Des Moines Storytellers Project

Reporter and storytellers coach Courtney Crowder introduces the mission of the Des Moines Storytellers Project.

Crissanka Christadoss had a best friend named Frida. But when college rolled around, she decided it might be time for them to part ways.

Christadoss works for a nonprofit that promotes education and awareness for Parkinson's disease.

After four decades on TV, Kevin Cooney knows a thing or two about the role stories play in our lives, but he wasn’t prepared for how the stories he encountered on-set would shape him forever.

Cooney spent decades as a reporter and anchor at KCCI-TV. In retirement, he is a chauffeur for preschoolers.

When Olivia Kvitne’s relationship started to deteriorate, she found comfort in an unlikely ally. And when that ally gets taken from her, she’ll stop at nothing to bring it back.

Kvitne is a professional dancer and the founder of Yoga for First Responders.

As a young man, James Stordahl had a question: Where do you go to find happiness? Turns out the answer was Daytona Beach.

Stordahl is a school bus driver and retired U.S. postmaster who has written four books about raising a daughter with bipolar disorder.

Lindsay Allen Moeller spent weeks preparing for the opening night of her first main stage production in college, but should she really be there?

Moeller is an account executive for Hanser & Associates Public Relations who likes to run and watch TV.

Dates are important to Drew Riebhoff. First, he’ll talk about one that shattered his worldview. Then, he’ll discuss one he hopes could change yours.

Riebhoff, a 2010 Simpson College graduate and third runner-up at the 2014 International Mr. Leather contest, is a nerd who likes "Dr. Who," whiskey, Ted Talks and stuff about space.

As a former cop, Mike Nehring regularly encountered the city’s most unsavory elements, but one evening, an average traffic stop changed his life forever.

Nehring has been an instructor at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy for 18 years and has taught on five continents.

After a difficult divorce, Sue Burns found self-worth at the bottom of a kayak.

Burns is a business analyst for DuPont Pioneer and an avid knitter who can spin any fiber, including dog hair, into yarn.

A marathon runner, avid biker and decadeslong professor, Steve Rose was not one to slow down — until someone showed him how.

Rose is a poet and a professor of teacher education and the coordinator of secondary education at Simpson College.