From the street to the statehouse and from the page to the stage.
A mission-led creative & cultural organization.
Since 2015, #whatshesaidproject has brought people together through storytelling, creative expression, and community engagement. What began as a platform for unheard stories and overlooked storytellers has grown into a creative and cultural organization dedicated to developing people, their work, and the opportunities that help them thrive.
Today, we collaborate with mission-led writers, artists, speakers, entrepreneurs, advocates, and changemakers to develop their ideas, strengthen their platforms, and bring their work into the world.
Through coaching, consulting, business development, boutique talent management, artistic programming, podcasting, and community engagement, we help people turn their ideas and experiences into meaningful work that connects, challenges, and inspires.
From the street to the statehouse and from the page to the stage.
Grassroots beginnings, an expanded platform.
We started as 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 — the first story slam series in South Carolina, which won NEA grants and reached national audiences.
Today, the organization carries those roots into a multidisciplinary practice: coaching, consulting, business development, boutique talent management, podcasting, and cultural work — always at the intersection of story, people, and culture.
Shannon Ivey, MFA AEA PCC.
Shannon Ivey is the Founder and Chief Story Officer of #whatshesaidproject. She brings her background as a professional actor, director, theatre professor, and applied theatre practitioner — including Theatre of the Oppressed — 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.
She specializes in crafting personal narratives. In 2012, she founded the first story slam series in South Carolina, the #whatshesaidproject, which won NEA grants and grew into a podcast. She is a 2x TEDx speaker and an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach, bringing science-based practices to story coaching programs, and began doctoral study at the European Graduate School in Expressive Arts: Coaching, Consulting and Conflict Transformation in 2024.
Her current work includes one-on-one client work, classes and workshops, organization and advocacy programming, and Welcome to the Sh*t Show: A Memoir of Colorectal Cancer and the Power of Self-Advocacy, published by University of South Carolina Press in 2026.
Selected moments along the way.
Founded as the first story slam series in South Carolina
Began working with individuals, organizations, and social justice movements
Won National Endowment for the Arts grants; grew into a podcast
WRITE HOME anthology in partnership with Athenaeum Press
Supported by institutions that believe in the work.
Let us move culture together.
Whether you are an artist seeking coaching and representation, or an organization booking keynote talent, we would like to hear from you.