Welcome to this special summer series of the Campfire Circle podcast where we’re bringing back mini-moments from past episodes that are just as relevant today – if not more so. 

This episode is from a longer conversation with Ché Elizaga Castro, a storyteller by nature. She has nurtured memorable stories for brands across the globe.

We are diving into the power of story for change, especially our personal stories and the things we’ve grown through to become the guides we are today. We talk about how marketing changes so much and there’s always a new trending reel on Instagram or update we’ve got to understand around Google Analytics. Stories are ancient — it’s how we’ve always made sense of the world. 

So, how can you tell more of your personal stories from the trenches to inspire your audience to take action? My dear friend Che will give you a mini-masterclass.

From Marketing to Storytelling: How Che’s Advertising Background Helped Her Understand Emotional Connection Through Stories

Che

In my 20s I was working in advertising agencies as a creative copywriter and account manager. I worked with brands that were household names. I was the youngest woman and the only brown person with mostly white men in suits who were twice my age. I thought, I have no voice or say in this room. 

During this time, social media started to explode. We noticed that brown and black buying power was more powerful than anyone ever expected. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had a say. I could intimately connect to these people who never had a say but now have the spending power to do so. 

From there, my crew took off. I was constantly winning more creative campaigns from much larger agencies because I called myself the “boots on the ground girl.” I could connect with the audience, what they were going through, and what they desired. This is how I started to have an empathetic heart for storytelling and marketing. 

I ended up leaving the creative world because I was tired of making millions for billionaires and selling things I didn’t believe in, from cars to printers to bread. (Though I did love my bread client — shout out to you!) I didn’t find purpose in it. I was living 70 miles away from my family and I never saw them because I was working 12 to 14-hour days. I was constantly trying to beat myself in my creativity. It was exhausting. 

Like many entrepreneurs who have left their jobs to seek more family and financial freedom, I ended up going on this six-month mission trip. What I needed was to get away from always working, but also understand my soul. I needed to listen to my heart and wonder, “What is my purpose on this earth?” I don’t believe I’m just here to make money and die. 

As I traveled the world meeting people in different places, I saw a constant outcry for people to be more than what society had handed to them. I saw young men in Bangalore, India, who were told they were supposed to have a nine-to-five corporate job. The only time I saw them come alive was when they were playing guitar which they learned from watching a guitarist on YouTube. I saw young girls lamenting and trying to leave their families to move to the States for a sense of individuality. 

The big story that sticks with me and drives my work today is to help every one of us come alive in our unique gifts and audacious vision. One day when I was able to get away from work and spend time with my nieces who I missed growing up, I was coloring on the floor of my parents’ house with my four-year-old gorgeous Portuguese and Filipina niece. It was a picture of Cinderella. As she was looking through the colored pencils to pick the blue for Cinderella’s dress and the yellow for Cinderella’s hair, I said, “Ryan, why don’t you pick the brown for her eyes and the black for her hair, just like you?” At that moment, my perfect, intelligible four-year-old beautiful niece didn’t skip a beat. She didn’t pause, she simply said, “Princesses don’t look like me.” That story continues to break my heart because it’s the story that I have lived my whole life, that you cannot be what you cannot see. 

I’ve made it my mission to help everyone, especially women and people of color, to come alive in our unique gifts and audacious vision. You don’t know who’s watching. You don’t know how your being activated into the world will help others activate into their place in the world and make the world a better place. 

Brand Stories and Human Connection: Why Storytelling Will Outlive Trend Cycles in Marketing

Tania

That was gold. I feel and hear you in your story. I have similar experiences growing up as an Indian American here in Orange County. I love that you’re doing this and this is why the concept of competition doesn’t exist. You need to be doing this and I need to be doing this. We need to be doing this work and helping other people share their stories. You’re right, you have no idea who’s listening, getting inspired, and shifting out of the way things have always been done.

Is that why you niched down into specializing in brand story versus other marketing techniques like Google Analytics?

Che

You and I have been in this industry long enough that we see technology change, and it’s changing faster now than we have ever experienced. 

I just saw a statistic that TikTok is now the number one website that’s visited over Google for the first time in 18 years. We’re seeing technology and marketing rapidly changing from “content is king” and everyone making blogs so they rank on Google to making 15-second Reels and doing dance moves to go viral. Marketing is always changing. 

I feel like I’m aging out of my own industry. I was crying to my husband about how we’re losing the true human connection that helps us get to know one another. My husband said it doesn’t matter how fast this world changes, stories will always connect us to one another. I truly believe that if there’s anything in the world that I will stake my life on, it’s human connection and creativity. They are what is going to save us in the end as we become more depersonalized in media and technology. 

I believe there is nothing more human than bearing witness to one another’s stories, providing a space where we can share empathy and our experiences. That is how we see one another. It is a marketing strategy because storytelling is 22 times more memorable than any other device. It’s how our brains are wired. But humanistically, it’s how we pass the divide of me versus you, black versus white, and say, I see you. You’re human just like me.

Visibility, Strength, and Causing Good Trouble: Transforming Our Identities and Core Values Through Storytelling  

Tania

I feel so affirmed and seen by everything you said, which is why you and I are co-conspirators. When I’m with other marketers, the conversation is usually about KPIs, cost per lead, and other data points. I’m more interested in stories. What happened to you? What did you grow through? It’s the human element we all crave that builds trust in a way that nothing else can.

While all stories are powerful, sometimes they’re scary, too. Sometimes they cripple us or stop us completely. Sometimes they are helpful and transformative. What messages did you get growing up as a Filipina woman about standing out, having a big voice, and being visible?

Che

I was on a call today with Bazoma Saint John, the CMO at Netflix. She’s like my patron saint because she’s an African woman here in the States making a big difference because she is simply showing up as herself. She shared the stories of how she was told to be less. She was told to not wear bold lipstick and bold colors and she refused. That’s the story I wish I heard growing up. The stories I was told were not overt – no one was telling me to be less than I am. But my parents came here from another country, trying to learn a new language and make enough money to provide a way forward for me and my sister. In order to survive, I had to fit in so I didn’t stand out and cause trouble. I think of Representative John Lewis, who says, “Cause good trouble.” We were told that we could not use our voice or our being to stand for what we believe in, and then we became a cog in the machine. I believe that’s why I was falling into depression because I wasn’t living out my vision for creating a more exciting and equitable world for everyone. My company is called Come Alive Co. because I don’t believe we’re here to merely survive but to come alive and create a life and work worth living and talking about.

Resources from this episode:

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Other Campfire Circle podcast episodes I recommend:

Episode 4: How Your Stories Can Become Your Strength

Episode 7: Fostering Belonging Through Your Story

Episode 12: How Marketing can Change the World with Lola Bakare

Connect with Ché Elizaga Castro: 

LinkedIn:  Ché Elizaga Castro

Website: Come Alive 

Instagram: @comealive.co

Connect with Tania Bhattacharyya:

LinkedIn: Tania Bhattacharyya

Website: lumosmarketing.co