212. There wasn’t a stage for my story, so I built my own (Anna Ong)

Most people think storytelling is about making yourself look good. But today’s guest believes the opposite.

Anna Ong is the founder of What’s Your Story Slam (Singapore’s longest-running live storytelling show) and a global storytelling coach who’s helped over 300 leaders become impossible to ignore. 

But before any of that, Anna spent 15 years in banking, hoping her work would speak for itself. It didn’t. What did she learned instead? Great ideas don’t win. Great storytellers do. 

After leaving the corporate world, Anna started to build What’s Your Story Slam from the ground up after NOT being able to find the stage she needed, so, she created it. 

In this episode, we explore why her show only welcomes stories that are raw, vulnerable, and real, not polished TED Talks or humblebrags. So, if you’ve ever said “I don’t have a story,” or wondered if your everyday moments matter, this is the conversation for you.

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:51) Telling stories that show your flaws 

(03:10) What’s Your Story Slam

(06:06) Telling stories to impress 

(09:42) Humble bragging 

(15:23) The impact of storytelling 

(19:59) A storytelling stage built in Asia

(26:26) Anna’s past content 

(31:29) AI and storytelling 

(35:16) A story Anna is working on 

(39:35) Actionable takeaways 

Prefer to listen to the audio version?

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Any Player

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Connect with Anna Ong

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-ong/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatsyourstoryslam

Website: https://www.anna-ong.com/

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Additional Resources

ANNOTATIONS – The Newsletter

The edits that got cut from the podcast.

Every interview on EDIT HISTORY runs about 60 minutes. But less than 40 minutes makes it into the final cut. This newsletter is where the rest live.

ANNOTATIONS is where I share the 33% I left behind — and the insights that came after we stopped recording.

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