“Recording my life story helped me remember the people who were important to me and the things I’ve done in my life. Marie was very easy to talk to, and I felt I could be open with her. She used great questions to help twig my memory. And she had some great suggestions for things to think about.
Working with Storyphile made me look back and realize that maybe I actually did have a few things to say that others would be interested in. It was hard work, but a great experience!”
Vera Oszust
Sherwood Park, Alberta
“I hired Storyphile to record my 91-year-old mother’s life story. It was a great experience both for Mom and for me. Mom looked forward to Marie’s visits. She enjoyed recalling memories and events she had forgotten and may never have thought about again. Working with Marie made the process of capturing mom’s history so much easier than trying to do it myself. I now have a history of my mom’s life and a resource I can use to share her story with our grandchildren.
Mom’s generation saw so much change in our world—perhaps more than any other generation has or will. It’s important to capture that generation’s history and memories. And after working with Storyphile, Mom says she’s more motivated to share her memories and life story with her family. That’s a gift!”
Dale Mandrusiak
Sherwood Park
“We often talked about the importance of recording our family stories, but never got around to actually doing it. As the years passed, we lost some of our family storytellers and we lost their stories. We still have more work to do, but recording my mom’s story has given us a fantastic start. We plan to keep on recording new stories and new memories.”
Bernadette (née Oszust) Mandrusiak
Sherwood Park, Alberta
“Thank you to my long-time friend Marie Lesoway…for agreeing to be my editor. You believed in me as a writer. You fed me books about the art of writing memoirs. You encouraged me to read other good writers’ works. And you squeezed the deepest-hidden stories out of reticent Rena. It’s a credit to your insight and professionalism that my story has finally been told. Thank you!”
Rena Hanchuk, Edmonton
Author of Slinkapoo, I Love You
“Marie copy-edited a collection of memoir essays that I wrote. She was a consummate professional and delivered everything on time and within budget. She also brought great passion and skill to my project. She is not only a deep expert on Canadian and American spelling, phrasing and grammar, but a knowledgeable and dedicated advocate for family memoir, record-keeping, and archiving.”
David Stewart, Palo Alto, California
“Writing about your own personal life experiences is in equal parts awkward,
frustrating and rewarding. Marie has the gift of looking beyond the
anecdotes and finding that consistent thread that REALLY reveals the person.
For me, she took the awkward and frustrating out of the narrative and
delivered a most rewarding experience.”
David Simpson, Director, Ivey Business Families Centre
Author of Work Hard, Have Fun and Keep Smiling
See David’s book.
“Thank you for all the work you did for me on my book. You did a wonderful job! Everyone has high praise for it.”
Lillian (Winters) MacLeod
Ingleside, Ontario
See Lillian’s book.
“The book is amazing! You did an incredible amount of research. I don’t know how you found all the information you did on past generations and then made sense of it. It is a very interesting read. I can’t thank you enough for this great remembrance of my mother.”
Sharon MacLeod
Finch, Ontario
“I employed Marie Lesoway on numerous occasions in my 55 years with Hemisphere Engineering. During my 20 years as CEO, I delivered 100s of speeches and presentations to key stakeholders. Marie helped me turn my drafts into impressive professional products that told our corporate stories with power and passion. People who heard these stories sat up and took notice. They were moved. They were inspired. They were persuaded to take action.
One example is the presentation I made to the City of Edmonton when the public was invited to have their say about the new arena, Rogers Place. Marie did an outstanding job of turning my notes into a compelling presentation that told Edmonton’s story and made city councillors take serious consideration of what I had to say. In fact, one councillor called to tell me that my presentation had convinced him to support the arena project.
When I needed to deliver a powerful message, I always called on Marie. I knew I could count on her to tell the story of my company and our projects with conviction, elegance and wit. She’s real good at what she does.”
John W. Chomiak
Past President and CEO of Hemisphere Engineering Inc.
See Hemisphere’s story.
“I want to compliment you on not only undertaking a project of this scope but putting it together in such a professional and enjoyable package.
It is one thing to pull together quotes and anecdotes; it is extremely difficult to ensure these not only provide a cogent narrative, but do so in the subject’s own ‘voice.’ As I read the book I could easily visualize and hear my Aunt Lillian telling her story which, in a way, is a small part of my own.
A number of years ago I was asked who my great-grandparents were and found I could not name them on either side. As a result I decided to dabble in genealogy and now know their names as well as those of a number of generations that preceded them. This is just data, however, and does not tell me who they were. I can only resort to best guesses as to what their lives were like and what dreams we might share.
Your Storyphile concept provides that missing narrative and I wish you great success with it.”
PCM
Quebec
See Lillian’s book.
“I contracted Marie from Storyphile to do an environmental scan and
market intelligence to assist us in developing promotional strategies and
effective videos for a local cemetery. Storyphile did a thorough and
comprehensive search and analysis, and provided practical recommendations. The
deliverables exceeded our expectations and provided us with a wealth of
valuable data to work with. If you want a job done right, on time and on
budget, we would highly recommend Storyphile!”
Russell Sawchuk
President and CEO, Steppingstones Partnership Inc.
Check out Russ’s amazing website, Pioneer Churches on the Prairies.