Stories That Stay
Stories That Stay is where healing happens at the intersection of art, science, and storytelling. Hosted by therapist, learning strategist, and refugee Shamm Petros, alongside facilitator, educator, and artist Dwight Dunston, each episode invites listeners into conversations that make space for resilience, rupture, and repair.
Grounded in over 35 years of research in psychology, racial socialization, and human development, Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story—an organization committed to building racial literacy and transforming identity-based stress into tools for healing and change.
Through personal stories, reflective questions, and practical tools, Shamm and Dwight guide you in navigating identity and difference with more clarity and less fear. Whether you’re an educator, organizer, artist, or simply trying to make sense of the world around you, this podcast offers a space to process what’s hard, discover new language for your truths, and move toward healing.
Fair warning—it gets emotional. But that’s the point.
Stories That Stay
Stories That Stay: Promo One — Healing Through Identity and Memory
Stories That Stay is a podcast where healing happens at the intersection of art, science, and storytelling. Hosted by therapist and strategist Shamm Petros and educator and artist Dwight Dunston, the show blends personal storytelling with mindfulness practices and over 35 years of racial literacy research from Lion’s Story.
Each episode begins with the question: What is your earliest memory of race or difference? Guests—artists, educators, leaders, and everyday people—share moments that shaped their lives. Together, we explore how these stories of identity reveal paths toward resilience, growth, and transformation.
Whether you’re an educator, organizer, or simply curious about how stories shape us, Stories That Stay offers tools to help you navigate identity and difference with courage, competence, and compassion.
This fall, Lion Story is launching stories that how stories of Identity Shape Us. This is a podcast where healing happens at the intersection of art, science and storytelling. Hosted by Shawn Petros and yours truly, Dwight Dunston, each episode blends powerful first person storytelling with mindfulness practices and over 35 years of racial literacy research to help listeners navigate race, identity and difference with courage, competence and curiosity. Through our signature first story question, what is your earliest memory of race or difference? Guests share moments that shape them, and together we explore those memories using tools that support healing, growth and transformation. Season one features inspiring voices like Lisa Nelson Haynes, Meryl Garbus of Toon Yards, and Emmy Award winning filmmaker Osahan Tongo, along with educators, artists and leaders who are unafraid to be vulnerable in sharing how early experiences shape their lives. Whether you're an educator, a leader, or simply someone curious about the power of story, stories that stay will give you new ways to listen, reflect and craft your own story. Episodes drop this fall, so subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.