Telling Your Own Story

Telling your own Story: What’s at the crux of telling your own story? Learn the elements required to recognize and tell your story in a way that makes other people want to listen — or read. You’ll leave with multiple writing prompts and specific instructions on telling your own stories. 

Jan Risher took the long way to get from Mississippi to Louisiana. Through the years, she has woven in and out of teaching, entrepreneurship and journalism — often in unexpected ways. Relying on unrestrained curiosity along with her varied professional interests and skills, she has found ways to visit, study, work or live in 49 countries and 46 states thus far.


She has been a weekly columnist in Louisiana since 2002. She’s taught a variety of memoir classes and is passionate about storytelling and helping others recognize and tell their own stories. She is currently features editor at The Advocate in Baton Rouge and editor of Louisiana Inspired for The Times-Picayune, The Advocate and The Acadiana Advocate.


In October 2018, the University of Louisiana Press published her book, “Looking to the Stars from Old Algiers and other Long Stories Short,” a collection of newspaper columns published between 2002 and 2017. She is also the co-author of “Team Renaissance: The Art, Science and Politics of Great Teams.” Additionally, she has ghostwritten several business books and memoirs. She was awarded the International Journalism Fellowship in 2006, the Brush Creek Arts Foundation Fellowship and Residency in Wyoming in 2019 and the NewStart Fellowship to earn her master’s degree in journalism in 2021.

Risher is passionate about doing her part to make the world a better place and encouraging others to do the same. She and her husband live in Baton Rouge. They are parents of two daughters, Greer, 26, and Piper, 22. Risher is a skateboarding champion.