011 - “Long Story Short” with Margot Leitman

Have you ever wondered what goes into a good story? Enter Margot Leitman. Margot and I talk about why people fear story telling, what people can do if they feel they have no good stories, the anatomy of a good story, and the importance of good story telling in business. Margot Leitman is an award-winning storyteller, best-selling author, speaker and teacher originally from Matawan, New Jersey. A leading expert in the growing field of storytelling, Leitman has written two books on the subject: the best-selling, Long Story Short- the Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need and her latest What’s Your Story? A Workbook For the Storyteller in All of Us both from Sasquatch Books. Her comedic memoir, Gawky…Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase is available from Seal Press/ Perseus Books. She has written for NBC, DreamWorks TV, the Hallmark Channel and the PixL Network and a variety of print and online sources including Cosmo and Backstage Magazine. In 2016 she worked as the west coast story scout for This American Life. Margot is a five-time winner of The Moth StorySLAM, and was the Moth GrandSLAM winner in New York City achieving the series' first ever score of a perfect 10. Her stories have been featured on NPR's “The Moth Podcast,” “Good Food," “Unfictional,” "Strangers," and is a frequent contributor to the popular podcast “RISK!" Leitman is the founder of the storytelling program at the UCB Theatre, where she has performed in dozens of shows over the years and is a frequent monologist at their flagship show "Asssscat."  Margot travels all over the world as a public speaker, storyteller and teacher. Internationally she has performed and taught at the SPOKEN FEST in Mumbai, India as well as a six-week teaching residency at the Blue Room Theatre in Australia. In her spare time Leitman is an amateur baker, avid yogi and a devoted bibliophile. A proud graduate of the Ithaca College Theatre Department, Leitman now resides in Los Angeles. Margot can be reached at https://www.margotleitman.com/contact.