Chris Williams

Creator, Front Porch Sessions

Educator, Storyteller, Workshop Leader

“You will rarely see me wearing a suit.”

Educator

I earned a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University in 2007 and have worked internationally and locally in the field of education. You can catch me telling my own stories or playing on stage with my improvisation trio, Broke Gravy.

Regardless of where I am or what I’m doing, I’m committed to engaging with the communities around me and living a full and purposeful life filled with laughter, creativity and surprises.

I have spent well over a decade on the front lines helping to educate youth in the public school system. What I quickly discovered was that they had just as much to teach me.

You can’t fake it with kids, they demand authenticity and they’re also very forgiving of mistakes.

Working with young people has been an invaluable lesson in how I want to live my life.

I’ve taken the skills gained from listening to and collaborating with youth and transferred that into the work and energy I put into Front Porch Sessions and my workshops.

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Storyteller

“The power of story has influenced my life from a very young age. I’ve spent my time incorporating storytelling into the work that I do.”

Story Coach

I can still remember the first time I told an “official story”. I say official because it was the first time I told a story in front of hundreds of people who had bought tickets to hear me and a handful of other people tell a personal story.

I didn’t want to walk on that stage.

I listened to the hosts talking to the audience and I could hear the laughter of the crowd and the pounding of my heart. I thought of all the different ways to get out of walking onto that stage. My mind was blank and I was certain I would not remember the story I had developed over the past few weeks.

I was deep into the negative self-talk when my story coach and now friend and mentor came over to me with a big smile on her face. She put her hands on my shoulders and simply said “you’re going to be amazing!”

I could feel my entire body relax and then she walked me onto the stage after introducing me. The story came back to me and it really was an amazing evening.

I want everyone that I work with to feel the way I felt that night.

I want everyone I have contact with to understand that not only do they have a story inside of them but they have an amazing story to tell.

I coach people on their story development the same way that I work on my own stories. I always start from a position of positivity and with the understanding that the story is already there, we just have to remove everything else around it.