S2 Ep 01 - Harnessing Storytelling: Empowering Nonprofits with Juliana Torres Mason - Visual Eyes - The Community & Collaboration Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Chris Baker (00:03):
Welcome to Visual Eyes, the podcast where
collaboration fuels change.
I'm your host, chris Baker, andeach week we'll explore
incredible connections betweennonprofits, businesses and the
community.
This is a space where wehighlight inspiring partnerships
, uncover strategies forcreating meaningful impact and
share stories that show howworking together can make all

(00:24):
the difference.
Whether you're a nonprofitleader, a business owner or
someone just passionate aboutbuilding connections, this
podcast is for you.
Welcome back to , where weactually explore the
collaboration and storytellingefforts to help nonprofits
succeed.
So what we do is we actuallyconnect for-profit businesses

(00:46):
with nonprofits and storytellingefforts to help nonprofits
succeed.
So what we do is we actuallyconnect for-profit businesses
with nonprofits, nonprofits withother nonprofits and so that
there is a collaboration.
And so that is what we'rereally all about collaboration
and connections and giving themopportunities to explore
different ways to work around.
So today I have the storytellerherself, juliana Mason Torres.

(01:11):
Did I say that?

Juliana Torres-Mason (01:12):
right Backwards.

Torres Mason.
So, yes, welcome to .

Thank you for having me.

Yes, so tell us a little bit more about what you
do, who you are and how you arethe non-profit storyteller sure.

So my agency helps non-profits
essentially tell their story.
We do that through a lot ofmarketing and we also help them
with grant writing as well.
So we help them in the space oftheir website, again, making
sure their messaging is veryclear and they're telling the
right elements of the storyonline.

(01:47):
And then we help them withnewsletters, making sure that
those stories are going out andare reflecting their mission on
a monthly or weekly basis.
And then we help them withtheir social media and help them
make sure that they have theright strategy to get the right
message in front of the rightpeople.
And then, on the grant writingside, we help them actually
collect the money to keep doingwhat they're doing.

(02:08):
And a big part of that isstorytelling as well, because
the way you connect with donorsand help people understand your
mission is to tell stories abouthow you impacted the community.

One of the most important things that I've
noticed right now is me and youare like dominating LinkedIn.
I'm trying to help nonprofitsunderstand storytelling Good.
I see your posts all the timeand I'm like every time I see it
.
I'm like, yes, that's sovaluable, and I have to like,
like, comment and share.
And like I've been trying toadd more of that kind of value

(02:42):
to like, hey, here's what youcan do in the behind the scenes
and here's what you can do evenby capturing stuff on your phone
right like, make sure that you,what are you trying to give or
what are you trying to explain.
So it's all about how you tellthe story, and writing is a huge
component in that.
Like you have to have the wordsto tell the story.

Right.
A lot of times, the first waywe can help nonprofits is just
by capturing the story to start.
A lot of times they have allthese people that they're
impacting, all these volunteersthat are going out in the
community and making thisamazing difference.
But, they are not actuallyremembering to write those
stories down, they're notcollecting all the details they

(03:26):
need to tell that story in acompelling way, and that hurts
them on the back end when theygo to try to appeal and say, oh,
this is what things that we did.
Numbers can only do so much asfar as really conveying your
impact.
You can say you gave 25 mealsthis last week, but what's
really impactful is to explainhow you helped a family who had

(03:50):
no food be able to feed theirchildren like.

That's a bigger impact than the number itself oh
yeah, I mean statistics canonly go so far, like I mean, yes
, we all need to know how manypeople did you support.
But but the emotion and theconnection that the individual
or the community or a businessthat may donate to the nonprofit
when they hear that story,that's what's going to drive

(04:16):
them.
That number might just be likeoh, that's cool.

Juliana Torres- (04:19):
Congratulations , yay.

And sometimes it's not enough.
Right, it depends, like I don'tknow, you're more familiar with
the grant world, but sometimesthey need the statistics.
But now I know they're askingfor a lot of video to showcase.
This is what you're doing inthe community.
How is that impactingnon-profits?

it makes a huge difference.
So you have a lot ofnon-profits that want to go
after grants and the essentiallythe grantors have to make hard
decisions about who they aregoing to actually give this lump
of money that they have intheir back pockets to hand out,
and the way that they do that iswho.

(05:01):
Who stands out to me most inwhat we're doing, and the
biggest way you can stand out isto tell that story and to show
that that impact is actuallyoccurring.
That cause that you are wantingto make happen in the community
is actually having an effect.
And it's hard to do that withjust numbers and we collect a

(05:24):
lot of numbers for grant writing, of course but it helps if we
can also tell a story and showon their websites and show in
the social media space how thatis happening, so that it's not
just a sheet of paper explainingit as well.

So one of the things is visibility for
nonprofits.
It's really hard for thegrassroots and the small
nonprofits to get thatvisibility to be out in the
community and get those donorsand the supporters sponsors,
supporters, sponsors how can avideo or you know something

(06:07):
that's written down especiallyfor grant writing and everything
else, how can it benefit them?
Like, what is the the reasonbehind needing to have that
story told?

I think it is just a concept of showing,
not telling.
You can on your website, youcan say we do this, but when you
are able to actually showsomeone that had the problem
that you're trying to fix andactually explain how you were
able to come alongside thatperson and help them, a lot of

(06:41):
times people that are givingmoney aren't in the world that
people who need the money are in, and it's hard to really get
them to understand what the needis and how we're actually
making that impact.
So that's where stories canreally explain that and it just

(07:02):
allows you to connect as well.
If you're not, on a weekly ormonthly at least basis, putting
something out to your supportsupporters, to the people that
follow you, to the people thatare interested in what you're
doing, to show the ways thatyou're helping, you're just
you're going to fall out of thefront of their brains, you're

(07:22):
just so true, out of the frontof their brains.

You're just so true , like I mean nowadays.
It used to be like you couldreach out two or three times and
you would be able to go, yeah,I'm interested or yes, you know,
that's exactly what I'm willingto help with.
Whatever the case may be, nowit's like 7, 12 different
touches before they even like oh, you exist.
It's like you're right if youdon't have something that's

(07:49):
constantly in front of you, infront of them, they're not there
yes and they kind of lose track.
Because we have lives, we havethings going on, we've got so
many more distractions than wedid 20 years ago there's a lot
of saturation just of contentout in the world.
So there is um, which can be,can be good, but it's also a

(08:15):
problem.
Problem, I would say,especially for smaller
non-profits.
They it's harder for them tokeep up with the times because
now they have to create socialmedia accounts and they have to
add videos and they have to addcarousels and reels and all of
these different components justto even stay relevant and

(08:35):
hopefully get those 7 to 12touches so that they can get the
sponsors, get the donors andeverything else.
And that's a lot of work,especially for a one person team
.

Right, yeah, it's a lot of work to keep
up with that.
It's a lot of work for justbusinesses who realize that
that's a component of theiractivity that needs to happen on
a weekly basis.
It's a lot for those kind oforganizations to do that, much
less a nonprofit organizationthat's already overwhelmed and
has way too manyresponsibilities on one or a

(09:07):
handful of people.
So that's tricky.

So one of my questions that I really want to
ask is what inspired yourcompany to get so involved in
collaborating with nonprofits?

I just think that nonprofits are where
the community stories happen,and I mean I love telling
stories.
That's where that's just that'smy passion.
I have a background injournalism and in which I was
able to actually tell a lot ofthe stories from a journalistic
standpoint, and it allowed thatplatform to happen for a lot of

(09:45):
non-profits.
We ended up profiling them indifferent ways, but so when I
started entering the marketingspace and wanting to help
businesses stand out, generallyspeaking, I just always found
myself coming back to wanting totell these more, these.
Not that businesses don't haveamazing impact stories and

(10:08):
stories that explain how they'remaking a difference, because
lots of businesses do but whenyou talk about community impact
and when you talk about how thecommunity is built, a lot of
that work is being done byamazing non-profits and I just
love being involved in that andallowing them to, giving them

(10:30):
that platform to make sure thattheir their stories are being
told.

And being heard.

And being heard.
That's a key factor.

Yeah, it's a huge factor because you know if they
don't have the visibility andthey can't get their message out
there.
They can't get their story outthere.
Can't get their story out there.
They get like we talked aboutearlier they get lost in the
crowd or they get forgotten,right, and that is definitely
not what either of us want.
That's one of the reasons thatwe started is we really wanted

(10:57):
to showcase the story, becausethere's a deeper and richer
story for the people that arehelped by these non-profits and
sometimes it's the person thatstarted the non-profit that has
the deepest story that's true,because they went through it and
they're like I had no help.
I need to create something sothat I can help others, and it's

(11:20):
an you know it's absolutelyinspiring and I love one of my
nonprofits that actually likeresonates with me on that level
and she's been a supporter of usand we've been a massive
supporter of her since, like dayone that we met.

So it's been fantastic.

Can you highlight some of the collaborations that
you've experienced with othernonprofits and feel free to name
the nonprofits that you'veworked with if you feel?
And feel free to name thenonprofits that you've worked
with If you feel like they'recomfortable, sure, be named.

Well, you and I have a mutual collaborator
.
What In Heart to Heart?

Outreach of South Florida.
Yes, heart to Heart Love them.
I was just with them all dayrecently.
That's amazing.

Yes, so I've worked with that
organization To help them tell,to capture the ways that their
volunteers go out and helpseniors in the community and
just sitting and talking withthem and honestly, one of the
favorite things that I was ableto do with that organization is
just tell the senior stories inthe ways that they I mean, you

(12:23):
see, some of these seniors hadamazing lives and now they have
no family or their family's farand they get a little forgotten
and so it's very useful to justremind the community that these
people exist and that thesepeople are deserving intention
and it's fun to sit down andtalk with them and listen to all

(12:46):
these amazing stories that havehappened in their lifetimes
it's so interesting that youbring that up and I'm literally
just going back in my mind likeI remember sitting down with my
great grandma and a lot ofpeople don't actually get to
meet their great-grandma and shewould be telling me these
stories when I was a kid and Iwas just.

I'm thinking about that right now and it's
interesting how I probablydidn't care as much about the
stories then, but I wish I hadthem now.
You know what I mean.
Like wow, the impact that hergeneration, what she had to go
through, everything that wasthere, and like those stories

(13:30):
are so important.
So now we've got all theseother seniors out there, like
you're saying, they've gotamazing stories and they need to
be told and they need to beheard.
So it's yeah, I love Heart toHeart for that.

Another organization I work with is
called Certified Humane.
They are an organization thatputs labels on eggs and
different food products.
That essentially says that thefarms and the ranches that these
products came from treatedtheir animals humanely, animals

(14:09):
humanely.
And the tricky part about thatorganization is helping them
tell their story in a way thatfits within a wider, the
volatile realm of animal rightsorganizations that have very
differing views.

I was gonna say, yeah, I could see see a little
bit of a struggle there, butokay, yeah, that's a challenge.

I have very differing views as to what
the best way is to care forthese farm animals that we use
on a daily basis across theworld.
We're talking millions andbillions of farm animals a year
and it's hard to thread theneedle as to how, what exactly,

(14:49):
where your stance is, howexactly you need to be speaking
out in the world.
So one of the things we've donewith that organization is start
telling the stories of theseinspectors that go out to these
farms and actually are the onesthat are interacting with the
farmers and the ranchers andjust enabling us to showcase

(15:09):
their humanity and how much theylove the farm animals and are
really passionate about makingsure that these animals are well
cared for.
That has helped an enormousamount with their supporters,
who do want to support themwithout drawing too much ire

(15:33):
from other organizations thatmight think a little differently
about how animal welfare shouldbe happening in the world, and
so it allows, it puts the heartbehind everything and showcases
that, as opposed to getting verytechnical into all the in and
outs of what we do and do notallow and how often, and blah,
blah, blah.
All these things can get verytechnical and it's hard to wrap

(15:56):
your brain around, but it's easyto wrap your brain around a
woman who has loved sitting andjust watching cows her entire
life and now she gets to do thaton a regular basis and be on
the front lines of making surethat cows across the world
literally are being cared forproperly by the farmers and
ranchers that want to do rightby them.

(16:16):
So that's a very that's adifferent story than yeah, we're
.

I mean, I I grew up on a very small hobby farm, um,
so I I kind of understand alittle bit of the farming world,
not a ton, but a little bit.
But yeah, that actually is veryimportant, like making sure
that they're treated well,because I mean, there's a lot of
horror movies, if you want toput it that way, that just
showcase the exact opposite.

And I think that's probably where the
other non-profits you knowstarted from, because they're
like we need to treat theseanimals with respect and dignity
right and it's a and it's a bigproblem, it's not you know it's
not a small problem that allthese organizations are trying
to fix and you can get in a lotof infighting and politics, but
when you just talk about we wantto help these animals and we

(17:07):
are passionate about trying tomake sure this happens, that
stands out a lot better and on apositive, even playing field
than a lot of the othertechnical pieces yeah, is there
any other non-profits you wantto highlight?
or stories that you would loveto share one of my organizations
that I help is a child advocacycenter, so they they are a

(17:31):
organization.
There's a bunch of childadvocacy centers across the
nation, but what child advocacycenters do is that is, they are
the ones that when a child is ais abused or neglected or
witnesses violence in some way.
The child advocacy centers arethe ones that actually will
record the interview.

(17:53):
That actually is the forensicinterview that actually will
then go and the prosecution teamcan actually use that to
prosecute the case, if there'sone, or investigate the crime
and whatever happened in theincident.
Investigate the crime andwhatever happened in the

(18:13):
incident.
And it is difficult, as youmight imagine, to get a child to
talk about those sorts ofthings, whatever happened to
them, that sort of thing.
So, child advocacy centers.
They create a child-friendlyspace, they have forensic
interviews that are trained toknow how to talk to children in
a child appropriate age,appropriate way, and it creates

(18:35):
a safe space for the families tocome do this very you know,
forensic, not friendly thing, um, and then allow that, um, that
piece of evidence, essentiallyto be captured.
And then they don't, that childdoesn't have to keep telling the
story over and over and overagain across the case and it

(18:57):
gets captured, recorded reallywell one time, and then um, and
then that's submitted intoevidence and they can keep on
referring to that one interview,as opposed to essentially
re-traumatizing the child overand over again it's so valuable.

Yeah, like I'm just thinking of, like kids that
have to do go through that.
Like why would you want tore-traumatize them?
And I understand like you wantto like I understand the lawyers
, because I worked in a law firmfor many years.
Like they have to like okay,we've got to prove against this

(19:33):
and try to do that, especiallyif they're on the opposite
council, right, and.
But when you're dealing with achild that had that much trauma,
why do you want to continue?
Let them go get the therapy orhealing that they need so they
can move on instead of bringingthat back up.
So I love that.
That is an amazing organization, wow, okay.

(19:55):
That one just yeah, that one iswow, so that organization helps
with the forensic interview.

That's the main thing what they do, but
their mission is to reallyreduce and eliminate the cycle
of child abuse in the community,and so a lot of what they do on
the back end, after theforensic interview is over, is
they provide counseling, theyprovide family support and
family advocacy for the family,and it's all free of charge
after as long as they have beenthrough the process and are, you

(20:23):
know, as long as they're one ofthe clients that has come in
and done a forensic interview.
If all those services are freeof charge and it's really
amazing to be able to, and withthat one in particular, it's a
little tricky because we have toalways tell stories in an
anonymized way.

yep nope, uh, yeah, you don't want to bring more
light onto?
An individual right, especiallyat that point yeah.

So it's tricky to capture the story and
get the essence of it and reallyget details that will convey
the, the nuances and and thetrauma that this child and this
family have gone through,without revealing too much about
the family that will causeundue harms.

Yeah, no, we don't want to cause any harm, that's
absolutely no.
No, we don't want that, butwe're here to help the community
not, you know, take back fromit.
So, oh, wow, okay, that thatwas amazing all right so one of
the next questions what advicewould you give to other

(21:26):
businesses looking tocollaborate with non-profit
organizations?

looking to collaborate with nonprofit
organizations.
I think that's a good question.
I should think about that.
The thing I would say, if youare interested in helping a
nonprofit, is to not sell themthe watered-down version of
whatever service that you have.
Nonprofits really deserve tohave the same level of marketing

(21:55):
, the same level of services,the same level of services that
put them out front in thecommunity that businesses we
accept, that businesses do allthe time.
And so I think it's important ifyou are going to collaborate
with a nonprofit whether you'redonating your time or whether
you're just selling your timeit's important to make sure that

(22:16):
you're even if you want to begenerous, make sure that you're
giving them still a high qualityservice that is going to serve
them well and, you know, helpthem advance their mission,
their mission and be careful oftrying to oh, because we're
donating our time, we're justgoing to give them something
that maybe isn't the fullness ofwhat you might give it if

(22:37):
another organization, if theywere paying for it.
I think that's important and Iguess just check, if you're in
that space and wanting toprovide that service, just kind
of do a heart check and see whatit is you're after.
Are you really looking tosupport that organization and
make sure that they grow, or areyou just trying to kind of prop

(22:58):
yourself up and make yourselflook good in the process?
I see a lot of that happeningand I think it's important to
call that out and to make surethat out and to make sure that
and it, if your service isvaluable enough to the
non-profit, it's okay to havethem pay for it and and there

(23:19):
are lots of ways that to getfunding for different, for
different services thatnon-profits need.
So that doesn't necessarilyneed to be a thing that holds
you back from offering thefullness of the service.
But yeah, I guess that is kindof encapsulates what I yeah.

So one of the things that we've been trying to
do is always let the non-profitknow hey, you know, for our
services we can look at, youknow, adding it to a grant.
Obviously it's not going to getinto our pocket tomorrow right
because it takes time like goingthrough the grand process.
It's not a quick process.

(23:57):
It takes a lot of time.
The non-profits know this, butthe for the businesses might not
right, but if they're willingto put a little bit of time and
wait and be patient on it.
It's something that may be veryfruitful in the long run, but
it's not going to happen rightaway.
So it is something that wedefinitely want to kind of keep

(24:19):
that door and that mind open asa for-profit business that there
is other ways to do it without100 just not getting paid for it
and donating your time rightyou know we offer a discount.
There's other things that we doto try to help offset costs
wherever we can, but in the endof the result, we have to feed

(24:40):
ourselves too, so and thenon-profit has to feed
themselves, so they need to runit.
Run their business like abusiness right so that they can
go support their family andtheir kids and everybody else
that is there as well.

And I would say, the other thing too
is to just make sure that you'relistening to the non-profit
really well, Sometimes there isa difference in almost language
spoken between the for-profitand non-profit world and it
might take an extra minute toreally understand and get
yourself in the headspace ofwhat the nonprofit actually

(25:14):
needs and how you can come alongand help them.
A lot of times for profitbusinesses will say we want to
donate this much manpower for aday and we're going to come help
and the nonprofit sit down andsay I don't know where you what
you're going to be doing.
I don't know how to put 24people to work for a day, and so

(25:36):
just being open to differentopportunities and really taking
the time to listen to what thenonprofit needs, rather than
offering services that may benot the most useful thing that
they can use at the time.

Well, and also if that's what they can offer, feel
free to reach out to me andI'll connect you with the right
non-profits to make anythinghappen or, you know, be the the
middle person.
Since I am a for-profit but Iwork with non-profits, I
understand both avenues, andthat's a little better and also

(26:09):
reach out to juliana she'll beable to do it as well.
So I think that's very valuableto consider, because that
that's something that I you'reright, I don't think we listen
enough to.
What can they use right now.
You know, maybe that 24 person,like for one full day, could be

(26:30):
useful in a year, but if you'relike saying, oh, I can do it
next month, you need the rightnon-profit, that's like, yep, I
have the resources.
That's exactly what we'relooking for to move that needle.

Um, that quickly, right, and it might be
that you know eight three peopleteam over the course of a week
is more useful to that nonprofitthan having a bunch of people
all at one time.
Right, you know, it's all aboutunderstanding and just taking
the time to listen and hear andbeing open to a difference and

(27:07):
maybe what you want to offerversus what they are able to
accept and maybe what you wantto offer versus what they are
able to accept.

Well, I think the way that you said that is very
valuable, because I could seemyself if I was a nonprofit and
the company said I'm going tosend three people out every
single day this week.

Okay.

I can find something to do for three people
.
That's a lot easier for my headto comprehend.
Oh, I'm going to send 24 peopleout tomorrow for one day, I
don't know.
My brain kind of just kind ofwent.
I don't know what to do withthese, this many people right
now, right, um, you know, a fewmonths down the road, maybe that

(27:46):
might be a little bit different, I can come up with a plan to
come up with an idea, an actionthat can make an impact.
But yeah, I think that that'svery, very valuable because now
that you have a non-profitthinking but you also have the
for-profit that wants to helpthinking in a different way and
they can come up with a solution.
But you're right, they have tolisten to each other.

(28:07):
Right, like what can I, whatcan they handle and what can I
give?
Right in that same capacity.
All right, that's actuallyreally good advice.
What, what exciting projects orinitiatives are you currently
working on in the nonprofitspace?

Juliana Torres-Maso (28:28):
Initiatives .
So right now I amhelpingprofits with their social
media strategy.
Okay, so we get very deep intotheir target persona.
We look at other organizationsthat are working in the same
space and we help them defineexactly what they need to say to

(28:50):
stand out in that space and toget the right messaging to their
supporters.
And then we help them actuallycraft the messaging that needs
to go on social media, and we dothat by dividing out their call
to actions.
So a lot of times when we're onsocial media we tend to say

(29:12):
click here and also donate here,and also, you know, here's some
educational information andit's just a lot to expect people
to do every single post.
So one of the ways that we canhelp is give them a very clear
framework about how they can puttheir messaging out on social
media, specifically in differentplatforms, and that and look at

(29:36):
the timing of when they need tobe doing that, how frequently,
within their own capacity oftheir team which is important as
well and we're able to helpthem really get stand out on
social media, accomplishorganizational goals on social
media, which is key.
A lot of times people you kindof use social media to just be

(29:58):
out there and saying whateverand at least they'll see it.
But if you're spending a lot oftime it takes a lot of time to
put together graphics and comeup with content and all the
things if you're going to takeall that time to do that, why
not do it in a way that isfocused and that is actually
targeted towards the goals youhave as an organization?

it's true it's.

yeah, we tend to have a blind spot for
social media sometimes and, likewe all these marketing elements
that we normally think about toemploy to websites and to our
flyers and all those sorts ofthings, we forget that that also
applies to social media, andhaving a very clear, cohesive

(30:40):
strategy as to what you want tobe accomplishing on social media
is step one to making that animpact and making it worth your
time, because nonprofits, as weall know, don't have a lot of
time.
Worth your time becausenonprofits, as we all know,
don't have a lot of time, and ifyou're going to spend even 15
minutes throwing together asocial media post, why not have
it?
Actually push a goal that youwant to happen.

so I think also, there's so many voices right now
and so, like, depending on whoyou're following on a social
media channel, you're gettingall of these different
recommendations for how to dosocial or how to do this or how
to do that.
And one of the biggest thingsthat I've noticed is I try to

(31:23):
step back and like, okay, whoare they trying to target?
So, yeah, they might havepopped up in my feed, but who
are they trying to target?
And then I realized, oh,they're going after this type of
a company.
Okay, that's not going to helpme, so this advice isn't really
the best for me and it's takingthat step back that really makes

(31:44):
the difference to go okay, isthis going to be strategic for
me to talk about, for me to talkabout?
And so when I think about thatand I think about how we run our
businesses specifically, we'relooking at the strategy for the
non-profit and we need to take adeeper dive.
We can't just say, oh, you're anon-profit that does this, sure

(32:05):
I can make something for you.
It's not going to be thatsimple, like.
Like, when we have to tell astory, we need to dig deeper and
we need to understand who'syour target audience, and if you
say everybody, then I'm goingto ask you if your cat is one of
your, you know target audience,because that's everybody.

(32:26):
Also babies, like.
Is babies your target audience?
It might be, but I'm prettysure they're not going to be the
ones paying for anything orassisting.
So it's very important to thinkabout the target audience much
more niche like, it'll stillexpand.

(32:47):
But if you drop a pebble into awater and that's your target
niche, all of the ripples arestill going to be felt for miles
and miles.

Right.

So that niche is still going to ripple out to all
the other people that you wantto connect with, but if you have
it very focused, your messageis going to be clearer.
Your vision is going to beclearer.
Your vision is going to beclearer.
Your purpose, your call toaction, everything is much more
refined, and I know that'ssomething that we do when we
talk about strategy is we haveto dig deeper and that takes

(33:24):
time.

It's not going to happen overnight no,
and the thing that's great aboutsocial media is that you do
have the full landscape ofeverybody on social media.
So when we create avatars, weget very and by avatar I mean
the target persona, the personthat we're going to be targeting
we get very specific becausewhy not?
You're going to find peoplethat fit that very narrow person

(33:48):
that you want to target andthen you will still capture a
wider range.
But unless you're speaking to avery specific person, you're
not going to speak to anybody atall.

That's it's so true factor and I mean I've, I've
tossed.
When I first started thecompany, I tossed out whatever
and I was like nobody's lookingat it, nobody's liking it,
nobody's doing anything.
Well, who was I talking to?
And I, if we look back at it, Iwasn't talking to anybody,
right I was just talking to thegeneral void.

(34:23):
Let's call it, and it was veryimportant for us to take a
deeper look and like, okay, whodo we really want to help and
how do we really want to helpthem, and that made a huge
difference when we actuallyswitched over for our company,
so it does make a difference andtwo.

So a lot of non-profits are working in
the same space that othernon-profits are.
If you have a cancer foundation,for example, there are so many
different organizations doingthat similar work.
So how do you convey yourspecific mission amidst all this
other landscape of conversationthat's happening?

(35:02):
And so one of the things we dois we look at that landscape.
What is the conversation that'shappening on social media now
and how do you have a strongcommunity value within that
conversation that lets you havea voice, so that you're not just
saying the same thing thateverybody else is or saying

(35:24):
something that people aren'tresonating with like you can.
Actually there's a space foreverybody on social media to
have a voice and be part of theconversation, and it's really
about just charting that spaceand creating that space for
yourself with that very specifictarget persona, and that really
just enables you to take itthat much farther and to

(35:46):
actually then you don't feellike you have to compete with
other organizations that aredoing similar things.
No, this is our space, this iswhat we're saying, this is our
specific value that we'reoffering this wide landscape of
cancer research.
And this is how we can make adifference and then people and
once they have, once you're ableto convey that clearly, then

(36:08):
people are going to be able tocome alongside that mission and
come support that mission.
And make make it easy for themto support you is really the key
factor it's turn.

Yeah, it's turning your mission and your value
statement into a story that canresonate.
And I totally, I totally seewhat you're saying because, like
, like, yes, there's a lot ofnonprofits that help with cancer
, either in the research or intherapy or wherever, and you
know you're touching on probablythousands, if not tens of
thousands, of nonprofits allover the nation.
Right, they have a lot ofstories and how is yours unique

(36:49):
and how is yours different?
So what makes you different?
The bonus is, if you canactually get your story
solidified now, you might havesome of those bigger nonprofits
going.
I want to work with you.

Yeah, it's a great place for collaboration
as well.

It's a huge place for collaboration.
So now you're opening up doorsbecause now you get access to
their grant funding their donors, and now you can make a bigger
impact, and it's just becauseyou actually took the time to
really dig deep and get yourmessage clear yeah, partnerships
are so key on social media.

If you can , and there's so many different
ways that the differentplatforms offer collaborations
these days, too it makes itsuper easy, and once you have a
good partner and a someone thatcan actually come in and and you
have clear, clear values thatyou each are bringing to the
table, then you're able to shareeach other's audience and

(37:50):
expand on each other's audienceand grow that, and then it shows
people.
People don't like to feel likethey have to choose between one
foundation or one organizationor another.
They want to feel like they'redoing good things without
competing.
So it's correct social medianeeds to be a space where you
show that that partnership istaking place and that it's

(38:12):
happening and how it's happening, so that people are able to
come alongside it one.

So one of the ideas when I was talking about the
collaboration is actually moreof a structural space as well,
like 100.
Social media is a great placeto collaborate and like showcase
together.
But I actually do know of smallnon-profits being connected
with the bigger non-profit andnow they've added the bigger

(38:38):
non-profits, basically added apillar of offering, but they let
the non-profit hand the smallernon-profit handle it, and so
there's that type ofcollaboration that's available
as well.
It's not necessarily all aboutmoney, but it's visibility right
now you've opened up a wholenew door that you didn't have
access to before, and so thoseopportunities are insanely

(39:02):
valuable, because now, insteadof having maybe 200 followers,
you have 2 million right, andthat's huge.
Like I would love that.
I want to get there one day.
I like it.
Yeah, yeah, that's powerfulwhat is one piece of advice that

(39:22):
you would like to leave to ouraudience today?

so a lot of what I help non-profits and
any business do is get veryclear about what they want to
say and how they want to say it,and I think that's the biggest
piece, and sometimes that is, Iguess, what I would offer to
take the time to sit down andthink about what message you're

(39:45):
putting out into the world andhow that message is going to
impact what people.
And a lot of times and thishappens in for-profit business-
100% yeah.
As well as nonprofits.
They both have this problemwhere you start doing a thing
and you're doing this thingsuccessfully even, but you don't

(40:06):
.
When you are looking to pivotand expand your reach into a
greater community or just bemore visible out in the
community so you can get moresupport, it's important to stop
for a minute, have a meetingwith all the stakeholders and
establish that community valuethat you bring and make sure

(40:26):
that that is really clear andthat your values alongside that
are really clear, before youstart making that wider push
into and to be more visible.
It can be harmful even to startthrowing anything out into the
world before you're clear onwhat exactly it is you want to

(40:50):
say and how you want to say it,and that, I think, is, or it may
not even be, harmful, it justmight be a waste of time in a
sense because again anythingthat you're putting out in the
world to make yourself visibleis going to take time and it's
going to take resources and it'sgoing to take even just thought
and consideration to do, and soit's important to make sure

(41:13):
that, if you're going to bespending that time and using
those resources, that you'redoing it in a targeted way and
that you are clear.
And really, the other messagethat I would convey, too, is
that that can happen one time.
Get very clear.
It doesn't.
It's not a thing that has tohappen every year.
It's not a thing that has tohappen every year.

(41:34):
It does not a thing that has tohappen every month.
The purpose is to what are theleast common denominators that
make us who we are, and makingsure that you know that and are
able to communicate that to thestakeholders effectively will
allow you to enhance thatvisibility exponentially, as

(41:55):
opposed to just throwingwhatever out there.
So I think that would be thebiggest thing that I would offer
as advice is to just be veryintentional, take time, and
non-profits tend to have 50million pieces working, but it
it makes a difference to stop,do a organizational retreat,

(42:15):
whatever you need to do to makesure that that's very clear and
then go forward with um, withyour visibility and the greater
impact that you want to do I Icompletely agree.

I think that that's being clear, concise is very
important, because now, nowyou're talking to whoever you
need to talk to and you knowwhat you need to say, and you're
having the same message andit's repeatable.
Instead of going, I'm going togo over here and do this.
I'm going over here and do this.
So, yeah, that's very valuable.

(42:47):
I love that.
So how do people get a hold ofyou if they want your services?

Sure, so I am at Torres Mason dot com.
There's no hyphen in the title,so you can do Torres Mason dot
com.

You spell that for him.

Yes, t-o-r-r-e-s-m-a-s-o-n dot com.
You can also find me at thenonprofit storyteller dot com
and you can find me on socialsat Torres Mason Writing.
Pretty much that's my handleeverywhere.

Perfect.

And yeah, go ahead and follow me, reach
out, and I would love to chat.

Do you have a phone number for anybody to call?

Sure 561-252-5897.

Perfect.
Well, juliana, thank you somuch for being on the show today
.
I think we had some amazing,valuable nuggets that we got to
share.
I hope that everybody out thereand that's watching us gets to
take some of that back and, youknow, take a deeper dive, like
really dig in.
I would love to have you backon the show.
Let's definitely do this again.
So thank you guys for watchingand you guys have a wonderful

(43:54):
day.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for joining me on this episode of .
We hope that the inspirationand practical insights can help
you foster stronger connectionsand meaningful change.
Don't forget to subscribe,share the episode and leave us a
review.
To learn more about Visuals byMomo and how we support
collaboration and storytelling,visit visualsbymomo.
com.

(44:19):
A huge thank you to everyoneout there listening.
Until next time, remember,collaboration fuels change and
your connections can inspire theworld.

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S2 Ep 01 - Harnessing Storytelling: Empowering Nonprofits with Juliana Torres Mason

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S2 Ep 01 - Harnessing Storytelling: Empowering Nonprofits with Juliana Torres Mason