The County Press

BE THE CHANGE

Story teller ‘builds community in a very powerful way’

KRYSTAL MORALEE

KRYSTAL MORALEE

A s we like to say in the newspaper business, everyone has a story. It’s just a matter of finding out what it is, getting them to talk about it, and sculpting it into something readable.

Emily Gehman, 28, is crafting her own storyline by telling other people’s stories in several ways. She’s a writer, marketing herself as a storytelling coach, and she helps people write and edit their books, but she’s also developing an on-air personality as a storyteller on Solid State Radio.

Gehman grew up in Oxford, and went to college in Pennsylvania to study counseling. After she got her bachelor’s degree, she realized she didn’t really want to work as a counselor, but she’d worked in the communications department during her studies, and she enjoyed the dynamics of writing. She attended the University of Michigan-Flint to get her master’s degree in English so she could get a writing job. “Through counseling, I learned I loved hearing people’s stories and I loved writing them and helping them share,” she said.

Emily Gehman, 28, is crafting her own storyline by telling other people’s stories in several ways.

Emily Gehman, 28, is crafting her own storyline by telling other people’s stories in several ways.

She moved to Lapeer, linked up with a writing mentor and a team of storytellers at Shattered Media, and worked on a book project to get some material under her belt. Now she has a small office at 235 W. Genesee St., upstairs from Great Lakes Music Studio.

A little more than a year ago, Gehman became involved with Solid State Radio, with no on-air experience whatsoever, and now she’s got a podcast and also hosts a morning show. Solid State, an online radio station based out of the Lyric Mall in downtown Lapeer, is what Gehman describes as “very startup, very grass roots, very Lapeer.” The variety of shows runs from downtown happenings to sports, local music and much more.

“One of my dreams has been to start a podcast,” she said. “I’ve always been fascinated with radio and the auditory medium.”

Gehman went to the station and pitched her idea — a podcast dedicated to telling people’s stories, with a lean toward positive and faith-based tales.

“The only thing I wanted to do was share people’s stories,” she said. “When we share stories, we build community in a very powerful way.”

The folks at Solid State liked what Gehman had to say, and they allow her to use the equipment to record her podcast — a time-consuming endeavor which includes the initial interview and then editing the piece as she sees fit. She started the podcast in May and she’s 11 episodes in so far. Her guests have told their stories involving topics including being a foster parent and mentoring, divorce, cancer and more.

You can hear “Emily Gehman, your storytelling coach, helping you realize you do have a story and it does matter” at noon on Saturdays or 9 a.m. on Sundays by visiting solidstateradio.net.

Just a few months ago, she began hosting the morning show from 6-10 a.m. on weekdays, even though she didn’t tend to listen to the kind of music the station was playing. She’s live Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and records the show for Tuesday and Thursday. In between songs, she talks about things that are happening around Lapeer, sharing snippets of good stories and events. “I’d like to be a positive voice going through the airwaves,” she said. “Just to remind people that there are good things happening… I feel like the more we talk about good things, that’s how we change the world.”

For this millennial, life hasn’t taken her where she might have originally planned, but she’s open to the journey and excited to see what else is in store for her.

“I feel like I’m being myself, and I really love it,” she said.

As for her dreams for the future, she said they’re always evolving.

“I would love to go talk to organizations and churches about the poser of storytelling that we can harvest for good in the world,” she said. “Eventually I’d like to marry and have kids… It’s a very fluid dream.”