Free as We Were

Laura Wexler is the co-founder and co-producer of The Stoop Storytelling Series, a popular cultural event and podcast in which “ordinary” people share extraordinary true tales about their lives. An expert in personal storytelling, Laura has presented workshops and trainings for organizations, businesses, and individuals since 2006, and has coached more than 3,000 people to tell the true tales of their lives. In addition to her work with The Stoop, Laura is the author of the narrative nonfiction book, Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America (Scribner, 2003), as well as nonfiction published in The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She has developed TV for Amazon Studios and co-created a Virtual Reality film that premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2018. She is a researcher and writer on Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” and is developing several independent projects.

Jessica Henkin works for Baltimore City Public School’s Office of Early Learning Program. She’s passionate about her family, special education, Baltimore City, keeping her house clean, rescuing strays (both animal and human), finding most things funny—and, of course, storytelling. She has studied and performed improv comedy for over two decades in both New York City and Baltimore.

Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.