Episode 61: Alison Mahoney

Join Lori and her guest, Alison Mahoney, as they discuss how storytelling can carry the voice of any advocacy. Alison works with organizations and individuals who are making a positive social impact. In this episode, she shares how helps her clients with their narratives. Stay tuned!

Here are the things to expect in this episode:

• Her journey from practicing law to creating a PR and communications agency.

• The impact of storytelling on social justice and civil rights issues.

• What’s the first step to take to get more involved in giving back?

• And much more!

Connect with Alison!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estorieagency

Email: hello@estorieagency.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/estorie-agency/

Estorie Agency: https://estorieagency.com/

Organizations mentioned

Lawyers for Children: https://www.lawyersforchildren.org/

A Better Childhood: https://www.abetterchildhood.org/

Response: https://responsehelps.org/

Connect with Lori Kranczer!

Website: https://www.linkphilanthropic.com 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorikranczer/

Episode Transcript

00:10

You're listening to the positive impact philanthropy podcast where we share the journeys of everyday philanthropists as they incorporate philanthropy into their lives. Philanthropy is a personal journey and through the stories we will share here. We hope this sparks something in you and how you can make your own philanthropic impact in the world. I'm your host, Lori Kranczer attorney, philanthropic advisor and legacy giving strategist. Together we're going to look at what it looks like to be an everyday philanthropist and make a positive impact in the world. Before we get started make sure to subscribe to the podcast so 

00:39

you never miss a new episode posted every Wednesday. Now I'm really excited today we've had a couple of Miss hits, you know with trying to get this scheduled and I'm thrilled to have it as a guest today. Alison Mahoney. She is founder of a story agency and she has an incredible story to share. So hello, how are you, Alison?

01:00

I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me. Lori, I'm honored to be part of your podcast.

01:06

I'm absolutely thrilled. So why don't you start us off and share your story.

01:10

Great. So as you mentioned, I'm the founder of a story agency. My company is almost a year old now. I started it last summer the summer of 2021 and it's a PR and communications agency and I work with organizations and individuals who are making a positive social impact. And on my website, I describe that as advocates changemakers healers expanders and just to provide a little bit of context, I'm also a lawyer and litigator I practiced for about 11 years, up until this past February primarily in the social justice, victims rights, civil rights space. And then I'm also a yoga teacher and meditation instructor and so it all combines quite nicely in in my company

02:05

Absolutely. So I think everyone listening knows my story and understands why I really aligned with Alison and because it's kind of similar, practicing law for many years and then wanting to do something more impactful with their career. So for those that are still in a corporate career or not doing the type of social impact work that they'd like to be doing Can you share a little bit about that, like how you made that journey?

02:28

Yes. So my been in I've worked in public interest for quite a while. And I was in government for a bit of time too. So I think it's probably most beneficial just start back in law school. So I graduated from law school in 2011 in New York City worked for a large law firm for a year. And while I was there, I was really drawn to the pro bono cases that the Office offered at my firm was on Melbourne and Myers. While I was there I represented survivors of intimate partner violence and their U Visa applications which are applications to to gain immigration status in the United States if they cooperated with law enforcement and a prosecution. And then I also represented a couple of survivors of sexual abuse in their humanitarian parole applications. They were women who were living in Haiti. And I think that combined with my experience in law school, which most certainly sparked an interest in working in social justice, caused me to shift gears and I went to work at a district attorney's office in New York. So I was at the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office and the Bronx, County District Attorney's office. I was prosecutor for two years. I worked on sex crimes cases and then organized crime cases which involved public corruption and also human trafficking cases. After being there for a couple of years, I had decided that I really wanted to find a way to represent survivors directly rather than working for the government. And there's only a few ways that I saw that were interesting to me to do that. And one of those ways was to represent children. And so I moved over to lawyers for children, which is a legal organization based in Manhattan. It is a phenomenal, phenomenal organization. I cannot say enough wonderful things about lawyers for children. They have lawyers and social workers on staff, who all care very deeply about the issues about their clients. They’re smart. They're just, they're wonderful. At lawyers for children. I started as a staff attorney representing children who had been abused or neglected or were voluntarily placed in the foster care system and then I also had some custody and visitation cases. I eventually became the office is child sexual abuse and exploitation project attorney, which meant that my caseload shifted so that my cases dealt with those specific issues. And I was kind of the in-house legal expert for other attorneys whose case touched upon those issues. They could come to me and the social workers who are also on my project as resources for how to handle a case in court services that were available for their clients, that sort of thing. And the work at lawyers for children. I just I really, really loved it and I met with my clients who were children regularly heard their stories got to know their families, and it's difficult to not care very, very deeply about what you're doing. And then just to provide a little bit of background context my paternal grandmother

06:15

lived in what was then called an orphanage, we don't use that term anymore. In Chicago, it was called the St. Joseph's home for the friendless which is a horrific name for a facility that is housing children. And so this is something that impacted my family directly. And I unfortunately have only heard stories about her time there. Secondhand from other family members. It was something she didn't like to talk about. And she passed away when I was young. But going back to my journey after lawyers for children, I moved over to another nonprofit called a better childhood. And my reason for doing was to fold. One, I wanted to expand my practice so that I wasn't only practicing in family court, and a better childhood litigated cases in federal courts all over the country. And then the other reason was in family court I felt like I was seeing some of the same issues pop up over and over and over again, and at a better childhood what we did was systemic reform of foster care systems. So it's a nonprofit organization. We investigated child welfare systems all over the country. The investigations were lengthy and very, very detailed. I felt like an investigative journalist or something when I was conducting these investigations, they lasted about nine months. And then if it looks like a system was operating poorly enough, and the state or county wasn't stepping in to remedy the problems and children are being harmed by their experiences in foster care we would file class actions against the state agency and typically the governor to force reform and so our lawsuits were for what is called injunctive relief, which means we weren't suing for money. We were suing to have orders put in place to force the systems to change how they function. And I, again, same as lawyers for children cannot say enough great things about a better childhood. The founder and executive director Marsha Robinson Lowry has been in this space for a very long time and is the person who kind of formed the body of law that enabled us to bring those cases and the lawyers cared deeply about the issues and we were able to help make real changes in some places. Which brings me now to my current role at a story agency. So when I first went to law school, I didn't think I was going to be a lawyer afterwards. My plan was to go into media public relations, something involving storytelling, as a kid, I was a voracious reader. I loved writing in college, I was a business major and I took so many English classes that I had a secondary major in English added on, just coincidentally and so I during the pandemic, I started to really reassess my career and which direction I wanted to go. And I think that, as awful as the pandemic was, it also presented an opportunity to take some risks. And so I decided to open up my organization. So it's been open for a year. I was doing it part time practicing law at a better childhood part time for about half a year and I switched over to doing it full time, this late late winter of 2022. And, again, as I mentioned before, it's it is a for profit organization, but I work with organizations that are making a positive impact and my work at a better childhood actually helped to inspire the formation of my company because our cases in a lot of media attention and journalists were reaching out to us via shoot, we, you know, created press releases sometimes. We had documentary film producers reaching out to us and so I started to notice the impact that storytelling can have on social justice and civil rights issues. Oh, absolutely. A very rambling answer.

10:56

There's so much in here and, you know, and unfortunately, we're a shorter interview podcast. There's so much I want to get into so. So first off, one of the things I always ask people are what who inspired them or what sparked their philanthropic journey? And for me as a I see the common theme, as I'm sure you do through the work that you've been supporting through your professional life, and now what you're doing as well with your company, and I love that you mentioned your grandmother and what she went through because this is obviously that is to me, it's completely baked into what you do, and it's you know, just so I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about that, because obviously, this is something very important to you this, this event in your home that you didn't really hear too much about but maybe afterwards, but it's certainly affected you and the path that you've taken,

11:55

right so and I should have mentioned the other area that's a deep interest to me is helping to end the cycle of intimate partner violence. I'm on the board of directors at response, which is an organization in the Aspen area that works with survivors of sexual and domestic abuse. I was I volunteered with my sister's place in Westchester County north of New York City and I'm a part of a working group with the New York City Bar Association to re-imagine services for those who abuse and so go into your question about what's inspired me or who has inspired me, my family, certainly I was raised from a very early age with the idea that it's important to give back that it's a you know, I had a very stable family environment. It was quite fortunate in many ways with my upbringing, and my parents always taught us that it was important to volunteer it was important to give back. And so as a family we volunteered when I was in college I volunteered with Big Brother Big Sister, I tutored with Upward Bound I volunteered with the Ronald McDonald House Charities and so it's just something that has always been ingrained in me. With the intimate partner violence issues I was in an emotionally and psychologically abusive relationship and so it has impacted me directly and I care very deeply about finding a way to stop that from happening. And it's also impacted some of my friends and of course clients who I've worked with. And then I think the other area of inspiration honestly are my co-workers that I've had over the years and colleagues, especially at the nonprofit's I've just I've met so many incredible people in those organizations.

14:00

So Alison, the more the more you talk, the more volunteer experiences you're sharing. And so of course, I think it's absolutely incredible but for someone listening and and that hasn't had that experience yet. Any advice to give about where to get started or what what's the first step to take to get involved?

14:25

Yeah, I think figuring out what you're interested in and authentically drawn to. Whether that's something that has impacted you, your family, friends directly or not, or if it's just something that you're interested in helping to address. I think that's the first step. And then I would say reaching out to organizations that seem like they might be a good fit, and finding out if there are ways to get involved and then being selective finding out if those opportunities align with your skill sets and what you can offer because I think it's going to be most meaningful if people can volunteer or give back in a way where they feel like they're they're doing something that they that they care about and are good at and are making a real contribution.

15:23

Yeah, I agree. So with your agency now, I'd love to know more about the work that you're doing and the impact you're having with your clients.

15:34

So as I mentioned, it's a PR and communications agency and I do typical PR work. So coming up with story angles, the overarching narrative and messaging for a company figuring out who is the audience what are the goals of the organization? Do they want to attract donors, fundraisers, attract more clients, increase brand awareness, whatever it is, and then pitching to the media or for speaking engagements. I also goes dry and will do goes write op-eds or long form pieces, all of those sorts of things. And my clients range from nonprofits to female entrepreneurs, particularly in the legal space to nonprofit organizations that are addressing important issues like mental health issues or addiction. And I really love it. I love helping businesses grow that are doing important work and what I've found and maybe this is just because I'm selective about who I work with the organizations that I with whom I do work, I really admire their leaders. And so it's very pleasant for me to be working with them and helping their businesses to grow and to help them do what they do on a larger or deeper scale.

17:14

And are they coming to for you mentioned some of the services that you offer to them, but is there a specific moment in time where they seek you out? Is it like, when there was an event that's happening for them or or some sort of pivotal moment?

17:34

So it's at a couple of different junctures, I think one is, if they are attracting, trying to attract investors, is one point or if they're growing rapidly and want to continue to grow, but in a mindful and thoughtful way. That's one point if they are rebranding or pivoting, or if there is significant news that's about to come out that either they can chime in on or in which they're looking to. For instance, advocate about whatever, whatever that is. And I'm thinking right now about the impact of COVID on the court systems and the legal system in general. That could be a moment.

18:32

Well, if all those that are listening that are in that space, that could be a client of Alison's, she has she can see from both sides. That's what's really important. Like you've been there as the attorney representing many nonprofits being on a board and now you're able to take their stories and help them on the other side of it, raising investments, assisting in issues areas where there's a pivotal event that's happening in the news, or, or in the environment. So I think this is really, really important work that you're doing. So we’re at our last question Alison, so I, you know, your experience is just so deep, but I'd love to know and I can get a sense of where it would be going but I'd love to know what because this is what I do but I'd love to hear from you. What you consider your legacy today?

19:33

I want to help people to get their stories out there and help people especially those who feel voiceless to be heard, I think that stories can add so much. They can add beauty. They can help people to heal, and they can cause change, and they can help organizations grow. And so I you know, I even reflect back on my time as a trial lawyer. Storytelling is a huge, plays a huge role in that you're presenting a story or a narrative to the judge or to the jury during trials and hearings. And so, storytelling is a theme that has been woven throughout my work for years. And so I think that's what I want my legacy to be to get important and meaningful stories out there in the right way, which also includes telling them from a trauma informed perspective and in a way that is respectful to everyone involved.

20:42

Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. So if people want to reach out to you Alison where can they find out more about you or what you do,

20:51

yeah, so there's a few different places you can find me at my company website. It's a story agency.com e s, t o r i e agency.com. I'm on Instagram. It's at a estorie agency. You can find me personally on LinkedIn. And then there's a contact page on my website. You can also email Hello, @ story agency.com

21:22

Thank you, and we're gonna share all those links in the show notes and everyone will have them handy. I want to thank you again for sharing your story Alison I think it's a really important one and I think it'll resonate with a lot of people. So thank you for sharing that today.

21:36

Thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time to interview me,

21:40

of course and thank you everyone for joining us and we hope we provided some insights and inspiration that you can use for your own philanthropic journey. See you next time.

21:55

Thank you for joining us.  I hope we provided some insights and inspiration that you can use for your own philanthropic journey. You can tune in every week on Wednesdays when new episodes are dropped. We'd love to hear your feedback. So leave comments and ratings about what you liked and what you'd like to hear more about. And if you liked the episode today, make sure to share it to raise awareness about the story to inspire other women to take action. I'm Lori Kranczer And until next time, you can make a positive impact through philanthropy every day. Thanks for listening.