Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 136. A Filmmaker's Guide to Storytelling + Empathy to Advance Social Good - Cheryl Miller Houser

Transcript

136. A Filmmaker's Guide to Storytelling + Empathy to Advance Social Good - Cheryl Miller Houser · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:01
  Jonathan McCoy: Hey, I'm john.
• 0:01
  Jonathan McCoy: And I'm Becky. And this is the we are for good podcast.
• 0:05
  Becky Endicott: nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:14
  Becky Endicott: We're here to learn with you
• 0:15
  Jonathan McCoy: from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:23
  Becky Endicott: So welcome to the good community, where nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 0:34
  Jonathan McCoy: So let's get started. Welcome, welcome. Thank you What's happening?
• 0:38
  Becky Endicott: I'll tell you what's happening. I think we have the person on the podcast today that I want to be when I grow up.
• 0:44
  Jonathan McCoy: I don't disagree. She's an amazing human.
• 0:46
  Becky Endicott: I guys just buckle up because we have Cheryl Miller Hauser on the podcast today. Cheryl is an award winning filmmaker. She is a sought after public speaker, she founded this incredible empathy agency. She called it an empathy agency. It's not just an advertising agency, a film agency. It's an empathy agency.
• 1:04
  Becky Endicott: So just a couple of things that Cheryl has been working on doing. Working on documentaries like incredible documentary that followed six young people for a year and a half launching startups in Detroit called generation startup, you know, she was partnering on as a producer to launch David O Russell's first movie, which was incredible and so groundbreaking. And so in addition to just being nominated for Academy Awards, Cheryl is not someone out there with her iPhone, shooting videos, and just putting great videos together, she truly knows her business and the fact that you do it through the lens of seeing people Rawley and authentically showing up to show their vulnerability and their humanity is just something that we are just so geeked out over. So Cheryl, we're just so excited to have you and your entrepreneur and human centered brain right here on the podcast. Welcome.
• 2:01
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Thank you, Becky, well, back at all of you, your entrepreneurial spirit to leave your jobs and launch, we are for good. And for all the good they listen, you're using storytelling as well to create social impact. So it is the Kindred
• 2:17
  Becky Endicott: most fun ever.
• 2:17
  Becky Endicott: And as I'm sure you would agree, but I'm really curious about your journey. And I would love for you to just kind of give us a background of where you grew up and how you got into this business.
• 2:28
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Sure. I, when I was in college, I was part of a tiny team working on a making a feature documentary called children of darkness about children with mental illness. And I should have when I came out of college, I immediately started directing documentaries, because I was so turned on by I mean, the film was tragic. But I loved making it and being part of that team.
• 2:57
  Cheryl Miller Houser: I don't know why I didn't I think it's a big lesson for me that we all have to go after our dreams and not defer them. And it was probably the stories I told myself about what I was capable of or not. I picked something that wasn't any less risky or less difficult. I started producing feature films.
• 3:17
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And that's when I was one of the producers on David O Russell's first movie spanking the monkey.
• 3:25
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And the end was making a lot of developing a lot of feature films over over about a 10 year period. But then I had a child and was in in LA all the time I lived in New York and I didn't want to travel so much. And I also got frustrated at the how much time there was in developing a film to the ratio of what gets made in and nonfiction television was just coming of age. And so I started working in nonfiction television and did hundreds of hours of nonfiction television, for discovery channel natgeo Food Network, although cable channels, but over the years, nonfiction TV turned into reality TV, and then I didn't want to be making reality TV and I reached a certain age in my life where I felt, wow, I have these talents. I have these abilities. And I want to use them for good. I want to I really only want to tell stories that will inspire other people.
• 4:20
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And that will put good Juju into the world and create positive impact. And that's when I finally got up the courage when I had that really burning, mission and Northstar the courage to leave. Like you guys did leave a secure job and like a big job is head of production for an independent production company and launch my own thing.
• 4:46
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And that has been my my two guiding principles to only work on projects that inspire me and will inspire others and to only work with people who share my values and that can be feature documentary branded content web series. It can be any form of storytelling, because good storytelling is good storytelling, whether it's a 32nd piece or a 90 minute film.
• 5:11
  Cheryl Miller Houser: But everything I do is unified by its, I only tell stories about real people. And usually with usually not always with a story arc of some kind. So I'd like to bring viewers on an emotional journey through the people I feature.
• 5:28
  Jonathan McCoy: Something, you know, that has always stuck out, since we've discovered you. And we discovered you too much too late in our lives. I feel like but I love that you put a stake in the ground around empathy.
• 5:38
  Jonathan McCoy: And we, you know, value that and I don't even know that we could have pinpointed that is really the piece of storytelling that changes everything. But that's what it's all about. And you've created something called the empathy manifesto that you really talk about through the lens of your work and kind of the way you storytel would you kind of take us through that.
• 5:56
  Jonathan McCoy: And what led you to these core principles, I love that I can just look at your life and work and see the values that you stand for. And that's permanent in everything that you touch, and the people that you collaborate with, and try to lift in their storytelling as well.
• 6:13
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Sure, yeah, thanks. I called the company in empathy agency years ago, long before empathy was a buzzword. I believe that with storytelling, empathy is important, because I talk a lot about and I the my approach is based on the science of storytelling and the physiology of what happens to us when we experience a story. So there's something called narrative transportation, and that's, that's a real thing. So if you tell a story about someone and you, you the person is relatable, and we are most relatable, when we're vulnerable, when we exhibit the emotions that every human being feels, that's when someone else can relate to us. So I always pick I cast people who I know will, will allow me in emotionally, and will reveal, you know, their emotional journey, and I become the conduit, I mean, I really go on that emotional journey with people I film with. And that's where the empathy piece comes in, I really do feel what they're feeling. And that's how I'm able to be the conduit to enable audiences viewers to feel to go on that journey too. So if I can take someone and back to this narrative transportation, if you can cast people and and show them in a way that's very relatable, then that can activate oxytocin in the audience. And oxytocin is the love hormone, it's at the basis of trust, and bonding, and love.
• 7:52
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And then you structure a story with rising tension. And that's really important also, and that's where this narrative story arc comes in. And it's where I think a lot of nonprofits are really weak at understanding how to structure their stories in a way that can grip and hold people's attention. So if you can tell a story with rising tension, you can activate cortisol and dopamine and cortisol, what it does is from the fight or flight response, it grabs people's attention, and then the dopamine the reward center it what it does is it holds our attention.
• 8:27
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And also is helps us retain it's it's it activates memory. So people I mean, there are all these studies that show that people take in information, like 20 times better when it's embedded into woven in service to a narrative story. That makes sense, it really is about empathy. It's about helping people go on an emotional journey and feel what somebody in the story is feeling. And then when you've moved people deeply in this way, you can end on a call to action, so that they convert those emotions to action. And that's what I do in my storytelling. And the empathy manifesto is basically I wanted to be able to articulate in a really brief way that I mean, I have this whole three step storytelling methodology, but it's one make it human. So tell stories about people and find people who are relatable. And then show struggle. That is the narrative story arc with rising tension. Classic storytelling is there somebody who has a goal, the stakes, the higher the stakes, the more we root for them, the higher the obstacles are, the harder it is for them to reach that goal, the more they have to grow and transform, the more we are going to go on that emotional journey with them and root for them. And the more we are going to feel the end its triumph is important at the end.
• 9:53
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Because if you're going on that journey with somebody you want to leave your viewer feeling empowered. Howard and feeling like yes, I can take action. I am not impotent. So and then so it's one make it human to show struggle and three inspire through uplift and on triumph.
• 10:12
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Just my
• 10:13
  Jonathan McCoy: friends is my South by Southwest calls our friend Cheryl and says, please come teach this to the type of people that come to that event
• 10:21
  Becky Endicott: five minutes ago, I thought I knew how to storytel Wow. I mean, that was a very short mini masterclass on storytelling and, and I think one of the things that struck me the most and we we discussed that in a past episode that we were talking about storytelling is you have to prepare yourself as an interviewer as well. You have got it, we talked about this notion of if you walk in with a set of questions, you that is never going to work to try to humanize and connect with someone who is on the camera. If you're behind the camera, I think there is a mental preparedness. At least I do this for myself, I find myself I want to research anyone that I'm ever talking to, I want to and I don't want to read their bio, like I want to know the messy human parts of their life. And I need to prepare myself when I walk in for how I am going to make them feel welcome to make them think that I am very trusted and worthy of someone who could sit down and hear their story. And so I just think that was such an interesting discussion. Thank you, Cheryl. I mean, even down to I mean, how do you trigger the cortisol in the dopamine because we talk about, I wouldn't just use like an example of an event and fundraising, when you have someone up on stage in front of a group of people, whether it's a gala or a luncheon, we can't just drone on and on and have our CEO stand up there, there will never be anything about that that is going to reach out and connect with someone, we have got to put somebody on stage, who has been there, who knows what it feels like and can draw someone into that experience and do exactly what Cheryl just said, and PS, my favorite part of the empathy manifesto is the second one shows struggle. That's something I think like that's almost the meat of where you get to connection because I think the whole point about the higher the stakes, the more we root for them, and we wanted to see them moved to triumph. We want to be in triumph with them. That was excellent.
• 12:30
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Thank you.
• 12:30
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Well, my my favorite stories to tell are the ones of the triumph of the human spirit. I mean, when people have faced just incredible hardship, and they don't give up and they Yeah, and we you know, and that. That is what many many many nonprofits are addressing.
• 12:47
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• 13:50
  Jonathan McCoy: I just love kind of putting all these pieces together in the minds of nonprofits, we're trying to connect with people at our core, whether that's through funding, or through that skidding ambassadors for our mission or advocates. And so by not employing this strategy for how we storytel like we are missing so much depth of connection with people, you know, and I think you do this beautifully through the medium that you are gifted with and film. But I think these could be applied like Becky saying to everywhere that we're just trying to create connection. And you've got to be involved in a lot of projects and know that have moved things politically that have moved things socially. What is you know, I guess a story of how you've seen that happen of how you've seen story really kind of activate people in a real positive way.
• 14:39
  Cheryl Miller Houser: I had the great joy of making generation startup. So I followed six young people for a year and a half launching startups in Detroit.
• 14:45
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And that film was funded by the the foundation arms of PwC and UBS because they wanted to show their support of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship is a driver of economic development. So I got to travel around The world with that film and do workshops and screenings with the startup community and filmmaking community. But what what has been so incredibly fulfilling for me was seeing how audiences of all demographics were moved by the six people in our film.
• 15:14
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And they were moved in different ways. I mean, one of our characters, Labib is an immigrant from Bangladesh. And his journey through the movie is to live life on his own terms.
• 15:26
  Cheryl Miller Houser: His parents had they, they wanted him to work for Big Pharma, they forced him to be a bio engineer. So he graduated with that degree. And they were very disappointed that he was joining a startup. And they were also very, very strict religiously, and the beep had great respect for the religion and for his parents. But his journey was one of living life on his own terms, and that resonated with people around the world to Xtina in our film.
• 15:57
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Black grew up in extreme poverty, went to MIT and graduate, graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. her journey was one of always feeling like the different one always feeling left out and marginalized. I mean, they're, you know, 2% of engineers in our country are black women. So what I loved seeing was one that people related to each one of our characters across every demographic. And again, that's because they were relating to universal human experiences. But also it it, you know, I think that so many people were so held back by fear and fear of failure, and held back by the stories that were told from our parents, from our society, from looking around at what our friends are doing, that there's a certain path we have to take in life. And so for me, the film is definitely a celebration of entrepreneurship, but much bigger than that. It's a celebration of moving outside our comfort zone, to learn to grow, to evolve, like lobby, to live life on our own terms to figure out what is important to us what is meaningful to us, what are our values, I screen to film in Southeast Asia, in North Africa, in Latin America, and across like every nationality, every religion, every age group related so strongly to all six of our characters.
• 17:49
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, I just think you gotta go watch this film. It's so wonderful. And I think we geek out because it's the entrepreneur like the inside story of these startups, some of them you may have heard of, like, we eat bonds, a pasta in my house, I love that. That was one of them that you followed.
• 18:04
  Jonathan McCoy: But I think of Libby like the way that you thread the empathy through, like his struggle has is how you start the film, like in his house, seeing the dynamics play out, feeling that tension around their table, like I felt like you could, yeah, just the tension of seeing that this is life. I mean, this is something relatable because you have to push past these different forces. And I think you created that tension by actually taking us into the home, and some tying it back to just really how you see so many nonprofit videos, we've seen this, the executive director sitting in their office, like, who cares about their office, you know, like, the whole reason we exist, is to be out doing the actual mission, like, let's go into the house. Now, obviously, we needed this in an ethical way. And I'd love to hear your side of that of just how can you storytel ethically I want to come back to that. But getting into the raw emotion and seeing the struggle completely changes your ability to relate to people. And I saw that in your film here. And I just I love that you're championing that, because we all could apply that to whatever our mission is.
• 19:07
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And if if the executive director is going to be on the video, then that person really needs to be talking about the why like the passion, the motivation, not the numbers. I mean, the numbers are important, but the numbers can be delivered in many other media. Video is not the medium for that. I love that.
• 19:30
  Becky Endicott: I think that video is such an intimidating thing for nonprofits to embrace.
• 19:33
  Becky Endicott: If you don't have an on site video team. I sense this a lot.
• 19:36
  Becky Endicott: Just with people who are trying to have the digital presence.
• 19:40
  Becky Endicott: They're trying to elevate their digital game online, whether it's their website, or their social channels, and for whatever reason, we are all very intimidated by video and I just think of our little podcast here and we are we have video for every single podcast and we have little cameras set up around the room, their iPhones, people you know, it doesn't your video doesn't have to be Cheryl Miller, how's her level of production? So my question to you Cheryl, is how can nonprofits utilize video and storytelling as a medium to drive that funding hiring and community and how can they do it in a way that doesn't break their budget or create hundreds of hours of pre or post production.
• 20:26
  Cheryl Miller Houser: I mean, I love to shoot on like beautiful cameras and hire the best DPS. I love that the most important element is Always, well, there are two one is who's on camera?
• 20:37
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Do we care about them? Is that person relatable? Is that person going to let us in emotionally?
• 20:42
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And then also does that person feel comfortable and safe to share. And then the second component is that narrative story arc, every story has to it's the framing, you have to grab your audience. I mean, those first few seconds are key.
• 20:56
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And you want to grab your audience with an idea, a concept, a theme, that's going to frame the whole piece, whether it's 30 seconds or five minutes, and then take the viewer on this narrative story arc, it can be shot in on iPhone, it's definitely possible for nonprofits, who have very tiny budgets to tell really compelling stories. But they it can be it's not about the production value. It's about the storytelling value.
• 21:27
  Becky Endicott: That was so good. And I will tell you, there were a lot of takeaways in there that are so translatable, I think, to the way that we just simply engage in nonprofit I think about what you just said about not starting with facts, how many times have our gift officers walked into a meeting with someone that they are trying to cultivate for a major gift meeting them for the first time, and they sit down and say, our mission is that the data data and we serve that that that that that that that I mean, it's like that person is probably not going to connect to that. But if you sit down and say, Hi, how are you know, and you start talking about values, and you start talking about your family, the tone for that entire discussion, and the way you understand where your common ground is, and where those values are gonna align with your mission. it again, to your point, it takes a different arc to the story into the dynamic of the conversation you're about to have as you're cultivating a donor. So I do think that these things are so translatable in our sector, and if you are someone who's really curious about how you can storytel incredibly well, one you can get on Cheryl site and watch her documentaries, because they are off the chain, too. I would say, go find a really great documentary, and watch it and watch it unfold. I mean, I think about we had Melissa c Potter on and season one. And we talked about her involvement at the time with Odyssey films. And it's like, what they do to help bring I think of like, as the arc of justice and, and move people through the journey of Oh, I feel sad for this person.
• 23:03
  Becky Endicott: Oh, I feel enraged that this happened? And how do I work to make this better? I just think it's a very compelling thing.
• 23:10
  Becky Endicott: And the storyline is so similar and you can do it well, anybody in your nonprofit can rise up and do this. I would
• 23:16
  Jonathan McCoy: love to circle the wagons on the ideas of just ethics real quickly, because I do think a lot of us work in missions that our end impact could be super sensitive, or it could be just a really difficult story to tell. And, you know, I think this is a tightrope to navigate, because you want to always honor the family that is impacted. But if they're willing to share their story, how do you step into that space? And what's just some quick advice that you would give us as we try to find the right stories to tell that, you know, you can feel really good about?
• 23:46
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Yeah, no, it's a it is a great question.
• 23:49
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And certainly something I think about when I cast and film with people. I, I only film with people who, who I explain, you know, what I aim to do, which is, you know, I'm going to, we're going to go on an emotional journey together, that's going to be pretty profound and raw. And are you comfortable with that? Are you okay with that? Because if the answer is no, I probably shouldn't film with them, because I'll end up making something that is not going to be really moving. But I also never want to leave someone feeling violated or feeling you know. And so there's an understanding, first of all, and then also, you know, when when I was making generation startup, the six people in who we follow, they didn't see a thing until they saw the finished film. And I went to Detroit with the film and screened it with them. And they all said, like, it's what I wanted to hear more than anything. I mean, they loved the movie, they were a little embarrassing themselves. But they all said you were very true to me. And I did a piece with Andrew Yang when he was running for president. He came to me early on, and he was appealing mostly to guys in the startup space. And he was the math guy.
• 25:05
  Cheryl Miller Houser: But he's very, really deeply feeling and caring human. And we had grown very close because he's in generation startup a little bit. And we had traveled together during the distribution of the film. And he said, Sure, what can you make for me that the captures the slogan humanity first and I said, Well, Andrew, we need to film with people who embody the need for your policies, and we need to film you with them to bring out your humanity. So one of those pieces is with a guy named Joe Lamar, who when you look Uh, Joe, I mean, he's he's like six, five and covered in tattoos and he looks tough. I mean, he looks.
• 25:40
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Most people look at Joe and think gig member. And, you know, Joe is he's gay. He's a social worker, he worked with gay teens. All through the 90s you know, homeless gay teens. He became a rapper, because these gay teens would run around saying the, you know, homophobic lyrics from Eminem. And he's like, they need a role model and they need different lyrics. But he got so much hate, you know, vitriol against him in the in the rap world because it's, you know, very homophobic. So I filmed with Joe, I cast Joe and you know, the piece that I did two pieces, an eight minute piece and a one minute piece and the pieces with Joe he's weeping on camera weeping. And, and after we filmed I said, Joe, like, That was amazing. I, you know, can I use everything? And he's like, Yes, I made these pieces before they came out. I said, Joe, you know, these pieces are really moving, but you are crying in them. I hope you're going to be okay with that. He watched them that one minute, the eight minute and he said that no one has ever understood him seen him, captured him, like I did. You know, here I am, like, an older Jewish white woman who and Joe and I were like, We fell. I fell in love with Joe filming with him. I mean, we just bonded so deeply. The end of filming, he pulled out a scarf his mother had knit and he gave it to me. I mean, he like, you know, I love I still to this day, I text Joe sometimes I love him. And so that, you know, and but now, you know, even the question of I, I always am in the Edit room thinking, am I being true to this person? Am I you know, and if you watch the one minute or the eight minute, they're both online, the comments under both of them. People talk about how courageous Joe is how strong he is how like they, there's just so much love, there's not one negative comment about Joe, not one there. So people like so positive. So that was a, you know, when one of my things is vulnerability, that we you know, the more vulnerable we are, the more human we are, the more people do relate to us. So there is that fine line and and I do also do a talk about leadership and empathetic leadership. And I you know, with Andrew, he used to talk to him about like, you have to let down your guard more when in the beginning. He did. I mean, he's very human now. But he was a bit robotic when he started running for president.
• 28:16
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And then like, there's a really deeply feeling human in there.
• 28:18
  Cheryl Miller Houser: You've got to like, access that and let that out. He was afraid he wanted to like project that he was presidential. But it really was when he cried. He was, you know, you know, I won this woman got up and asked him a question about gun control and told the story of how she had twins. And you know, her little girl watched her twin brothers shot in the head and die in front of her. And Andrew heard that story. She told the story before she asked him how he felt about gun control. And he hugged her and then he broke down weeping and he couldn't hold back his tears. And he said, I'm thinking about my own two children. And that when people took note of Andrew Yang, who is this guy, like he like he's genuine, and he's really feeling so like, and then also about the ethics, who gets to tell stories? Like, do I should I be telling the story of Joe Lamar, who's this, you know, 40 something Latina or half black, half Latino gay guy. I mean, I was able to tell his story from one human to another. So I do believe that what connects us as human beings is so much greater than what differentiates us from in terms of race, religion, x socio economic background, but I also do believe that, you know, someone approached me recently to tell us, you know, make a documentary about race relations. And I said, I can't tell that story. You need a black director? Oh, my gosh, all lives are very complicated. I mean, what we might do is, I might co direct with a black director, but there was no way that I could direct that film.
• 29:52
  Cheryl Miller Houser: So solo. So I think that this also raises questions also of who gets to tell what stories which are very complicated questions,
• 30:01
  Becky Endicott: your self awareness, combined with your empathy and your humanity is just really a gift. And I'm just sitting here listening to you talk and storyteller. Frankly, I feel like this is the money question for you. Because you could not ask the queen of storytelling to tell you a story and not feel like you need to grab your popcorn your bucket of popcorn and settle into your chair. So I am so excited to ask you about a moment of philanthropy that moved you Maybe something personal, something you witnessed, I cannot wait for what you're about to share.
• 30:39
  Cheryl Miller Houser: I love that question. My moment of philanthropy is really my whole childhood. I grew up with a mom who was incredibly mission driven, and worked at a time when most moms did not work unless you absolutely had to for economic reasons. So I was very angry with her because she was so mission driven and not home a lot when I was growing up. But she was the first Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation.
• 31:10
  Cheryl Miller Houser: She was someone who she was there throughout the 1970s, and a real visionary in urban and community and housing development. But she started out in the civil rights movement, she had to drop out of college because her parents couldn't afford for her to keep going.
• 31:25
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And she started out doing volunteer work and civil rights grassroots.
• 31:33
  Cheryl Miller Houser: I found something going through her files last year, that moved me so deeply she put together I was born in Providence. And when she was pregnant with me, she was organizing a conference to bring together leaders and women of all religions, race, socio economic backgrounds, in Providence to come together. And this was, I'm going to reveal my age now. But this was in 1961. I mean, this was a long, long time ago, you know, the beginning of this really civil rights movement. And I found what she wrote at the, you know, open to this, which was, as a woman, I should ask no rights and privileges for my child, I am unwilling to grant to the children of other mothers, that to talk with and to other women rather than about or at them is conducive to my understanding of their problems, feelings, and hopes into their understanding of mine. So this was the prefect, the preface to this conference she had helped organize, about this is the spirit we're moving into this conference. So and then she was doing volunteer work in Harlem, when we moved down to the New York area, and then was plucked from the by the Ford Foundation.
• 32:45
  Cheryl Miller Houser: But she, she was at the forefront of tenant rights of, you know, the all the anti redlining, she was one of the architects of the local initiative support Corporation Liske. And she created ccrp, which is this community redevelopment organization with the idea of you don't go top down, you do grassroots you work with the community, you work with the nonprofits, in the organizations, the institutions and the people living in the community, because they know what they need and what they want. And you bring together everyone in the community from, you know, job training, to child care, to, you know, education, to healthcare, to housing, because you can't do a bandaid on one thing. And so this again, gets back to, you know, when I found this preface to this conference, my mother organized, I'm like, wow, that's what I do with storytelling. That is, it's about not, and it's what nonprofit leaders need to be doing. Also, you can't talk at people. It's all it's that empathy piece. Again, it's like, Let's come together, let's collaborate, Let's respect each other, let's treat each other with dignity. So I grew up marching, like on my mother's side, and, and really angry with her because she, you know, when she was at the Ford Foundation, she traveled the country. And she was so devoted to her grantees. I felt she loved them more than she loved me. I mean, I grew up and came to realize she had enough love in her heart for all of us. And then she was appointed by Jimmy Carter, to the Federal Home Loan Bank board. So she was the first female appointed to a regulatory agency, where she enacted right anti redlining laws, and But anyway, and I was furious that she moved to DC when I was in high school, when, you know, I guess the flip side of that is that I was largely raised, like day to day by my father, which was great. And by a father figure who told me every day of my life, you can do anything you put your mind to, you can, you know, you know, regardless of gender, but anyway, so to come full circle, I think that it is when I think of philanthropy, it all starts with us and our values and us as humans. And I look at my mother and my father and the values that they had, have just had they treated every human with such dignity and respect and the belief that every human has the right to the same rights and the same opportunities as as all of us and they both worked so hard to drive that sense of, you know, equal opportunity. equality. So that's so my, my view of philanthropy is both very deeply personal from it all starts with each one of us as human and as individuals and how we treat and view others to very big about my mother and I mean, I, when I was like little, I would go with her and play in the gardens at the Ford Foundation and eat in the dining like that was like I loved, you know, to partly probably to just have that time with my mom. But also it was so fun to go play. I didn't realize where I was playing. But anyway, so that's my philanthropy story.
• 36:09
  Jonathan McCoy: Wow. Oh, my goodness, the Academy Award for philanthropy story.
• 36:14
  Becky Endicott: What a renaissance woman Yeah. And what it's not lost on me that what she was doing, at its most basic form was grounded in empathy.
• 36:22
  Becky Endicott: Like this is all the hallmark of your family's legacy. And I the quote that is just coming to me is that Isaac Newton one that says, If I have seen further than others, it is standing upon the shoulders of giants. It's like, Can you not just see being raised in that family and Cheryl stepping up on her mother's shoulders? And then Sophie, stepping on Cheryl? shoulders?
• 36:45
  Becky Endicott: Oh, it's so poetic. And oh, it's just wonderful. Thank you for sharing with that. And thank you for the shout out to the Ford Foundation because we love them.
• 36:55
  Becky Endicott: I love Darrin Walker. Okay.
• 36:55
  Becky Endicott: DARREN WALKER is amazing.
• 36:59
  Becky Endicott: Amazing. He is amazing.
• 37:01
  Jonathan McCoy: Well, okay, Cheryl, everything about this interview today has just been so amazing. So hard growing, mind growing, and so applicable to I love it so much. We asked all of our guests, what's your one good thing. And this could be something you could implement today, a good habit or just a piece of advice you could leave our listeners and us with the
• 37:20
  Cheryl Miller Houser: one good thing is, everything boils down to our relationships, and to not be transactional, in our relationships with anyone in our lives. And I believe so strongly. And this fits with what I do as a filmmaker. And I know you, you both you all believe it to because I've heard you say, we have such a fundamental need as humans to be seen, and heard and valued. And so and this ties back to empathy, to have empathy for others, to see them to hear them to value them. And that means to, to listen to, to engage in active, engaged, listening, to understand others, and to understand what they're going through and where they're coming from, and what their needs are and what their pain might be.
• 38:12
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And to find common ground. So how this relates to somebody who's raising funds for a nonprofit to go in and you build common ground, and you build a real relationship built on just one human to another. And, and from there can build common ground of how do we come together in a shared mission.
• 38:36
  Cheryl Miller Houser: And a shared mission is really as human beings. So it for me all boils down to active engaged listening, which I think very few people actually do. And that is the starting point of all healthy relationships.
• 38:54
  Becky Endicott: I really encourage anyone as we're wrapping this up, like check out some of Cheryl's documentaries How else can people connect with you Cheryl? Where can they go to connect with you whether on socials and I would highly, highly recommend anyone go to creative breed.com because it is a beautiful website and it is grounded entirely in empathy and storytelling, and it's beautifully done.
• 39:18
  Cheryl Miller Houser: Well, thank you. Well, people can reach me at my email, which is Cheryl dot Hauser at creative breed calm. There's a get in touch with us. button on the website. That works too. I'm on LinkedIn.
• 39:33
  Becky Endicott: I'm Cheryl Miller Hauser. So thank you for being a great human you are appreciate all your time.
• 39:39
  Jonathan McCoy: We appreciate you. Thank you.
• 39:43
  Julie Confer: Thanks for listening to today's conversation with Cheryl. We hope you feel inspired to utilize storytelling empathy and video as a medium to advance social good. You probably hear it in our voices but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before. That's why we'd love for you to join our good community. It's free. And you can join today at we're for good comm backslash Hello. One more thing. If you loved what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating and review? It means the world to us and Your support helps more people find our community.
• 40:12
  Julie Confer: Thanks friends. I'm our producer Julie Confer and our theme song is sunray by Remy bourse boom thanks for being here.