Love, Protection, and the Weight of Racial Stress with Lisa Nelson-Haynes

In this powerful premiere of Stories That Stay, co-hosts Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston converse with Lisa Nelson-Haynes—Executive Director of Lion’s Story and former Chief Programs Officer at StoryCorps—about a childhood memory that shaped her identity and her career. Lisa revisits a vivid moment when her father confronted racial disrespect, exploring how that act of love, protection, and trauma informed her journey. Their conversation weaves storytelling, emotion, and mindful reflection, illustrating how early experiences continue to inform our work toward healing and justice.Guest Bio: Lisa Nelson-HaynesLisa Nelson-Haynes leads Lion’s Story with decades of experience as a digital storytelling facilitator and nonprofit strategist. Before joining Lion’s Story, Lisa served as the Chief Programs Officer at StoryCorps, overseeing programs in interview collection, learning and engagement, recording and archiving, and research and evaluation. She previously served as Executive Director of Philadelphia Young Playwrights (PYP), where she centered youth storytelling as a tool for social change. Lisa’s storytelling roots run deep: she has built award-winning workshops and podcasts, including PYP’s podcast Mouthful, and facilitated digital storytelling programs for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Drexel University’s Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice, and others.Host BiosShamm Petros, Senior Director of Learning & Development at Lion’s Story, brings training grounded in the organization’s 35+ years of racial literacy research and a story-forward approach to racial healing Dwight Dunston, a mindfulness practitioner and storyteller, provides the emotional grounding and reflective prompts that model racial stress processing through the body.Featured Quotes“Even at four years old, I knew that man had crossed a line.”“As I’ve grown older, I see my father’s actions as love, protection, and the weight he carried every day.”What This Episode OffersThis episode lays the foundation for Stories That Stay, introducing listeners to Lion’s Story’s core approach—storytelling as a pathway to racial literacy, healing, and authentic inclusion. It demonstrates:How early memory anchors identity and influence.The integration of emotional awareness, mindful reflection, and storytelling as tools for navigating racial stress.The lived leadership of a storyteller who has shaped nonprofit, creative, and civic spaces for equitable dialogue.Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcastProduced and edited by Peterson Toscano. Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston. Music by Epidemic Sound.Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston