💥Story Catalyst | Deputy Communications Director at the National Academy of Medicine | Exploring the nexus between creativity, storytelling, and growth

Hi, I’m Karen, and I want to create a world where people stop underestimating themselves and start owning their value.

That belief shapes how I lead and how I write.

I’ve spent 12+ years helping organizations in the health, science, and arts sectors grow. I currently co-lead communications at the National Academy of Medicine, where I oversee publications, digital platforms, and vendor partnerships, and advise executive leadership on strategy. Earlier in my career, I worked across global agencies, higher education, and major arts institutions, leading teams, driving transformation, and translating complex ideas into clear, effective communications.

Alongside my leadership work, I write Live In Story, a newsletter focused on storytelling, creativity, and the craft of living with intention. It’s where I explore how story shapes inner lives and creative practice.

Some proud wins:

- Led an 18-month digital transformation at NAM, launching a new website that strengthened visibility, accessibility, and trust
- Built high-performing campaigns that translated complex science for public audiences
- Produced streamed concert content with 90% audience retention during the pandemic
- Shifted content strategy at a major opera company through cross-team partnership
- Secured 100+ media placements for a world-premiere musical
- Mentored managers and associates who now lead in their own right

I believe storytelling is a catalyst for growth. It’s how trust is built, meaning is made, and progress becomes possible.

I enjoy connecting with people who care about storytelling, creativity, and thoughtful leadership. Feel free to follow along or send me a DM.

Most creative burnout isn’t about discipline or motivation.

It’s about trying to create from an empty cup.

I learned this the hard way.

For years, I moved from one project to the next without stopping. Long days. Self-imposed deadlines. Eighty- and ninety-hour weeks, convinced that pressure and urgency would make me a better storyteller. 

They didn’t. They just made me tired.

In 2019, I worked through The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron’s 12-week program for reconnecting with creativity. One idea stayed with me: the artist date. Time set aside not to produce anything, but to reconnect with curiosity and pleasure.

I started experimenting. Museums. Solo shows. Journaling by the ocean when I lived in Los Angeles. Small pockets of time that weren’t about output.

Last November, after another stretch of creative fatigue, I took a staycation around Thanksgiving and my birthday to regroup. One afternoon, I went to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution and joined a guided tour.

What stayed with me wasn’t information. It was story.

I met Wolfgang Samnuel, a 90-year-old former Air Force pilot who grew up in Germany during World War II, immigrated to the U.S. as a boy, and later wrote a memoir about that experience. He spoke with the ease of someone who had spent a lifetime turning memory into meaning.

I stood in front of a 1943 Stearman biplane, the closest thing I’ve seen in real life to the plane from The English Patient, one of my favorite films. It reminded me why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place. Not for productivity or polish, but for how stories help us understand who we are and how we got here.

That afternoon didn’t hand me a finished idea. It did something better. It loosened my thinking. On the Metro ride home, I started seeing my novel differently. New ideas surfaced that never would have appeared if I’d stayed at my desk trying to force them.

Here’s what I’ve learned, over and over again:

If you want sharper storytelling, you need a fuller creative life.

Sometimes that looks like a long walk.
Sometimes it’s a museum, a concert, or a show you attend alone.
Sometimes it’s an unhurried conversation, a book that opens something, or an afternoon with no agenda beyond paying attention.

These aren’t breaks from the work. They’re part of it.

If you’re feeling creatively stretched, where could you go this week to refill your cup?

I’m taking recs for DC. 👏 

----

Hi, I’m Karen. I write about storytelling, creativity, and the ways stories help us grow and live intentionally.

Karen Meurer Bacellar

Hi, I'm Karen 👋, and I want to create a world where everyone knows their value and feels worthy of success.  

My WHY guides how I lead and show up for people. I inspire and educate, leaving folks happier and more driven than before we met. 

As a creative story catalyst and passionate communications leader, I've spent 10+ years finding a client or organization's unique qualities and producing thoughtful content that propels their business forward.

Some proud wins: 
✨Distilled complex scientific topics into high-performing social media assets, increasing brand awareness for a new biotech company
✨Produced videos that sustained a 90% viewership rate during music breaks for pandemic-era streamed performances at a leading conservatory
✨Positively shifted how a major opera company views content marketing in 6 months by building trust-worthy relationships with artists, executives, and staff
✨Secured 100+ pieces of coverage for a world-premiere musical 
✨Mentored and advanced the careers of managers and associates throughout my professional life

I am currently a Deputy Communications Director at the National Academy of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

------

Storytelling is my catalyst for change. I'm on a mission to evolve as an artist and creative problem-solver, turning inspiration into writing action. Meeting new people feeds my soul and LinkedIn is a mecca of folks giving voice to their visions. 

✨Let’s connect & talk about:

💫 Creativity 
💫 Storytelling
💫 Problem-Solving
💫 Writing
💫 Personal Growth

📱Send me a DM.

------

✨ All views and opinions are my own. ✨

------

Search engine love: content strategy, strategic communications, communications, strategic planning, content marketing, content, public relations, publicity, social media strategy, project management, personal growth, inspirational leadership, leadership, media relations, copywriting, Writing

Storytelling for Growth | Strategic Leader | Deputy Communications Director @ NAM | Writer & Books Enthusiast

We talk about storytelling as if it belongs to one role.

Writer.
Marketer.
Communicator.
Leader.

But no one job title has a monopoly on storytelling.
It’s a craft.

And crafts don’t stay in one container.

Story shows up wherever people are making meaning. In novels and classrooms, yes. But also in communications, strategy, leadership, and culture building. Often in more than one place at the same time.

We’ve been taught to believe creative work must follow a single, linear path. Pick a lane. Choose a label. Decide what you “really” are.

Story has never worked that way.

Story is how humans make sense of complexity.
How organizations communicate purpose.
How leaders earn trust.
How cultures remember what matters.

So when storytellers move between forms, roles, or industries, they’re not diluting the work. They’re practicing the same craft in different registers.

That kind of coherence is often mistaken for restlessness.

When people feel creatively stuck, it’s rarely a discipline problem. More often, it’s a permission problem. They’ve been told their creative identity only counts in one narrow place.

But stories don't ask for purity.
They ask for attention.

If you work with words, meaning, narrative, or people, you’re a storyteller, whether you name it that way or not.

The real question isn’t whether it’s legitimate.

It’s whether you’re willing to recognize it.

Where does storytelling show up in your work, even if it’s not in your title?

P.S. This photo is of me in Lisbon. I included it because I started the morning by working on my historical fiction novel set in Portugal before continuing my day as a communications strategist/storyteller. 😇 🇵🇹 

#portfoliocareer

For my Los Angeles-based storyteller friends, this sounds like a cool opportunity. 👏

If you're a Southern California-based filmmaker, here's an opportunity for you! 

Over the next three years, PBS SoCal will work with local storytellers to capture the story of Los Angeles—its history, neighborhoods, and unseen legacies—as it transforms for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Clickthrough for eligibility rules and to submit your proposal. Selected creators will receive a production grant for their videos. 

Know someone who may be interested? Please tag them in the comments. Good luck! https://lnkd.in/gYrqVH2H

taplio

Karen Bacellar's Linkedin Analytics

Karen Meurer Bacellar

Performance ScoreKaren Meurer Bacellar's LinkedIn Performance

Karen Meurer Bacellar's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Karen Bacellar's Linkedin Analytics

Karen Meurer Bacellar

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Karen Meurer Bacellar's LinkedIn Performance

Karen Meurer Bacellar's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Karen Bacellar's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreKaren Meurer Bacellar's LinkedIn Performance

Karen Meurer Bacellar's Best Posts (last 30 days)