A Story is an idea, action, imagination, experience or a combination set of these which are shared with defined or multiple audiences. They come in a variety of mediums and can be short (e.g. a tweet) through to long, extended forms (e.g. a novel - printed literature or film - audio and visual).

A Story can tell raw truths and/or powerful untruths, regularly adding to or challenging the dominant, hegemonic narrative.

A Story can share Culture. A Story can inform. A Story can connect us all.

Everyone can be a Story Holder.

A Story Holder is a person with the lived experience- the owner of their Story.

The Story Holder may choose to share their Story or not.

When Story Holders speak about communities who have less power than themselves, they must not inflict harm or remove agency from these individuals or communities.

A Story Teller is a person telling the Story Holders' Story.

It may be the Story Holder themselves. ​

It may also be an organisation, another person, a media company or anyone who chooses to re-tell the Story ethically or not.

A Story Extractor is a person or organisation who takes a Story Holder's Story and uses it for their own benefit, without any concern for the Story Holders' creative control or ownership.

A Story Interpreter is a person or organisation that tells or creates a Story through their lens or the lens of their organisation without prioritising the Story Holders' creative control and ownership of their Story.

A Story Caretaker is a person or organisation who engages a Story Holder to share their Story and commits to the Transformational Ethical Story Telling Principles.

Lived experience is the expertise of a person or community’s whole experience, not just the identity markers, one may seek for organisational optics. It is the person(s) multiple experiences which they are expert, hold onto and choose to share without coercion.

Ethical storytelling is working with the most marginalised, silenced and erased Story Holders to elevate their voices without curating or co-opting for organisational purposes or outcomes. It requires acting as a Story Caretaker, acknowledging Story Holders are the rightful experts and owners of their Stories.

Story Washing is a form of Story Telling which deceives the audience into believing the Story presented is representative of the organisations’ values and actions.