facilitator. In 2022, she founded the Bella Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization that believes in promoting and providing healing experiences through the creative and expressive arts to support and empower survivors of trauma.