#whatshesaidproject is:

GROWING!

We started as a a grassroots community art project to amplify the oral stories and lived experiences of women during a time when there was a great need for a place to craft and experience the profound transformation of personal story.

We grew into a STORY SLAM producing project and a podcast.

We are growing again to add classes, retreats, and workshops.

Check out our current offerings!

Want to join our team?

Meet our team!

Meet Founder Shannon Ivey MFA AEA PCC

Shannon Ivey MFA AEA PCC is the Founder and Chief Story Officer of Gather SC, LLC.

Shannon brings her background as a professional actor/director and Theatre professor to individuals and organizations who crave the transformation of story work. Shannon has worked with thousands of participants: grassroots social justice advocates, professional actors, writers, keynote speakers, leaders, and everyday emerging leaders from the page to the national stage.

Ms. Ivey specializes in crafting personal narratives. In 2012, Ms. Ivey founded first Story Slam series in South Carolina, the #whatshesaidproject, which won NEA grants and grew into a podcast.

Shannon Ivey is an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach, bringing science based practices to story coaching programs. She has continued her graduate level study beginning in 2024 at the European Graduate School studying for a PhD in Expressive Arts: Coaching, Consulting and Conflict Transformation.

Shannon’s current work includes 1:1 client work, classes and workshops, organization and advocacy programming through Alternate Roots, and putting the finishing touches on a memoir set to be published in 2025.

Email Shannon

More about Shannon

Meet Writer/Educator Melanie McGehee MA

Melanie has a master’s degree in Creative Nonfiction and is finishing an MFA in Creative Writing this semester. She’s written over sixty posts for Columbia Moms Blog and is a book reviewer for MER, an online literary magazine for mothers. Her poetry has been published in SC’s fallLines, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, and (upcoming) Peregrine Journal. Melanie has been a reader for The James Jones First Novel Fellowship and Wilkes University’s River and South. She has completed an observation semester with Etruscan Press and a graduate assistantship with Hippocampus. She’s been mentored by Beverly Donofrio and Jessica Goudeau (in memoir and essay) and Robin McCray (in narrative medicine) and she is currently revising her story, Full of Myself, into a memoir-in-essays.

Melanie shares -

I believe that words hold power. The process of writing has both informed and transformed me. Some days, I put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to commemorate and to celebrate. On other days, I use words to heal, or even to forget. Sometimes my practice feels like play. Other times, it feels like exercise (that’s work!)

Take Melanie's Class!

Meet Tayler Simon LMSW of Liberation is Lit

Tayler Simon is a writer, book lover turned bookseller, social worker, and seeker of liberation for all. She is the owner of Liberation is Lit, a bookseller that aims to spark collective action for liberation and community building among readers and book lovers by promoting stories from intersectional experiences. Tayler started professionally writing when she started her own blog in 2019 and contributed to numerous online publications on anti-oppression. She has self-published three books, Phases: Poems, Writing Our Truths: A Guide to Self-Publishing for BIPOC Writers, and Love and Other Forms of Heartbreak. Through her books, she has made a commitment to radical vulnerability, curiosity, and connection.

Tayler has helped several authors with the self-publishing process for several genres. Her specialties include poetry and industry-specific guides. She has also facilitated other courses, including Poet to Published: Publish Your Book of Poetry in 30 Days.