To mark our 10th birthday, the entire team has spent the past few weeks reeling through the years, looking back at our past projects and speaking to our team. 

StoryLab started from humble beginnings in the Innovation Centre in IT Sligo, now ATU Sligo, when Martha and Ciaran set up the business after careers in national and international journalism.

Having both worked in media for more than 20 years, they felt there was a need for a company that could capture a business or organisation’s stories and share them with a wider audience  – that’s when StoryLab was born.

Since then, we’ve moved to our current headquarters in Innisfree House on High Street in Sligo, grown our fantastic team to six, developed lasting relations with our client base, and expanded our range of award-winning services.

To mark the last decade, we’ve picked some of our favourite stories that pull from different fields but contain one thread: great storytelling.

Firstly, we rewind to 2017 to a story written by former team member, Graham Clifford. In the blog entitled ‘Let it Flow: My Tips for unlocking great stories’, Graham expertly demonstrates the art of storytelling and how by not forcing your investigations, you can uncover unforgettable stories.

Next up we turn to another former team member, Erin Fox, who generously updated ‘The Joy of Being Heard’, a piece she originally wrote in 2018. Erin has hearing loss and is passionate about increasing the representation of those with hearing loss in media and film. Hearing loss is an invisible disability, she writes, and featuring those who suffer from it in film is hugely important for the deaf community. Erin updated her blog to highlight the changes in representation in film since.

Another piece we are highlighting is ‘PR Tips: Thought Leadership Advice’, which was written by StoryLab Director Martha Kearns back in 2017 and is still a useful guide for aspiring thought leaders. Martha has added some important tips she believes are now vital for those looking to voice their expert opinions.

With the recent fantastic news of funding for Sligo Rovers’ stadium development project, the next story in focus is still relevant. We revisit one of our favourite video projects from the past 10 years, a video that highlights the importance of the club to so many in the North West. Sadly, since the publication of this blog – ‘Sligo Rovers: a story with soul’ in February 2020, Sligo Rovers historian Aidan Mannion has passed away. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

And finally, the last blog we are looking at is also relevant – following the recent U.S. elections in which Donald Trump became President-elect of the United States. We revisited Ciaran’s experiences as a journalist at one of the most controversial US election battles between Al Gore and George W. Bush in 2000. It was a tense affair and Ciaran was there to report on it with just a Boots disposable camera and a notepad.

Thank you for your continued support over the past 10 years! We look ahead to the next 10 with optimism and excitement.