Suzy Kahn Weinberg came into my orbit at ConTextos back in March of 2020 at the start of Chicago’s Coronavirus lockdown and social distancing mandate. As an organization, we jumped on line as a team to connect and share stories, feelings, perspectives; to make sense of ourselves and the world around us. Suzy and technical producer Adam Yoffe teamed with ConTextos to structure and present ConTextos’ first cyber event: The Story Garden Party. At the peak of attendance, some 129 individual devices tuned in via Zoom to hear select stories from the hundreds that had been written up to that point. It was a glorious success for all. With the guidance of Big Shoulders Stories, what started as a rough idea, intended to celebrate the coming together of a disparate group of stories and storytellers, came to a most satisfying fruition.

Dr. Sharon L. Moore,
ConTextos, Coordinator of Program and Curriculum Development

‍Suzy is uniquely gifted. I worked with Suzy to craft and share a story which was very personal to me and which I was extremely nervous to share publicly. Suzy’s passion for storytelling goes beyond skill-building and content creation as she meets people where they are and helps them push past their own mental boundaries by encouraging them to find their true voice and tell their story in a unique and compelling way. Suzy’s patience, understanding, feedback, support and allyship truly helped me understand how to successfully push past these mental barriers and write and speak with full truth and raw honesty. I am forever grateful to Suzy for the tremendous amount of time, effort and intention that she puts into this work and I would encourage anyone to invest in themselves by working with Suzy to learn to speak and write skillfully and authentically.

Amber Townsend
Chicago Scholars, Executive Fellow