Workshops

workshops

Learn real-world skills you need now for a fraction of the cost, taught by some of the best minds in the business
Columbia University communications lecturer and BrandStories CEO Marcia Stepanek, leading a recent workshop for Italian nonprofit leaders at the University of Bologna in Italy
“(Marcia’s) instruction in communications strategy and digital media helped me tremendously in my efforts to start and develop a pre-natal clinic for women in Haiti and to hone my leadership and presentation skills.”
Winfred Tovar, Critical Care Instructor, Texas Children’s Hospital
“This was one of my most favorite workshop experiences because it was hands-on, had us in teams to immediately apply what we were learning, and gave everyone very useful takeaways to use, right away, on the job.”
Carly Thalmann, Vice President, Annual Giving and Digital Programs, Gobel Group, Florida
“The video storytelling workshop and on-site filming instruction that our workshop had in NYC’s Bryant Park was not only fun but gave me valuable insights about the kinds of stories the organizations I work with need to be sharing to become more successful.”
Timothy Higdon, Lecturer, Columbia University and CEO, Hearing Health Foundation, NYC

Don’t lose your best people to a new cause.

Offer your teams a skill sprint designed just for them.

Upcoming Workshops

Shoot and
Edit
Whether you need someone to support your organization, get behind your idea or get excited about following your lead, refining your storytelling skills can help. In this hands-on, half-day, 2-session workshop, you’ll learn how to shape your idea into a story and make it an effective call to action.
Fall / $499
Stepanek/Calder
Fearless
Design
This workshop intensive can help you and your staff to create more compelling visuals for your website and social media. During this 3-hour session, we cover the basics of design. Participants are encouraged to bring a specific project or design need for workshop review.
Winter / $299
Spiers
Allies to
Advocates
Improve your cultural and digital
intelligence in order to inspire
action and improve internal culture.
Through small group
activities and real-time feedback
during this 2-part sprint, you
will learn to communicate more
effectively to inspire change.
Winter / $499
Council
Rebranding for
Success
Brands can inspire us to feel part of something bigger than ourselves to take action—or they can, if not careful, begin to feel out of touch or simply clueless. During two 3-hour sessions, learn how to discover when it’s time to rebrand, and explore what it takes to successfully reset your mission. Participants are encouraged to bring a specific project or rebranding challenge for workshop review.
Fall / $599
Stepanek/Nakagawa
AI for Nonprofit
Leaders
Discover how AI can help you cut costs, build support and achieve fundraising success for a cause. Learn the best prompts and ways to get started using generative AI to enrich communication and fundraising strategies to achieve the best results.
Fall / $299
Stepanek
Futures-
thinking
This five-hour workshop will enable individuals and teams to explore the future of organizational leadership, by co-designing stories and new ideas for empowering new voices for change.
Winter / $499
Batayne and Guests
Unlock your potential. Get started today.
Senior video editor Jim Talluto co-leading a workshop with BrandStories’ CEO at Columbia University

Instructors

Marcia Stepanek

CEO and Principal/Stories+Strategy
Marcia is an award-winning journalist, executive producer and media/management lecturer at Columbia University, specializing in nonfiction storytelling, marketing and communications. As BrandStories’ chief executive, she co-teaches our brand strategy and storytelling sprints. A former news media executive and Knight Fellow in Journalism a Stanford University, Marcia pioneered the nation’s first graduate classes in social media strategy and digital marketing for nonprofit managers at NYU and Columbia, and lecturers internationally on digital networks, narratives and emerging media.

Terry Nakagawa

Digital Marketing Executive
Terry is chief marketing consultant at BrandStories and the Senior Director of Marketing at Transaction Network Services in Chicago. As one of the nation’s top experts in digital marketing and branding with a strong portfolio of accomplishment in digital, social and mobile segments, Terry specializes in helping promising companies and nonprofits achieve new levels of growth and measurable success. Terry has trained more than 100 corporate and nonprofit client teams in digital marketing and co-leads BrandStories’ marketing sprints.

Will Spiers

Creative Director, BrandStories
Will is a multidisciplinary creative, specializing in Visual Design. With a background in journalism and graphic design, Will collaborates with editorial directors to create award-winning websites, presentations and social media messaging that gets shared widely. He specializes in brand-driven print and digital design and during his 30+ year career, he has been in high demand for his high-power, visual designs, from logos and books, to BrandStories’ own site. Will leads our visual design workshops.

Jayson Council

Social Impact Strategist
Jayson is Head of Culture for the Gersh Agency in New York and co-facilitates Princeton University’s AlumniCorps programming on new power leadership and organizational culture. He has held administrative and teaching roles at Columbia, Rutgers and Carnegie Mellon universities, consults on social impact strategies and leads BrandStories’ workshops on work culture and new power leadership.

Nour Batayne

Futurist and Creative Producer
Nour is a Next Generation Foresight Fellow at London’s School of International Futures, where she teaches futures-thinking to nonprofit leaders and under-represented Gen Z and Millennial communities seeking local and global change. Nour also is an Associate Instructor at Columbia University and the co-founder of One of Many, an NYC startup that works with leaders of cultural organizations to build stronger and more inclusive communities of participation and support. She leads BrandStories’ futures workshops.

Logan Calder

Video Journalist, BrandStories
Logan is an award-winning video journalist and narrative film writer, director and video editor. A recent graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Logan co-creates many of the visual stories for our nonprofit news and cause clients, and since 2021 has been co-teaching our popular “Shoot and Edit“ workshops for business and communications students at Columbia University. Logan’s short-form documentary, MobiliZed Generation, about GenZ activism, has won a series of recent awards.

Abigail Finck

Leadership Coach and Advisor
The former creative director of Global Nomads, Abigail now serves as a transformational leadership coach focusing on nonprofit leaders, and on executives starting their own social purpose organizations. She also is an executive coach and facilitator at Chief, a private social network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. She specializes in change management, diversity and inclusion, leadership development, team building and corporate training. Abigail co-leads our leadership training and development workshops.

Valerio Melandri

Fundraising Consultant and Educator
Valerio co-leads the Master of Fundraising program at the University of Bologna in Italy and has guest-lectured at Columbia University’s School of International Public Affairs. He is the co-founder of Italy’s annual Festival of Fundraising, a popular European conference for nonprofit leaders, and is co-authoring a forthcoming book with BrandStories’ CEO on GenZ and the future of nonprofit work. 

Reserve Your Spot

Tell us which workshop best matches your personal career goals—or the needs of your teams back at work.
Sign up soon—our summer and fall workshops fill up quickly. Each workshop is limited to 15 people per session. Groups are eligible for a team discount.

FAQs

What is the format of your workshops?

Each workshop, or sprint, is a condensed, immediately applicable 3- to 6-hour online and/or in-person course taught by top business and nonprofit management and communications professors and internationally recognized thought leaders.

We also offer one-hour sessions online for $189 each, on a variety of topics immediately applicable to your work.

What are the takeaways?

Every sprint ends with a project that applies to a real problem or opportunity at work. Each workshop also gives you immediate access to an ambitious, professional network of leaders and materials that can be of value to you for years to come.

How accessible are the professors?

Very. They keep daytime, evening and weekend office hours during your sprint, and our amazing TAs and community managers are also here to guide you as you learn.

What are the class sizes?

This can vary, but all are small enough to give you individualized attention. We limit each professional cohort to no more than 15 individuals per class or workshop. For companies, we limit class size to one organizational cohort or team per session.

What is the pricing?

It varies, based on complexity. (See pricing for the current sprint selections being offered.) We also offer individual memberships at the annual rate of $995 per person, for unlimited access to classes, lectures and cause studies in marketing media, leadership and change management, taught by top business school and nonprofit management professors and industry leaders. We also offer customized corporate team workshops for a pricing dependent on the number of participants.

For more information, email connect@brandstories.com.

Where can I find a course directory?

Ask us for more information and we’ll send you the latest schedule of available workshops, plus a video intro by the instructor.

What if I need to cancel before the class starts?

Payments are nonrefundable and there are no refunds or credits for partially used periods. At any time, and for any reason, we may provide a refund, discount or other consideration (“credits”) to some or all of our users. The amount and form of such credits, and the decision to provide them, are at our sole and absolute discretion.
A video workshop on-site at New York Common Pantry, a nonprofit food bank in New York City