You’re working on a project and realize it would benefit from learning about something outside of your own experience. A book would help. So would combing through research. But what would really bring this to life is talking to other people. How might you go about doing that thoughtfully? Our Director of Community, Aya Taveras, offers some guidance.

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Ground Yourself in the Why

First things first, take some time to think about why you’re telling this story, and why you’re the one to tell it. What outside perspective would help inspire the creative direction of this story, and what would help shape it as you go? Asking these questions is a creative exercise, not a prescriptive one, and the answers about to what extent research will ultimately factor into your process will likely vary by project. “When you're formulaic about this, you run the risk of treating any kind of interaction like checking a box,” says Aya.

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Multifaceted Perspectives Are Key

Oftentimes, that outside perspective isn’t just from one person. People who share an identity aren’t going to have a homogenous opinion or outlook, and people who hold the same opinion can have unique insight and interesting angles on the same topic. “You stand to leave out a lot of nuance when you're not strategic about how you build community to inform the work that you're doing,” says Aya.

That goes for telling our own stories too. “Someone might perceive themselves and the people around them as being sufficiently representative,” says Aya. “But that can be an echo chamber.”

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It’s a Creative Partnership

Think of this work as inviting people into your project, rather than sourcing them for information. “How are you positioning the people you work with in a way that is honest about whatever constraints you're operating under?” Aya suggests. “Are you able to invite people in as producers? Writers? Be clear with people about how they're influencing your creative work.”

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Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Experiences

Our team takes great care in conducting our research in a way that isn’t extractive. “You cannot buy people’s lived experience,” says Aya. “Nor should you seek to do that.” What people share with you should inform your work rather than be directly pulled into a project they do not have ownership over. “Our model is designed to identify major themes that come out of our conversations,” says Aya. “My colleagues find that certain ideas, feelings, and narratives emerge as existing across perspectives and lines of difference in these conversations.” That’s what shapes the creative work that results.

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