HOST
Follow Jesse Oxford, Founder and Creative Director of OX Creative
@jesseoxford
@oxcreates
www.oxcreates.com

GUEST
Follow Kenneth Freyer
@kennethfreyer

INTRO:
Jesse Oxford: When it comes to telling a story in the middle of a disaster, Kenneth Freyer is your man. He's been in California towns immediately after wildfires destroyed everything. He was in New York City during the very first days of COVID-19. He's been in war torn regions and in natural disasters immediately after, or during the crisis itself.

QUOTE-ABLES:

Kenneth Freyer: Why I love storytelling so much and why I am pursuing this? Because there's nothing more fulfilling than meeting somebody and letting them pour their heart out to you. And then you having the responsibility, and the privilege to honor them through a really good story.

KF: There's also this pressure, because I think there's a pressure to get the material, get the content, but there's also a pressure to make it good and make it thoughtful, and make it respect the culture, or the people that you're interacting with. And so it's a fine line between, fulfilling your goal or changing your goal and seeing what the reality is when you're there.

KF: For the most part there's this idea that if you can grab the attention before somebody else does, then you're going to do more for your cause or more for your brand than the other person. So I think, what people always turn towards is, how do I grab their heart? How do I grab their attention? I have to tell a compelling story. It has to be this thing that means something. And I think, there's a lot of times, especially with commercial work or more corporate brands, I think it's something that can devalue the story.

JO: So often, we focus our stories on what makes us different, instead of what makes us the same. But the truth is the stories that have the most broad ranging, global appeal, are ones that are told about the things we all share in common. Motherhood, dreams for our future, hard work, providing for your family. These are things that everyone, no matter where you were born, what your education, is or what opportunities have been afforded to you, we can all relate to.

KF: There's a lot of people make excuses, there's a lot of people that are, I just don't have the ability to go tell good stories, but your neighbor has a story. The people that you work with have stories. Everyone has something, some quirk. A lot of times when I'm telling stories or meeting people, I find that one thing that makes them stand out. Maybe it's a record player, or maybe you just tell one really good story, versus trying to pump out 12 stories while you're on the ground for a week. But I do think that there is value, in bridging culture, and bridging gaps, and empathizing and crying with people in tears.

JO: Motive, shapes everything. And for me, what I hope differentiates my work from any other type of story that I could be telling, is that I want to be creating things for good. I really want to bring out good in the world. I know that I could have built a successful career, just helping brands earn money. But I truly believe that often the voices who need to be heard the most, never have their stories told. And that's what I love about Kenneth and the work that he does.