By Jhmira Alexander

Jhmira Alexander is President and Executive Director of Public Narrative.

In August 2017, I was carjacked in front of my house. Not only would I get my car back 10 days later, I would gain perspective I didn’t know I needed and honestly don’t know I would have gained any other way.

While putting the pieces back together again, I was challenged to figure out how I would change my own narrative if I was ever to help others change theirs.

This was an event that topped all the others that preceded it. I was empty. Devastated. Disappointed. And full of questions. My main question: how do I approach what I believe to be my life’s purpose after having given so much to a generation that I felt robbed me?

At the time, I knew nothing of Public Narrative. I knew to change my narrative I had to exercise the power of choice. I needed to choose to will myself to live more than anything else. I bring a relentlessness to my work on behalf of the traumatic experiences I’ve lived through. I believe we are made better through the pain of life’s most challenging moments, if we have the tools to process our pain constructively.

Jhmira Alexander leads Public Narrative that for 32 years has been teaching community organizations and journalists how to tell better stories — regardless of platforms.

Conversations have a place, as do action.

Conversations I’ve had with therapists, coaches and mentors have helped to shape my perspective allowing me to utilize my faith in an effort to influence and impact social change. Who once served from a broken heart out of a need to see the world differently, now leads from a restored place hopeful that my influence, access and willingness will somehow change the world around me while activating others to find and pursue their own life’s purpose.

““ I knew to change my narrative I had to exercise the power of choice. I believe we are made better through the pain of life’s most challenging moments, if we have the tools to process our pain constructively.” @jhmiralatrice #PowerToChangeStories”

Jhmira Alexander is President and Executive Director of Public Narrative. She is a trained journalist who is not only a storyteller but a strategist committed to improving community health and well-being through media and civic engagement. Under her leadership, Public Narrative uses storytelling to implement narrative change strategies related to public safety, health and education.

@jhmiralatrice; https:// www.facebook.com/jhmiralatrice/ https://www.instagram.com/jhmiralatrice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhmiraalexander/ ; https://publicnarrative.org/