We were lucky to catch up with Lisa Cirincione recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lisa , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

So in order to give you context on some of these meaningful projects that have truly transformed my life, I want to rewind and start maybe not the very beginning, but from some of the formative moments that brought me to where I am now.

My company is called Your Story for Change, and my vision, my mission, my passion is to bring Dynamic Personal Storytelling, Transformative Communication and Language Fluency to non-native English speakers. My incredible students are from all over the world. Name a country, I’ve probably had a client from there. Even places like Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan or Tibet, I’ve had those clients! These people are also from all different backgrounds, and all walks of life. I work with people who are VPs at some of the major tech companies, as well as Kurdish women from Syria, who only speak their village dialect and are looking to become fluent in English so they can finally apply for university and be the first in their family to get their degree.

Each one of these experiences, each one of these people, fill my life in a way that is hard to explain. I consider myself an artist. I’ve been an actor and a creator my whole life. I’m extremely passionate about language and culture especially coming from a culturally rich background myself. My dad’s family originates from Sicily and immigrated here right before World War II. I lived in Italy and am fluent in Italian. And my mom’s parents are from Ukraine and Poland. We are Ashkenazi Jews through my mother’s bloodline, I am raising my kids Jewish and am extremely active in my theater company, The Braid, inspiring Jewish stories worldwide. I’m a rare Sicilian Jew and proud of it.

I’ve always been curious about where people come from, why they show up the way that they do, the energy they bring to a space, why they sound the way they do and why language is developed so differently from country to country. It really is an obsession of mine. I have this game when I’m out with friends and I hear someone who is a non-native English speaker where I try to guess where they’re from. Not just the country, but even the region of the country based on their accent, mannerisms and appearance. I’m usually right on the money! I feel like it’s one of my little quirky secret powers. I love understanding where people are from and how that informs who they are in the world.

Over the years of living abroad, working as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language, curating storytelling shows, and helping people share their personal stories, I finally had my big Aha Moment and lasered in on where all of these passions of mine intersect. This was the birth of Your Story for Change.

What I love about what I do, is that I really see the immediate effect, impact and transformation this work has on people’s lives. Right now, one of the most powerful projects I’m working on is my Ukrainian group who I have been coaching since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago. We have been meeting on Zoom on a weekly basis for the last year. Many times they do not have electricity, so they join from the 5G on their phone and are lit by candlelight. Or often times, sirens will go off in the middle of our lesson and we need to sign off so that they can go into bomb shelters and wait out the air raid.

Each week when we sign on, I take a deep breath that every one is there in one piece, safe for another week. And though they’ve all managed to stay physically safe, the emotional and mental toll it takes is so heavy and so harrowing. These are traumas they will carry for the rest of their lives. For me as an American growing up in Los Angeles with many comforts and opportunities, this direct connection to what’s going on in the Ukraine keeps me involved, proactive and full of empathy. Each week when we show up together, I always remind the students that their mental well-being must be top priority and help them come up with a plan to facilitate that. It’s become more than just language and communication coaching, it’s become a family, a tribe, a way for people to find community, a place to laugh, and even to cry from time to time. Most of the time, they don’t want to talk about the war. We focus on the language skills they need so they can move abroad and succeed regardless of where they land. Also, many of them are working remotely for international companies, so English is imperative.

My students are heroes. They’ve touched my life so deeply in a way I could never repay. I can’t believe the war has been going on for a year now, and I am praying for the day when it’s safe enough for me to go there. I can’t wait to meet each one of my students in person, and give them big hugs and so much love.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the founder and CEO of Your Story for Change and I am a Dynamic Communication and Language Fluency to non-native English speakers. Our unique whole person approach, a hybrid of language fluency, accent mastery and dynamic storytelling teaches you how to show up in the room, command the space and get the buy in you need. Bring your best self to the world and transform their lives at work and at home.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth absolutely has been the greatest source of building my client base. People see and feel the whole person transformation that our work together brings them and are excited to be a torch bearer for others who struggle as they have struggled. Having a personal referral is worth everything. It gives people immediate confidence and trust in taking this new journey into self development.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I had to unlearn and that I continue to unlearn is that we must follow a traditional path in our professional lives. We are so busy quantifying, comparing, justifying, that we hold ourselves back from bringing our full, authentic self and accessing our own innovation and creativity. I think there’s a lot of fear around making other’s uncomfortable or outshining others. For me, I would often diminish or ignore my instincts or ambitions because they may not fit precisely on a business card, people might not understand, think I am silly, frivolous. When I finally just said, “there’s something here. I don’t know what it is, but I am going to go for it,” everything crystallized. Once the vision came, it’s a lot of self discipline, focus and showing up, even on days I’d rather not, but I do something I love every single day. I do something I know is making a difference in the world, and that means everything to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: yourstoryforchange.com
• Instagram: @yourstoryforchange
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourstoryforchange/

Image Credits
Jana Steele Josh Rose Michael Schwartz