Ann-Marie Layne

I am an empathetic, determined, resilient leader who uses storytelling to amplify the voices of others, foster understanding and build community.

I am most interested in the stories that go untold. I wear my emotions on my sleeves, and I am curious about the world around me. I attribute my curiosity about people and the world to the stories that my grandfather told me as a child. He would regale me with tales about his travels and about his work on tobacco plantations in Cuba, working on the Panama Canal and in the United Kingdom. Some of his stories were fanciful and full of elaborate characters, while others offered insights into some of the darkest traits of humankind. 

During my teenage years I wanted to be a journalist. My dream ended with two rejections: the first, not making the cut as a youth journalist in a local television show and the second, a rejection letter from one of the premier journalism schools in Ontario, Canada. As I look back, I now realise that my teenage self saw those two instances as a cosmic sign that perhaps I was not well suited for a career in journalism.   I walked away from my dream of a career in journalism but not from my love of stories or the belief that stories were the best medium for people to connect with each other.

My favourite quote is from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view — until you climb into their skin and walk around in it.’ This quote aptly illustrates how I walk through life: with empathy and compassion.  This blog will attempt to dive into the stories of people who in some light may be seen as ordinary but who I see as extraordinary. What I hope this blog will do, is encourage each of us to share more stories, to connect more fully with the people in our community, to ‘walk around in each other’s shoes’ and build empathy, compassion, understanding and belonging.