Aspire for More with Erin
Aspire for More with Erin
There is Power in Telling Your Story: a conversation with Daniel Findlay
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There is Power in Telling Your Story: a conversation with Daniel Findlay
In this episode, host Erin sits down with Daniel Finley, founder and CEO of Kin Capsule, to discuss the transformative power of personal media storytelling technology. Daniel explains the concept of personal media storytelling, emphasizing its role in creating a safe, ad-free space where users fully own their content. The discussion delves into the importance of legacy and life review, sharing insights on how storytelling can enhance social connection, mental health, and cognitive function, especially for senior living residents. They explore the emotional and therapeutic benefits of sharing life stories, citing real-world examples and the profound impact witnessed in various communities. Erin and Daniel highlight the importance of living one's legacy and how Kin Capsule facilitates this process through its innovative platform.
00:00 Introduction to Daniel Finley and Kin Capsule
00:40 The Concept of Personal Media Storytelling
01:48 The Power of Storytelling and Legacy
02:51 Founding Story of Kin Capsule
04:34 Impact on Senior Living Communities
05:31 Cognitive and Emotional Benefits of Storytelling
07:44 Personal Reflections on Storytelling
10:33 The Importance of Legacy and Life Review
13:45 Practical Applications and User Experiences
21:37 Encouragement to Explore Life Review
26:40 How to Get Started with Kin Capsule
28:05 Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts
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Today is an excellent day where I get to talk to master storyteller, Daniel Finley, who's the founder and CEO of Kin Capsule. Which is a personal media storytelling technology, which is a mouthful, and it very much intrigues me. So Daniel, thank you for being here, and tell us what that means, personal media storytelling technology.
Daniel:Yeah, absolutely. Erin, thank you so much for having me. we've had a few discussions and I'm really excited to be here today and tell my story and he listened to yours and share this with everyone. Now everyone's got a story that matters. and that's really part of why we got into this, space in the first place. But, personal media. So we are, there, there are, there's a little bit of overlap with social media. but we are personal by design. A hundred percent of your content is owned by you, the user. there's no advertising. There is no selling of personal information. So in that sense, it's a very personal digital creative space, a safe digital creative space for people to create really meaningful and authentic content. That's the first thing in a storytelling platform. We are, we're purpose built for life story and for building legacy. And through these through the storytelling of life story and life review, and there's a number of things and ways that you could call that, but this is the mission is to drive meaningful social and intergenerational connection. And I think in a world where we've never been more divided and isolated and lonely. particularly coming out of COVID and, but ironically with the most social platforms ever available, it's ironic that we're in this state. So that's our mission. That's why we're in this space is to help connect people more meaningfully.
Erin:Yeah. I love storytelling. I love life review. I like You know, creating legacy, all of that is so important. I have a friend, Jean Hartnett, who focuses a lot on, overcoming trauma and resiliency and trauma informed care. And she always leads webinars off with this Maya Angelou quote about how, there's no greater agony than having an untold story inside of you. And so I just believe that. and in a lot of our conversations, I have seen and heard some of the transformation stories that you have been able to bring out. And in my own journey. Telling my story has been very cathartic. I can only imagine what it does for senior living residents to tell their story to have the. Ability to tell their story, do you have evidence that untold story was something that was holding people back?
Daniel:Yeah, absolutely. I love that quote. First of all, it reminds me of a quote that we found early in our journey, in, in, ideating and creating Kitten Capsule, which came from a personal anecdotal experience for my, my, my founding partner and I. and the quote is from Amadou Hampateba, who was, an African ethnologist and philosopher in the 60s, and his, he's quoted by saying, when a person dies, a library burns to the ground, and it's an extension of the quote that you shared, and it's true. It's, everyone has a story. And whether you believe it's important or exciting or interesting or influential, it doesn't matter. It will have an impact, a positive impact on someone and someone can learn from you. So I completely, identify and agree with the quote that you shared. and our, the whole, it's true of our, of Lev and myself, Lev's my business partner and co founder. we had people In our families who had passed away and it meant that these libraries of family history and life lessons and experiences, wisdom, they all burnt to the ground. And so when we connected during COVID, when we were shut down and we shared these experiences, we really got to know each other. And it was this magic of storytelling like we're doing right now. sharing stories, these important, meaningful stories. And we never, we became really close and we thought, We're not doing anything right now. we're both technology professionals. Maybe we should, maybe we're not the only ones with this problem. And with this experience, and maybe we should let's figure that out and that if it's a problem, we can help solve. Let's do it. And so that was the inception founding story and that led us to creating can capsule as a platform, which then evolved into services. And so to answer your question, we have many projects. Some are pilots, some are live with senior living and retirement communities. Across the whole span from active and independent living to memory care and everything in between. and it's so true. we've had, in the, their storytelling sessions and, their group sessions or one on one and, we're helping people connect, right? There's this, to help combat isolation and loneliness, but there's also this huge cognitive benefit by an emotional benefit and mental health benefit From actually telling your story or life review or life story and legacy building, people are. Part of our story. So no one's life story is only about themselves. it's, even if you don't have many people around you, it's, it involves other people. So by, by in its own DNA, it includes and activates connection and meaningful connection. the cognitive benefit, we've seen people who have the onset of Alzheimer's and dementia and, story number one, when we ask them something simple, hey, what's your name? And what's the story behind your name? Who gave you your name? And it's such an easy question, simple, but not everyone tells that story. And it's not until you start telling the story that you realize that, wait, this is an interesting story. And it's a really great piece of our family history. And that your friends probably want to know, too. And just a simple story like, tell us about the meaning of your name. What does it mean in your language? Who chose your name? Are you named after someone? This whole sequence, it forces the person to, first of all, find the topic and the information in their head, then go to the files in the brain that are associated to the story, and then to put it together in a way that you can actually communicate And then you have to tell the story. So that's that brain to mouth connection to actually articulate your story. And if there's a, if there's a, if there's a, an audience or a group in front of you, there's this coming out of your shell and getting out of your comfort zone and growth is personal growth that happens when you're telling your story. and while you're doing this. you're processing things about your life. And so you can unlock trauma or unlock sadness or sorrow. And we've seen, so to finish this story, story number one, typically is a little more scattered. It's not quite as cohesive story. Number two is a little bit of an improvement. Story number three is not even in the same ballpark. It's the transformation, the cognitive transformation and that brief exercise is incredible to watch it happening right in front of your eyes. and then just to close out on this, the, there's tears of joy. There's tears of processing emotion and trauma that we've seen. And we are just so honored and privileged to. to be a part of that. We've had our own tears of joy and of sorrow and grieving and processing. And so when you're doing it with other people, I don't, there's not more, there's no more human experience to share with someone than real life, humanity and experiences. So it's been a, it's been a very cool ride for us. Very meaningful.
Erin:Yeah. I was named after Erin from the Waltons. Um, my, I was born of a certain time, my mother decided she liked that name. So that's fun.
Cool.
Erin:and she liked Irish Gaelic names. and she liked four letter names and my grandmother made a dress for me and she wanted, if she had girls for every daughter to wear that dress. And so then. My sister's names were Irish Gaelic with four letters, so they can wear the same dress, which is funny.
Daniel:Very
Erin:funny. The life review and telling the story and the catharticness of change, of transformation, I am currently going through that right now, just, Through a lot of hard work and healing and unlocking things and sitting in the story to look for a different way to discuss it that serves me versus torments me, there is no greater joy than to be able to tell a story that. Is true, but in a way that serves you versus the way that you've always thought about it, that may have hurt you, to know that pain in your life, you're thankful for, because it turned you into a new. It's a new creature into a new person with different thoughts, with different experiences versus sitting in that pain and allowing it to stew. And for people who never have done a life review, can you imagine being 80 years old, telling a story, looking back at your life and saying, wait a minute, if that didn't happen, then XYZ wouldn't have happened either. and there's gratitude for that experience. Whereas there may have been a lot of resentments for that experience before. So I can only imagine how powerful that is, to build that legacy in that life story. Because exactly like you said. as we age, we appreciate our stories more, but as we get older, so do our grandparents. And now I have all these questions and I can't talk to my grandmother about it because she's not here, or my grandfather about it because he's not here. So it's just, it's a powerful way. And like you said, it helps people with dementia. They're actually have a, they're working on a skill. they're improving. Okay. And it gets better. I can just tell you My storytelling has gotten better because I've been practicing it for so long. So definitely
for
Erin:sure.
Daniel:100%. And there's this idea of, you said a few things that made me light bulbs going off. And, one of them is, legacy, It's important because of all the reasons that we've just been talking about, right? it's this life review. It's unlocking things. And if A didn't happen, then B, C and D wouldn't have happened. All that connection, all that connectivity and associations are incredible to process emotion and trauma and stress and very positive things in your life too. And relating it to older adults, this idea that kind of legacy just falls on your lap when you get older is just not true. It doesn't happen like that. And so part of what we do is, and what's so important about this intergenerational connection and starting this life review when you're young, is that you need to live your legacy in order to leave your legacy. And because your legacy is. Your life. And so it doesn't mean that you have to have all the answers and you know exactly what you're running at right from a young age, but it does mean that, the decisions that you make, like you say, if I do a, then B and D and C are going to happen. And if you're aware of that and living your legacy, then there's this, the legacy that you leave will be the legacy that you live and that's a more powerful, way to, to look at things. And that's how certainly we look at it. And then the other thing is. Life review doesn't have to be completely public and exposed, right? So one thing we've done in Ken Capsule is. You decide what you're going to talk about, if you're going to share it, you don't have to. but if you do share it, you get to choose who you share it with and when you share it too. And so it's, we're strong believers that human beings are equally private and social. And so the more healthy your private life is, the more healthy your social life is. And the more healthy your social life is, it's going to, it's going to give you, a really good balance of what you need to keep for yourself as private and then maybe eventually share it, but I think the two feed off of each other and, so it's important as well. The life story and life review can be private and social.
Erin:Yeah, for your family or for anyone. Yeah, I, I recently met an author. And she's in her late eighties and she wrote a book and, I'm going to interview her for this podcast. And wow, it was so like, she just put her trauma out there and then was teaching people how to overcome it. And it was about forgiveness and it is a legacy and she is living it now. it was so powerful. And I can only imagine. What her family feels when they read that and how you offer that same thing for people who can't write a book, in their late eighties.
Daniel:Absolutely. I can't wait to hear her on your podcast. First of all, by the way, it's, it sounds amazing because that's how we communicate. we always communicate, humans communicate through storytelling, everything we're doing it right now. And, if you're at, in the workplace or you're at the dinner table with the family, or you're out with friends, it's always, that's how we communicate a storytelling. So I can't wait to hear her, as well. That sounds awesome.
Erin:Yeah, it's, It's amazing. so tell me about what you're seeing. Do you see the benefits? Do the communities see the benefits? we know that the people feel the benefit right? I feel and I can attest to the power of storytelling in our own life, but the communities. I assume it's a great way for them to know the residents when because then the residents will be able to tell them more because they've gone through the exercise of identifying more so I can only assume the benefit to the community is off the charts.
Daniel:It's a great point. and something you said in what you were sharing with about your next guest, is it's an important point. If you can't physically write your story. One of the options that we give our users is you can tell your story. You can just. you can, you can tell your story verbally and create audio. you can video record it. So a single story might have three videos, five audio files, 10 pictures, you can write the text, and it might have a document that you've attached to it. So you can really bring these stories to life with multimedia options. in terms of impact, yeah, 100%, it's, so what we typically do is we'll go on ourselves. We sometimes have students that come in with us as well. So that's that intergenerational connection connectivity where you might have lots of energy and curiosity and this kind of stuff coming from the younger person and the older person just completely vibes off and feeds off that and becomes energized and curious and childlike joy comes out and it's amazing. and then the older adults bringing like this life wisdom and life experiences and these. advice and all the stuff that they can share with the younger adults as well. but there's also staff. some of the benefits we see is through storytelling alone, but also with King capsule is, the process of creating this is, not all the residents can create their own stories. So if they can't, there's this big trust building and relationship building that happens, right? maybe it's a personal support worker or a caregiver, a professional caregiver, or might be part of the, the, activities and, resident engagement team, and there you become really involved, and other activities are great to singing can be great and all these activities are great. The unique part about storytelling is when you're listening to someone's life story, someone is listening and someone is telling. So there's this bi directional exchange of meaningful stuff that you're helping someone process. And it builds trust and relationships between residents and family members around their loved ones and staff. and that's a big one. And we've also got, you can have an organizational account for, with Kin Capsule, so you can be building your retirement community legacy. And it's your, the organizational legacy is made up of personal stories from your residents. And so there's this really cool connection that happens as well. So yeah, big value that we've seen and touching people's lives is always just a privilege and an honor.
Erin:Yeah, it is. When I was inside the community, residents, we would do music videos, and, or even have testimonials from residents, and they loved telling their story. they just loved it. Even if it was, for Valentine's Day, and we made a music video, and they just had held a picture of their wedding day. that was telling a story. That was honoring a piece of their life that It's past and no longer gets to talk about it as much. when my grandmother moved into my community. One of the most important things I realized was her story that she told over and over again to strangers, to check out people. She could tell them all the time and people loved to hear them. And I'm like, peace out. I've heard this a thousand times in my lifetime. have fun. And I'll be honest with you. what I wouldn't give to hear her say the same story that I heard her say over and over again. To every checkout girl that we encountered every Saturday morning for 15 years, and so there is value to that. And we think that our seniors. Our elder loved ones don't like, technology, but they like to see themselves on camera
Daniel:a hundred percent. I've got stories. I've got stories like that with my parents. my dad in particular has stories that or comments or things that he'll with perfect strangers all the time. And we've got that saved. 1 of the exercises I'm doing in my personal account. In my personal life is myself and family members, my, my niece and nephew, we are interviewing our parents. That's a big one. And it's this really fun. So if we're around at Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever the holiday might be, we get together as a family and it's, we do our usual stuff. that's always fun. We kind of joke around, there's food going and there's conversation. But now what we do is we grab our mobile device and we actually just record. Some of these stories and there are stories. So we have an advisory board actually that's that guides us and advises us on senior living retirement communities, the whole space age tech as a space. we have, a PhD social psychologists that have helped us create. Story prompts. So questions that will prompt and guide you through storytelling. And we just work through those. And now we've got this whole library of my parents. And, you never think that anyone's gonna be gone, but it's just human inevitability. And we have to write part of building like one of our PhD social psychologists, his specialization is in legacy. And the reason why legacy is so important at its real root core is that. It's a way for us to cope with. Mortality. That's really at the core of why legacy is so important. There's other reasons too, but that's really the core is we start to, once you're happy, closer to the end than you are in the beginning, you start to, you feel it even subconsciously, you're feeling mortality. And so building legacy becomes naturally and organically more important. And, and so this is a great way to do that. Now we've got, we're building a library and our users build libraries of, for people I think of that have passed on, if I could just have a library of their voice, just clips to hear some of the things I love them saying is incredibly powerful. And, that, that will help with grieving too. When you have this library of. Of, of experiences and video and in multimedia, it's, it makes the reminiscing more and more enjoyable. It makes the grieving a little easy, a little easier. It's never, nothing's going to alleviate it for you entirely, but having these incredible things and then for future generations, so for the folks, 50, a hundred years from now, who will never meet any of us, it's nice. It'll be nice to have these, these logs of family history here too, from an anecdotal perspective.
Erin:Yeah, I, I know that we have a mutual friend in Anna Hall and there is certainly, she preaches and emphasizes purpose so much. And when we are talking about residents inside of a senior living or a long term care community, they can feel the absence of purpose, right? If we're not careful, if we're not intentional about understanding. Where some of the despair comes from. And it sounds like Ken Capsule gives them the opportunity to do a life review and see the legacy and that you can still have a legacy and live it inside senior living and you have purpose because people work inside senior living. And if you're alive, you can add value. It does not matter what your physical state is. and redefining what success looks like at every stage with life review, legacy building and purpose is important and that is certainly something that senior living communities can give their residents with this product. Without it, but preferably, I'm sure with this product would be great.
Daniel:Absolutely. I, we love Anna Hall, as well. she's actually one of our advisory board members and, so we, and early on too, so everything we do, product or service or even personalized, we try our best to look through the lens of purpose as well. And, I think. On, you said the word unlock earlier, on, on covering, unlocking and unleashing purpose is just so powerful. And one of the tools that can help you to achieve those things is life review. With King Capsule or without, life review as a, as an exercise is, it's a mental exercise, it's an emotional exercise, it's a spiritual exercise, it's a, it's all of the above, it's a human thing and everyone should do it. and, and certainly purpose and meaning and your life. They're all so connected at the core that yeah, a hundred percent, I agree. And, and it's never too late, if you don't feel like you're in tune with your purpose and, or have gone through the life review experience or exercise, it's never too late. And we, again, we have, a lovely lady named Rose at one of the. the senior living, communities that we work with. And, she's 97, 97 years old. She has an incredible story. and, same with her. The first couple of stories were scattered and not as cohesive and then, three, four and fifth story, it like it's the transformations happening before your eyes, but they have found new purpose and new meaning in At a very, at an amazing age of 97 and, she carries her iPhone around so she can access, things from her iPhone. And it's, she's incredible. I only hope to be in her condition when I'm at 97, if I even get to 97, but, but yeah, so just to, to emphasize your point, it's never too late and, it's always. a blessing, regardless of what stage or age you're at in life, to go through these exercises
Erin:and it's a gift, a community can gift this experience to family members, people want to know what their heart ROI is. That's a question that gets asked a lot. What is my return on investment on this, but there's also this soft ROI, right? And I talk a lot about how a family member feels or a resident feels when they leave your community for the last time is just as important as it is when they first walk in. And what an amazing gift to give a family member as a thank you. Then the life story and legacy of their loved one. And that's just not something that's an uncommon hospitality effort and a gift that will, from a selfish perspective, consistently bring referrals and from a man, I just did the right thing. It will be the gift. That keeps on giving because you are changing people's lives and really, that's the goal of what senior living is. So I'll give
Daniel:you the
Erin:final word.
Daniel:Yeah, on that point, you're as a, as an operator, you're, a big part of your pipeline are the loved ones around your residents. And if they're happier and if they are aligned with purpose and with meaning, and they have a voice and they feel heard. And they can share their life stories, which, you know, as an older adult, you're, these are things you'd love. You want to share. You want to, there's so much to share at that point, at that stage in your life. And so being able to do that absolutely translates into. Happier, healthier, more engaged residents and the loved ones see that and they're involved because they're a part of it, right? They're a part of your story. And again, in King Capsule, there are free accounts. We have free accounts. We've got, subscription models for upgrades, more storage, more functions, et cetera, but there, we didn't want any barriers for anyone. And so there's an account. That's suitable for you. And I would just encourage people with King capsule or without, to really explore life review as an exercise that you should go through. because again, things like meaning and purpose and. really getting to know someone and, at the core of who we really are. When we take off the digital mask and we really just connect and you can feel a person's energy, storytelling and life review are just such incredible ways to do that. And I encourage everyone to do that.
Erin:Absolutely. Absolutely. It really does change everything. So tell us how, someone can reach you at Ken Capsule.
Daniel:Yeah, absolutely. we are, we have a, a web, app and a mobile app. So you can go to kincapsule. ca or. com and you'll check, you'll see some information. You can sign up. we'd love you sign up for a free account and check us out. and then, you'll see upgrade options there. and, if you have questions, email us at, support or contact at kin capsule. com. So that's support at kin capsule. com or contact, at kin capsule. com. and you can download us from the app store or Google play for your iPhone or your Android. and those are the best ways we've got. we have tutorials and a help menu in the app so that we have a whole library of videos and, documents that will help guide you through it. or can Daniel Findlay, connect with me on LinkedIn. I'd be happy to set up, I get the actual, the contact and support, they do go to a few people, but I want, I'm one of the recipients. So you'll get me if you get, if you email us and I'm happy to hop on with anyone to, to chat or to demo the. The product to you or, and to answer any questions that you have. So we're really, we're small, we're startup, we're growing fast and we're hungry to engage with people and to make a difference. So reach out.
Erin:Absolutely. And he's from Canada, Alabama and Canada people. Love it. So
absolutely.
Erin:I'm proud of that. So thank you for being here. I appreciate it. I, believe in your mission and I hope that, all of your customers. Thank you for sharing that. I appreciate it.
Daniel:Thank you very much for having me, Erin. Always a pleasure. And, we love you and your mission and it's just such incredible important work. So we're happy to be a part of what you're doing and likewise. So thank you for having me today.
Erin:You're welcome. And always for my listeners. Aspire for more. For you.