Can you hear me? Okay. There we go. Good afternoon, nsa, how are you? Yeah, give me some first day energy. How are you doing? Yeah, I love it. You sounded pretty warm in that last session, and I'm really excited that we're the ones following up from it, because this next session is really all about all of you, and it's all about being human. Before we get to you, though, I'm to going tell you a little about me so you don't spend the next 30 minutes wondering where my accent is from. I was born in Hong Kong. My mother's Indian.

My father's English. I went to school in Australia. Now I live in New York with my German Jamaican husband. So I'm confused. I've spent a lot of my life trying to understand this concept of belonging, because, honestly, sometimes I didn't always feel that. And in trying to understand the concept of belonging, I sort of discovered that, yes, the things that undergird it, like authenticity and vulnerability and connection and communication, are all critical. But underneath those things is something that we, in this room, all care a lot about, and that's storytelling. And, yes, I love Netflix series and literature and poetry and performance.

I'm more interested in the stories that are here in this room, the stories of all of you. Dear World is a storytelling organization. We help people find a story from their life and use that story to connect with somebody else. What we're going to do today is go through our brain tattoo experience, which is our signature methodology that we came up with 14 years ago. And the good news is that it's never not worked. So in a room of high achievers, there's not a lot that you can do to do this. Well, all that we ask is that you remain present to the process and let it see where it takes you. We're going to get into the hows in just a second, but first, I want to show you a short video from our founder, Robert Fogarty, about why we do what we do here at Dear World.

When I was 26, a man sent butterflies down my spine and into my stomach. The night that changed my life happened unexpectedly. I was in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and I was photographing people and asking them why they loved it so much. They would honor that by writing a little message on their skin about their city. But then one night, a man asked me to do something different, and I said, sure. And then he came back into my frame, and his wife uncovered his bare chest, revealing the words cancer free. It was that night that I realized the ingredients of A marker, a camera, and a short, meaningful message was nothing short of magical. We've heard accounts from Dear World participants about babies first words and grandparents laughs, mentors, life changing advice and heroes life saving decisions.

We've heard inside jokes that'll make your cheeks hurt and tales of midnight capers that ended in lifelong groundings. We've heard stories of people confronting their biggest fears or celebrating their team's incredible wins. And sometimes when people ask us, is my story worth sharing? We respond, Everyone has a story worth sharing. If it has meaning to you, it has meaning to us.

It was 14 years ago that Ralph revealed the words cancer free across his chest. And Robert realized that there was more, maybe something here, something to asking people to share a story that only they could tell. And as Sylvie mentioned, we've been honored to share more than a million stories in the 14 years since. And that's not just a number to us, though. It is a very big number that surpassed even our greatest expectations. Those are a million people who are willing to share a million stories that have changed their lives. And the reason that we're all here today is because one guy ran around New Orleans and asked people to share a story that was meaningful to them. Nsa, would you please put your hands together for founder and CEO of DearWorld, Robert Fogarty.

What's up? What's up, Kesh? Hey, y'. All. It was just my birthday, like two days ago, so I'm a Leo. So y' all could keep these claps for me for sure. I love them. Okay. Okay. So my mom named me Robert Xavier.

She thought it would look good on a campaign sign. So y' all could call me Robert or X. Probably not running for any office anytime soon, but. So my job today is really to be Keshia's hype man. And then I'm gonna be doing a little crowd work. We're gonna be asking some questions, and you'll see me a little bit more tomorrow because we're gonna be sharing the photos we take of y' all and listening to some. Some stories. So, Keshe, back to you, and I can't wait to just help you out.