Stories

stole my heart back in the 9th grade. 

At the time, I was an American girl living abroad in Rome, Italy. A diplomat’s kid, who attended an international school in a city that one of my spiritual teachers would, more than a decade later, call a chakra of the world.

“If the world had chakras,” he said, “Rome would be one of them.” 

Its soul, woven together by the ancient history living on in the architecture. The bustle, heard through a cacophony of motorcycles cutting off cars and tourists’ cameras clicking. The city has an artist’s heart smothered in reverence for its past stories. It is eager to catch coins holding tender visions for a better future in its Fontana di Trevi. 

It shaped my formative years, setting up the foundation for a mystic whose curiosity drew me toward era-shifting revolutions and deep philosophy with the sensitivity of a poet, a healer’s hands and predisposition toward fierce feminine leadership.

After all, it is said that there are Goddess temples buried in Rome.

In the years that followed my European escapades, I found my way back, graduating cum laude from Georgetown University with a degree in psychology. 

Then, I dove into the throes of my then-dream career. 

I started

as a politics intern at the Tampa Bay Times. The gig began in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, hot racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd and a contentious upcoming election in one of the most discussed voting states. Once the summer ended, they brought me on to be their first ever health equity reporter, where I’d craft the brand-new beat that explored race, health care, policy and its affect on Floridian’s lives. It led me to my first award. 

SPJ Florida’s Outstanding New Journalist.

I reported on everything from a yearlong investigative series that exposed Georgia’s alarming maternal deaths rates, which was a Livingston Award finalist, to the aftermath of Hurricane Ian’s devastation, which resulted in a direct FEMA response and an interview appearance on MSNBC’s The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell.

Over the years, my writing has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, Capital B, CNN, The Marshall Project, and VOX.

My work has always been mission-driven. It was then that I experienced the power of the stories we carry in our bones. 

Stories ignite movements. 

They transform us.

But the continued toll of reporting on trauma made the work unsustainable. 

It was death by a thousand cuts.

One story at a time.

That eventually led me out of full-time journalism and into trauma-informed, nervous system work. When I launched The Stories Within, LLC, I did so to support the journalists who, like I once was, were carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. 

I wanted to offer

all that I, at one point, needed.

That path soon expanded into communities of social workers and hospital administrators. Using somatic healing modalities rooted in deep nervous system education, I began to help both individuals and organizations build the embodied resilience needed to sustain wide-scale impact. And as an award-winning storyteller, I started to guide leaders in crafting narratives that carry the same power as the movement they are here to lead through strategic communications.

We each have a calling.

Mine is empowering mission-driven leaders to embody their deepest wellness and fullest expression while creating a better world.

With me, complexity is welcome and nuance is cherished. I hold it all.

The fire, the tenderness, the depth, the messy stories and unasked questions. The parts of us that are constantly evolving and the ones ready to step forward in order to reimagine a better world.

This is more than healing. It is more than messaging.

It’s a coming home to the truth of who you are and the heart behind the change you are meant to create in this world.

In deep love and service,

Margo Snipe