Welcome to Nutshell’s Storyteller Spotlight, where we give you a chance to get to know this month’s storytellers a little more. We asked our four storytellers to answer a few questions about stories and storytelling. October 16’s theme is “DARK HEARTS.” It’s true, it’s personal, it’s LIVE, and it’s gonna be a dark but beautiful journey. Come shine a light with us. OUR SHOW IS EARLY THIS MONTH! MARK YOUR CALENDAR! (And tix are 20% cheaper in advance!)
Meet Liv Styler
What kind of storyteller are you? What is your storytelling “style”? What kind do you tell?
What kind of storyteller am I? The kind that wants you to feel something, I suppose. I’m the kind of storyteller who wants you to be amused, horrified, intrigued, a little afraid, and desperate to know more. I’m the storyteller who looks like the millennial version of the evil witch if Grimm existed in 2026, but wants you to know that the glass is more than half full. I’m the kind of storyteller who wants you to be surprised—surprised by how insane, how wonderful, how wild, how manic life can be if you take a moment to observe it. I tend to tell stories that come from a slice of real life. From observation. From pattern recognition and deep gut feelings.
How long have you been telling?
I guess that depends on what you mean by telling. This is technically my . . . second time telling a story live, so if we’re going off of that, I’ve been telling for a couple of months. If you’re talking about how long I’ve been a storyteller, ancestrally, I would say most of my cognizant life.
What do you do when you’re not storytelling?
As a career? I’m a journalist. I know—big stretch. I’m also an educator; I teach a program called Storytelling is a Superpower: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. I’m currently making a side living as an artist. I was recently named an Emerging Artist Fellow by the California Arts Council. I have an installation at Arte Americas in Fresno and an upcoming joint exhibition at City Hall, curated by Lorena Gonzalez. All of my “non-storytelling” comes back to storytelling. There’s rarely a moment when my world doesn’t, in some way, revolve around it.
Does the story you’re telling have a name?
It doesn’t yet. I’m hoping it will by the time I finish this event. If you’re in the audience, please give a girl some suggestions. As a journalist, I’ve never been allowed to pick my own headlines, and I think my brain has melted at the idea of naming my own work.
Tell us a little bit about this story. Why did you choose it for “DARK HEARTS”? How are you interpreting the theme?
My father died.
Okay, that clearly isn’t the full story; it’s more like the catalyst for the rabbit hole that led me to the story that’s still unfolding. It’s a story about family discovery that takes me to a very ugly place in the timeline of the side of the family I know next to nothing about. But, more importantly to me, it’s also about the light against the dark. Which is my favorite part of the darkness: the light that always follows. Sometimes it’s warm, sometimes it’s harsh, sometimes it’s illuminating. But it’s an equal part of the darkness, just as darkness is an equal part of the light. It’s a story about how dark things could have been and how much it takes to fight against them.
Any thoughts on what it means to commune with the darker side of life? How do we face what is harder, darker, more negative or less rosy?
I think you don’t live a full life if you don’t commune with or acknowledge life’s darker side. People so desperately want to avoid the darkness, but don’t realize that without the dark, there would be no light to begin with.
Do you celebrate spooky season? What’s the best way to Halloween? Favorite trick? Favorite treat?
Why would I celebrate Donald Trump’s election? Ohhhh, spooky season, as in Halloween? Absolutely. My cultures LOVE dead things.
Who is your storytelling idol and why?
I don’t have one. It would be impossible to winnow it down to just one because my mood is never the same. But I can say that my top three are Fran Lebowitz, Óscar Zeta Acosta, and Octavia E. Butler.
What’s your best piece of advice for someone who is a beginner and wants to learn how to tell a story?
I mean, technically, I’m a beginner. This is only my second time doing it. So I think the only advice I can give is to just fucking do it. Everyone has a story. Someone out there will want to hear it.
Why should people come see “DARK HEARTS” on October 16?
Storytelling is one of the oldest and most powerful abilities we humans have. In my culture, being a storyteller meant you were the one responsible for carrying, passing down, and protecting the culture so that knowledge would spread through generations. Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools ever created. To connect us. To inspire us. To make us feel less alone. To teach us.
And more and more these days, the powers that be and their AI minions are doing their very best to devalue it: the power of words, the power of art, and the power of connecting with others.
Storytelling brings those three powers together into an experience that will stick with you. In A Nutshell Storytelling curates an amazing lineup every time, but THIS TIME? This time it’s special (she said egotistically, because she’s on it).
Plus, if you’ve never seen a girl with 8 face tattoos tell a story about her dead dad and darkhearted family while dressed as a dark goth chola, here’s your chance to check that off your bucket list! Sounds like a win-win to me.
Thanks, Liv! If you want to see Liv tell her DARK HEARTS story, she’ll be at our show on October 16!
Liv Styler
is a Chicana journalist focused on telling stories at the intersection of art, culture, and the social sciences. She fights for radical joy, BAMN. She feels the world is her oyster, but, ironically, she is allergic to shrimp and, unrelated, has never met a cup of coffee she didn’t like. Liv is a finalist for the Ida B. Wells Investigative Journalism Fellowship, serves on the board of the Institute for Independent Journalists, and is an active member of the Association of Raza Educators. She has bylines in Business Insider, Stacker, MSN, Miami Herald, The Courier, Alta Journal, Comstock’s Magazine, The Sacramento Bee, The Americano, Nuestro Stories, Submerge Magazine, and others.
Liv says the powers that be and their AI minions are doing their best to devalue words, art, and the work of connecting with other people. She's not wrong, and it's a major reason we do this at all. Paid subscriptions are how we make sure our storytellers get paid for it, and how we keep The Nutshell True Story Hour podcast free for everyone. If these spotlights are your thing, consider joining us. xoxo, Amy
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