Occupation: Midstory co-founders
Our story, in one sentence: Leaving home, coming home, making home.
Most people know us for: the stories we tell and the media we produce.
We wish more people knew us for: our story and our mission—how personal our motivation is for doing what we are doing. Midstory was born out of our own experience leaving—and now returning to—our home. We hope others can do the same! Our mission is to retain, cultivate, and attract young people and the public at large through creative storytelling and solutions-oriented projects in post-industrial cities.
The best time we will ever have in Toledo: The A City in Transit Gala x Expo on Aug. 3 at 4pm. Come out for food, live local music and to interact with 100+ community organizations and businesses who are inspiring Toledo’s future!
If we could change one thing about Toledo: We hope to see a change in the way we see ourselves (and subsequently how others see us) as Toledo. We see value in telling our own stories and recognizing their importance in the national conversation. We need to believe in our own local and national significance first before we can expect others to believe in us, too.
Our favorite piece of local architecture: We love the riverfront grain silos and water towers—pieces of our agricultural and industrial past and present that remind us of our roots.
If we knew we could get away with it, we would: buy up all the post-industrial spaces downtown for new, public and creative functions.
The reason we are most proud right now: Bringing new youth, energy and power into Toledo; welcoming Midstory college interns from all over the U.S., and even across the globe, to Toledo to tell stories; investing in our home; helping Toledoans garner more agency for our city and our voice; less talking, more doing.
What makes us truly feel alive: We feel most alive when we are serving the community that helped raise us. Being from Toledo and calling Toledo our home means taking responsibility for the growth and evolving identity of that home. We are finding the beauty in unexpected places—getting our region’s story out there. Not to mention, WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE!
Three negative adjectives to describe Toledo, three positive adjectives to describe Toledo, and the adjective from that list that best describes us: Siloed, undervalued, ignored. Underdog, hopeful, awakening. As for us? Hopeful.
The hardest decision we have made in the past year: Choosing our name…
