THE BEE IS STORYTELLING IN SLC.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, we hosted community storytelling on the 2nd Thursday of each month at Metro Music Hall with the occasional extra show and storytelling workshop in between.

Our concerns about the spread of coronavirus have led us to put our in-person shows and workshops on indefinite hiatus. We are super sad about this and remain committed to preserving and protecting the health and wellness of our community, especially the most vulnerable among us.

Visit our events page to see if we’ve got anything coming up online or on the radio.

If you’d like us to stay in touch with you and let you know if and when we will be gathering together (online or in person), sign up for our email list and/or follow us on instagram.

Thanks for your support and well-wishes, friends, we love and miss you dearly!

Giuliana Serena at BECOMING by Anna Pocaro

Lauren Ricks at FIRST DATE / WORST DATE by Anna Pocaro

Alex Ramos at GONE ASTRAY by Anna Pocaro

Storytelling for Grown-Ups Workshop by Anna Pocaro

The Bee Team

Giuliana Serena

Beekeeper & Founder

Giuliana hosts & produces The Bee, facilitates storytelling workshops, and offers consulting services to individual storytellers and organizations.

Her commitment to creating intentional space for brave storytelling and engaged listening is rooted in her work as a Ceremonialist and Rites-of-Passage Facilitator, with a particular affinity for progressing culture, attuning to the cycles of nature, and celebrating the seasons of life.

Samara Bean

Chief Happiness Officer

Samara specializes in singing, creating art, hugs, and possesses an eccentric playful, and unbridled sense of vitality.

You’ll likely find her smiling and laughing as she helps keep things together behind the scenes at our shows, making sure each night runs smoothly and most importantly that everyone has a good time.

Nan Seymour

Director of Narrative Encouragement

Passionate about helping people find and foster their voice, Nan is Giuliana’s co-conspirator in facilitating our storytelling workshops. She also facilitates River Writing, a generative community writing practice.

Once a miller and baker, she learned something about process by milling the wheat. She acquired some patience while waiting for the loaves to rise.

Sullivan Phetchanpheng

Audio Engineer

Sullivan is super friendly and obsessed with all things music and sports. Sound is his real passion, he began by doing it part time and now has his own small business, Lights and Sound Studio.

When he’s not in the sound booth at The Bee don’t be surprised when you see him doing it for events with KRCL 90.9fm, a local community station and supporter of The Bee.

Anna Pocaro

Photographer-in-Residence

Anna is passionate about everything that she shoots and specializes in private and corporate event photography with a flair for capturing the beauty of children and families – especially those with special needs.

how we came to Bee

It all started in the fall of 2014, when Giuliana's sister Francesca called her with the not-so-crazy idea of hosting an evening of lovingly competitive storytelling that winter, when she would visit Salt Lake City on a break from grad school in NYC.

On a cold and wet Thursday in December, we were very pleasantly surprised when 220+ friends and strangers packed the Urban Lounge, filling it to the brim with electric excitement and anticipation. Together we laughed, we cried, and got to hear some really wonderful and heart-felt stories.

And so, The Bee was born.

Thanks to the ongoing enthusiasm and support of our community, we’ve since hosted dozens of shows, heard hundreds of stories on stage, and many, many more in our workshops.

These days we host community storytelling on the 2nd Thursday of the month at Metro Music Hall in Downtown SLC, with the occasional extra show and storytelling workshop in between.

At our monthly shows, anyone can put their name in the hat for a chance to tell story. The night of the show 10 names are picked at random and those lucky few have 5 minutes each to tell us a true story on the theme of the night without notes. Our shows are consistently sold out in advance and storytellers can expect a packed house full of encouraging and attentive listeners.

For our curated shows, Giuliana and Nan Seymour, The Bee’s Director of Narrative Encouragement work closely with a select group of folks to share longer-form stories. We believe in the power of stories to make, shape, and progress culture, and as such we strive to amplify the voices of storytellers from diverse backgrounds and experiences and address challenging topics at these shows.

Working closely with all kinds of folks in preparation for our curated shows led us to develop our Storytelling for Grown-Ups workshops for experienced and aspiring storytellers. Because we all have stories to tell, even if we never intend to get on a stage to share them. And even though telling our own true stories can be intimidating, intentional practice really helps.

While we’ve definitely got our own unique identity, our inception was very much inspired by The Moth. We’re so grateful for the way in which they - among countless other individuals, communities, and organizations - are contributing to a renewed appreciation for storytelling in modern culture.

Over the years we’ve had the good fortune of working alongside so many fine folks and are especially grateful to our brave storytellers, supportive audience members, our venues and volunteers, and Utah Humanities, KRCL 90.9fm, & Catalyst Magazine for their support!

We believe that stories matter, that we are all storytellers with stories to tell.

As we continue to grow and evolve, we’re committed to cultivating meaningful community gatherings for storytellers and listeners alike which contribute to the progression of culture, and where we can be ourselves, together.

We hope to have the opportunity to bee with you sometime soon!