Why I Launched a Story Consultancy

Hello, I’m Alexis Niki. A New Yorker by birth, I moved overseas for the first time when I was just two years old. In the following decades, I lived in four different countries, learning to navigate and bridge disparate cultures. I turned to writing as a means of making sense of uncertainty and never-ending change.

Because my nomad lifestyle began before the Internet, I pursued what we expats call “portable careers.” I became an Alexander Technique teacher, and also a translator and subtitler for film and television. I continued to write, eventually becoming a screenwriter and a script consultant.

Story and storytelling became the core of my life. My unique background, with its multiple cultural perspectives, gave me an unusual ability to help people tell their stories from their own vantage point. I began working at the convergence of entertainment, technology, entrepreneurship, and independent production, showing a variety of clients how to shape their stories and connect with their audiences.

In the course of it all, I stumbled upon a few core truths:

• Our stories reflect our human essence as creatures of hope and fear.

• Storytelling is universal and timeless, as urgent and necessary today as it was at the dawn of time.

• Our narratives about our lives, our businesses, and our society shape our world.

• The best storytelling demands courage and authenticity.

• The hardest story to tell is your own. It helps to have an experienced listener guide you.

StoryNova is my consultancy, founded on these vital convictions and dedicated to helping clients master the all-powerful tool of storytelling. I have based StoryNova in Paris, France, but my clients span the globe.