
Storytelling Needs an Ecosystem
From Designing Tomorrow: Creative Strategies for Social Impact by Eric Ressler
March 10, 2026 · 51 min · Episode 79
About this episode
Heather Mason discusses the need for a storytelling ecosystem in the social impact sector.
The social impact sector has gotten very good at describing problems: white papers, statistics, annual reports filled with data on gaps and needs. But it hasn't built a system for telling stories that actually move people. Heather Mason spent 20 years producing the biggest convenings in the sector before building The Impact Lounge, a traveling hub that brings together funders, filmmakers, and creators at Sundance, Cannes, and beyond to build the narrative infrastructure social change has been...
People in this episode
Host: Eric Ressler
Guest: Heather Mason
Topics covered
- storytelling
- social impact
- narrative infrastructure
- funding
- creative collaboration
Keywords
- storytelling
- social impact
- The Impact Lounge
- funders
- filmmakers
- narrative infrastructure
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Impact Lounge
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