MY STORY:

• How three Salt Lake City women are fighting modern day gender inequalities with their social media platform, Fluence

MY BLOG:

When considering topics for my enterprise story I looked into what currently affected my day-to-day life. I knew when approaching this subject, I wanted it to be something I was passionate about, and something that I had a hand in. I am currently interning at Fluence, the company I chose to write about. Serving as an intern who specializes in content writing and media strategy, I have gotten to see firsthand the amount of change this company is able to create.

Since I worked as an intern for nearly seven months, I already had a bit of an inside perspective into how the platform is run. However, my experience was strictly limited to content writing and media strategy, and I wanted to gather information I hadn’t been exposed to as an intern. It wasn’t difficult to schedule interviews with the three founders, and I believed them to be the three best sources since each of their personal experiences led to the development of this brand. Their collective stories led them to have the same goals and passions, and brought the platform to what it is today. The angle I took in my story, and the information I utilized had not been given to me prior to my scheduled interviews. 

Moral and ethical dilemmas are something the brand deals with on the daily. Since their company is based on women’s issues and progression, political views always arise in the comments of their videos. However, I chose to leave that information out of my story since it wasn’t the angle I was hoping to take, and maintain a more neutral perspective.

Due to the pandemic, I wasn’t able to hold my interviews in person, and instead had to hold them on FaceTime. Although not ideal, this wasn’t very difficult, and actually saved a significant amount of time.

After holding all three interviews, I decided to focus on their shared experiences, and how this influenced their goals. Each founder’s stories were inherently different, but when looked at side-by-side, it became easier to distinguish the similarities. I wanted to reach beyond the logistics of the company and into the emotional pulls that led them to starting this business. 

The only part of the writing process in which I struggled was ordering and separating paragraphs. I knew the focus of my story, but breaking it down into concise paragraphs was where I had the most difficulty.

The founders told me a few anecdotes during the interview process that I wish I would’ve been able to include in the story. Each of the anecdotes centered around sexist experiences in the workplace, but would’ve either taken up too much time or led my story off course.

Overall, I’m really glad I chose the topic that I did. Although I did have insight and knowledge regarding the company, writing this story helped me learn an entirely new perspective. Looking through the founders’ lens allowed me to perceive the brand in an entirely different light, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing this piece.

ABOUT ME:

Storytelling is my passion.

I think a big portion of who we are is determined by the stories we are told. 

I’m currently a junior at the University of Utah, pursuing a degree in communication with a minor in creative writing. Growing up, I spent a large amount of time in front of the camera, but soon realized the real magic actually happens on the other side. This realization is what led me to wanting to become a screenwriter. Storytellers have the opportunity to entertain, educate, and inspire, something that is often overlooked. My professional goal is to work in a writers’ room, developing stories that can change people’s lives, whether they realize it or not.