Dave Isay, Catherine Burns & Brandon Stanton with John Donvan

In 2003, Dave Isay placed a single microphone in a “Storybooth” in Grand Central Terminal in New York City and invited everyday people to come in and record an interview about their lives. Since then, more than half a million people have recorded StoryCorps interviews for inclusion in an archive in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress—the largest collection of human voices ever gathered. Tens of millions more have been moved by the powerful stories curated from these recordings and shared weekly on NPR and online.

“We do this to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters.”

Dave Isay is the founder of StoryCorps and the recipient of numerous broadcasting honors, including six Peabody Awards and a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. He is the author/editor of numerous books that grew out of his public radio documentary work, including the New York Times bestsellers: Listening Is an Act of Love, Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps, All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps, and Ties That Bind: Stories of Love and Gratitude From the First Ten Years of StoryCorps.

In 2015, Dave was recognized with the TED Prize, awarded annually to one exceptional individual with a creative, bold vision to spark global change. In April 2016, the fifth StoryCorps book, Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, was released.

The Moth’s mission is “to promote the art and craft of storytelling and to honor and celebrate the diversity and commonality of human experience.” Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of stories, each told live and without notes.

Moth shows are renowned for the great range of human experiences they showcase. Each show starts with a theme, and the storytellers explore it, often in unexpected ways. Since each story is true and every voice authentic, the shows dance between documentary and theater, creating a unique, intimate, and often enlightening experience for the audience.

The Moth podcast is downloaded more than 50 million times a year, and each week, the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour is heard on over 480 radio stations worldwide.

Catherine Burns is the longtime Artistic Director of The Moth and one of the hosts of The Moth Radio Hour. As a lead director on the Moth Main-stage since 2003, she has helped hundreds of people craft their stories, including a retired New York City detective, a jaguar tracker, and an exonerated prisoner. She is also the editor of the three bestselling books: The Moth: 50 True Stories, All These Wonders, and Occasional Magic.

Brandon Stanton began Humans of New York (HONY) as a photography project in 2010. His initial goal was to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers on the street and create an exhaustive catalogue of the city’s inhabitants.

“Somewhere along the way, I began to interview my subjects in addition to photographing them. And alongside their portraits, I’d include quotes and short stories from their lives.”

Taken together, these portraits and captions became a worldwide Internet phenomenon. HONY now has over twenty million followers on social media, illustrating both the value of storytelling and our desire to remain connected with real people in a tech-driven world.

Brandon’s gift for storytelling has spawned two best-selling books, Humans of New York, which spent 45 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and Humans of New York: Stories.