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Lisa Nelson-Haynes is Interim Chief of Programming at StoryCorps, where she fosters the organization’s mission to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.

Prior to coming to StoryCorps, Lisa was Executive Director of Philadelphia Young Playwrights, where she helped young people discover their potential through the art of the play. During her tenure there, Lisa was also the co-creator and Executive Producer of the organization’s award-winning podcast, Mouthful, which explored the experiences and perspectives of young people to spark important and timely conversations about big ideas and issues.

Championing the power of personal narrative and stories, Lisa’s work has long centered around empowering others to take control of their stories and voices. An award-winning storyteller and teacher, Lisa has facilitated digital storytelling workshops for Storycenter for more than 18 years. She has worked with Drexel University’s Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice’s Healing Hurt People to facilitate workshops with young people who are victims of intentional injury to craft narratives that celebrate their resiliency and triumphs.

Lisa is also a Leeway Foundation Art & Change grant recipient for the Redline Project, a storytelling initiative that collected first-person narratives about gentrification in the Point Breeze and Graduate Hospital neighborhoods of South Philadelphia. Lisa is a graduate of Hampton University.