Leading with Story in Times of Crisis with Catherine Alonzo

What does it mean to lead with care when everything feels like it’s on fire? 

Today’s guest brings clarity to one of the most important tools we have in times of crisis: storytelling. Catherine Alonzo is a strategist, storyteller, and CEO of Javelina, a branding and marketing agency helping purpose-driven organizations deepen their social impact. From minimum wage to marriage equality to climate justice, Catherine has helped shape the messages behind some of the most influential movements of our time.

In this episode, we explore trauma-informed storytelling as a vital piece of nonprofit communication ethics. 

Catherine shares insights from her guide, A Guide to Effective Storytelling During a Crisis, including how to balance urgency with humanity, what it means to communicate with clarity during chaos, and how a simple decision tree can help nonprofit leaders speak out with intention. 

About Catherine Alonzo

Catherine Alonzo is on a mission to deepen the social impact of purpose-driven, values-aligned changemakers. She does this through her work with Javelina, a branding and marketing agency that helps social change organizations tell a powerful story that moves their target audiences to action, and through her consulting practice, in which she teaches teams a value-based approach to decision making, team building, storytelling, and leadership so that they can advance their community impact.

Recognized for her business leadership by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, Arizona Business Magazine, Arizona Big Media, and the Phoenix Business Journal, Catherine has been a part of some of the most influential change movements of our time, including increasing minimum wages, advancing marriage equality, widening transportation networks, preserving our climate and environment, and protecting abortion rights.

Connect with Catherine Alonzo

 Effective Storytelling During a Crisis | Javelina.co | Catherinealonzo.com 

About Host Maria Bryan

Maria Bryan is a trauma-informed storytelling trainer. She helps nonprofit leaders tell powerful and impactful stories that resist harm. Maria has over fifteen years in marketing communications in the public sector. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, and is professionally certified in Trauma & Resilience, Trauma-Informed Space Holding, Trauma-Informed Coaching, and Somatic Embodiment & Regulation. Maria is a firm believer that storytellers make the world a healthier, safer, cleaner, and happier place.

Connect with Maria

Speaking & Training | LinkedIn | Email

Transcript

Maria Bryan:
Welcome to the When Bearing Witness podcast. This podcast is an invitation to explore trauma-informed storytelling—a safe and healthy process of gathering and telling painful stories. It's hosted by me, Maria Bryan, a career storyteller. I have long believed that storytellers play a crucial role in making the world a better place.

For a brief moment, I was introduced to the concept of trauma-informed storytelling, and it changed my life. Join my conversations with trauma-informed experts and social good storytellers as we help shape the intersection of trauma-informed care and the storytelling process. Stories are sacred, and we can create safe spaces to tell and share them.

Y’all, I’m so excited for today’s episode. We have someone who truly understands the role of story during the most challenging seasons we endure as nonprofits.

Catherine Alonzo is a strategist, storyteller, and social change leader on a mission to help purpose-driven organizations create deeper impact. As the co-founder of Javelina, a branding and marketing agency for social change, Catherine has worked with movements advancing everything from minimum wage increases and marriage equality to environmental protection and abortion rights.

I was given her guide, A Guide to Effective Storytelling During a Crisis, and was just blown away by the simplicity—and also the clear tactics and guidance. This is a really incredible resource for communicators navigating a crisis.

This is what we’re going to be talking about today: how we can be proactive and human in our messaging, which is more important now than ever.

Catherine, it’s such a joy to have you on. Welcome to When Bearing Witness.

Catherine Alonzo:
A joy to be here. Thanks, Maria.

Maria Bryan:
I was so impressed researching you and all the different kinds of movements that you’ve had success in. What role does storytelling play in mobilizing people during moments of uncertainty and upheaval—which is where these movements often arise from?

Catherine Alonzo:
Well, I’m biased, but I would say it plays probably the most important role. Stories help us relate. They help us see things differently, understand things from different angles. But really what stories do is they make us care about things.

If you think about when you were growing up and the first stories that you loved—whether it was a kid’s book or a movie—it’s usually because that story connected with us in some way. And I find that the stories we loved as kids end up shaping who we are, what we care about, and the work that we do.

I think the reason for that is because they help us make sense of the world around us. If you think about what a movement is—it’s trying to mobilize lots of different people around a common cause so that we can change something. That’s not an easy thing to do. Everything is sort of set up to maintain the status quo.

So transforming something from A to B truly does demand a movement. And to bring people to that movement, we need to tell them stories so they can connect to it and care about it. I would argue that without story, there is no change.

Maria Bryan:
It’s so true. Because it’s our stories—and you see them reflected in others—and you realize, this isn’t just me. That’s one foundation of it. But your life also changes when you learn that your neighbor, or your friend, or your daughter or son or best friend has experienced something. It changes you.

So I couldn’t agree more—without story, we don’t have movements.

Catherine, I want to know your story. What brought you into this space of branding and marketing for social change, and being involved in these movements?

Catherine Alonzo:
There was a moment in my life that has shaped my entire life. And the crazy thing about this moment is I don’t actually remember it.

When I was six months old, my older brother Rory died in an accident. It was three weeks before his third birthday. I don’t remember Rory—we only shared 163 days on the Earth together.

I don’t know what it’s like to lose a child, but I do know what it’s like to grow up in a grieving family. I had a front-row seat to what that kind of loss does to people, and how it changes your worldview. It changes what you think is possible, and what you think the world will give you.

In the aftermath of my brother’s death, I think my parents taught me and my younger brother two really important lessons.

The first was: tomorrow isn’t promised. Things happen to good people. I grew up with this sense that the rug could be pulled out from under my feet at any moment.

The second lesson they taught us was: given that reality, the power you really have is to make a difference in the lives of other people. This is a power that you have and that you will only use if you choose to use it.

So I think that really translated for me, Maria, into this drive—this drive that lives within my soul—to make the world kinder and more equitable.

But I had no idea how I was going to do that. From a young age, I tried to figure out different careers that might work.

I thought I might be a veterinarian, until I realized I only enjoyed being around healthy animals. Then I thought I’d be a teacher—but my mom was a teacher and told me it would destroy my mental health.

Then I turned my attention to journalism, which really came crashing down on my 18th birthday when I was arrested for publishing a story in my high school newspaper that was deemed “inciting the law.” That’s a longer story for another day. So I abandoned that dream.

I grew up in the UK, and after I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I came to the U.S. for my master’s—honestly, mostly because I wanted to live somewhere hot. I’m based in Arizona.

In my final semester of grad school, I volunteered on a political campaign. That was a real pivotal moment for me because I found my people. For the first time, I was surrounded by others who were driven to make the world different, and they had chosen to do that through political campaigns.

So I dedicated a few years to running campaigns, which led to me starting Javelina. It began as a political consulting firm and evolved into a branding, marketing, and advocacy agency for all kinds of organizations—including political candidates—who want to make the world different, and not just better.

It was a very meandering path. I had no idea I’d be a storyteller or an entrepreneur, but I’ve found a path that works. It’s my little way of making the world kinder and more equitable.

Maria Bryan:
Thank you for being so generous with your stories, sharing about your family.

So you have a lot of experience working in politics, on fast-moving developments. And we’re talking about crisis. So in your work, let’s first talk about missteps. What kind of missteps are you seeing organizations take when things are moving so fast?

Catherine Alonzo:
The way that I would define crisis communication is: something is going on—whether it’s within your organization, within your sector, or within the world—and the question comes up: do we say something? And if so, what do we say?

This isn’t consistent, regular communication. This is something that is responsive and reactive. And the biggest mistake that gets made—and it gets made over and over by huge corporate brands, by people who have marketing teams with millions of dollars in payroll—is that they panic.

They panic and move quickly without stopping to think, what are the right steps here? What’s the right criteria?

My favorite analogy to summarize this, Maria, is: if you think about when you were a kid, advice you might’ve been given by parents or other adults was, “If you’re by a swimming pool, don’t run.”

What I learned in college is that the reason you’re told not to run is that running creates panic—and panic is contagious.

This is the same thing with crisis communications. What often happens is: something happens, and there’s pressure to say something, to put it out in the world. And the person in charge—communications director, whoever it is—they panic.

And that creates an environment where decisions about what to say and when to say it are made in chaos. That leads to fast decisions made with the wrong criteria. Even in the best-case scenario, it leads to a missed opportunity to really lead your community.

The best thing you can do with crisis communications is go slow to go fast. Slow down, and create space to really think about what matters most when making these decisions.

Maria Bryan:
It makes me think of a phrase I heard a while ago, which is that fear and panic will always be short-term—but regret is long-term.

Listeners hear this from me a lot: sometimes you just have to sit in that fear, sit in that panic, and take a breath. Yes, we need to get communications out quickly, but we never need to get it out so quickly that the long-term effects end up amplifying the chaos.

And I don’t think I’ll ever forget that running-at-the-pool metaphor. That’s really powerful—thank you.

You say this in your guide, which I love, that in crisis and urgent communications: clarify what will change, and what won’t change.

I’m going to give a content warning now—we’ll be talking about gun violence.

This is fresh for me. At the time of this recording, there was recently a shooting at FSU, which is minutes from where I live. So this is top of mind as we talk about the kind of communications that went out during the active situation and in the following hours and days.

They did well—I’m not saying there was a disaster. There were a lot of things that went well.

So let’s unpack that. Why is it so important to talk about what is going to change—and also what won’t?

Catherine Alonzo:
Let’s talk about how we’re defining “crisis.” Because I’m using the word really liberally—to describe everything from a mass shooting, which is genuinely life and death in the moment, to something shifting within your sector that isn’t life-threatening and maybe isn’t particularly short-term.

It’s a broad definition. But within crisis—even that wide-reaching definition—what people are looking for is certainty.

The natural human reaction is to panic. The antidote to panic is information. People want to know: What is going on? Who is impacted? How am I impacted? When will this be over?

And quite often, they want to know who’s to blame.

So as an organization responsible for communicating, you want to provide as much certainty as you can—knowing that’s what people want more than anything.

Here’s the tough part: very often, you aren’t able to provide the kind of certainty people are looking for.

In something like a mass shooting, that’s why you’ll often see communications that say what to do, what not to do, when the next update will come. That structure is providing some form of clarity and containment.

In a more ongoing situation—like the changes we’re seeing from the federal government this year, and the sheer panic it’s creating in the nonprofit sector—this is why the communications guide emphasizes naming what will change and what won’t.

That’s your way of giving your audiences as much certainty as possible.

As a leader—as the CEO of an organization who leads a team and works with clients—I always try to do this when things happen:

I tell you what I know.
I tell you what I don’t know.
I tell you what we’re doing.

I don’t know how long this will last.
I don’t know how we’ll respond if X happens.
But I do know these other things.

Even if you’re delivering a “negative,” like we don’t know yet—it still feeds that need people have for information and clarity.

Maria Bryan:
The reason you wrote this guide—and one of the reasons I had you on—is because of what’s going on right now. The nonprofit space is being attacked on all ends. There are so many communities juggling worst-case scenarios with today’s realities.

Communicators have this crucial role of internally discussing that worst-case scenario, while constantly providing what you’re saying: clarity.

This is what we do know.
This is what we know right now.

And I love this addition: this is what we don’t know. I think that’s really important, because there’s a lot that we don’t know. And there’s a humanity in that, too—even if you rely on us for services or leadership in the community, we don’t know everything.

I want to talk about the decision tree you outline in this guide—which I think is brilliant.

This is something I’ve been asked a lot, especially in this politically heated moment: When do we speak up, and when don’t we?

People assume the only options are “speak out” or “stay silent,” but you describe this third option: a decision tree.

Tell us about that—and how folks can use it when they’re not sure how to approach divisive conversations.

Catherine Alonzo:
If you think about the running-at-the-pool analogy—someone’s run at the pool, and it’s created full-on chaos. Now people are running all over, there’s this large body of water, and it’s just chaos. Making decisions within that kind of environment—which is honestly what it feels like within the nonprofit sector right now—is fraught.

Because when there’s panic, you miss things. You forget things. So having a decision tree for how you're communicating during a crisis can be really helpful.

There are four roles in decision-making that you need to consider ahead of time. Write them down. Make sure everyone on your team knows them. Then consult those roles when a decision needs to be made.

The first role is the decision-maker. This has to be one person. Not two. One.

This is the person who ultimately decides:

• Are we going to say something?
• What are we going to say?
• Who are we going to say it to?

And another way of asking that is: If something goes wrong, who’s the person that will be held accountable?

That person should also be the decision-maker. It’s not always the same—but ideally, it is.

Next is who is consulted. These are the people who give input. You go to them and say, Hey, we’re deciding whether or not to speak up on this—what are your thoughts?

But “consulted” doesn’t mean consensus. You’re taking their perspective into account, not handing them a vote.

Then there’s who is included. These are people whose input not only gets heard—but it must be factored into the decision. Maybe it's a leadership team, maybe it's board members, maybe it's impacted staff or community members.

The last role is who is alerted. These are the folks who simply need to be notified of what’s happening. For example, “Here’s the statement we’re making, here’s who it’s going to, here’s when it’s going out.”

What happens too often is that a statement gets released and key people—like board members—find out when they see it posted. And that’s a problem.

So before you put out any kind of crisis communication, you want to run through those four roles:

• Who is the decision-maker?
• Who is consulted?
• Who is included?
• Who is alerted?

Maria Bryan:
This is so good.

Between the pandemic, what’s going on politically now, and these micro-crises—like the one that happened just minutes from my home—we can’t assume this won’t happen.

We have to assume that we will use a decision tree like this.

This is the time to be proactive and make something like this. That is so brilliant—thank you.

Here’s something I think a lot of us as storytellers are struggling with right now:

In crisis storytelling, we want people to be aware of how our communities—the people we work with—are being impacted.

But I feel like we’re getting into the habit of telling dire story after dire story. Doom on top of doom. And that’s across every sector—whether you’re working in climate, education, healthcare, racial justice.

I do think it’s important we put a megaphone to what’s happening. We need to stay more vigilant than ever.

But it can be paralyzing for our audiences. And we also don’t want to gloss over things and only tell stories of rainbows and sunshine.

So what are your thoughts on balancing storytelling that confronts painful realities and those that show our impact and transformation—especially during seasons like this?

Catherine Alonzo:
I’m so glad you asked this, Maria, because this is the most important point.

Anyone listening—if you hold on to one thing, let it be this:

As a changemaker, it is your responsibility to focus on what is possible, not just what is wrong.

You must never lose sight of the better world you are working toward. And you must always communicate that vision to your audience.

Now—that doesn’t mean sugarcoating things. It’s not about toxic positivity or gaslighting people with "It’s all going to be fine!"

That’s not helpful. And it’s not where people are at.

But if all you’re doing is spotlighting what’s broken, what’s wrong—then a few things happen.

First, you feed into the despair people are already feeling.

And second, you risk them disengaging entirely.

We all have a threshold. If people feel like, I can’t take it anymore, they shut down. They stop reading. They turn off the news.

They still have to be a parent, a coworker, a caregiver, a friend—they have to keep showing up for life. And if your content is just more weight on their shoulders, they’ll look away.

So what you want to do is balance your storytelling:

• Acknowledge the hard truths.
• Share how real people are impacted.
• But also always circle back to why this matters—and what’s still possible.

You must underline the vision. Here’s the world we believe in. Here’s the future we’re building. Here’s what we’re doing—and here’s how you can help.

There’s no one-size-fits-all for how to do that. But my advice, if I could plant one seed, is this:

Never lose sight of the better world you’re working toward.
Make sure your stories reflect that, too.

Maria Bryan:
Catherine, thank you so much for your wisdom.

How can listeners connect with you and learn more about Javelina?

Catherine Alonzo:
Sure thing. I’m prolific on LinkedIn—Catherine with a C, Alonzo. That’s the best place to connect with me.

I post stories multiple times a week about changemakers and how to utilize storytelling effectively.

You can also visit our website: javelina.co—that’s Javelina with a J: J-A-V-E-L-I-N-A.co.

Follow us on all the big social media platforms as well.

Maria Bryan:
We’ll have those in the show notes.

Again, thank you for your wisdom. We are just so hungry and thirsty for this kind of tactical, grounded guidance. And there is still space to be proactive right now.

Thank you for coming on When Bearing Witness.

Catherine Alonzo:
Thanks for having me.