How StoryCorps Inspired Me — and Taught Me to Let Go of “Perfect”
For years, I’ve been a devoted listener of StoryCorps on NPR. StoryCorps is a project dedicated to recording and preserving real conversations between loved ones — parents and children, spouses, friends — and sharing selected stories with a wider audience. The interviews are intimate, heartfelt, and deeply human.
I didn’t know any of the people being interviewed. But I felt connected to them. The conversations sounded natural — not stiff, not overly scripted — even though they were carefully edited into a polished final product. Every time I listened, I had the same thought:
If strangers’ stories can move me like this, how much more meaningful would it be to preserve my own family’s voices?
That idea became one of the early sparks behind Self Told.
Can You Recreate StoryCorps at Home?
Before Self Told existed, I tried. I sat down with my mom determined to record a StoryCorps-style conversation. I came prepared with thoughtful questions and follow-ups. I had a vision of capturing something meaningful and cohesive — something worthy of public radio.
It did not go according to plan. One of my favorite childhood memories — the kind that begins with, “This would never happen today” — is about the time my mom and sister had to travel out of town while my dad was working the overnight shift in the ER. Their solution? Have me spend the night in the pediatric unit of our small, rural community hospital.
I imagined this would open the door to a rich conversation about what it was like to be young parents in a new country with almost no support. So I asked my carefully crafted question.
My mom paused and said:
“I don’t think that ever happened.”
There went Story Idea #1. No problem, I thought. I had a backup. I asked what went through her mind when I got lost during a White House tour when I was six or seven.
Her response:
“That was you? I thought that was your sister.”
And just like that, the conversation fizzled. How does StoryCorps make it look so easy? I remember feeling discouraged. Self Told — at least in my head — was supposed to work like StoryCorps. Deep. Meaningful. Beautifully structured. I couldn’t even get one “good” recording. So I stopped trying.
What I Got Wrong
A few months later, I was back at my mom’s house. This time, there was no microphone. No outline. No agenda. And we had some of the best conversations we’ve ever had. She told stories I had heard before — but I had forgotten the details. The small side comments. The way her voice softened at certain moments. The laugh in the middle of a sentence. That’s when I realized what went wrong the first time.
I was chasing “perfect.”
I wanted the pivotal stories. The defining moments. The ones that felt worthy of being preserved. I didn’t want randomness. I wanted significance. But now that I’ve recorded many stories through Self Told, I’ve learned something surprising: some of my favorite recordings aren’t the watershed moments.
They’re the spontaneous ones. The quick five-minute stories about a first apartment. A childhood pet. A bad haircut. A simple memory that makes the speaker smile while telling it — and makes me smile while listening. The desire to capture the “right” story is often what keeps us from pressing record at all. And that’s the real trap.
It Was Never About Production Quality
StoryCorps conversations may sound effortless, but they’re recorded in a guided setting and later edited into polished segments. What I learned is that you don’t need a studio, a producer, or the perfect script to capture something meaningful at home. You just need a voice.
It’s not about flawlessly documenting a life-defining event. It’s about hearing someone you love share a memory — any memory — in their own words. Years from now, you won’t critique the structure of the conversation. You’ll just be grateful you can still hear their voice.
If You’ve Been Waiting for the “Right” Story…
Press record anyway.
Start small. If you’re not sure what to ask, try something simple:
- What’s a small memory from your childhood that still makes you smile?
- What was your first apartment like?
- What’s something that felt overwhelming at the time but makes you laugh now?
- Who influenced you most when you were young?
- What’s a tiny detail about your early years that most people wouldn’t know?
You don’t need perfection. You don’t need a perfectly orchestrated interview. You just need to begin.
That realization — that ordinary memories matter just as much as the “big” ones — ultimately shaped how I built Self Told. Not as a studio production. Not as a perfectly structured interview. But as a simple way to capture real voices, sharing real memories, before they’re gone. And if there’s one thing listening to StoryCorps taught me, it’s this:
The magic isn’t in the polish. It’s in the voice.
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