Description

Episode 62: Sitting with the Lemons with Te'Jal Cartwright

Hosted by Katelyn Calhoun

Te'Jal is the kind of person who makes her corner of the world the best it can be.

We met a year ago in an improv class at Black Box Improv in Dayton, Ohio. And this episode is made from the energy and fun of Improv: Level One.

Te'Jal is a story coach, journalist, community builder, mom, soon-to-be wife, and one of the most joy-inducing humans I know. Her work is about getting people to share the stories they've been sitting on. And in this conversation, she shares a few of her own.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What it means to build community from the inside out and how Te'Jal's past experiences with isolation became the seed for everything she does
• Te'Jal's work with LORE, her story coaching business, and what happens when everyday people finally get to tell their story out loud
• Finding out you were adopted at 19 via a Facebook message from a stranger and what it took to actually feel that
• The "don't rush the lemonade" philosophy: sitting with your hard stuff before you try to spin it into something useful
• Growing up in a household where what happens inside stays inside, and how that shapes the way you move through the world
• Why storytelling isn't just an art form, but a way to heal your family line
• Te'Jal's grandmother, her deathbed stories, and the inspiration behind LORE's new family history series

A few moments that stood out:

• The image of 12-year-old Te'Jal with a suitcase packed, thinking she was moving with her mom — and the Saturday morning when her mom hugged her, cried, and left. Te'Jal says she still goes back to that little girl in meditation. Still gives her a hug. Still tells her she's safe.
• "I cried for like two minutes, and then I moved on." She said it with a laugh. But then she talked about how becoming a mother cracked everything open — and all those unfelt feelings came rushing back. Pandora's box, she called it.
• The lemon metaphor. Count them. Smell them. Peel them. Don't rush to make the lemonade. I'm never letting that one go.
• Her grandmother spending her final months telling stories — and Te'Jal realizing, this should have happened while she was still here. That grief became a mission.

If this episode hit something in you, send it to someone who needs to hear it too. And if you've been sitting on a story you don't quite know how to tell, check out Te'Jal's work at LORE Storytelling on Instagram @lorestorytelling. 

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Crafted Connections is lovingly produced by Calhoun Creative Consulting, a strategic storytelling firm helping people and brands tell stories that resonate.

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