Beverley Glick
Story Party co-founder Beverley has been telling stories for a living for more than 35 years – first as a music journalist and pop magazine editor, then as a national newspaper superwoman.
More recently she added human potential coaching and story archaeology to her portfolio and now helps individuals and business owners dig for the personal stories that will change their lives and change the world.
In March 2013 she graduated from Ginger Public Speaking’s acclaimed Inspiring Speakers programme, which is where she met Mary Ann. She now works for Ginger as a lead trainer specialising in storytelling.
Mary Ann Clements (previously Mhina)
Story Party co-founder Mary Ann has had a life-long passion for alternative narratives – initially training as an anthropologist she spent many years living in East and Southern Africa.
She now describes herself as a guide, writer and facilitator with a passion for helping people to take time to look differently at what they want and need in their lives. Stories are a key part of this and her first book, Listening to Our Grandmothers was published in 2013. She is no longer actively involved in The Story Party but often returns to share a story.
Yang-May Ooi
Yang-May is an award-winning TEDx speaker, bestselling author and story performer of Chinese-Malaysian heritage. Her TEDx talk Rebel Heart was hailed as “one of the best and most moving talks at a TEDx event”.
Her novels,The Flame Tree and Mindgame, best described as “Amy Tan meets John Grisham”, were first published by Hodder & Stoughton and are now re-issued by Monsoon Books.
She stepped aside from co-hosting The Story Party in 2015 to focus on completing her book, Bound Feet Blues, and start rehearsals for a three-week run in the West End of her one-woman show of the same name.
Diane Leigh
Co-host in 2015, Diane Leigh is the author of Dream Seed Magic. Her ultimate dream is to inspire, teach and guide others to experience the magic of living their dreams – to change the world, one dream at a time. Diane is now living her dream of being an actress and dancer.
Jojo Thomas
Current co-host Joanna Josefina Thomas was born and raised in north London. She has always been a keen performer, and as a child regularly danced to the entirety of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in her living room.
She has an (as yet) unpublished novel about killer crows in a drawer, and took her first foray into performance poetry a couple of years ago. She teaches creative writing workshops at home, offers freelance fiction editing, and recently provided two translations for a forthcoming compilation of writing by Venezuelan authors.
You can find some of her performance poetry on YouTube. Or you can check out her creative writing workshops on Facebook.
Robin Bayley
Current co-host Robin used to work with stories in advertising and TV. Then he wrote a book about the importance of storytelling. Now he helps people tell stories for a living and co-hosts the Story Party. He kind of likes stories… Find out more about Robin and his book here.
